While some won't care about this news, others will likely be quite ecstatic....or at least pleasantly pleased.  After blowing out his knee, Thomas Clayton was placed on waivers by the 49ers.  According to the first Maiocco link, Clayton cleared waivers without being claimed by any other NFL team.  This means he reverts to the 49ers injured reserve list and the 49ers retain his rights.  So, while we likely won't hear any other football news about Clayton this year, he'll get another crack at making the team in 2010.  Of course, it seems like running backs coming off an ACL injury don't really have their legs back until the middle to end of the next season at the earliest.  This would indicate that Clayton has a pretty good chance of not making the 49ers 53-man roster next year.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see next year.  On to the links...

Gore fired up, but 49ers and Raiders play it cool (SJ Mercury News)

Kawakami: 49ers dominate Raiders (SJ Mercury News)

Combined practices between 49ers, Raiders are beneficial, feisty (SJ Mercury News)

Live from Napa: 49ers pick apart Raiders, Jimmy Raye speaks (SJ Mercury News)

Words from the 49ers wipe-out of the Raiders: Russell, Cable, Clements transcripts (SJ Mercury News)

49ers sign CB Eric Green | 49ers Hot Read (SJ Mercury News)

Foot traffic (SFGate.com)

Gore shows attitude in proving blocking skills (SFGate.com)

SFGate: Raiders Silver and Black Blog : Tuesday practice notes (SFGate.com)

Niner Insider : Best Practice Ever (SFGate.com)

Plenty more after the jump...

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How you doin' Nation? ProfessorBigelow here with my first installment in a weekly series I'd like to call "Get to Know your Gold Rush". Some of you may be asking "Professor, who the [site decorum] are the Gold Rush, and why should I care?" Good question! Let me explain; an integral part of football, since the invention of the helmet, has been the inclusion of attractive females on the sidelines to make men feel more at ease with the fact that they are watching 22 men slam their bodies into each other (not that there's anything wrong with that). These females were aimed at being the leaders of cheering the home team they represented on. Initially they were nicknamed "Yellmasters**". Weird right?!?! Today, thanks to the advent of Public Relations, we have cheerleaders.

Consider us lucky; many NFL teams do not have a cheerleading squad. The Packers discontinued their cheerleading squad in 1988 due to fan indifference (its hard to dance the YMCA in a parka), the Steelers only had cheerleaders from 1961-1970 (the metal plating got in the way of dancing to "Good Vibrations"), and the Lions, Browns, Bears and Giants have never had any girls in mini-skirts to ogle cheer their team on (maybe because the only women dressing that skimpy in Chicago, NY, Clevland and Detroit are women being paid $10 per 4-12 minutes of work). But fret not Niner faithful, the Gold Rush has existed since 1983, and the classiest girls in the league show no signs of slowing their gyrations down.

So what will these posts be all about? Each Wednesday (hump day just seemed to make sense to me) I will profile a new member of the 49ers Gold Rush squad with a little Q&A, followed by a little T&A. And ladies, do not fret, some Gold Rushers will have an accompanying video so you can witness their flawless dance moves (it's not all about the barely-there uniforms, cheerleading is an art!)

So without further ado (By which I mean continue after the jump to see all the good stuff) I present the lovely Alexis...

** - completely untrue

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