Hi everybody! I was at a convention at the Santa Clara Convention Center this past weekend and I felt compelled to write up my thoughts of this area the 49ers are building their new stadium in.

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I found our recent signings/re-signings of guys like Josh Johnson and Ted Ginn very, very interesting. I thought it would be worth writing up a list of how our roster currently shapes up at each position, and how that might affect our draft. Enjoy!

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I know you guys discussed Perrish Cox a lot in the initial signing thread, but I think you need to take a second look. I've linked a great article below (yes I know it's Fox Sports, but just give it a chance ok?). However, this guy's story also strikes a chord with me on a personal level. I'll share a bit more about that after the jump.

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2012/03/13/4ers-give-cb-cox-second-chance/

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Hey everybody! We all like to go back and pick and choose things we said that turned out to be right. However, how often do we go back and look at the big picture? Well, over the next couple of weeks I'd like to bring back some fanposts I've written so that we can go back and see what I got right and what I got wrong. You can also look in the comments of each one and see the silly or brilliantly accurate things people said in response.

To kick off the series, I'm pulling out a fanpost I wrote on September 7, entitled "Harbaugh Going Inception On The NFL". This was several days before our first regular season game, before we saw real play-calling or what our team could really do. I could have been horribly, disastrously wrong...

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See the post here: http://www.ninersnation.com/2011/9/7/2409818/harbaugh-going-inception-on-the-nfl

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A few of the predictions I made:

I thought we could have a season as good as 10-6, 11-5.

• This one turned out pretty well. Yay!

I was excited about guys like Bowman, Aldon Smith, Ray McDonald, Justin Smith, Rogers, Whitner, Hunter and Edwards.

• I whiffed big time on Edwards. He may still turn it around for the playoffs, but I doubt it.

I was really excited about our coaching staff:

• I think I get points for this one too. :)

I expected somebody else to start for Goldson:

• Wrong on this one, but I do still think we need an upgrade there. Yes he makes big plays. Yes he gives up big plays. Our CBs aren't about to get replaced (competition? yes. Replaced? No.) so that makes Goldson our biggest weakness on D. In fact, he's as responsible as anybody for letting Lynch in on that touchdown. He just bounced right off of him. If I remember correctly, he was also directly responsible for Doug Baldwin's touchdown. Replace the man in the off-season!

READ THE LINKED FANPOST AND DISCUSS IN THE COMMENTS!

Hey Everybody! Somebody gave my sister two free tickets to the MNF game (still wonder how all those Steeler fans got tickets?) so I was lucky enough to get to go. I have some interesting observations that you probably didn't get to see on tv and probably won't hear about from the beat writers.

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Hey all! These "Overlooked" pieces are starting to become a regular thing for me. :) Anyway, I know that you guys are excited about the win, but let's face it, this was the RAMS! We should have beaten them like 56-0 (especially with how many times we were in the red zone!). As always, please discuss politely in the comments. Calling me stupid and throwing mud doesn't help anybody. Explain your position and defend it with reasonable, logical points.

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I'll admit up front, I've been a huge Kyle Williams fan since the day he was drafted.  In the spirit of objectivity though, I was also really high on Michael Spurlock when he was on our team.  :)  Anyway, if you watch Kyle Williams, he is easily the most natural wide receiver on our team.  Crabtree's got some mad skills, but Kyle is just a very unique player.  If you listened to the reports from Camp Alex, one consistent theme was how Kyle Williams looked the smoothest and most natural out there, and how he had the softest hands.  I can attest to this from the open practice I went to.  Throws to guys like Braylon Edwards made loud smacking sounds when the ball hit the receiver's gloves.  However, when throws went to Kyle you couldn't hear it most of the time.  It was a smooth, clean, natural catching motion like he does it in his sleep.  He was also fielding punts much, much cleaner than Ted Ginn.  At one point in training camp, a beat writer mentioned that Kyle and Ted were practicing catching punts with one hand.  Ted dropped a bunch, but Kyle caught every one.

