Jim Harbaugh is an intense and competitive guy. Those who have spent anytime watching him consistently lose it on the sidelines during all of his coaching stops can attest to that.
It turns out football isn’t the only sport that can get Harbaugh’s competitive juices flowing. Jim’s brother and head coach of the Baltimore Ravens John Harbaugh, told an extremely believable story on the latest episode of Peter King’s MMQB Podcast, that involved Jim going all out during pick-up basketball game between the two families, while they were vacation in Lake Huron for Mamorial Day weekend.
For context, the parties involved in this game were Jim, John, Jim’s wife, John’s wife, a 2-year-old boy, a 6-year-old girl, a 4-year-old girl, and a 13-year-old girl. Here’s how John remembers it. Via Deadspin:
We’re playing, and you can picture the kind of game it is, right? Allison [the 13-year-old] happens to hit a couple jumpers and we’re playing to seven, and we’re up maybe 5-1. Next thing you know, Jim starts going over the top of Allison for rebounds, he’s boxing her out 10 feet away from the basket. Next thing you know, it’s 5-5 and Jim has made all the shots for his team of course. I’m like, you know, maybe Addy would like to touch the ball? Maybe Katie or Jack could dribble a little bit now and then? It goes 6-6 and a long rebound comes out the side, he goes and gets it. I see Allison happens to be over there, so I see him going to the basket, he’s going to take Allison to the hole, you know, he’s about 6’3″, 235, so I’m going to go cut him off. I get him with my right arm bar across his chest and I’m trying to body check him into the pricker bushes behind the driveway, and he just powers his way to the basket, lays one over the top, a reverse layup off the board, and all he could talk about is how he won. He picks up Jack and says, “Doesn’t it feel great, Jack, to win? Doesn’t it feel great to win?” An hour later we were crossing paths in the backyard to go get a soda or something, and he looks me right in the eye and he says, “Hey John, have you won anything yet?”
John should’ve retorted with, “yeah, the Super Bowl.”