FOXBOROUGH — John Harbaugh could only imagine how proud his parents were last night. The Harbaugh Boys became the first brothers to qualify for a Super Bowl when John’s Ravens beat the Patriots 28-13 last night after Jim’s 49ers beat the Falcons 28-24 earlier in the day.
The Harbaughs — John Harbaugh is 50, Jim is 15 months younger — were raised by a football coach, of course, who watched history unfold from his Wisconsin home.
“I hope he’s on his fourth or fifth beer right now, that’s what I’m hoping for,” John Harbaugh cracked. “I hope he and mom got a big hug going. I don’t know what he’s thinking, you have to give him a call and ask him, but … he’s proud. He’s proud.”
The Harbaugh Boys met last Nov. 24 in the regular season, a game won, 16-6, by the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium.
“I don’t know if we had a dream this big,” John said and smiled. “We had a few dreams, we had a few fights, we had a few arguments, just like all brothers. We’ll try to stay out of that business, we’ll let the two teams duke it out as much as possible.
“Couldn’t be more proud of Jim. Watching that team play, they do reflect his personality. They got a great staff. They have physical players, man. They run the ball, they throw the ball, they got a quarterback [Colin Kaepernick] making plays all over the place, they got a roughhouse defense. There’s a reason they’re in the Super Bowl. I love the way they play.
“I’d like to think that our two teams are very similar. I’d like to think that when you look at those two teams, you’re looking at mirror images of two football teams, I’d like to think that. And it’s going to be a great football game, and he’s a great football coach.”
John Harbaugh smiled when asked what two weeks of Harbaugh vs. Harbaugh hype will be like.
“Let’s just cut that right now, you know what I mean?” he said. “Can we all agree, just forget about that stuff? We did that last year, OK, it was fine. It got old last year, right? Did it not? You’re right, move past that, and let’s talk about the two teams.”
Sorry, bro.