So what is all this to say?  Simply that I'm suggesting the kid needs more playing time.  He is the fastest receiver on our team (ran a faster 40 time than Ginn), is wickedly quick and smooth out of his breaks, gets up to speed in no time flat, seems to be a great route runner, he is the best guy on our team catching the ball (Crabtree has too many bounce off his hands and whatnot), he has the natural smarts for the position (getting feet in bounds and such), and if you throw the ball in his direction he has proven he will come down with it.  Both of his touchdowns this year were difficult plays, but he not only snagged the ball, but he had the awareness to drag his feet on the first one, and on the second he stretched out the ball enough to break the plane of the end zone for the touchdown.  This guy is explosive and extremely reliable.  He deserves more looks, especially with Edwards having trouble catching the ball.

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Hey everybody!  I have been really frustrated by some of the mistakes from earlier in the season.  Against Cleveland, many of those mistakes reared their ugly heads again.  Rather than making a passionate comment in an existing thread and then arguing about it, I figured I should write a fanpost instead.  Please read on and then discuss in the comments.

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Hey all, I just wanted to post an absurdly early look at which 49ers players might deserve to make the Pro Bowl this year.  This isn't a question of whether they actually will, because it all comes down to popularity in the end.  But who on our team might deserve it?  Read and then discuss in the comments.

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Let me paint a situation for you.  You're a big game hunter, you've killed a few big cats, but nothing quite as fierce as a lion.  You're currently out hunting a lion who has been on a murderous rampage.  You're feeling pretty confident, when all of a sudden the lion leaps from concealment, knocking your gun out of your hands. The lion then proceeds to rip you apart.  That really sucks for you, doesn't it?  Well, that is the situation most people are expecting to happen when the Niners go into Detroit on Sunday.  However, it is quite possible that an alternate situation happens, where the hunter says heck with this, drops his gun, and proceeds to rip the lion apart with his bare hands.  After the jump, I will explain why the alternate situation is the more likely one.

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Hey everybody!  As brutal as that loss was, all I can say is: "Hell'uve a game!"  I may be smoking some different weed than other people, but that was a heck of a game from my perspective.  A "horrible" game is one like the Eagles vs the Falcons.  THAT was ugly!  The Cowbodys are a darn good team and we came darn close to beating them.  You have to remember, we are a franchise that has been the lowest of the low for a very long time.  The fact that we can even hold our heads up at this point, let alone come out after a short off-season, major roster overhaul, and entirely new schemes being implemented and beat the Seahawks and then make a HUGE leap forward against a very good team says a lot.  We need to work on consistency and we need to be more aggressive.  That much is obvious.  But I saw some things from our team today that I have never seen before.  I honestly think we can beat any team in the National Football League.  I remember the game we trashed Peyton Manning.  I had never seen that guy look so confused before! I remember the close games against the Saints and Falcons last season.  Those were were flash in the pan moments mostly.  But the team I have seen this season looks like one that could be Super Bowl champions sooner than later. 

Anyway, I need to vent a little bit and mention a few things (negative and positive) about this game that will likely not be given enough coverage by the media folks.  Read on...

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So I'm not sure what was going through howtheyscored's head when he was choosing the "Caption This" picture this week.  Why would I say something dumb like that?  Simply put, there was one picture from that game that absolutely SCREAMED "Caption This".  When I saw it in the game I thought, man this is perfect!  Every time I have seen it since I have become more convinced of that fact.  So since this will never reach the front page, let's do an unofficial "Caption This" right here.  Why?  Because this picture really, really needs a good caption.  Let's hear your best ones!

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(Disclaimer: I know this subject will be discussed numerous times, but I think I have a unique take on this that I would prefer to flesh out here as opposed to over and over again in the comments of other posts.  Enjoy!)

Does anybody know what caveman football is?  I didn't until last year.  After a healthy dose of watching an offense run by That Guy with the Hat, I now know exactly what caveman football is.  For those who don't know, it goes something like this: "Huh, you think you can stop me with that big stick?  Well we got big sticks too!  We're gonna come out and we're gonna beat you over the head with our sticks until you give up!"  That is NOT caveman football in a nutshell.  On the contrary, that is caveman football in its entirety.  Of course, this method of offense does not work well if the other team has bigger sticks, does not mind getting beat over the head, or simply is smart enough to beat you another way.

