Cam Morrah joining Nnamdi on 49ers:
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/04/17/tight-end-cameron-morrah-to-sign-with-49ers/

Still doesn't make up for Beast Mode in Seattle as far as Cal rooting in NFC West.

CaliforniaEternal;842115216 said:

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Cam Morrah joining Nnamdi on 49ers:
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/04/17/tight-end-cameron-morrah-to-sign-with-49ers/

Still doesn't make up for Beast Mode in Seattle as far as Cal rooting in NFC West.

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Hatters gon hat

I thought the 49ers hated Cal and love Furd?

Cal Panda Bear;842115224 said:

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Hatters gon hat

I thought the 49ers hated Cal and love Furd?

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That was the past. Looks like the tide has turned!

Cal Panda Bear;842115224 said:

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Hatters gon hat

I thought the 49ers hated Cal and love Furd?

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The Seahawks have Marshawn, an all-time Cal great, and Mebane. Both of these guys play major roles in Seattle.

If you are looking strictly at Cal connections, Seahawks over 49ers and it's not even close.

CaliforniaEternal;842115230 said:

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The Seahawks have Marshawn, an all-time Cal great, and Mebane. Both of these guys play major roles in Seattle.

If you are looking strictly at Cal connections, Seahawks over 49ers and it's not even close.

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What makes you think Morrah and Nhamdi wont play key roles? I can see Morrah playing a huge role in a similar fashion as Delanie Walker did. Sure, he wont be the "#1 TE" on the field, but in Harbaugh's offense, that doesnt matter. Walker was huge for us and I can see Morrah stepping into that role, especially when it comes to blocking and creating windows for Frankie Gore.

Nhamdi also has the potential to be huge for us, especially since our secondary is our "weakest" spot. He could very well pass up Culliver on the depth chart.

Damn, all these 49ers-haters are going to find EVERY possible reason to hate on them with the "Cal" card. If you hate the 49ers, fine. But dont use Cal players as an excuse.

CaliforniaEternal;842115230 said:

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The Seahawks have Marshawn, an all-time Cal great, and Mebane. Both of these guys play major roles in Seattle.

If you are looking strictly at Cal connections, Seahawks over 49ers and it's not even close.

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yeah, and the seahawks' best player is a furd, so there's that.

Cal Panda Bear;842115268 said:

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What makes you think Morrah and Nhamdi wont play key roles? I can see Morrah playing a huge role in a similar fashion as Delanie Walker did. Sure, he wont be the "#1 TE" on the field, but in Harbaugh's offense, that doesnt matter. Walker was huge for us and I can see Morrah stepping into that role.

Nhamdi also has the potential to be huge for us, especially since our secondary is our "weakest" spot. He could very well pass up Culliver on the depth chart.

Damn, all these 49ers-haters are going to find EVERY possible reason to hate on them with the "Cal" card. If you hate the 49ers, fine. But dont use Cal players as an excuse.

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To the extent that I am a fan of any NFL team (apart from the players--I root for Cal players), I am a 49er fan. However, I have family that are Stanford and 49er fans and I have been hearing for nearly 50 years about the strong ties between Stanford and the 49ers, including from former 49er players and execs at Stanford tailgates. That history with Stanford is pretty undeniable, though some Cal fans who are maybe bigger Niner fans (grew up as Niner fans not Cal fans and were unaware of that history) are in denial about that history. For awhile in the 90s it looked like things had changed, they had a few key Cal players and I had something to argue with my Stanford relatives about. Then then for the past decade things reverted back. I have rooted for the Niners in spite of that history, especially last year with Kaepernick at QB.

If the Niners start signing Cal guys again it would be great and Nnamdi and Morrah are a great start, hopefully the guys at the pro day get signed as well. I will root for the Niners in any case, but I will always root for Cal guys first.

Cal Panda Bear;842115268 said:

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What makes you think Morrah and Nhamdi wont play key roles? I can see Morrah playing a huge role in a similar fashion as Delanie Walker did. Sure, he wont be the "#1 TE" on the field, but in Harbaugh's offense, that doesnt matter. Walker was huge for us and I can see Morrah stepping into that role, especially when it comes to blocking and creating windows for Frankie Gore.

Nhamdi also has the potential to be huge for us, especially since our secondary is our "weakest" spot. He could very well pass up Culliver on the depth chart.

