The is a sponsored post from JC Penney and Van Heusen. Vote at www.fanschoice.com.

Late in October I ran a post about the new Fan's Choice program that allowed you to vote on this year's Hall of Fame candidates.  While the fan's vote doesn't officially count, it is a publicized way to at least get the fan perspective out there.  For those that are unaware of this program, JC Penney and Van Heusen have come up with an option for the fans to voice their opinion on who they would select to be in the Hall of Fame.  Recently the NFL announced 25 semi-finalists that include 49ers greats Jerry Rice, Roger Craig and Charles Haley.

It's actually rather interesting to compare that list with the Fan's Choice.  11 players selected by the fans did not appear in the official 25.  The official list is in alphabetical order, while the Fan's Choice list (after the jump) is listed by # of votes received.  That total is continually updating, so by the time you head over it may have changed.  At this point we can only vote on the top 25 players.  The only guys with significant time with the 49ers in the top 25 are Jerry Rice and Charles Haley (no Roger Craig unfortunately).  Other players with some 49ers time are Jim Plunkett, Richard Dent and Kevin Greene.  What I find particular interesting about the list is that six of the top seven spent at least some portion of their career with the Raiders, with five of them probably being most well known as Raiders.

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by Paul Connors - AP

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Fooch's Note: Head on over to Revenge of the Birds to see what 49ers they'd grab.

I'd like to thank Andrew over at Revenge of the Birds for passing along what I think is a great idea for a game-week post.  We have plenty of discussion about who we like on the 49ers, and who we fear on the opposing team.  However, this post allows us to go off into fantasy-land a bit and decide who we might like from an opposing team.  In doing this, you can approach it from a variety of angles.  You can take a player just because you like that player, no matter what the 49ers current situation is at that position.  You can consider who the 49ers might lose in the offseason or positions they need to improve.  If you want to take into account the player's contract and look for "realistic" additions, you're free to do that.  You can be as realistic or as fantastical (if that's even a word) as you'd like.  For this week, here are some of the guys I'd like.  Also, at the end I thought I'd throw out some thoughts on the guy I did not choose that many of you might choose...

Larry Fitzgerald, WR: Ok, so this is certainly an obvious choice.  But if you're going to take a player off this team, why not take the best?  The 49ers have some solid talent at wide receiver, but it's still young and has a lot of room for growth.  Imagine a team with Larry Fitzgerald as the #1 receiver, Michael Crabtree #2, and Josh Morgan #3?  One reason I like this is the fact that Fitzgerald's contract expires after the 2011 season.  Fitzgerald would still be in his prime, but you could conceivably let him walk as your young receivers would hopefully have grown into specific roles.  Anyways, I think this is more of a flashy option.

The remaining three are after the jump...

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Matt Maiocco is reporting that Jeff Ulbrich has decided to retire from the NFL after 10 seasons with the San Francisco 49ers.  Ulbrich suffered a particularly bad concussion October 11 against the Falcons and eventually was placed on injured reserve when he couldn't shake some of the concussion symptoms.

It's certainly a shame to see a career cut short by injury, but it's probably for the best for Ulbrich to retire given the issues concussions can raise in terms of long term health. Ulbrich was a special teams standout for the 49ers and they'll certainly miss him.  According to Maiocco, Ulbrich is looking to pursue a career in coaching, but would prefer it be in the college ranks.

I remember when Ulbrich was at Hawaii I was watching a bowl game he was playing in.  He had the big mustache even back then, and I always thought he looked considerably older than your general college student.  However, he definitely stood out to me.  When the 49ers first drafted him I think my expectations were a bit high.  He was never going to be a standout linebacker in the league, but he made his bones doing the gritty work that is not often appreciated by many fans.

Although Ulbrich is retiring, I definitely plan to continue following him as he pursues his coaching career.  I'll do my best to keep everyone updated here as to how he progresses.  Part of the reason he wants to go the college route is because, as Maiocco put it, there is a built-in conflict of coaching former teammates.  According to Maiocco, Ulbrich wants to get on the new staff that will be taking shape at San Jose State University.  One has to wonder if down the the road, as he gets older and his teammates have retired, Ulbrich potentially returns to the NFL as a coach.  We'll see.

Well, things have certainly changed quite a bit since the 49ers upset your Arizona Cardinals week 1 of this season.  The 49ers now sit 3 games out with 4 games to go.  Not what I would call an "ideal" situation.  Although there is always the chance of a comeback, most 49ers fans are ready to look to the offseason.  I'm in the group, although I've retained a slight bit of hope for the last month of this season.

Feel free to ask any questions you have about the 49ers.  I'll answer them to the best of my ability, and I'll also get some of the NN readers over here to answer them as well.

With the season starting to wind up (4 games left), the playoff push in our prediction contest is slowly gaining speed.  I've been making a bit of a push, although I'd imagine I'll come up short in the end.  For those that are curious about the playoffs, howtheyscored will have an update in a couple weeks with some tweaks we're making to the playoffs.

