Before we all are beaten over the head with mention after mention and story after story about Jim and John Harbaugh coaching against each other in the Super Bowl, I’ll tell it to you first.
I’m already sick of it. Tom Rinaldi is probably already researching the brothers’ childhood and finding different storylines. Let’s just hope both Peyton and Eli Manning never make their way to a Super Bowl the same year.
It’s going to get annoying, fast. There’s no doubt about that. The prospect is pretty awesome, though.
How can they not come in contact with each other? What is Christmas going to be like in the Harbaugh family from now on? Any other angle in this game – Ray Lewis’ final ride, Joe Flacco’s or Colin Kaepernick’s emergence as a leader – is irrelevant in my mind. I hope the two are looking at each other from the sidelines the entire game. I hope John sticks his tongue out at Jim after a Ravens touchdown and the latter starts pounding his feet in rage.
Jim and John Harbaugh probably annoyed the hell out of each other as kids. That’s how it works. Now they are going up against each other in the pinnacle showdown of their sport.
While both are more animated than your average head football coach, John is clearly the older of the two. If you watched the NFC Championship game and saw Jim’s reaction to losing a challenge in the second half, you’d know he is the younger. He looked like his mother just told him he couldn’t go to a sleepover at his friend’s house. If there hadn’t been a game to be played right after, Jim probably would have started rolling on the floor yelling until they changed the call.
That doesn’t necessarily mean Jim is immature or John is calm. The latter Harbaugh is also a bit of a pest at times to referees. But he is by no means on Jim’s level.
Comparing the two makes me think of me and my brother. I was always the annoying one, but I like to think at this point that I wouldn’t express my anger in a Jim Harbaugh-like way.
When I was younger, I did not react as well to losing to my brother in anything. Our battles always occurred at our house while playing the most recent version of MLB: The Show. I’d like to think I usually came out on top, but I know we were extremely close in our talents.
I think those battles are just as intense for us as the Super Bowl will be for the brothers Harbaugh. If you have a brother, or any sibling for that matter, I think you understand how intense this game could end up being.