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Miah Harbaugh | He's still standing Football: New Ravens quarterback Jim Harbaugh gets knocked down, but he gets up again. And again. And Again. - Baltimore Sun
Long article, but you really should read all of it. Here are a few parts of it that I thought were interesting, coincidental to either Kaep or Alex, or relevant to this game.
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He is a leader, a humble Christian who has studied Winston Churchill and admires the field savvy of Ken Stabler. The drive is still there after he came within a Hail Mary pass of reaching the 1996 Super Bowl.
A quitter? Forget it. He has earned the nickname Captain Comeback with nine fourth-quarter rallies. Harbaugh doesn't commit as many turnovers as his Ravens predecessor, Vinny Testaverde, having completed 1,769 passes for 2,989 yards and 99 touchdowns. Only 82 interceptions. Six playoff appearances.
And oh, is he durable, the NFL's version of the Energizer Bunny.
His nose has been broken and his left arm is still bowed from an injury he suffered while at Michigan. He has tendinitis in his ankle, a visible scar on his chin that took six stitches to close and a knee that has undergone more twists than a rubber band.
"You got to like his competitiveness," said Buffalo Bills coach Wade Phillips. "He is just a tough, tough guy. Last year, I felt sorry for him because he had no protection. I remember one game we hit him 26 times, but he almost pulled it out.
"Every time you knock him down and think he is out, he keeps getting back up. The guy is Rocky. He'll take your best shots, then he might knock you out at the end of the fight."
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"One physical education teacher said he was causing trouble during recess," said Jack Harbaugh. "He said Jim couldn't get along with his classmates, that this competitiveness could be a real problem in the future."
Jim's older brother, John, remembers their father's reaction to the teacher's concerns.
"Dad was angry," John Harbaugh said. "He told him there was nothing wrong with Jim's attitude. 'I'm bringing him up to be that way. I want him like that.' "
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"He'd spend hours throwing a tennis ball," said Jack Harbaugh. "When he'd get home, we'd say, 'Where have you been?' and he'd say, 'Doubleheader against the Cleveland Indians. I pitched both ends. We won them both.' "
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He became a Christian in 1991 after a conversation with Bears teammate Mike Singletary.
"I had a lot of emptiness inside that I thought would be eventually filled when I reached my goals," said Harbaugh. "I figured that going to Michigan, playing in the Rose Bowl, being an All-American and first-round pick, as soon as I did all of this, I would find peace and happiness.
"It never happened," Harbaugh said. "Then Mike asked me where I was with the Lord. I was like, 'I grew up Catholic, go to church.' He said, 'But where are you with Christ?' I said, 'Wow, Mike, you're starting to make me a little uncomfortable.' But thank God for Mike Singletary."
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Off the field, his wife said, Harbaugh "plays a lot of golf and reads a lot -- you know, sports sections and history kind of stuff. And oh, he loves Churchill."
"He fought three wars, was commander of the British navy, was prime minister, chancellor and had a great vocabulary," Harbaugh said. "He just did so much with his life. I think I've read everything that has been written on or about him. He just seems so prepared."
So does Harbaugh, and he demands that of his teammates. He is not an in-your-face quarterback. He sends messages in other ways.
"Jim is in full command, extremely thorough, and players around him had better be that way, too," said fullback Roosevelt Potts, who played with Harbaugh in Indianapolis. "If you're a receiver and you drop three easy passes, he'll just stop throwing to you. The next pass you catch will be by accident. Then at the next quarterback meeting, he'll request that we get someone else."
Harbaugh doesn't back away from confrontation. He broke his left hand and missed four games last season after he reportedly punched former Bills quarterback Jim Kelly, who said Harbaugh faked injuries.
"He was doing the color commentary the next week, so I went to the production meeting to put a professional end to it," Harbaugh said. "He said he called it the way he saw it. That escalated into a fight.
"It shouldn't have happened, and I repented for what I did," said Harbaugh. "But I'd do it again in the same situation. It's like that old Kenny Rogers song. I don't believe in fighting to prove that you're a man, but sometimes you got to fight when you're a man."