After Sunday's game against the Seahawks, it would appear that we have graduated.  We are now running caveman football 2.0!  Now you might wonder, what is the difference between the original version and 2.0?  Simply put, 2.0 is the same as 1.0 except 2.0 includes flashing.  Yup you heard me right: flashing!  I know, I know, I'm probably losing you at this point.  Before you give up on this fanpost entirely, let me give you an analogy to help you out.  Caveman football 2.0 is like the offensive strategy of Scottish Highland Clans.

Hear me out on this one.  In olden times, Scottish Highland Clans Warriors used a very simple, yet very effective battle strategy.  They would work themselves into a frenzy through a process similar to the Viking berserkers.  When they were good and pumped up, these Scots would throw off their kilts and charge upon the enemy screaming their clan battle cry.  The enemy would look up and see these wild men charging towards them with their bare legs exposed and their shirt tails flapping behind them revealing everything down below.  Such a sight was terrifying, particularly so to the genteel English who never came close to exposing their bodies in public.  However, this strategy was not very effective against those who knew this strategy was coming and were not frightened by it.

Now what in the heck do perverted warriors have to do with the 49ers?  Simply put: Greg Roman.  No, I do not propose we try this strategy ourselves.  As interesting as it would be to see the entire Niners offense drop their pants before hiking the ball, such an idea is hardly practical nowadays.  What I AM saying is that our offense against the Seahawks bore a striking resemblance to Scottish kilt warfare.  We would line up in fancy formations, run dazzling shifts, and then waste it all on a stupid handoff (often straight up the middle).  This flashing technique worked reasonably well for the first half, but once the Seahawks got used to it it became worthless.  I understand we're still finding our footing on offense, so this version of offense can be forgiven for now.  However, we had better start seeing something better than Caveman 2.0 pretty soon.  This brings up a couple of questions.

The first question is "We have the infrastructure to run 3.0...but will we choose to go that route?"  Last year our offense could have been very explosive, but our coaches criminally misused that talent and chose instead to keep running it up the middle.  Will Greg Roman be any different?  I like to think so, but who knows?  That brings me to the next question.

Assuming that Greg Roman wants to run an offense above caveman level, can Alex Smith handle it?  I saw a lot of things about our offense on Sunday that were horrible and ugly.  Most of those things were a matter of scheme and game planning.  However, I saw a fair amount of ugly stuff coming from Alex that he's been doing for quite some time.  I'm an Alex Smith believer and even have him on my fantasy team.  However, I'm starting to become disillusioned.  What am I talking about?  Well, for example, Smith's go-to receiver was Frank Gore.  Over and over again, when we had a pass play, Alex just dumped it off to Gore instead of waiting for something to come open down-field.  Then of course there was "The Bird-Man Play".  You know, the one where Crabtree was wide open in the end zone flapping his arms but Alex Smith dumped it short to Gore instead.  It wasn't just the dump-offs either.  Alex continued to make dumb throws.  For example, numerous times he threw it to someone who was standing behind the line of scrimmage and was heavily covered.  I don't know what goes on in Alex Smith's brain, but even I know that negative yardage is not going to help us.  In those situations you have to either buy some time for the guys downfield, scramble towards the line of scrimmage to free up the short yardage receiver, or simply chuck it out of bounds.  Alex Smith won't do that though.  He keeps on making negative yardage plays or gaining 2-3 yards on 2nd or 3rd and 15.  Can anybody explain that to me?  He's been doing that for some time and it just doesn't make any sense to me.

As I said, I'm an Alex Smith believer.  However, if he can't be broken of these bad habits, we're going to be in for a long season.  If we can't run the ball, the coaching staff needs to be able to trust Alex to air it out for 5, 10, 15 yard passes.  If Alex continues to dink and dunk with no success, he's going to have to be pulled.  As much it scares me to say it, that's the reality.  We can't rely on our defense or our special teams to score enough points to keep us in the game against teams like the Eagles, the Lions, and the Ravens. 

So, now that the optimism drugs are wearing off, the ugly question shines through:  "Can Alex Smith play at super-hero level, or is caveman football really all he can handle?"   This might seem like an over-reaction after just one game.  However, this is way more than one game.  Alex Smith has been playing this way for as long as I can remember.  I hoped Harbaugh could coach it out of him.  It appears that I was wrong.  I think Harbaugh might be realizing this too.  His praises of Alex diminished over the course of the pre-season, and he was careful to praise Kaepernick just as much.  I may be reading too much into it, but it seems to me that Harbaugh left himself just enough room that's he's able to bench Smith without ruining his credibility.

