49ers

Fooch's Note: Make sure and check out Florida Danny's free agency preview.

Good morning everyone. It's gameday, and right now I'm just very pumped. It's the first game at Candlestick in what seems like it must be a year or two or six. I'll be going to the game and enjoying some delicious BBQ. I can't wait for that. So I won't be here for the gamethread today but I still expect each and every one of you here for it. The only excuse, literally, is to be at the game. Don't tell me work. Don't tell me any other obligation. 49ers. That is all you need. Today at 10:00 a.m., make sure you're around for the first Niners Nation podcast.

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's NFL preview. Please feel free to discuss the early games in this thread. Fooch will be posting a game day thread for San Francisco's 4:05 PM EST kickoff.

As we continue our lengthy discussions about everything related to the 49ers GM and head coach search, there is actually other pertinent info out there unrelated to the 49ers GM/coach search. Well, it is draft-related so maybe it's indirectly related. Either way, tonight we have the Champs Sports Bowl and the Insight Bowl. Drew K will have a second thread up for the Insight Bowl a little later. In the meantime, here's our Champs Sports Bowl open thread.

Now we're on to my favorite players, the "Big Uglies". There have been some great offensive linemen for the 49ers over the years, that's for sure. Many of the best played for San Francisco for their entire careers--this was the case for Harris Barton and Randy Cross. I find it interesting that only one of the offensive linemen in the all-time great team was from the "Senior" class--the rest of them served in the trenches in the 80s and 90s.

More photos » Ida Mae Astute - AP I couldn't find a picture of Madden 11 that I could legally use so you'll have to settle for a picture of the man himself

More photos » Paul Sakuma - AP about 1 year ago: Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck (12) passes against San Jose State in the first quarter of their NCAA college football game in Stanford, Calif., Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)