July 31, 2017 • 49 mins
What makes a Harbaugh tick? It is the relentless and enthusiastic fight for a higher purpose.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Last time on Man of the Crowd, thet rabit Our
super Bowl Tremor, Sean Harball over Jim Harball, The Rabits
over the forty nine. Unique was the Super Bowl having
those two brothers there again. No, it will never happen again.
The super Bowl was like winning the lottery on back
(00:21):
to back days. John would never feel guilty for winning,
would he. No, he's good. You gotta be competitive, you
got the juice has got to flow every day and
just today it happens to be your brother. Yeah, you
want to well and my brother or not my brother.
Good thing about the officiating in the game has never
been resolved. He forgets the calls that went his way.
(00:41):
I think he over exaggerates the calls that didn't get
called against them, especially in the last series and all that.
But you know, he's never got to agree with that iman.
He's never gonna take that position. So he's just well,
basically had a hard There's a lion of sand on that.
You know what you do wake up thinking thank God
I beat him? You do, yes, it would have been
a long life, you know. From the Baltimore Ravens. This
(01:03):
is Man of the Crowd, a multi episode podcast that
pulls back the curtain on Ravens figures personal lives this
season the Horrorbaugh family. I'm Sarah Ellison. We're going to
turn this day with an enthusiasm compared pie because you
(01:28):
are a fighter and that's what you are going to
be today. The law will hold it twice. Both John
and Jim Harbaugh's NFL careers have been defined in part
by the battles they fought with their own teams while
(01:49):
simultaneously finding success on the field. It's just that Jim's
battle with the San Francisco forty nine Ers was a
lot more public than John's because of several unusual leaks
to the media during the twenty fourteen season, Really just
a little more than a year removed from the Super Bowl,
that was followed by what was term day mutually agreed
(02:09):
upon separation. At least that's how a forty nine Ers
public relations press released to find it, although a few
people believed it was really mutual. Despite making San Francisco
an instant perennial Super Bowl contender after the team hadn't
notched a winning season in almost a decade, Jim was
still out as the head coach after four seasons with
(02:31):
the forty nine Ers. The drawn out battle between Jim
and the forty nine Ers ownership was long enough that
Jim recently joked this last offseason on the t K
Show in the Bay Area that he deserved an award
for enduring it. And that's because Jim's two coaching successors
only lasted one year under owner Jed York, while Jim
(02:52):
lasted four. I think we did, and correct me if
I'm wrong. I think we did set a record for
being for waching. They're the longest under the president president ownership.
If I'm not wrong, you are correct, You are correct. Yeah,
take take pride and that maybe there should be an
endurance courage mental for that. Have you had any conversation
(03:16):
with Jed York since you left? No? Huh. Interestingly, John
had an internal battle of his own with the Baltimore Ravens.
Now His was far less public, but it actually lasted
longer than jim struggle in San Francisco. It took five
years to resolve the quarreling, which started the day John
walked onto the job and really didn't completely end until
(03:39):
he won the Super Bowl. But instead of fighting with
ownership and management, John's battle was with his players, because
really it was there was really a real, real, real,
real fight for the kind of control of the team,
so to speak, you know, and uh, and I wish
I wasn't backing down right, And what I saw in
the eyes of the guys in the first meeting was
just basically almost come like, no, we're not buying into this.
(04:03):
So I was in a position where I just had
to have a real strong backbone, and I just couldn't
back up. What's remarkable is that despite these battles, John
and Jim became the only NFL head coaches to ever
advance to three conference title games and their first five years.
Is NFL bosses. Hey, Jim even did it in three years.
It took John the five, but he topped it off
(04:24):
with the Super Bowl win. Anyway, I promise I'm going
to dive more into these battles later, but first, I
think it's important to point out that the Harbob brothers
were groomed from childhood for this type of success and
the fights that came with it. And I'm not just
talking about the football entree they received from their youth
(04:45):
growing up inside college football locker rooms like at the
Michigan Wolverines, where they watched their father work with the
legendary Beauchambeckler. Their football upbringing is unmatched. But there's more
to it than that, and that's why I'm going to
attempt something here. I'm going to attempt to take you
inside the mind of a Harbaugh. I think you'll find
(05:08):
it a fascinating place to be. You want to know
what makes these guys tick. I think I can answer that.
