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...With a record of 2-11, the silver-and-Honolulu blue are firmly entrenched at No. 32 on any power poll in this spiral arm of the galaxy. Entrenched, that is, until another loss drops them behind Ohio State, Florida and the Hamburg Sea Devils. Think it can't get worse? Hey, this is the Lions. NFL schedule makers saw fit to arrange the endgame Kitty Cats' so, so long season likewise: at the Green Bay Packers where the Lions haven't won since a guy named Brett Favre took over there (that's right, 1992); against the Chicago Bears in a game which figures to...

The fight to keep the 49ers from leaving San Francisco is quickly expanding to Sacramento and Washington -- with both the city and the team arming themselves for a full-blown political and public relations war. The Niners got an early jump on the slugfest. As far back as mid-October -- some three weeks before 49ers owner John York announced he was dropping plans for a stadium at Candlestick Point to concentrate on a "backup'' site in Santa Clara -- the team signed up veteran consultant Ed McGovern to start lobbying local politicians and community groups to rally behind the South...

Newsom aides say paper trail shows the team was not honest with S.F. The San Francisco 49ers engaged in detailed talks with South Bay officials about the possibility of relocating the team to Santa Clara for more than a year before the team actually announced its intention to move there, records show. Written correspondence between the 49ers and South Bay officials obtained by The Chronicle indicate that talks had taken place since at least October 2005 and remained active through this fall while the team simultaneously worked on brokering a deal to build a new $600 million to $800 million...

With the 49ers' plan for a new stadium at Candlestick Point sunk in the mud, insiders at San Francisco City Hall are revisiting the idea of building at Hunters Point -- in an area that could be paved over with lots of parking. Here's why. Cut through all the double talk, and the 49ers' problems come down to two key points. One: All the Niners are really interested in is a new stadium and a parking lot. Despite all the smiles and public pronouncements over the years, they are not comfortable with the mega housing and retail development deal they...

Before John York absorbs one more cheap hit over the dissolution of San Francisco's Olympic dream, let's consider the possibility that the 49ers' owner did an enormous favor for the city. When his wavering commitment to a new stadium at Candlestick Point unraveled the bid for the 2016 Olympics, he might have saved San Francisco from a vanity project that often leaves ugly blemishes on a community's bottom line. A year after the Athens Olympics, the ledger still showed a pool of red ink deep enough to support platform diving. Estimates from Australia set the debt for the Sydney Games...

Mike Nolan and Jack Del Rio are ready to suit up. The San Francisco coach and his Jacksonville counterpart have the NFL's permission to wear dress suits designed by Reebok during two games this season. You might find this outfit at your local second-hand store. 49ers head coach Mike Nolan is shedding his old sideline gear in favor of a suit. Nolan is expected to debut his old-school outfit -- a black suit, a white shirt and a red-and-gold-striped tie -- at the 49ers' home game against Seattle on Sunday. Del Rio also will wear a suit-and-tie ensemble in Monday...

What's in a name? If you are the San Francisco 49ers, a lot, apparently. A Super-Bowl-size battle is brewing over the fate of the team's name and whether it would still be allowed to call itself the San Francisco 49ers if it relocates to Santa Clara. Team officials say that any move would involve bringing along the San Francisco name. But in the city by the bay, where leaders are furious over last week's surprise announcement that the 49ers want to leave their Candlestick Point home, officials already are arguing that, if the team goes, the name stays. Legal experts,...

While her husband John York held a news conference in Santa Clara on Thursday to say the 49ers had plans to move out of San Francisco, Denise DeBartolo York remained at the family's home base in Youngstown, Ohio. "I had made a commitment a long time ago to do something and I had to honor it," DeBartolo York explained, saying she wasn't just trying to avoid the spotlight. Her duty? The co-owner of the 49ers, a businesswoman who has been profiled in Forbes magazine and sits as a director of Simon Property Group, North America's largest publicly traded real estate...

When San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and 49ers co-owner John York sit down and try to clear the air over the collapse of the team's Candlestick Point stadium deal, it's likely to be a very stiff affair. That's because in the two days between York's 11th-hour call to Newsom to deliver the news that he was going to try to move to Santa Clara and Sen. Dianne Feinstein's call for a time-out, a lot of water went under the bridge -- none of it very pretty. That was evident when Newsom emerged from Friday's meeting in Feinstein's office and declared,...

Negotiations to keep the 49ers in San Francisco will officially resume next week after two of California's most powerful politicians intervened, officials on both sides of the talks told The Chronicle. Two days after the team abruptly announced its plans to move to Santa Clara, Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Friday gathered Mayor Gavin Newsom, his chief of staff and 49ers co-owner John York and his son, Jed, in her San Francisco office for a morning meeting. House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi also phoned John York and left him a message expressing her disappointment and telling him it is "unacceptable for the...

