Niners Thursday: Party On, Dudes!

Tomorrow we can preview the NO matchup. For now we'll stick to analysis of limey bastards, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and the wonderful hint of lime found only in Miller Chill (as delivered by Michael Lewis):

• KSK has a fascinating dissection of the American Football match being contested in Wembley this Sunday, October 28 in the Year of Our Lord 2007.

• Scott Ostler has a mostly assnine piece about Alex Smith and his "look." Scott, it's pretty simple. Beard=Success. This has been proven time and again by such luminaries as Baron Davis (baller beard), Jesus (holy beard), Abraham Lincoln (chinstrap beard), Karl Marx (communist beard), and ZZ Top (completely rockin beard).

• Beer Man!

• Eric Johnson will be back in town. He was always hurt, but at least he didn't come with the high expectations of Vernon. That way it was way less disappointing when he missed half of every season.

• Lelie may get to start on Sunday. No way! Sign a big name guy and actually play him? I can see the gears working in Nolan's head as I type.

• Hooray! Only 3rd worst in the Bay Area at disappointing fans! Someone pop the bubbly!

• Could the 49ers do better than Nolan next season? Quick answer: probably not. Also guaranteed, no one would even come close in stylish threads. So what's the rush to replace the guy?

Manny, I hope your recovery is going well:

"So, I had never had surgery before but they draw on your leg so they know which one to cut on. I guess that’s a good thing because I would have been highly upset had they done surgery on the good knee."