With the Harbowl just more than a week away and the media focused on the matchup of Ravens coach Jon Harbaugh and his brother, 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, the men themselves aren’t getting too caught up in all of it.
The Harbaugh brothers said they’ve only exchanged a few text messages with each other in the days since the championship games set Super Bowl XLVII, ESPN reported. They say they don’t plan on talking on the phone at all.
“It doesn’t matter who the coach is, what relationship you have with the person on the other side,” 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said.
In fact, Jim said the hype around the so-called Harbowl (or SuperBaugh, if you rather), is a bit distracting.
“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.”
They do say that it feels good to be the first brothers to coach against each other for the Super Bowl.
“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.”
The Harbaugh parents (dad Jack is the one who turned his sons on to the idea of coaching) said they aren’t picking sides in the Harbowl. If they decide to pull for the underdog, that would be John and his Baltimore Ravens. USA Today has them at 5-point underdogs.