Anyway, we will see, we will see.  What do you guys think?  Can Alex Smith re-wire his brain?  Can Harbaugh train this out of him?  If Alex doesn't change and we continue to have a sluggish, ugly, unreliable passing game, when would we pull Alex?  Would we let him finish the season even though we clearly aren't going to make any progress as far as the passing game goes (essentially tanking the season)?  Or would we give him a couple of games and then try throwing Kaepernick into the fire?  Kaep isn't very good at touch passes yet, but for slants, stick routes, deep routes, and things like that he is really, really good.  He is also very mobile which adds yet another element to our offense.  As raw as he might be, which is worse, throwing Kaep into the fire and seeing how he does or continuing to watch Alex Smith sputter away?

I know this is all hypothetical, but it may be a lot more real and closer to happening than we realize.   Try and keep the discussion civil and avoid stupid comments like "Alex sucks!".  State your opinion and then give some reasoning for it and be prepared to defend it calmly and quietly.

Note, whatever your opinion of Alex Smith, I think we can all agree that he is the weakest link and the most unknown of any of our offensive starters.  Our WRs stack up to just about any in the league, as do our TEs and RBs.  Our offensive line is better than the Macgyver line that Aaron Rodgers somehow survived behind to win the Super Bowl.  Alex Smith, until he proves otherwise, is our weakest link on offense.  Even Chilo Rachal and Anthony Davis have shown they can play at an extremely high level.  What they lack is consistency.  Alex Smith has never had more than 1 or 2 games, if that, in which looked like an elite qb.  Other qbs manage it.  Despite scheme, coaches, or surrounding talent, they somehow manage to have huge games occasionally..  Even Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for 208 yards and 4 touchdowns today.  Alex Smith has a tremendous supporting cast, and we do sometimes call pass plays.  Why can't he break out for big games?  Personally, I think it has a lot to do with the problems I discussed above. He is very reluctant to throw it down-field, and he tends to throw it to any receiver who is open, regardless of how close they are. 

DISCUSS IN THE COMMENTS!  Thank you for reading.

Our offseason was absolutely nuts.  If you were judging by the pre-season, you'd have good reason to think Harbaugh is in way over his head. You know, like needing to call the more experienced coach before the game to come to a gentleman's agreement.  Or, you know, throwing passes with unsigned Alex Smith..."What? That's illegal?  Whoops, sorry, I'm new at this, I won't do it again."  (Sure, like Harbaugh doesn't have the entire rulebook memorized, complete with page numbers and which sentences have stains on them.)

Then of course you had those darn pesky Saints bringing the house and teams sacking our QBs like crazy.  Oh yeah, and speaking of QBs, what about Alex Smith as our starter?  Or Harbaugh's faith in Kapernick as the backup?  Or Harbaugh's cutting of McCown and grabbing another rookie project QB as the No. 3?

What about cutting Clements, losing Baas, Lawson and Franklin, and trading TaylorMaysGump for a sack of magic beans?  What about Gore holding out and injuries and lions and tigers and bears (oh my!)?

These kinds of things might lead some people to wonder; "What the heck is Harbaugh doing?"  Well let me explain it to you plain and simple.  A lot of coaches in the NFL do things a certain way.  New coaches come in, see those experienced guys doing things that way and think "Hey, they probably know more than I do, so I'll do those things too!"  Here's what you have to know: Harbaugh doesn't give a snow-cone machine in space what other coaches do.  He's got his own way of doing things, he's confident in that, and he couldn't care less what anybody says about it.  Now this might come across as a bad thing.  However, before you start freaking out, let me explain the genius behind Ol Man Harbaugh.

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(Note: This Fan-Post is based off a previous one by another user: "Let's Add Some Optimism Sprinkles".  I strongly suggest reading that one first if you haven't already done so.)

As a long time reader of NinersNation, I've followed a lot of discussions and come to respect a lot of the regular posters, who often provide a fair criticism and incite, but I've noticed an increase in what I view as optimism on the site. Now this could just be because of past decades of success giving people a false impression that we'll be that good again soon. Call me naive, but I refuse to join this cloud of happiness. Instead, I intend to use this FanPost to highlight the true ugliness of the sprinkles on this otherwise beautiful snowy-white fro-yo.