Damn, all these 49ers-haters are going to find EVERY possible reason to hate on them with the "Cal" card. If you hate the 49ers, fine. But dont use Cal players as an excuse.

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You are using the term hater way too loosely here. A lot of people, myself included, don't have an emotional attachment to an NFL team the way we do to Cal. Even though I am a San Franciscan, I root for the Packers over the Niners because of my preference to see Aaron Rodgers do well. In most other cases, I prefer to see the Niners win.

If you prefer to root for a certain NFL team, that's fine by me. I can't get myself to fully commit to an NFL team, because the league exists to line the pockets of the owners. It's a necessary tradeoff for its popularity, I know.

calumnus;842115275 said:

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That history with Stanford is pretty undeniable, though some Cal fans who are maybe bigger Niner fans (grew up as Niner fans not Cal fans and were unaware of that history) are in denial about that history.

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Please stop trying to kill my denial. As far as I'm concerned, the niners have no furd history!

:axe

ducky23;842115274 said:

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yeah, and the seahawks' best player is a furd, so there's that.

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Marshawn is their best player and has been doing it for years. Sherman has had one good season. He may ultimately become their best player but right now, Marshawn's body of work is far better than the turd's.

did he ever play a down for Seattle? He seemed lost on the practice squad or injury list his entire career. That said, he must have redeeming qualities to be in this conversation...............

Get rid of winningest coach, strange things happen

stanfurdbites;842115281 said:

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Marshawn is their best player and has been doing it for years. Sherman has had one good season. He may ultimately become their best player but right now, Marshawn's body of work is far better than the turd's.

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I see the world through blue and gold tinted glasses too, but Marshawn's career has been pretty up and down:

http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/10456/marshawn-lynch

The Niners have now rostered four Cal players in the past decade. There is no longer any logical reason to assume a bias. Those of you who continue to do so are delusional. You are the ones who are biased.

calumnus;842115275 said:

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If the Niners start signing Cal guys again it would be great and Nnamdi and Morrah are a great start, hopefully the guys at the pro day get signed as well. I will root for the Niners in any case, but I will always root for Cal guys first.

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Two guys in about as many weeks isn't a good enough start for you? Just come out and say it: nothing they do will convince you that the Niners aren't biased.

dinan3;842115295 said:

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did he ever play a down for Seattle? He seemed lost on the practice squad or injury list his entire career. That said, he must have redeeming qualities to be in this conversation...............

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He played 15 games in 2010 and 9 in 2011 until I believe he was injured. He was mainly used in blocking situations however he was typically targeted at least once a game. He had a reasonable amount of PT for not being a starter. I also recall him having a key reception in the 2010 playoff run (looks like he did indeed have a 39 yard reception in one of those games).

See his stats here: http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/12545/cameron-morrah

-kap

Personally I don't think the 9ers have negative bias towards any schools because that just wouldn't make any sense from a business perspective unless they had a recent string of failed signees from that school, which obviously hasn't been the case with Cal.

However, I don't see how signing a couple NFL veterans is proof that the organization doesn't have such a bias. If they really had a bias and undervalued Cal talent, the argument that such a bias doesn't exist would be broken by the 9ers signing recent Cal grads, not players that have been playing professionally for several years and have demonstrated their talents at the NFL level.

I find it hard to believe there is a bias in the NFL. You get the best players and play them or you are out of job in 1 year.

I hate furd just as much as anyone and I hate Andrew Luck, but, hell, if I was a GM or coach, I would draft and play him every day and twice on sundays.

I think there are a lot of fans that grew up somewhere else than the bay area (LA) that went to Cal and became fans during the Tedford years and really have no emotional attachment to the niners (because they sucked during those years).

CalBearRJ;842115321 said:

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I see the world through blue and gold tinted glasses too, but Marshawn's career has been pretty up and down:

http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/10456/marshawn-lynch

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Yes, but the question or point is that he IS the Seahawks best player. Of late he has been way up, thus elevating himself to hold the title of best hawk. His time as a Bill isn't needed for this equation.

Davidson;842115390 said:

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I find it hard to believe there is a bias in the NFL. You get the best players and play them or you are out of job in 1 year.

I hate furd just as much as anyone and I hate Andrew Luck, but, hell, if I was a GM or coach, I would draft and play him every day and twice on sundays.

I think there are a lot of fans that grew up somewhere else than the bay area (LA) that went to Cal and became fans during the Tedford years and really have no emotional attachment to the niners (because they sucked during those years).

