[Stupid] Time for Singletary to step down as "face of the franchise".

I liked his point. But Singletary is a HOF and SB winner. With no one on the field that has been in that situation and two guys (Gore, and Willis) that are main position players he does have a point about us not having a major face of our franchise or offense.

How do you guys not get this?

The point of Ratto's article was that the 49ers need a new face of the franchise so Singletary isn't the focal point of the team. Ratto's theory is that if the 49ers fail, then Singletary will be the first fall guy.

The idea is that if the identity of the team evolves and a new, true face of the franchise emerges (and no, we don't have that right now, including Willis and Gore), then everything won't fall squarely on the shoulders of Singletary.

Right now, Mike Singletary IS the 49ers. Everything else... the Hill/Smith competition, Gore as the centerpiece, Willis being a bad ass... is just window dressing. Ratto's point is that the 49ers need a new face of the franchise so it isn't always 24/7 Singletary whenever anyone outside of SF talks about the 49ers.

Because if the Niners falter this season, who will the press turn to? Gore & Willis aren't mouthpieces, and there aren't really any true vocal team leaders beyond them. It all comes back to Singletary, and that's not a good thing for him or us as fans.

Let's put it this way... when say, the San Diego Chargers lose big games, who do they turn to? Rivers, Tomlinson, and Norv Turner. Maybe they get Merriman and Castillo too.

Now when the 49ers lose big games this season, who will they turn to? Singletary and just maybe Willis. That's it. Sure, they will ask Shaun Hill questions, but no one outside of SF expects anything out of Shaun Hill. And everyone in the press knows Frank Gore is a terrible interview (on camera, Frank simply does not speak good English).

The article is merely asking for a new face of the franchise so Singletary doesn't get burnt out emotionally if things go bad. It helps if there is another leader to help fend off the criticism and explain what went wrong.

Because right now, it's Singletary's 49ers, and that's it.

If it is not written by Barrows or Maiocco it is not worth reading. These two are always accurate and never sensationalize.

Originally posted by NickSh49:
How do you guys not get this?

The point of Ratto's article was that the 49ers need a new face of the franchise so Singletary isn't the focal point of the team. Ratto's theory is that if the 49ers fail, then Singletary will be the first fall guy.

The idea is that if the identity of the team evolves and a new, true face of the franchise emerges (and no, we don't have that right now, including Willis and Gore), then everything won't fall squarely on the shoulders of Singletary.

Right now, Mike Singletary IS the 49ers. Everything else... the Hill/Smith competition, Gore as the centerpiece, Willis being a bad ass... is just window dressing. Ratto's point is that the 49ers need a new face of the franchise so it isn't always 24/7 Singletary whenever anyone outside of SF talks about the 49ers.

Because if the Niners falter this season, who will the press turn to? Gore & Willis aren't mouthpieces, and there aren't really any true vocal team leaders beyond them. It all comes back to Singletary, and that's not a good thing for him or us as fans.

Let's put it this way... when say, the San Diego Chargers lose big games, who do they turn to? Rivers, Tomlinson, and Norv Turner. Maybe they get Merriman and Castillo too.

Now when the 49ers lose big games this season, who will they turn to? Singletary and just maybe Willis. That's it. Sure, they will ask Shaun Hill questions, but no one outside of SF expects anything out of Shaun Hill. And everyone in the press knows Frank Gore is a terrible interview (on camera, Frank simply does not speak good English).

The article is merely asking for a new face of the franchise so Singletary doesn't get burnt out emotionally if things go bad. It helps if there is another leader to help fend off the criticism and explain what went wrong.

Because right now, it's Singletary's 49ers, and that's it.

truthfully i did not even read the article, i hate huge long articles. which is why i love the matt's.

Oddly he defeats his own argument when he says "Bill Walsh, on the other hand, wasn't the face of the franchise once it started rolling. He was in 1979 and 1980, when the team won eight of 32 games and most of the players weren't capable of that level of face.

So by this logic shouldn't this apply to Singletary himself who has yet to even coach a full season?

I understand what he's saying and to a certain degree I agree with him. But for starters your coach really is never not the face of your franchise if it's successful. I'm sure everyone here when you talk about the 9ers in the 80's you think of Walsh just as much as you think Montana, Rice, Lott, etc. Today you associate Belichick with the Pats as much as you do Brady.

Secondly as he himself basically said in the quote I just posted is that it takes winning for players to become the face of the franchise. Once we start making the playoffs and being competitive and getting some national media attention than people will naturally start to think of the star players as the face of the franchise rather than just the coach.