You want to know how a single family produces two
of the best coaches in football today. I can tell
you what's worked for them beyond the xs a nose,
and I'll try to sum it up for you in
one simple sentence. They relentlessly and enthusiastically fight for a
(05:33):
higher purpose. Let me say that again, because it's so important.
They relentlessly and enthusiastically fight for a higher purpose. What
is so special about that hardball blood? I wish I knew,
because you meet all of them, and they all have
(05:53):
Jonie his sister. Their sister is similar. I just talked
to her last week. He is similar. Similar. That's Kevin Byrne,
who you heard from last week. He's the senior vice
president of pr at the Ravens Well. To demonstrate Kevin's
point about the Harbor children all being alike, I wrote
a quote to Jonie that was given by her husband,
(06:14):
the former Indiana men's basketball coach Tom Creane. Well, this
quote is describing her personality. But you tell me if
it sounds like the two head coaches in Baltimore and Michigan.
Now you've probably heard this quote. I saw this quote
from Tom on you. I think he gave it to
the New York Times, and he says she's opinionated, very smart,
(06:36):
and she doesn't like to be wrong, and she rarely is.
She'll raise our kids in the pool, and she's not
letting her two oldest beat her in anything she wants
to win. Jonie is not going to lose an argument.
To grow up in that house, you had to be competitive.
Would you say that's accurate? I'd say, yeah, I think
it's quite accurate. Probably unploite. Yeah, yeah it is. It's
(06:58):
sad to say than it is. Yeah. Well, I told
him the other day, we're discussing something. They don't think
they're argon we're discussing something, and I said, well, you
know it's old saying would you rather be right? Or
happy looks like doctor Phil I think said that would
you rather be right or would you rather be happy?
Quite frankly, I'm good with both. Yeah, I think I
can be right and be happy. Who says they're mutually exclusive?
(07:23):
I don't believe they are, so I try really hard
to be right and be happy. I love it. Well,
what's funny is I don't. I obviously don't know Jim
as well as John. I've been here since John was hired.
But you could probably, you know, put the keys in
for the sheese, and it sounds like him also, you
know which, which isn't surprising, No, it is. Usually people
(07:49):
like to compare and contrast John and Jim to pinpoint
their differences, and there are many. But the brothers are
probably more alike than different, the same as set of Janey.
All three of them want to be right and happy.
So how did they become so similar? Well, it's no
different from any other family. It all starts with mom
(08:09):
and dad in the lessons they taught their children. Their
parents emphasize enthusiastic competition as a way to motivate their
children to relentlessly take advantage of every moment of every
second of every day. Here's burn again. I don't know
what mom and dad did, Jack and Jackie to instill
(08:31):
in their kids this ability to look at a moment
and say, why can't we maximize this moment in some way?
It's remarkable, it's remarkable. It's I don't know if it's
a self examination they constantly do. I think religions very
important to the family. I think that's part of it.
(08:51):
You know, the greater good? How can I do the
greater good? What's to be expected me of this moment
in the greater scheme of life? I think that's very
important to him. Here's an example of how John maximizes
what seems like an ordinary moment with this team during
a typical meeting, and he goes, guys, let me ask
you a question. There are thirty two teams in the
(09:14):
NFL having a Wednesday morning meeting. Is there any reason
why we can't have the best meeting in the league today?
Is there any team that could have a better meeting
than we can? Does anybody think raise your hand if
you think there's a team that could have a better
meeting than us? Right now? And I'm thinking to myself,
what a wonderful way to get everybody's attention. Instead, he
(09:35):
probably noticed somebody wasn't paying attention. But instead of calling
a guy out, he says, Hey, is there a reason
we can't have the best meeting? I mean, he's inspired
me on a Friday afternoon to play better racquetball if
I'm having If I'm going to play a racquetball game
before I leave on a late Friday afternoon, and I
(09:57):
pass him in the hallway, I'll say to myself, is
there any reason i can't play the best racquetball game
I've ever played on a Friday after today? Right? Is
there a reason? But I'm gonna go play. I might
as well do my best. And so he's got that knack.
