SANTA CLARA, CALIF. (AP) - Jim and John Harbaugh have exchanged a handful of text messages, and plan to leave it at that. No phone conversations necessary while the season’s still going. No time for pleasantries, even for the friendly siblings.
There is work to be done to prepare for the Super Bowl, prepare for each other, prepare for a history-making day already being widely hyped as “Harbowl” or “Superbaugh” depending which nickname you prefer.
“It doesn’t matter who the coach is, what relationship you have with the person on the other side,” 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said so matter-of-factly Monday afternoon.
Their parents sure aren’t picking sides for the Feb. 3 matchup in New Orleans.
These days, the Harbaughs’ longtime coaching father, Jack, stays away from game-planning chatter or strategy sessions with his Super Bowl-bound coaching sons. Baltimore’s John Harbaugh and little brother Jim have been doing this long enough now to no longer need dad’s input.
Yet, they still regularly seek it. And, their father does offer one basic mantra: “Get ahead, stay ahead.”
“Probably the greatest advice that I’ve ever been given and the only advice that I’ve ever found to be true in all of coaching, I think we mentioned it to both John and Jim … the coaching advice is, `Get ahead, stay ahead,’” Jack Harbaugh said.
“If I’m called upon, I’ll repeat that same message.”
His boys still call home regularly to check in with the man who turned both on to the coaching profession years ago, and the mother who has handled everything behind the scenes for decades in a highly competitive, sports-crazed family _ with all the routine sports clichés to show for it.
The Harbaugh brothers will become the first siblings to square off from opposite sidelines when their teams play for the NFL championship at the Superdome.
Not that they’re too keen on playing up the storyline that has no chance of going away as hard as they try.
“Well, I think it’s a blessing and a curse,” Jim Harbaugh said Monday. “A blessing because that is my brother’s team. And, also, personally I played for the Ravens. Great respect for their organization. … The curse part would be the talk of two brothers playing in the Super Bowl and what that takes away from the players that are in the game. Every moment that you’re talking about myself or John, that’s less time that the players are going to be talked about.”
Both men love history, just not the kind with them making it.
“I like reading a lot of history … I guess it’s pretty neat,” John Harbaugh offered Monday. “But is it really going to be written about? It’s not exactly like Churchill and Roosevelt or anything. It’s pretty cool, but that’s as far as it goes.”
Nice try, guys.
View Entire Story
By Andrew P. Napolitano
The president's men trash the Constitution to pursue antagonists
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
First over-the-counter column approved for fast and effective relief from even your worst media-induced headache.
Opinion, analysis, and musings on politics, pop culture, reinvention, and the resultant flotsam and jetsam floating around the right-of-center quadrant of the Left Coast.
Consummate traveler Todd DeFeo explores the unique stories that make destinations worth going to.
We welcome you to the intimate and personal thoughts on the news and events we, as editors, watch, read, and discuss with our writers every day.
Benghazi: The anatomy of a scandal
13 Photos
Vietnam Memorial adds four names
18 Photos
Cinco de Mayo on the Mall
11 Photos
NRA kicks off annual convention
8 Photos
