Saturday is what is known around these here parts as "the Big Game," a kinda cute nickname for a game usually not of any importance to anyone other to us NorCal folks. This game, in particular, doesn't have much going for it as Stanford, with the exception of the 'SC upset, hasn't been very good and Cal has been more disappointing than Fred Thompson's candidacy. Nevertheless, the game is always pretty exciting and full of tradition-- all the things that makes college football what it is. ...

Ahhh, crap. During this week’s practice, 49er OLB Manny Lawson tore an ACL and will be out for the 2007 season. This is a mighty blow to the nascent Niner defense, who had been counting on the former first-round pick to lend his 6’5” frame and sprinter’s speed to the linebacking corps this year....

Now that the National Football League's 2007 schedule has been released, let the carpin' in Oakland begin....

In the most angry game of this 2007 postseason, the ex-Baltimore Colts go to Baltimore to play the ex-Cleveland Browns Ravens....

Now that our long, national nightmare is over and Brett Favre has announced that he's both playing this season and maybe next season, it's time to check in with our Bay Area teams as both have made significant additions to their rosters over the past week or so. ...

A couple of days ago, the Niners announced that they finally had their front office football guy and hired him. The new honcho: Lal Heneghan. Heneghan, 42, worked for seven years with the NFL and was vice president of football operations for the Cleveland Browns 2.0 from 1999-2004. Heneghan is supposedly a whiz at contract negotiations and the whacky world of the NFL salary cap, a job that has become one of the most important in the NFL. He will work directly under head coach Mike Nolan and VP of Player Personnel Scot McCloughan....