It's been a mighty tough season to be a 49er fan; what with the bevy of broken expectations, the death of Bill Walsh -- and this week -- the passing of former Head Coach Dick Nolan. * San Francisco vs. Seattle Monday, November 12, 2007. 5:30 PM, PST. Week 10 The Battle Of Unnumbered Tears Before the 2007 season started, this week's game was to be the proving point, the crucial matchup where the rising......

The 49ers venture into the wilds of Jersey this Sunday to war with the New York American football Giants....

We found this photo in our inbox this morning. It may (or may not) be Condoleezza Rice. She's been in town for Bill Walsh's memorial service. As George tells us, after he snapped the shot at about 10:30 a.m. yesterday morning, "you could definitely smell the evil sycophant as she passed." Oh dear. Does that mean that she doesn't bathe properly? We hope not. The shoes and bag we can imagine her sporting, but......

A public memorial is all set to honor Bill Walsh. It'll be held at Candlestick at 11 AM on August 10th and among the speakers will be Joe Montana and Eddie De Bartolo. A private ceremony will be held on August 9th at the Stanford Memorial Church. Speakers there will not only include Montana and DeBartolo, but NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Dianne Feinstein. Rumored to attend are Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Secretary of State George Shultz who were friends of the Genius. Current owners of the 49ers, John and Denise York have also asked that the Governor declare a Bill Walsh Day. ...

Yesterday, the gentleman who came to be called The Genius passed away from leukemia at the age of 75....

-- Bill Walsh dies. [Chron, Examiner, KGO] -- Tom Snyder dies. [Chron] -- Matt Gonzalez's chance at becoming SF Mayor dies. [Chron, KGO] -- Dog pimps FlexPetz to open SF brothel. (In related news, pets are neither toys nor furniture.) [Tampa Bay's 10] -- Ed Jew’s trial continues. [Chron] -- Caltrans closes parts of the 101 from midnight to 5 a.m. starting tonight until 8/3. [KRON4] -- East Bay's garbage picked up. [KPIX]......

It was a deadly weekend to be famous, that’s for sure. As one commenter already pointed out today, famous people tend to die in threes: Bill Walsh, Tom Snyder, and of course, ABC 13’s Marvin Zindler from Houston, who -- while still tied-up with breathing tubes, in his hospital bed, and very pissed off at 24-Hour Fitness -- gave and gave until the very end. But another one squeaked in there among those three: Ingmar......

We have some sad news to report-- Bill Walsh has passed away at the age of 75. The Genius had been battling leukemia for awhile and died sometime this morning....

Hey now-- the Warriors are on a bit of a roll as they won their second game in a row, beating the Nugs 110-96. Sure, Carmelo didn't play, but for the Warriors, they have to be happy with the game as it's the first time this season the exact same Warriors mentioned in the Warriors press guide actually all appeared in a game. All of this is making Bruce Jenkins and Tim Kawakami drink from of the very same sippy cup of Kool Aid SFist Chris drank from as they are all now having visions of being crushed by the Mavs in the first round of the playoffs. And hey, if that doesn't add some shine to your day, the Warriors, East Coast Edition, are sucking up the joint these days. ...

-The Sharkies lost to the Dallas Stars, 4-3. It's the second consecutive loss against the Stars this week and who does the NHL scheduling anyways? It's also the Sharks third consecutive home loss. Their main culprit? Lousy power plays. So, does all this mean the Sharks need to bring in some more veteran guys? ...

In our latest episode, we examine the weaknesses that led to the exit of each franchise that was tossed from the playoffs last wknd. Going into last wknd’s action, there were no “complete” teams left – only those who had outweighed their weaknesses enough to advance to the NFL’s Divisional Playoff Round. ...

-Frank Gore and Larry Allen from the 49ers and Raiders DE Derrick Burgess get an all expenses paid trip to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl. The Raiders are stunned only Burgess is going. Hmmm....maybe not being one of the worst teams in NFL history would have helped. ...

Somewhere in between leaving San Francisco and being coaxed into not leaving San Francisco, and then definitely leaving San Francisco, and then who knows what, the 49ers beat the Lions, 19-13 in Detroit. ...

It was announced today that 49ers coach Bill Walsh, the architect of the Niners glory years (remember them?) has been battling leukemia for the past three weeks. Walsh said that a fungus was discovered in his lungs three weeks ago and was diagnosed with leukemia then. Since then he was fairly on the sick side of things but has since recovered. He is 73 and doing much better. ...

As much as we said we were going to avoid the NFL Draft, we found ourselves on a lazy Saturday morning tuning in and getting hooked. In it's way, it's got that same addictive quality as a good reality show-- it's totally mindless yet totally absorbing. And like your good reality show, there's all the suspense going on once you figure out all the various ...

Every Head Coach has inclinations about how they like to run their team. For example, our Niners' savior-genius Bill Walsh ran a short passing game informed by strong running. Bill Cowher, Head Coach of the Steelers, prefers heavy ball-control pounding with a dash of trick plays, and a powerful 3-4 defense. The two Head Coaches in The Battle Of The Repurposed are both out of their comfort zone, and that is fascinating....