Meet Me in Youngstown

I don't think Tony Bennett ever sang songs about
this particular city...

The Niners are planning on spending the entire week on the east coast prior to back-to-back games in Cininnati and Philadelphia. This is a frequent occurrence around the NFL, but the 49ers' choice of a temporary hometown is a bit questionable: Youngstown, Ohio - the home of the DeBartolo (and, by extension, the York) family.

Why Youngstown? It's not exactly a metropolis, and there are plenty of other options that would seem to be more feasible between Ohio and Pennsylvania. But no other city would provide Lil' Jed and his cronies a chance to play big shot and show off their fancy toy to all of their neighbors.

Maybe I'm just being cynical (go figure), but it seems like the Yorks are putting themselves ahead of the team in what looks to be a passive-aggresive move to show the entire organization that they are always the top dog within the 49er empire.

And now, some links:

• Good quarterbacks go from elite to otherworldly when facing Niners
• Where have all the faithful gone? (My answer: they're still here; just not giving the Yorks their money anymore)
• Shhh - don't tell anybody, but Alex Smith suffered a concussion last week
• Smith practicing, but Crabtree remains a no-show
• Great America theme park sold to clear way for 49ers' proposed stadium
• Despair quick to set in for fan bases of 49ers and Raiders
• 49ers come up small with game on the line
• 49ers offense still hiding in its shell