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"I haven't seen any deterioration in his throwing ability," said Phillips. "There are a lot of quarterbacks that if you restrict them to the pocket or force them out of it, they become limited. With Jim, it doesn't matter, because he can play either way. They are the hardest type of quarterbacks to defend."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harbaugh has a relentless work ethic. On a sunny Sunday morning in Orlando after he recently won the NFL's Quarterback Challenge, Harbaugh was working out with Pat Etcheberry, who trains such athletes as tennis players Pete Sampras and Jim Courier and football players Charles Woodson and Terry Glenn.
He ran sprints, jogged for distance and went through agility drills before pulling Etcheberry 50 yards in the sand several times via a harness attached to his neck and upper body. Harbaugh works out twice daily for 90 minutes with Etcheberry when he is not at the team's complex in Owings Mills.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I feel healthy and have a deep desire to play. As long as I have that, I'll be fine. My arm strength is as average as it has ever been," said Harbaugh, laughing. "There are 25 quarterbacks who can throw it better than I can. I'm a mudder, a Midwestern farm boy who has to sneak up on people.
"Ken Stabler found ways to win, whether it was grabbing his ankles and flipping it into end zone or rolling the ball, like he did against the San Diego Chargers. He didn't have the big gun either. I'll do whatever it takes to win."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harbaugh missed being a significant part of NFL history on Jan. 14, 1996.
If Colts receiver Aaron Bailey had held onto the Hail Mary pass that landed on his stomach, Indianapolis would have beaten the Pittsburgh Steelers instead of losing, 20-16, in the AFC championship game and would have gone on to play the Dallas Cowboys in the Super Bowl.
That play would have been on par with the Immaculate Reception and The Catch.
"Every time they showed a Super Bowl, they would have to pull that play out," Harbaugh said. "Me and Aaron Bailey would be doing commercials and living off that for the next 60 years. We would still be invited to golf tournaments and never have to buy a beer in Indianapolis again. That happened to Joe Namath, you know. What did he ever do but come up with a guarantee?
"Now, I got to keep working," he said. "You realize that you come that close, and then you watch it flash right before you in an instant. You kind of walk away and and say there will be other days. But looking back, that could have been the only day."
Long article, but you really should read all of it. Here are a few parts of it that I thought were interesting, coincidental to either Kaep or Alex, or relevant to this game.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He is a leader, a humble Christian who has studied Winston Churchill and admires the field savvy of Ken Stabler. The drive is still there after he came within a Hail Mary pass of reaching the 1996 Super Bowl.
A quitter? Forget it. He has earned the nickname Captain Comeback with nine fourth-quarter rallies. Harbaugh doesn't commit as many turnovers as his Ravens predecessor, Vinny Testaverde, having completed 1,769 passes for 2,989 yards and 99 touchdowns. Only 82 interceptions. Six playoff appearances.
And oh, is he durable, the NFL's version of the Energizer Bunny.
His nose has been broken and his left arm is still bowed from an injury he suffered while at Michigan. He has tendinitis in his ankle, a visible scar on his chin that took six stitches to close and a knee that has undergone more twists than a rubber band.
"You got to like his competitiveness," said Buffalo Bills coach Wade Phillips. "He is just a tough, tough guy. Last year, I felt sorry for him because he had no protection. I remember one game we hit him 26 times, but he almost pulled it out.
"Every time you knock him down and think he is out, he keeps getting back up. The guy is Rocky. He'll take your best shots, then he might knock you out at the end of the fight."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"One physical education teacher said he was causing trouble during recess," said Jack Harbaugh. "He said Jim couldn't get along with his classmates, that this competitiveness could be a real problem in the future."
Jim's older brother, John, remembers their father's reaction to the teacher's concerns.
"Dad was angry," John Harbaugh said. "He told him there was nothing wrong with Jim's attitude. 'I'm bringing him up to be that way. I want him like that.' "
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"He'd spend hours throwing a tennis ball," said Jack Harbaugh. "When he'd get home, we'd say, 'Where have you been?' and he'd say, 'Doubleheader against the Cleveland Indians. I pitched both ends. We won them both.' "
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He became a Christian in 1991 after a conversation with Bears teammate Mike Singletary.
