John Harbaugh and little brother Jim shared
a bedroom for 16 years and fought like any two highly competitive boys who were
just 15 months apart, which terribly upset their mother Jackie, who expected
better behavior.
The guys may have taken it a step too far
by putting tape across the middle of the bedroom with the implied threat that
if either crossed to the other side he was looking for big-time trouble.
They’ve grown up a bit since then as you would expect — John is 50, Jim is 49 —
and their hug after Super Bowl XLVII in 12 days, when this very unique story
line plays out, will be genuine.
They are best friends. After Jim’s 49ers
beat the Falcons on Sunday in the NFC Championship Game, they boarded their
charter plane back to the West Coast. Jim settled into his seat and watched on
television as his brother John and Ravens beat the Patriots in the AFC
Championship Game.
John had his news conference at 4 p.m.
Monday in Baltimore and Jim was at the podium one hour later in Santa Clara and
their message was the same: Put the focus on the Ravens and 49ers, not on them.
Of course, they realize that is not going to happen.
Jim and John each said they had not spoken
since their teams made it to the Super Bowl. Jim did say they had been texting,
which is the new talking.
John likes reading about history, so he was
able to put this HarBowl into perspective.
“It’s not exactly like Churchill and Roosevelt,” he said.
What’s the fuss, he wanted to know.
“We’re not that interesting,” he said. “There
is nothing more to learn. The tape across the middle of the room story. Okay,
you got it? We’re just like any other family. We get it, it’s really cool and
exciting and all that. It’s really about the team, the players.”
Jim called the matchup a “blessing and a
curse. The blessing because it’s my brother’s team and also personally I played
for the Ravens, worked with Ozzie Newsome and (the late) Art Modell,” he said.
“The curse part would be that talk of two brothers playing in the Super Bowl
and what that takes away from the players that are in the game.”
Jim played quarterback at Michigan and was
a first-round pick of the Bears in 1987. He was not greeted warmly by his new
teammates, who knew he was there to eventually replace the wildly popular Jim
McMahon. Maybe as a way to show he was not the teacher’s pet, Bears coach Mike
Ditka seemed to take particular joy in yelling at Harbaugh. He wound up
bouncing around the NFL for 15 years and was actually the Ravens quarterback in
1998 after he lost his job with the Colts when Peyton Manning was drafted. John
was a defensive back at Miami University who never played in the NFL before
getting started on a coaching career.
Their father Jack was drafted as a running
back by the Buffalo Bills in 1961 and there are reports he played for the New
York Titans that season, but he is not listed in the all-time roster of the
Titans/Jets. Jack went on to a long career as a high school and college
football coach. Jackie and Jack’s daughter Joani is married to Tom Crean, the
Indiana University basketball coach.
“We can’t put into words what it means to see John and Jim achieve
this incredible milestone,” Crean said on Twitter.
When the Harbaughs coached against each
other on Thanksgiving night in 2011, their parents attended the game in
Baltimore. Jackie said she was rooting for a tie. The Ravens won 16-6. There
can’t be a tie in the Super Bowl, of course, but Jack and Jackie will be at the
Superdome.
John worked his way from special teams
coach to secondary coach with the Eagles and was hired by the Ravens to replace
Brian Billick in 2008. Jim was the hottest coaching candidate in the country
after the 2010 season. Stanford wanted him to stay.
Michigan wanted him to come home. The
49ers, Dolphins and Broncos all wanted him. By taking the 49ers’ job, he was
able to remain in his house and make the jump from college to the NFL.
They each made a gutsy move during the
season that has helped get them to New Orleans. John fired offensive
coordinator Cam Cameron in early December and replaced him with Jim Caldwell, a
move credited with Joe Flacco’s amazing playoff run — eight TDs and no INTs.
Jim kept Alex Smith on the bench after he had recovered from a concussion and
stayed with Colin Kaepernick, who has been tearing up the league.
Everything the Harbaughs have touched
lately has turned to gold.
“They are extremely well-coached, I would have to say,” John said. “I
am proud of him and what he has accomplished as a coach, but more so as a man —
as a family man, as a father, as a husband, as a brother and son.”
“He’s a great football coach,” Jim said. “I’m very proud of my
brother. I love him.”
Just don’t cross to the other side of the
tape in the old bedroom.
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