He's unbelievable. It's funny because I keep trying to pinpoint
that for the whole Harbaugh family and what you just said.
(10:17):
I don't think it's normal for people to be the
greatest at what they're doing in that second, do you
know what I'm saying? Like everybody wants to be a legend.
Everybody wants to be great, But to get there, are
you're going to be the best at whatever it is?
Eating your lunch that day? You know, Like with the
most healthy lunch that you can bribe have ever in
this world. You know. I'm sure there are Sunday mornings
(10:40):
in the off season where John's thinking them this himself.
Is there a reason I can't make the best pancake
Alison has ever had in her life. I'm gonna do
that this morning, right right, I have to stand and
give a standing ovation to Jack and Jackie, who I think,
as an aside, are great teammates. Oh yeah, they are
(11:02):
a good team together. I think it's time to give
a proper introduction to their father, Jack Harbaugh, who coached
football for more than forty years despite being seventy seven
years old. Now it's hard not to notice someone he
walks into a room because of his loud and enthusiastic
approach to everyday life. In fact, he's the one who
(11:24):
invented the line attack life with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind. Well,
we followed the Harbos to ann Arbor, Michigan for a
coaching clinic, where Jack explained when he first used the
phrase on his two young sons. When that all came up,
unknown to enthusiasm, unknown to mankind, it was Iowa back
(11:44):
in nineteen seventy two. John was I think nine years
old and Jim was eight years old, and it was
a dead a winner take him to school. And these
two guys were all bundled up in the back seat.
They had to remember the snow pants and the snow
jackets and the hats and the moths, and sitting back
there just miserable, I mean absolutely miserable. Didn't have backpacks
(12:06):
in those days, just had their books and took them
for about five days, they'd get out of the car.
I mean, I'd watched them to walk to school. I said, this,
this is crazy. What's what? Where's the enthusiasm. So one
day we're in the car and earned the backs. He said, gentlemen,
we're going to attack this day with an enthusiasm unknown
(12:28):
to man kind. And I want to remind you. They
get out of the car and it was exactly the
same reaction. And then I think after that, after that,
you'd say, don't take any Wooden Nikels. No, no one
in here has any idea what wooden nickels are all about,
but that wash. Don't take Wooden Nickels. It's not hard
(12:51):
to figure out, you know, they're all gray haired. Coach
phraised his hand, you got your hand on. But when
we get the definition, don't take any wooden nickels, I'm
not sure. I know, I know it, I know well.
I know what it means to me is that don't
let somebody sneak up from behind you and hit you
over the head with a bag of shit. Don't let one.
(13:13):
Don't let somebody put something over on you. That was
a subliminal. That's what I took from it, people, And
I was gonna get into good football stats. Shoulders over knees,
over ankles, with a head on a swivel, nobody's gonna
put one over on you. That's not what you meant.
I think so. But there's some other meeting I had
(13:34):
to do with wooden nickels and street cars. Back in
New York, people would put wooden nickels in there and
it would go through the machine and they got free ride.
I think that was the direct. Is that the original?
No one knows, but but I want to finish the story.
I like my definition better. So Jim got the job
at Stanford and they were like they were one and
(13:57):
ten a year before and he was at the press conference,
and at the press conference, some reporter asking Jim, tell
us what's the first thing you're going to do as
a football coach at Stanford University? And I'm watching the
press conference and I hear we're going to attack this
day with an enthusiasm Unknown to man Kin, I said, wow,
(14:18):
he was listening. Hey, listen, how's the first time I
ever got any feedback on that store. Can you feel
the energy that Jack brings to this auditorium of coaches? Well,
I can tell you that energy, it's contagious. After I'm
done talking to Jack, he has me feeling like I
can move mountains. His optimism is extremely inspiring, and he's
(14:43):
optimistic all the time. No matter how about a situation seems,
he makes it feel like it's the greatest opportunity on earth.
This is Jim again. Sometimes we had a car, sometimes
we didn't have a car. We'd come out and if
we didn't have the car. We only had a car
after a dealer car from his coaching job. We didn't
(15:04):
actually own a car. But sometimes they take the dealer
car back and he'd say, okay, boys, were what today?
We got better than us? Body wants with the left
hundred gibbs through the right, we're gonna get better today.
