The Super“Baugh” Features the Har”Bowl” Brothers

This archived article was written by: Hayden Peterson

Super Bowl Sunday falls on Feb. 3, this year and for most people the party planning has already been set in stone for the last couple of days. People have their chips and dips ready as well as the many beverages, entrees, sides and much more. For most families and friends the Super Bowl is just the last game of the year, 60 minutes to see who will be crowned champion for the year. But for Jack and Jackie Harbaugh it is a different story.
The Harbaughs are the parents of John Harbaugh, head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, oh yeah, and Jim Harbaugh, the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. Think about your families for a minute, I know everybody who has more than one sibling in their family will tell you that the parents definitely have a favorite child. As for the Harbaughs, this may be one of the most difficult Super Bowls they have ever had to watch. No matter how the game ends they will have one son come away a champion and one son come just short of their dream. How do Jack and Jackie choose who to cheer for in this situation?
It isn’t every day that two brothers coach against each other, especially at such an elite level. The last time the Harbaughs met head to head was in 2011 on Thanksgiving night, when John’s Ravens came out on top 16 to 6. At the end of the game, the brothers met in the middle of the field just as any coaches would, shook hands and walked in their own directions towards the locker rooms. Jack and Jackie were found wearing shirts that were half Ravens and half 49ers. Cheering for a good football game and not one son or the other, just hoping that their sons wouldn’t let the game come between their relationship as brothers.
Both brothers are extremely competitive as anyone you ask will tell you. Jim the younger brother by 15 months, played quarterback in the NFL 14 years before joining his father’s coaching staff as an assistant coach as Western Kentucky University. In 2002 he returned to the NFL, this time as a QB coach for the Oakland Raiders, he then went back to coaching at the collegiate level and jumped back to the NFL where he is preparing his squad for the Super Bowl.
Coaching runs in the Harbaugh blood, even the Harbaugh’s sister married a coach, Tom Crean, head coach at Indiana University. Joani met him while coaching as an assistant for WKU. Having been around coaching so long, Joani (Harbaugh) Crean pretty much had to find a coach to call her husband if she were ever to please the brothers and father.
The Harbaughs decided to set a little more history with this Super Bowl as they decided to have a joint press conference before the big game. Not only will this be the first time the brothers have coached against each other in the Super Bowl as head coaches, but it is also the first time the opposing head coaches will have a joint press conference. Both coaches will tell you it is more about the players on the playing field than it is about them. The media, on the other hand as you have noticed in the past week, doesn’t agree.
For all of you trying to figure out who to bet on for the super bowl to bring you home that cash, let me throw you my prediction and you can choose if you want to run with it or not. I am taking younger brother Jim and the 49ers, 31-27. It will be close the whole game, but feel that Joe Flacco will make a crucial mistake in the second half that will cost him and Ray Lewis the Super Bowl. Good luck with your predictions. Sneak peek into next edition’s article we, (Travon Langston and I) will be talking about the NBA and All-Star weekends worth remembering!