The 49ers may prefer a player be the face of the franchise but first year head coach Mike Singletary gets the honor whether he wants it or not.
When the former Chicago Bears Hall of Fame linebacker took over the 49ers after seven games last year he got off to a less than flattering start.
He drew national attention, for the wrong reasons, when someone in the locker room leaked that "Samaurai Mike" dropped his pants at halftime to illustrate a point to his players. (They were losing really bad. No dirty jokes please). And then he took things to the next level when he benched hotheaded tight end Vernon Davis in the second half and proceeded to lambaste him after the game.
We're not sure whether it was the dropping of the pants or just the animated press conference that caught the eye of a certain late night comic but something made David Letterman choose Singletary as the butt of his jokes.
The New York funnyman introduced a Singletary look alike in mock interviews on his show. In the bit, Letterman would try to ask the coach questions about the 49ers or the league and the overly excited coach would yell about anything and everything that didn't make sense. Need evidence? Check out the videos below.
Well finally months later, and a new contract later, Singletary is finally giving his thoughts on the Letterman skits. At the NFL owner meetings, Singletary told Paul Gutierrez of the Sacramento Bee that he doesn't understand the sketches.
"I'm still trying to figure it out," Singletary told Gutierrez with a smile. "I don't know if he likes me or hates me."
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He may be trying to figure it out but no doubt The Letterman sketch has taught Singletary a thing or two going into his first full season as head coach.
"The biggest thing I learned," he told the Bee "You have to be a little more careful at halftime with the things you do. … You're not by yourself...You have to make sure you find some humor in your job. And I have a lot of fun with what I do."
