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(Photos by Associated Press; Photo Illustration by Tim Hubbard / Los Angeles Times)
While their sons add another chapter to their unmatched slice of NFL history, Jack and Jackie Harbaugh will be tuned in from across the country.
The warm and endlessly enthusiastic couple will be celebrating their 63rd anniversary Monday when sons John and Jim coach against each other for a third time, with Jim’s Chargers playing host to John’s Baltimore Ravens at SoFi Stadium.
The Harbaughs are the only brothers to face each other as NFL head coaches. John is 2-0 in the matchups, having defeated Jim’s San Francisco 49ers on Thanksgiving in 2011 and by three points in the Super Bowl the following season.
The parents were squirming in their seats for those games — can you possibly root for both teams at once? — and this time will be at the Florida home of daughter Joanie watching with family.
For Jack and Jackie, Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans was emotionally wrenching.
“Right up until the kickoff of the game, there was just this euphoria of excitement,” Jack recalled. “Every little thing. Jackie’s dad was 95, 96 years old and he was able to go to New Orleans. He got up on the stage and had his picture taken with John and Jim on the Friday before the game. Everything was great.
“Until the moment the ball was kicked off. When that ball left the kicker’s foot — if I close my eyes I can still see it — that ball’s rolling end over end, higher and higher, and then it’s coming down and all at once I’m realizing, ‘Oh my goodness, there’s going to be a winner and there’s going to be a loser.’ The rest of the game, we were like zombies.”
The parents were watching from a suite with Roger Goodell, and at one point Jackie leaned over to the commissioner and said, “Is there any way this can end in a tie?”
John Harbaugh said that he would welcome having his parents at Monday night’s game, while he and his brother are focused on what’s happening on the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/enthusiasm-unknown-mankind-harbaugh-family-110037829.html
Author : LA Times
Publish date : 2024-11-25 11:00:00
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