SINGLETARY CONFIRMS HALFTIME PANTS DROP

49ers coach Mike Singletary has made quite an impact on the NFL in a very short time. In only one game, he delivered a memorable postgame press conference and a fiery postgame speech to his team, and he sent a star player to the showers during the game. Singletary now admits that, during halftime of the same, he dropped his pants while speaking to the team. Word of the incident surfaced on Wednesday. We posted an item about it earlier today. Subsequently, Singletary issued the following statement: “I used my pants to illustrate that we were getting our tails whipped on Sunday and how humiliating that should feel for all of us. I needed to do something to dramatize my point; there were other ways I could have done it but I think this got the message across.” Hmmm. “Hey, Coach just dropped his pants. Wow, he’s got some skinny legs for a former player. Why did he do that again? Oh, yeah. We suck.” Asked whether Singletary was embarrassed by the incident, team P.R. director Aaron Salkin said, “There are other ways he could’ve done it. He knows that.” Based on the report on ESPN.com, it appears that Singletary didn’t actually moon the team. The initial reports seemed to suggest that Singletary had shown the players his (Tom) Bare-asso. Regardless of whether the players got a look at Singletary’s naked butt and rectum, we’ve got a feeling that this entire experiment isn’t going to work. We just don’t think that this is the way to motivate grown men. More importantly, we think the bigger issue is whether Singletary has the stuff to get his players prepared to play. Even if the players are as motivated as they can possibly be, the coaching staff needs to work hard (and work smart) in getting the players in position to make plays and win games. Based on the fact that the 49ers were blown away by a previously 1-5 team using a backup quarterback, we’re not ready to declare that Mike Singletary is a master of breaking down game film and putting together game plans and then communicating the strategy effectively to the players. And we have a feeling that next week’s performance against the Cardinals won’t change our minds.