Free Republic

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Two men were shot and wounded in the parking lot of Candlestick Park after a preseason NFL game Saturday night between the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders, police said. The shootings occurred around 8 p.m., shortly after the 49ers' 17-3 victory, police Sgt. Michael Andraychak said.

Camp Alex II is officially over. Nobody knows for certain when the San Francisco 49ers will begin training camp. Or if Alex Smith can be as successful of a quarterback this fall as he has been this summer. The 49ers' former and apparently future quarterback ended his final scheduled informal team workout Friday. After organizing two separate four-day mini-camps at San Jose State that included most of the offensive players, Smith said he has installed about as much of new coach Jim Harbaugh's West Coast system as he can this summer. All he can do now is wait for the...

Local San Francisco radio is announing Harbaugh has signed with the San Francisco 49ers.

The San Francisco 49ers have fired offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye, according to a league source. The team announced the firing Monday, one day after it fell to 0-3 and was beaten 31-10 at Kansas City. San Francisco has scored 38 points, second fewest in the NFL behind Carolina. Mike Johnson will move from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator. Offensive assistant Jason Michael will take over as quarterbacks coach. 49ers coach Mike Singletary and Raye have not seen eye-to-eye about the reasons for the team's struggling offense. The 49ers were considered a favorite in the NFC West this year, but their...

Glen Coffee, the backup running back who shocked the 49ers last week by retiring at age 23, said he is leaving football for a higher calling. In an interview with the Mobile (Ala.) Press Register, the former University of Alabama standout said, "True happiness is glorifying God and glorifying Christ. That's what true happiness is. ... And for me, that wasn't the NFL. That wasn't where I needed to be." Coffee was competing for the No. 2 job behind Frank Gore before skipping an afternoon practice Thursday without explanation. He returned Friday morning to tell coach Mike Singletary that he...

Santa Clara voters Tuesday approved Measure J, the San Francisco 49ers' plan to build a $937 million stadium in their community. The measure took a strong early lead, and although results from the city's precincts were coming in slowly, the crush of mail ballots that was reported minutes after the polls closed was enough for the victory. Santa Clara officials and several hundred stadium supporters packed into an American Legion hall to celebrate the anticipated passage of Measure J. While precinct results were slow to arrive, the stadium supporters exuded confidence. By 9:30 p.m., the pro-Measure J leaders already were...

Despite weather, 49ers are storming the Cards tonight. Too much AZ turnovers. Gore just scored a touchdown. SF 24, AZ 9

The 49ers had pulled to within three and were driving with 1:38 remaining in the game....

After one day of face-to-face talks, the 49ers have reached a deal with first-round draft pick Michael Crabtree. Working into the early morning, Crabtree signed a six-year deal, ending his contract impasse after 72 days. As of 4 a.m., no other details were available. The No. 10 overall pick will be at the team's Santa Clara headquarters today when the 49ers hit the practice field after Tuesday's day off. Citing league sources, ESPN reported that the Crabtree will get a six-year contract that he can void in five years if he meets undefined performance clauses.

A dolphin or porpoise (there are subtle differences between the two) somehow wondered into Coyote Creek in Santa Clara. The mammal was discovered just outside the 49ers training facility. The find quickly attracted a crowd of both onlookers and reporters alike. Experts from the Marine Mammal Center out of Sausalito came down and made quick work of rescuing the animal. The team took the creature to its Sausalito-based center for medical treatment. By midday, the tide was starting to turn taking the water out, which put a real time pressure on the rescue effort. If you know the area, you...

The Santa Clara City Council may decide tonight to bless a $937 million stadium project for the San Francisco 49ers. But San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has some advice for the voters in the South Bay city, who will have to agree: Don't do it. Instead of using nearly $80 million in city funds on a 68,500-seat stadium that will host only a handful of football games each year, Santa Clara should instead spend the money on other city needs like schools, Newsom said. "That's a lot of money to spend on a team that won't even change its name,"...

The San Francisco 49ers on Friday acknowledged that the battered economy likely will slow down their plans to build a new stadium in Santa Clara and now has them willing to discuss a once unthinkable option — sharing a new home with their cross-bay rival, the Raiders. Combining resources with the Oakland Raiders — as the New York Jets and Giants have done on a new $1.6 billion stadium — may be the only way for the 49ers to overcome frozen financial markets to fund a new stadium, NFL insiders and sports economists say. Team officials said Friday that they...

SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco 49ers defended their pat-down searches of fans before an apparently divided California Supreme Court today, saying ticket-buyers know they'll be searched when they walk into Candlestick Park and give up their right to argue that their privacy is being invaded.

The 49ers announced after their 27-24 victory over the Redskins that Mike Singletary will remain . . .

Steve Young is speaking out about his family and California's Proposition 8. He's reacting to the use of his name in a press release from the "Vote No" Prop. 8 group. "I have not given anyone authority to use my name whatsoever, in any political matter," he said. SNIP On YouTube a video of the Young home in Palo Alto from a California television station shows a "Vote No" on Prop. 8 sign and anti-discrimination Halloween decorations. Saturday the "No on Prop. 8" organization issued a press release saying NBA great Magic Johnson is calling Prop. 8 wrong and unfair....

His first NFL game was in Cleveland at age 3. He sat on Jennifer Montana's lap. "I'm still searching for a better seat," he says. He was 7 when John Madden nearly ran him into a locker at Giants Stadium in Madden's haste to interview Jerry Rice, who had caught a last-minute, game-winning touchdown bomb from Jennifer's husband, Joe. Fifth grade marked the first time in four years that he hadn't made a trip to the White House to celebrate a sports championship. Jed York was one lucky kid. But he's no longer the youngster the Super Bowl 49ers used...

The 49ers canned head coach Mike Nolan on Monday, and apparently, it's just the beginning of a front office overhaul. The club managed just 18 wins in 55 games, and were 2-5 this season. That, along with 2005 first-overall pick Alex Smith's glacial development had just about everything to do with Nolan's current status. But this morning, NFL Network's Adam Schefter reports that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice might be interested in a job with the 49ers in the near future. "We all know that change has swept through San Francisco, but now it looks like more could be coming....

ON ONE SIDE of the fence, you have those who think 49ers coach Mike Nolan is the second coming of bumbling Barry Switzer and want him fired. Now! On the other side, you have those who believe Nolan is a decent coach who took over an NFL disaster area and deserves another year to fix the mess he inherited. And me? I'm on the fence, waiting to be convinced that this decision truly, truly matters one way or the other for the 49ers. You see, even if Nolan goes, John York, the man at the top of the 49ers' corporate...

With a key vote upcoming at the Santa Clara City Council on whether to help build a new stadium for the 49ers, San Francisco city officials say a new infusion of federal cash is giving a big lift to their alternative plans to keep the team playing in the city at a new stadium at the Hunters Point shipyard. A federal appropriations bill headed to President Bush to fund the U.S. military for the fiscal year starting next Oct. 1 contains $82 million for Navy cleanup of the polluted former naval shipyard at Hunters Point - a $20 million increase...

The 49ers made major changes to their front-office structure Friday, hiring former A's executive and Memphis Grizzlies President Andy Dolich as their new chief operating officer. Team co-owner John York said he maintain his same role overseeing the day-to-day operation of the franchise, but he will increase the responsibilities of son Jed, who has been taking a lead role in the 49ers' negotiations for a new stadium in either Santa Clara or San Francisco. He is not stepping down or stepping aside from the team. "Not a bit," York said. "Jed's role continues to grow but he is primarily working...