(15:28):
Jack simply came up with these phrases off the top
of his head in the midst of life, small and
mundane moments, the same moments most families face. All he
wanted to do was motivate two little boys who were
dragging their feet on a normal weekday. I doubt Jack
envisioned that these phrases would soar in popularity throughout the
(15:49):
football world. They're so popular they've almost become cliche now,
which John says is a testament to the truth behind them.
Rap artist Bailey got Jim to join him in a
music video that featured the Harbas rallying cries, well, question,
tell them all got it? Why would you wake up
(16:15):
every morning? I mean you get you get We get
to wake up every morning and like we're alive. This
is John, you know, we have this this gift of life.
It's like, we're alive. What would you rather not be?
You know? So, why wouldn't you be fired up? Excited
about that? Or he always says, you know, who's got it?
He's always said it of the kids, and he would
draw it out, who's got it better than us? And
then you know, now are a little Ansley or a
(16:37):
little enough. He's got somebody's got it better than us, Papa,
somebody's got it better than somebody out there has to
have it better than us. No, that's not the right answer.
The answer is no body, you know. And that's the
way you got to say it. And my team and
Jim's teams, my team, they love it. When I asked
him that, I probably should ask him more because they
know it and they draw it out Jack harball Way
(16:58):
and I just it's like, it's I promise you they're
sharing with their kids. Yeah, and I think that's really cool.
Sorry about sharing with kids. I actually do it to
my kids when I'm dropping them off. They say to me,
because I'm waiting from the say nobody, because I play
on the clip of your dad, and they're like, Mom,
you're not the Harbos. Of course, Ansley is right, somebody
(17:24):
probably has it better than the Harbaws. They can't literally
be on top of the world all the time. But
that's not the point. The point is to approach life
with hope and optimism so you can take advantage and
maximize each moment, good or bad. That's why these are
not just catchy sayings for the harrbas with no action
(17:44):
behind it. Enthusiasm is literally a way of life. It's
a belief system. They believe that if you attack life
with enthusiasm, you'll become a solutions oriented person rather than
a pessimist who is paralleled by cynicism. Every roadblock can
become an opportunity to get better if approached with the
(18:06):
right attitude. This is John at the Coach's Clinic. It's
not about what you can't do, and everybody always wants to,
you know, be paralyzed by what they can't do. We
have the same conversations and free agency. We can't do this,
and we can't sign that guy because we're gonna lose
this pick, or we can't go that route because it's
going to cost too much. And a lot of times
you can't do it. But by the time you start
discussing all things you can't do, all the things you
(18:28):
can do, somebody else is already doing. I mean, find
what you can do. There are lots of things you
can do. There's an opportunity and everything that happens. We
lost one of our one of the best offensive linemen
in football, Collectio Assemily. I love him. Okay, we offered
him eight and a half million dollars to come in
a year to play for the Ravens. Would have been
would have been the highest paid guard in football. It
wasn't enough. Okay, are you kidding me? Okay, So he's
(18:50):
getting he's getting even more than that. I'm happy for COLLETI.
I'm happy for k we worked for He's in great shape.
But that's not that's not a minus for us. That's
a positive. Now we got an opportunity to build an
offensive line in another way, and we got that money.
Jim has one more pointer on the topic. You want
to be enthusiastic. I'll give you one more tip. Act enthusiastic.
(19:12):
He says it all the time. You want to be
be enthusiastic. You know, I have a passion for something
that you do. Then how do you be enthusiastic? Enthusiastic?
Oh boy, am I enthusiastic? That's how you do well.