Prediction format and scoring rules are after the jump.  As always, the times are pacific.

Arizona @ 49ers - MNF 12/14 5:30pm

Philadelphia @ NY Giants - SNF 12/13 5:20pm

Green Bay @ Chicago Sunday 12/13 10:00am

Cincinnati @ Minnesota - Sunday 12/13 10:00am

Miami @ Jacksonville - Sunday 12/13 10:00am

San Diego @ Dallas - Sunday 12/13 1:15pm

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So I guess that injury to DT Kentwan Balmer ended up a bit more serious than previously expected.  Balmer had shoulder surgery this morning and has been placed on the Injured Reserve List, ending his season.  To fill Balmer's roster spot, the team has signed DT Baraka Atkins.  Atkins (6-4, 268) originally entered the NFL as a fourth round draft pick (120th overall) of the Seattle Seahawks in the 2007 Draft. He has played in 21 career games and recorded 28 tackles, two sacks, two fumble recoveries and one pass defensed. Atkins was released by the Seahawks in September.  Atkins, a 25-year-old native of Sarasota, FL, played collegiately at Miami (FL).

Balmer has come under much criticism since the 49ers took him in the first round of the 2008 NFL draft.  The running joke his first year was that at one point he had more kick returns than tackles, thanks to his role as one of the up-men.  This season he's certainly shown some improvement, although that's not too difficult when the bar was set so low his first year.  Nonetheless, it seemed like we were hearing his name more and more as the season went along.  Maybe not huge impact type play, but improvement nonetheless.

Of course, he could be stuck for a while behind Isaac Sopoaga, so it will be tough for him to break through for now.  He's a guy we'll all be keeping an eye on next year in training camp.

I know a few folks on the site will scoff at this idea, but in spite of the fact that the 49ers are struggling on the field, Jed York has done a lot of work to return the franchise to its more fan-friendly days.  He's brought back old players to positions with the team (namely Keena Turner).  He's been working on the new stadium deal.  He's brought in some renovations to Candlestick to make it a slightly more appealing destination (and that's a tough duty for sure).

This continues lately with a couple of interesting notes about the team.  You may have noticed it elsewhere, but if not it's worth re-hashing.  The 49ers announced former WR Dwight Clark was hired as a business operations consultant.  Clark will work with COO Andy Dolich and Football Affairs VP Keena Turner, and focus on special projects relating to sponsorship development, corporate hospitality, community investment, premium seating and the new stadium sales effort.  I think the upside to having a guy like Clark as a consultant is if you're trying to close a particularly big sponsorship or ticket deal, you can send Clark over to the client, as opposed to a faceless sales rep.  I bet many folks would be more willing to purchase something from a former 49er great over a random rep from the team.

Even more interesting than that at this point is what will be going on this Monday night.  Team president Jed York will be hosting a MNF viewing party here in San Francisco at Pete's Tavern down near the Giants ballpark.  The event is actually a fundraiser for the Bayview/Hunters Point YMCA, in support of their Youth Sports Programs & Community Service Campaign (York is on the Board of Managers).

Tickets for the event are $25 at the door.  The even will include raffle prizes and both silent auction and live auction at halftime, featuring 49ers and Giants game tickets and memorabilia. There are a variety of 49ers prizes, including a box suite for 12 people at the 49ers home game on December 27 against the Detroit Lions.

For the baseball fans out there, the idea of "clutch" has been a cause for great debate.  Some argue that statistics have disproven the notion of clutch, or at least that a player's "clutch" numbers mimic their career numbers.  Others insist that some players come up big in key situations.  Whether that's true or not is up for debate and not quite the point of this post.

Rather, this season has seen several instances where the 49ers as a team have not been able to step up in a key situation.  One of the biggest examples, in my opinion, is the Green Bay Packers game.  After storming back to make it a one possession game late, the 49ers twice forced third down on the final Packers drive but could not make the necessary stop to get the ball back.

I ask about the luck issue because of numerous instances where breaks just do not seem to go the 49ers way.  You've got the Vikings game and the referees in the Seahawks game as two specific examples.  In many of the game threads I've noticed comments about the 49ers not getting the breaks and being unlucky.  When you look around the NFL and figure out the so-called "clutch" teams, they're basically the better teams in the league.

Due to that I'm wondering if as the 49ers improve (whether it be next year or whenever), all of a sudden these breaks will be going more in the 49ers favor. I think one could argue this especially of note given the New Orleans Saints rather amazing comeback against the Redskins.  It seems like when a team is playing well, the breaks just go their way.  So maybe it's not so much about getting the breaks as just making your own luck?

I'd imagine some folks will view this as a mostly pointless issue, but for those who might have an opinion on the matter I'm curious what you think.