NOT A DONE DEAL: Newsom hints at suit over lease or to keep city's name - The San Francisco 49ers may think they're packing up and moving to Santa Clara, but not if Mayor Gavin Newsom gets his way. Still reeling from the blow of what he called a surprise announcement, Newsom said Thursday that the team's effort to trade in Candlestick Point for the South Bay is hardly a done deal and hinted that there could be legal challenges to come. "It just seems to me that you can't close down this discussion with the city on the 5-yard...

The 49ers broke off negotiations with San Francisco city officials aimed at securing a new stadium at Candlestick Point and hope to build a home for the team in Santa Clara, MediaNews has learned. Team owner John York informed San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom of the team's decision Wednesday. The 49ers' decision could have a substantial impact on the San Francisco's bid for the 2016 Olympics, of which the stadium was to play a key part. "We're going to have to make some assessments," said Peter Ragone, a spokesman for Newsom. York said in a statement that after a year...

Montana, Rice, many more will hit Paris Las Vegas Hotel Former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo has always enjoyed a good party -- but this time he's about to outdo himself. DeBartolo has invited a few hundred of his closest friends -- and just about anybody who had anything to do with the five Super Bowl championship glory days -- to a three-day, three-night party this week at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel. It is billed in the invite as "the most exclusive event in the history of professional football.'' Joe Montana, Steve Young, Jerry Rice, Bill Walsh and George Seifert...

<p>DENVER -- San Francisco 49ers lineman Thomas Herrion died from heart disease when he collapsed after a preseason game in Denver on Aug. 20, the Denver County coroner said Tuesday.</p> <p>The 49ers paid tribute to Thomas Herrion on Friday, Aug. 26.</p>

DENVER -- Unwilling to be a bit player with the Broncos, Jerry Rice retired Monday, closing a 20-year career for the most productive receiver in NFL history. Rice, 42, made his decision over the weekend at home in San Francisco, then returned to Broncos headquarters and met with coach Mike Shanahan. He played 20 NFL seasons. "This is a happy day," he said. "I think the tears that you see basically is that I have really enjoyed this ride." Shanahan confirmed what Rice already knew — that he would be a fourth or fifth receiver, at best this season —...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former NFL running back Lawrence Phillips, who was wanted by police for domestic violence, was arrested Sunday after allegedly running his car into three teenagers who argued with him during a pickup football game, police said. Police had been seeking Phillips since earlier this month for allegedly attacking his girlfriend twice, once choking her into unconsciousness. Phillips joined a group of 16- and 17-year-olds in a pickup football game in Exposition Park on Sunday and got into an argument with several of the teens, said Los Angeles police officer Sandra Escalante. He left the park, but...

DENVER (AP) -- San Francisco offensive lineman Thomas Herrion collapsed in the locker room and died Sunday morning, shortly after the 49ers played the Denver Broncos in a preseason game. He was 23. Herrion, a 6-foot-3, 310-pound guard, was on the field for San Francisco's 14-play, 91-yard drive that ended with a touchdown with 2 seconds left. Players had finished listening to coach Mike Nolan address them in a postgame meeting when Herrion collapsed. Medics administered CPR on him and took him to an ambulance that rushed him to a nearby hospital. About three hours later, 49ers spokesman Aaron Salkin...

National Football League News Wire The following stories are the most recent transmissions from ESPN.com wire sources Sunday, August 14, 2005Ex-NFL player Robbins arrested on marijuana charge - AP (1:47 PM ET)Panthers, at almost 100 percent, are excited after preseason win - AP (1:25 PM ET) Raiders assistant taken to hospital after fainting on sideline - AP (2:08 AM ET)UNDATED: yards receiving. - AP (1:39 AM ET) Saturday, August 13, 2005NFL Preseason Capsules - AP (11:38 PM ET) Schottenheimer sticking with errant kicker Kaeding - AP (10:15 PM ET)Panthers retire Mills' jersey at halftime - AP (9:50 PM ET)Without Owens,...

It was a simple, passionate idea: create nurturing, secure homes for abused, neglected, and abandoned children trapped in California's foster care system. The goal: to end the instability that many face when they are tossed from one family to the next. But turning this inspired vision into the Children's Village of Sonoma County has taken nearly eight years of toil by the project's founder, Lia Rowley, and legions of volunteers, including ex-49ers quarterback Joe Montana, his wife, Jennifer, and their two teenage daughters. Groundbreaking for the Children's Village, a cross between a group home and foster care, is planned this...

The prequel to the now-infamous 49ers Gone Wild video hit the airwaves Tuesday night, and while it's not nearly as risque or racially charged as the one that gave the team a national black eye last week, the inspiration for that disaster is plain to see. This video, made nearly two years ago and obtained by television station KRON, includes a dose of bathroom humor, a lap dancer burying a Niners staffer's head in her bosom and the team's outgoing public relations chief and producer of both tapes, Kirk Reynolds, with a protuberance in his pants. Reynolds made both the...