"I had a lot of emptiness inside that I thought would be eventually filled when I reached my goals," said Harbaugh. "I figured that going to Michigan, playing in the Rose Bowl, being an All-American and first-round pick, as soon as I did all of this, I would find peace and happiness.
"It never happened," Harbaugh said. "Then Mike asked me where I was with the Lord. I was like, 'I grew up Catholic, go to church.' He said, 'But where are you with Christ?' I said, 'Wow, Mike, you're starting to make me a little uncomfortable.' But thank God for Mike Singletary."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Off the field, his wife said, Harbaugh "plays a lot of golf and reads a lot -- you know, sports sections and history kind of stuff. And oh, he loves Churchill."
"He fought three wars, was commander of the British navy, was prime minister, chancellor and had a great vocabulary," Harbaugh said. "He just did so much with his life. I think I've read everything that has been written on or about him. He just seems so prepared."
So does Harbaugh, and he demands that of his teammates. He is not an in-your-face quarterback. He sends messages in other ways.
"Jim is in full command, extremely thorough, and players around him had better be that way, too," said fullback Roosevelt Potts, who played with Harbaugh in Indianapolis. "If you're a receiver and you drop three easy passes, he'll just stop throwing to you. The next pass you catch will be by accident. Then at the next quarterback meeting, he'll request that we get someone else."
Harbaugh doesn't back away from confrontation. He broke his left hand and missed four games last season after he reportedly punched former Bills quarterback Jim Kelly, who said Harbaugh faked injuries.
"He was doing the color commentary the next week, so I went to the production meeting to put a professional end to it," Harbaugh said. "He said he called it the way he saw it. That escalated into a fight.
"It shouldn't have happened, and I repented for what I did," said Harbaugh. "But I'd do it again in the same situation. It's like that old Kenny Rogers song. I don't believe in fighting to prove that you're a man, but sometimes you got to fight when you're a man."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I haven't seen any deterioration in his throwing ability," said Phillips. "There are a lot of quarterbacks that if you restrict them to the pocket or force them out of it, they become limited. With Jim, it doesn't matter, because he can play either way. They are the hardest type of quarterbacks to defend."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harbaugh has a relentless work ethic. On a sunny Sunday morning in Orlando after he recently won the NFL's Quarterback Challenge, Harbaugh was working out with Pat Etcheberry, who trains such athletes as tennis players Pete Sampras and Jim Courier and football players Charles Woodson and Terry Glenn.
He ran sprints, jogged for distance and went through agility drills before pulling Etcheberry 50 yards in the sand several times via a harness attached to his neck and upper body. Harbaugh works out twice daily for 90 minutes with Etcheberry when he is not at the team's complex in Owings Mills.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I feel healthy and have a deep desire to play. As long as I have that, I'll be fine. My arm strength is as average as it has ever been," said Harbaugh, laughing. "There are 25 quarterbacks who can throw it better than I can. I'm a mudder, a Midwestern farm boy who has to sneak up on people.
"Ken Stabler found ways to win, whether it was grabbing his ankles and flipping it into end zone or rolling the ball, like he did against the San Diego Chargers. He didn't have the big gun either. I'll do whatever it takes to win."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harbaugh missed being a significant part of NFL history on Jan. 14, 1996.
If Colts receiver Aaron Bailey had held onto the Hail Mary pass that landed on his stomach, Indianapolis would have beaten the Pittsburgh Steelers instead of losing, 20-16, in the AFC championship game and would have gone on to play the Dallas Cowboys in the Super Bowl.
That play would have been on par with the Immaculate Reception and The Catch.
"Every time they showed a Super Bowl, they would have to pull that play out," Harbaugh said. "Me and Aaron Bailey would be doing commercials and living off that for the next 60 years. We would still be invited to golf tournaments and never have to buy a beer in Indianapolis again. That happened to Joe Namath, you know. What did he ever do but come up with a guarantee?
"Now, I got to keep working," he said. "You realize that you come that close, and then you watch it flash right before you in an instant. You kind of walk away and and say there will be other days. But looking back, that could have been the only day."
