Great Moments In Press Conference History: Mike Singletary

In this new series, I will examine classic moments from the annals of sports press conference history, as the title indicates. We all have an affinity for these types of moments, about which I’ve already posted.

It’s always entertaining to see coaches, players, owners, and other members of sports teams lose control of their emotions in front of dozens of reporters and, inevitably, millions of people on national TV. After all, there is a ton of pressure on people in their positions, and it’s only understandable to see such explosions of emotion when they are overwhelmingly upset about something.

Sportscenter loves this type of stuff, and so does YouTube, so I figured it would be a perfect topic for a post series on this blog. Lets start with a recent rant by Mike Singletary, San Francisco 49ers head coach. I picked this one to start because it is fresh in our minds, and is an instant classic at the same time. It’s also quite amusing.

Let’s set the stage. The 49ers came out flat against the Seahawks on Oct. 26, 2008, in Singletary’s debut as head coach. At halftime, Seattle held a 20-3 lead despite just 111 yards of total offense.

Quarterback J.T. O’Sullivan fumbled the ball three times before Singletary pulled him in the third quarter, and the 49ers were penalized 7 times for 65 yards. No penalty was worse than TE Vernon Davis’ when he slapped the helmet of a Seattle receiver in the third quarter and took a personal foul.

Davis, known for being hot-headed, was immediately ordered off the field by Singletary, who sent him to the locker room. Davis gave Singletary a look like he was being unjustly punished or that Singletary had no right to be angry. Thank goodness for that look, because that prompted an instant classic press conference moment.

Props to Singletary for making it about as clear as he possibly can that he would not tolerate selfishness from his team. One game into his career as a head coach, and the guy is already benching his QB and pulling receivers from the game for stupid penalties.

Coaches should do this more often in the NFL. The 49ers took that message into their bye week and played pretty well down the stretch, going 5-3 in the second half. Singletary may have earned his contract extension in that one single day.

You knew the video was coming; here it is!

Posted in football Tagged: 49ers, football, mike singletary, nfl, press conference, rant, san francisco, seahawks, vernon davis