After the jump I'll discuss topics including Frank Gore's potential contract extension, the return of Crabtree, The Taylor Mays trade, Harbaugh's sanity, THE FUTURE, and more.

A Gore-y Future

I know, I know, Gore has been a very good running back.  He could tear things up this year and rush for 1000+ yards and 8 touchdowns.  I mean, sure, you could say that this offense is engineered in a way that will make him very successful and he could be the Niners' Toby Gerhart.  But it ain't going to happen!  No-sirey-bob!  Gore is an old, broken down running back in a horrible offensive system with a trio of young whippersnappers eager to take his place.  To be precise, he's going to be a total and complete non-factor this year. In fact, true fans know that the best thing to do is to trade the bum and give the young guys a shot.  As I said, OPTIMISM SPRINKLES ARE A RIP-OFF!!

If all recycling was this inefficient...

Baalke would have been fed to the machine a long time ago!  This guy is slower at making up his mind than Jimmy Raye is at calling plays!  I mean yeah, he got a pro-bowl center, a couple of young first-round talents and some seasoned vets.  Yeah, he replaced all of our weak spots with upgrades, but who cares?  We all know those moves were stupid and they won't work out and we should've just gotten Asomugha instead!  What are you saying?  Patience?  Optimism?  LA-LA-LA, I CAN'T HEAR YOU!

We've got crabs

Oooh yes, the mighty "Crabs"!  This guy was supposed to be this colossus, he was this great legendary thing, and yet where are the gains?!!?!  He never gets better!!  He misses every pre-season, he's a total jerk in terms of personality, in fact he makes Batman look like the life of the party in comparison!  He treats balls like they're cryptonite as they bounce off every imaginable part of his body while his legendary strong hands turn to putty!  Oh sure, yeah, this is the PERFECT offense for him!  Yeah, he's never been in a professional offense so well suited for his skills and he's never had a guy as talented as Braylon Edwards is for occupying the attention of the number one TSA agent on the opposing team.  BIG DEAL!!  OPTIMISM SPRINKLES ARE A RIP-OFF!!

Put on your hard hats!!

The sky is falling, the sky is falling! oh, wait, it's just preseason...Sure, we're all sports geniuses and KNOW the regular season is going to be different.  But really, you think Harbaugh will actually scheme for opposing teams and game-plan to cover up the weaknesses of his team and silly stuff like that?  Heck no!  Harbaugh is a flash-in-the-pan college coach who is arrogant, delusional, thinks he's Bill Walsh reincarnated, makes friends with spiders, and refuses to bow down to the immortal Roger Goodell or venerable coaches like Sean Payton.  This young pup will get his come-uppance, you mark my words!  Like I was saying, OPTIMIST SPRINKLES ARE A RIP-OFF!!

[insert creative title about the 49er's schedule]

Now I'm sure some clever fans looked at the 49ers regular season schedule and thought to themselves, man we could actually win some games!  DON'T YOU BELIEVE IT!  The Seahawks brought in some serious talent with the likes of Tavaris Jackson, Josh Portis, Jeff Reed, Kentwan Balmer, and even Thomas Clayton!  Heck, they're so good Kentwan Balmer couldn't even secure a roster spot!  We can already chalk these games down for a loss.  As for the Cowboys and the Bengals, everybody knows that those are two of the top teams in the entire NFL.  The Buccaneers are an obvious loss, as are the Lions with the mighty Matt Stafford (one of the most durable QBs in recent history).   The Browns and the Redskins are also top-teams and annual Super-Bowl contenders.  Might as well mark down two more losses there.  The Giants, the Ravens, and the Rams are also losses of course.  The Cardinals might seem to have some weakness with one of their starting corners gone and another injured, a raw and unproven receiving corps, and Kevin Kolb as their starting QB.  But we all know how badly we're going to suck, so we might as well chalk down another couple of losses there.  Oh yeah, and the Steelers are an obvious loss too.  They're going to beat us as easily as Ben Roethlisberger intoxicates under-age girls, and they're going to come out of it just as clean.  On the plus side, the smart fans know that it was Harbaugh's plan all along to simply tank the season and draft Luck next year, so this doesn't seem so bad right?  But I don't care, OPTIMISM SPRINKLES DON'T GET BETTER OR WORSE, THEY'RE LIKE OUR TEAM, THEY SIMPLY SUCK!