Whoever thinks of Mike Singletary before Patrick Willis and Frank Gore when talking Niner football has issues.

Originally posted by NickSh49:
How do you guys not get this?

The point of Ratto's article was that the 49ers need a new face of the franchise so Singletary isn't the focal point of the team. Ratto's theory is that if the 49ers fail, then Singletary will be the first fall guy.

The idea is that if the identity of the team evolves and a new, true face of the franchise emerges (and no, we don't have that right now, including Willis and Gore), then everything won't fall squarely on the shoulders of Singletary.

Right now, Mike Singletary IS the 49ers. Everything else... the Hill/Smith competition, Gore as the centerpiece, Willis being a bad ass... is just window dressing. Ratto's point is that the 49ers need a new face of the franchise so it isn't always 24/7 Singletary whenever anyone outside of SF talks about the 49ers.

Because if the Niners falter this season, who will the press turn to? Gore & Willis aren't mouthpieces, and there aren't really any true vocal team leaders beyond them. It all comes back to Singletary, and that's not a good thing for him or us as fans.

Let's put it this way... when say, the San Diego Chargers lose big games, who do they turn to? Rivers, Tomlinson, and Norv Turner. Maybe they get Merriman and Castillo too.

Now when the 49ers lose big games this season, who will they turn to? Singletary and just maybe Willis. That's it. Sure, they will ask Shaun Hill questions, but no one outside of SF expects anything out of Shaun Hill. And everyone in the press knows Frank Gore is a terrible interview (on camera, Frank simply does not speak good English).

The article is merely asking for a new face of the franchise so Singletary doesn't get burnt out emotionally if things go bad. It helps if there is another leader to help fend off the criticism and explain what went wrong.

Because right now, it's Singletary's 49ers, and that's it.

HooRah bro. This is what I'm saying. Seems simple ya? Nice post... "getting it", has been a tough deal since the inception of educated humankind.. Hats off to you and OUR 49er's. Either someone steps up, a multi thing I hope, or MS is on the line as THE guy...

Ready for sum football guys?

NINERS 2009!!!!!!

I guess some of these guys run out of material and they end up writing articles that are total crap.

I wish that I had seen this thread ...... before wasting my time on that article.

all of ur post on this thread off of some media reporters thoughts are s t u p i d. why are you guys going to war on whos face of a franchise? big freakin deal. at this point we have no clue who is who. we have a rookie hc. we have a rookie oc. we have players and "so called potential" and we have one player...i said it. one player year in year out proven to be the face. not from a media stand point but from a fan/probowl caliber/followed by modesty and by being humble. patrick willis. just like for years before. by fans/pro bowl caliber/ modesty and being humble and work ethic jerry rice was and still is the face of our team.

all of ur post on this thread off of some media reporters thoughts are s t u p i d. why are you guys going to war on whos face of a franchise? big freakin deal. at this point we have no clue who is who. we have a rookie hc. we have a rookie oc. we have players and "so called potential" and we have one player...i said it. one player year in year out proven to be the face. not from a media stand point but from a fan/probowl caliber/followed by modesty and by being humble. patrick willis. he's the best thing to happen to the niners in a long time and will be a h.o.f. one day. just like sing is. sings not the face. he was the face of his 85 bears. this is p.willys team. and he is the face

Originally posted by Winners:
Ray Ratto is such an annoying dbag.
Singletary should step down as face of franchise

Anyone ever heard him say anything positive about the 49ers at all?

He's a raiders fan, f#$k him.

Ratto was spot on in this article. The longer Singletary remains the face of the franchise, the less likely he is to continue with the franchise long term. When the coach is the face, the teams sucks and that coach will be gone. I don't think for a moment that Singletary will be afforded the time Nolin was as our face of the franchise.

Originally posted by GolittaCamper:

Originally posted by bigmur49:
I thought his point made sense. To be honest i stopped reading after the first paragraph cuz I figured I had his point, but we need Gore, Willis, Hill etc. to become the face of the team because it means we're winning! What's wrong with that?

ding ding ding you are correct sir!!!!!!


please stupid people please refrain from reading this article!

It's already been said, but we already have faces of the franchise. When you ask any person with any football knowledge, "Hey, who plays for the 49ers?", they will all answer Willis and Gore. That isn't a problem. This guy just made this article because he needed to write something. It's stupid and there is no need to get worked up about anything.

It was a joke, what I read anyhow. I at one time liked Ray but that is going back aways. He is a bit of a tool.