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Well you are familiar with Luck, because Cal played against him and he played in the same media market (one of the reasons many NFL franchises have a bias towards players from local schools).

From my understanding that is similar to the Niners under Eddie D. He grew up a Notre Dame fan, he was a Notre Dame alum. He watched Notre Dame on Saturdays and the 49ers on Sundays. He was biased for Note Dame but also when drafting had a bias toward players he had seen on teams that played against Notre Dame: USC, Stanford, BYU and the service academies. He was an active owner and had a lot of influence. I was also told the Niners thought guys from Notre Dame, Stanford, BYU and the service academies were "character guys" and the Niners prided themselves on "being classy."

Similarly, Tony Morabito, the Niners original owner, grew up a Stanford fan, played for Santa Clara and the 49ers had Stanford quarterbacks as starters (and back-ups) almost exclusively for decades (only one Stanford QB that played in the NFL during those decades never played for the Niners). Does anyone really think that is just a coincidence?

So not a bias against Cal, but a bias towards other schools and a lack of love for Cal from the local franchise. The big exception was when Mooch was the head coach and Holmoe was Cal's coach. It is not coincidental that the Niners had their most Cal players on the roster at that time. There was a former Niner at Cal and a former Cal coach at the Niners and they were friends/former co-workers so Cal players had connections and advocates. Football is a business, but those who try to argue that it is purely rational and that bias and connections don't matter obviously have little business experience or somehow think it doesn't apply here. Besides, signing a player (or hiring someone for a job) that you know or is endorsed by someone you know is completely rational.

With Harbaugh at the Niners and his friend Shaw at Stanford, it seemed likely the Stanford connection would resume (it had diminished as Walsh's influence diminished--he was a strong advocate for Stanford players within the Niner organization), possibly to the detriment of Cal players. However, due to recent developments it sure appears that is not the case and I am glad about that, it makes it a lot easier to root for the Niners. Go Niners! Go Bears!

calumnus;842115561 said:

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Well you are familiar with Luck, because Cal played against him and he played in the same media market (one of the reasons many NFL franchises have a bias towards players from local schools).

From my understanding that is similar to the Niners under Eddie D. He grew up a Notre Dame fan, he was a Notre Dame alum. He watched Notre Dame on Saturdays and the 49ers on Sundays. He was biased for Note Dame but also when drafting had a bias toward players he had seen on teams that played against Notre Dame: USC, Stanford, BYU and the service academies. He was an active owner and had a lot of influence. I was also told the Niners thought guys from Notre Dame, Stanford, BYU and the service academies were "character guys" and the Niners prided themselves on "being classy."

Similarly, Tony Morabito, the Niners original owner, grew up a Stanford fan, played for Santa Clara and the 49ers had Stanford quarterbacks as starters (and back-ups) almost exclusively for decades (only one Stanford QB that played in the NFL during those decades never played for the Niners). Does anyone really think that is just a coincidence?

So not a bias against Cal, but a bias towards other schools and a lack of love for Cal from the local franchise. The big exception was when Mooch was the head coach and Holmoe was Cal's coach. It is not coincidental that the Niners had their most Cal players on the roster at that time. There was a former Niner at Cal and a former Cal coach at the Niners and they were friends/former co-workers so Cal players had connections and advocates. Football is a business, but those who try to argue that it is purely rational and that bias and connections don't matter obviously have little business experience or somehow think it doesn't apply here. Besides, signing a player (or hiring someone for a job) that you know or is endorsed by someone you know is completely rational.

With Harbaugh at the Niners and his friend Shaw at Stanford, it seemed likely the Stanford connection would resume (it had diminished as Walsh's influence diminished--he was a strong advocate for Stanford players within the Niner organization), possibly to the detriment of Cal players. However, due to recent developments it sure appears that is not the case and I am glad about that, it makes it a lot easier to root for the Niners. Go Niners! Go Bears!

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I think it's impossible to be a football fan over the last five years, and not be familiar with Andrew Luck.

I think your comments are interesting, because you point out that Cal once was a school that the Niners had an affinity towards. I think that when people say "the Niners hate Cal" it is based on the observation that the Niners don't have a bias towards Cal. It's entirely likely that previous front offices have been biased towards certain schools, but the current (and recent) Niners management has been pretty neutral.

It's all relative. The Stanford connection has been infinitely more important to the niners historically than the Cal connection. There's no denying that.