Worst comes to Worst

When it all comes down to it, we can at least be grateful that we've got a stadium that's perfect for the ancient arts of fisticuffs and, as LondonNiner would put it, getting sloshed, plastered, badgered, cabbaged, fecked, steampigged, trollied, hammer-blowed, or just jolly well smashed!  But really, why would anything like that ever happen at a lousy Niners game?  Get real people!

Defensive Peanut-Butter-and-Jelly Sandwiches

Now there's one other point that some of you young smart aleck fans might throw at me.  In fact, I can see it now: "But, but, what about our defense??  We've got better safeties and better corners and better pass-rushers, and a better scheme, and a better pass-rushing Patrick-freakin-Willis!"  Let me answer this very quietly and politely...FORGET IT!  Vic Fangio hasn't done squat in the NFL!  He's never proven anything ANYWHERE, and Ed Donatell hasn't, and neither has Jim Leavitt!  These coaches are a bunch of scrubs and so are most of the players.  Carlos Rogers couldn't catch a hot girl if she was covered in pine tar and wearing cement shoes!  Donte Whitner?  He's a loud mouth with absolutely zero football instincts and there's a reason he wasn't taken higher than 8th overall!  Aldon Smith?  Yeah, his arms are long but they're weaker than Shaun-noodle-arm-Hill's!  Right?  Haha, and Patrick Willis?  What an overrated BUM!  He couldn't tackle Anthony Dixon in a phone booth!  In fact, the only reason he got a chance to try to tackle anybody is thanks to guys like Kentwan Balmer funneling ball-carriers straight to him!  Now he's got Walmart employees working the line in front of him and DMV employees buttoning down the back side!  Why, oh why, can't Baalke get some REAL football players instead of guys no other team would sign?!?  If we had a real GM, we'd never have traded Forrest Gump, I mean, Taylor Mays.  FORGET OPTIMISM SPRINKLES, FORRESTGUMPMAYSWASOURFUTURE!!!

Waiting till next year

I'm going to go find that bridge that Fearless Frog and KORYSHEETSWASOURFUTURE hang out under.  Peace!

UPDATE: I would like to apologize to everybody who was looking forward to reading my recap.  I woke up not feeling well and decided to stay home. (After all, if I had a fever I couldn't run out and give Joe Staley a hug, now could I?)

Hey all!  I will be attending tomorrow's practice.  Anything in particular you want me to be looking out for? 

If anyone else is going, I'm the good-looking guy (:P) in the white Stanford jacket and black 49ers hat.  Say hi or wave or something if you see me.  (Or use a Niners Nation code-phrase like "KORYSHEETSWASOURFUTURE".)    :D

You'll find my recap of practice below the jump either tomorrow evening or the next day.  It won't be as detailed as last time as I will try to stick to highlights this time. 

(Speaking of which, I left out the best story last time.  After the last practice I went to, during the cool-down stretches at the end, Josh Morgan and Ted Ginn were chucking stuff at CK while his back was turned and then pretending they didn't do it.  They had way too much fun with it and even amused Alex (though he wouldn't chuck the things back to them so they could do it again).  Oh yeah, and Josh Morgan tossed his gloves to a lucky fan.  I'll have to see if I can snag some memorabilia this time....)

Hello Everybody!  I'm going to practice today and it turns out that I have an extra ticket.  The website won't let me release it, but they will let me forward it by email.  Soo, anybody want it? 

Also, I'm going to designate this the "official" fanpost for anybody attending today's practice to leave their observations in the comments.  I will have my own recap up at some point this evening.

Oh yeah, and is there anything in particular you guys want me to be watching out for today?

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First off I would like to apologize for forgetting the tight ends in my offensive projections.  As far as that goes, I think we will add another TE or two in free agency.  Harbaugh LOVES his tight ends, and our current four is unlikely to satisfy him.  Look for us to add a guy like Brett Brackett whenever we can start signing people.

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