Sports

Harbaugh Family: What Bowl Is This Again?

Super Bowl XLVII pits the 49ers' Jim Harbaugh against the Ravens' John Harbaugh. Patch shares the story of the Harbaugh family leading into Super Bowl Sunday.

It has been called the Harbaugh Bowl—or the HarBowl for short.

But the Harbaugh family—whose sons, Jim and John, will be coaching the teams playing for the NFL crown—has its own thoughts on what Super Bowl XLVII should be called.

Jackie Harbaugh, mother of Jim and John, was the first to chime in on a national media conference call last week.

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“I prefer it to be called the Super Bowl," she said, matter-of-factly.

Jack Harbaugh, the patriarch and former college football coach, was rather no-nonsense in his opinion, too.

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"For us, for me, it’s the Lombardi Trophy, because I go back to the beginning," Jack Harbaugh said. "I can remember the beginning of this great, great classic originated with Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers winning those first two games."

His memory of the NFL title game is one of a simple matchup between hard-nosed athletes—more pigskin and less spectacle, as the game has become since the original in 1967.

"The recollection that I have of this game is the two captains form each team, out in the middle of the field, the official there with the coin. They flip the coin and they play the game, and to see now where this whole great classic is and where it’s come from, to me, is just literally, literally awesome. So, Jack Harbaugh here, I prefer it to be called the Lombardi Trophy winner,” he said.

How Sunday's game will be remembered—and if it will fit the billing of other clashes immortalized by a defining name—will be determined after the Harbaugh siblings meet at The Superdome.

TELL US: What are you calling Sunday's game? Leave a comment.

 

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