All they want to do is allow the stage to be John and Jim’s, Jack said.
The love of competition was bred into the brothers. Sons of a football coach, living room couches were rearranged so they could dive over the coffee table and use cushions for tackling practice. Coat hangers were bent to become basketball hoops and yarn transformed into homemade nets. There were hand-written scorecards and scoreboards. The brothers devised their own games and, creatively, became announcers to introduce each other before they started.
“Starting at forward for Michigan, standing 4-feet-5, wearing No. 23, Jim Harbaugh!’’ Jack said, recalling one of those announcements.
Come Thursday night at sold-out M&T Bank Stadium, there’s no make believe about it.
Jim’s resurgent 49ers are 9-1 and could clinch the NFC West with a win coupled with a loss for the Seahawks. John’s Ravens are 7-3 and leading the AFC North.
“We know it’s going to be emotional, we’re just not sure what emotions we’re going to experience,’’ Jack said. “It’s such uncharted waters. We’ve experienced it in this business being married for 50 years and coaching 43 years myself. And football and basketball and all the other things we’ve had in our family. This is such uncharted waters to see two in our family competing at this level on this stage. We’ve just never experienced anything like it. It’s not one of those things you go into and you have anything that you can possibly measure it with or against.’’
This week, Jack’s longtime catch phrase of “Who’s got it better than us? Nobody!’’ seems as fitting as ever for this family.
The slogan has been a huge hit out West, where 49ers players have made their own T-shirts featuring those words.
“I’m sorry that he got to it first,’’ said the 49-year-old John Harbaugh. “I should have thought of that before him. We should have made some T-shirts, too. I think it’s really cool.’’
Aside from the game, there’s another special moment the family will celebrate: Jack and Jackie’s 50th wedding anniversary on Friday. Everything has come together in one special, whirlwind week for this sports-crazed family.
