The Cock of the Walk

In the buildup to the college football national championship tonight, sportswriters are always searching for new angles. Here's one: Michigan coach's Jim Harbaugh's chickens. [bold added]

Harbaugh is a serious backyard chicken farmer.

“Chickens have made the cut into his pretty small circle of important things in his life,” said Jay Harbaugh, his eldest son and the Wolverines’ special-teams coordinator...

The chickens have become a welcome distraction for Harbaugh during a season that’s been full of them. Michigan has faced two separate scandals and NCAA investigations. Harbaugh’s own future in Ann Arbor is once again the subject of speculation, as professional teams with head coaching vacancies curry his favor for the third consecutive winter.

When it seems like everybody’s out to get Michigan (this year’s team has adopted the slogan “Michigan vs. Everybody”), Harbaugh can count on the undying loyalty of his flock. “There’s times when I’m doing good things for other people, and they’re not as happy to see me as my chickens are,” he said in November.

The Harbaugh chicken coop dates back to 2020, when the family purchased seven chicks—one for each of the coach’s children—just before Easter during the early days of the pandemic shutdown.

The jokes write themselves ("cluck management" WSJ drawing, above right).

On a serious note high-powered individuals often find solace in animals, who unlike two-legged creatures, give them unconditional love.

(photo from KJCT8)

Now that Jim Harbaugh's team, the Michigan Wolverines, won the national championship tonight, it's very likely that several billionaire NFL team owners will want him to be their head coach next year.

At the age of 60 he's about to reach his beak.

Newest Prospect

Coach Jim Harbaugh tries out the 49ers' newest O-line prospect:



Comments:
1) One can see the appeal---even Seahawk defenders would have trouble pushing past this one-ton gal. [Bonus: "incidents of walruses preying on seabirds...have been documented"]
2) Jim, there's a rumor that you think you can do General Manager Trent Baalke's job. No, you can't.

Ravens 34, 49ers 31

Gut reactions to Super Bowl XLVII:

1) After falling behind 22 points in the 3rd quarter, the 49ers showed character by coming within five yards of taking the lead, with under two minutes to go.

2) However, the Niners once again spotted a powerful opponent (just as they did with Green Bay and Atlanta) a big lead. To win three of those games in the postseason is asking a lot of the football gods.

3) What a contrast with Bill Walsh, who would script his first 20-25 offensive plays and usually seize the advantage at the beginning of the game.

4) Were it not for having the local team in the game, I would have rooted for the Ravens' John Harbaugh, the nicer and classier brother.

5) The young, speedy 49ers look like they'll have more chances at a ring, but one never knows. Just ask Dan Marino, who was the losing quarterback in his second season and never returned to the big game.

6) The power failure delay should make a lot of people forget about the night the lights went out in Candlestick.

7) Near game's end, the Ravens ran off time by running around in the end zone and conceding a safety (two points). The Ravens held the 49ers defenders, a penalty that normally results in a safety, but in this case the penalty was meaningless. Additional seconds were burned off. Perhaps multiple end zone infractions should result in a penalty on the kick-off.

8) The 49ers had better individual players, but the Ravens played better team football. They deserved to win.

At Half Time: Stupefying

At half time the Ravens are playing mistake-free football, and the 49ers have committed two costly turnovers and several penalties at critical moments. The score, Ravens 21, 49ers 6, reflects accurately the play of each team.

San Francisco has shown enough flashes of promise so that its fans haven't given up completely. But they need to get off the blocks quickly.

[Update: Jacoby Jones returns a kickoff 109 yards for a touchdown to all but put the game away, 28-6.]

[Update 2: half the lights are out in the Superdome. Maybe they should just call the game and award the Lombardi to the Ravens.]

So He Does Have a Sense of Humor

Jim Harbaugh, comparing his own playing skills to those of his quarterback:

"the way Colin runs, the gracefulness of his stride, the ground he covers, it reminds me of me when I run - and then I wake up."