CRABTREE TALKING WITH 49ER'S...AND SO IS MC HAMMER?

Ring the bell, school's back in!

And so are negotiations between first-round draft pick Michael Crabtree(notes) and the San Francisco 49ers. Oddly, they seem to include early '90s rapper M.C. Hammer, too.

What qualifies Hammer to be there -- other than a mind to rhyme and two hype feet, of course -- I couldn't tell you. But he's there, according to excellent 49ers beat reporter Matt Maiocco, who includes several updates about Crabtree, his agent Eugene Parker and Hammer on his Twitter page.

He also posted a recap of his day attempting to cover the negotiations, including Hammer seemingly being offended when Maiocco asked him who he was. Hammer, don't hurt 'em!

Yes, folks, I later found out there was a very good reason this man looked like Hammer. It was Hammer. And although one hotel employee told me Crabtree said to Hammer, "Get it done," as he entered the SUV, it's safe to say that Hammer has no role in the negotiations. Hammer is long time friends with Deion Sanders and Crabtree's agent, Eugene Parker. Sanders is a mentor for Crabtree.

It is my understanding that progress is being made in the negotiations. Heck, the fact that they've finally had a face-to-face meeting is tremendous progress. It shows Crabtree has a willingness to play for the 49ers.

I'm happy about the progress, too. Hammer hasn't gotten this much attention since those Nationwide (is on yo side!) commercials stopped running. Oh, and I'm happy for Crabtree, too. It's about damn time he reopened talks with the 49ers.

As for Hammer, the younger readers might not be familiar with him, so I think the best way to describe him is this: People my age think of Hammer now the way you're going to think of Soulja Boy in 20 years. It was amusing and enjoyable at the time, but eventually you'll be confused as to how the whole thing ever happened. And then he'll turn up and negotiate a contract for Matthew Stafford(notes) Jr.

Story courtesy of www.sports.yahoo.com