It's obviously worked for the horrorbas My colleague John Eisenberg
pointed out that being enthusiastic isn't the only way to
(19:33):
ascend the coaching rinks and win games. It's just what
has defined their family journey, which started with Jack when
he began as a high school coach in Eaton, Ohio
in nineteen sixty four. He ultimately coached Western Kentucky to
a Division one Double A national championship, and the boys
clearly followed suit. It's probably unusual. I mean, that's the
way they do things, and it's worked for them. This
(19:54):
is John Eisenberg, columnist for the Baltimore Ravens. You know,
I've been around a lot of coaches, and they all
go through things different they all handle it differently. Now,
Bill Belichick, I don't know the people would say he
attacks the day, you know, I don't know what he
does exactly, you know, but he doesn't attack the day, right,
But whatever he's done is work for him. So I
(20:17):
think it's unique to them. And and you know, I
mean there may be some others. Does Andy Reid attack
the day? I'm not sure he does, you know. So
I think that all these coaches have emos and work
for them that work for them. And there is no
doubt that the Harbaugh mo is, you know, we're gonna
(20:40):
be up early, we're gonna work harder than you. We're
gonna be sweating by nine am. And what you don't
know is that we're going to be smarter than you two,
but we are going to work hard. We're gonna work
as hard. You're not going to outwork us. Some of
that probably that's Midwestern values, and I think it's growing up.
I mean, I think you can get into a lot
of sorts of sociology there that you know, maybe I'm
(21:01):
a little over my head, but they grew up. It
was not an I mean, it was a middle class
you know. I mean they had entree into sports, but
it was you know, there was no doubt that you
were going to work. And I do think John has
sort of remade the Ravens into that into that, you know,
post ray Lewis. You know, there's no doubt some transition
has occurred here, you know, and it just had to.
(21:24):
I mean, the heroes got old and they left, you know,
and so you move on. You got to figure out
something that you're going to be next. And so I
do think that they you know, if you can use
one quality that can describe to Ravens, you know, win
or lose in the last three or four years, it's effort.
They've always had a lot of effort, you know, really
worked hard, so I think he sort of remade made
(21:46):
the Ravens into that serling was on display in the
losing season. Yeah, and so not mail at any week
seventeen when they was no chance to go to the playoffs. Yeah,
I think it's working for them, you know, going forward.
But so yeah, it's always there's always going to be
effort and starts with the coaches. That is the coach,
that's the coach. Not only did Jack teach his kids
(22:08):
to be enthusiastic, but he also taught them to fight
for what they believed in. He learned that from his
own father, who was briefly an amateur boxer. Jack said
his dad lasted about seven fights and then he got
his butt kicked in the eighth. Anne decided boxing was
no longer what he wanted to do, but he was
still known for his blue collar toughness. He became an
(22:30):
engineer for the Pennsylvania Railroad to support his five children
and wife. Well, the apple didn't fall far from the tree,
as there are numerous family stories of Jack getting into fights,
both as a child and an adult. John recalls one vividly.
My dad grew up in a real tough environment, you know,
and it was actually in his town. He actually grew
up fighting and knocking people's teeth out. And there's a
(22:53):
lot of great stories there. I mean, he guys his
story about him New Year's Eve story, you know, coming
back when we were little kids. I tell it, I
should tell that story. Tell. Yeah. My dad was coaching
at at at Eton High School, which is like thirty
miles west of Dayton, and they were invited were we
(23:14):
were like two and three years old, and they were
invited to a New Year's Eve party in Dayton somewhere.
And so they go to the New Year's Eve party.
It's after New Year's you know, and they're driving back
home and on this kind of this road and they're
going through a tough part in West Dayton, real bad area,
and all of a sudden, you know, these two cars,
three cars pull up and start harassing them, and my
(23:37):
dad like he'll say, I probably cut them off, you know,
and they didn't like it, you know, and I was,
you know, I made a mistake. You don't cut them off.
And all of a sudden they're like us on the side,
banging on the door, yelling out the window, you know,
beer bottle smashing, you know, and bumping them from behind,
and finally one of the cars just runs up in
front of him and cuts them off on the side
the road and pulls them over and stops him. So
(23:59):
there's a car in front of car behind that's maybe
five or six guys, as he remembers it, and the
mom's in the passenger's side and she's like, stay in
the car, Jack, just stay in the car. And he's like,
what am I gonna do? I got nowhere. I can't
I have nowhere to go. Really, I can't pull out.
I mean, mom will tell you that he could have
pulled out, you know. So he jumps out of the
car and he had just gotten for Christmas a brand
(24:19):
new i'm gonna say cash mirror coat, brand new. He
never had a dress winner coat before with a long coat,
had to like the soft inside, the real slippreeth kind
of silky inside type of a thing. So he's got
this beautiful coat and he loved this coat. And he
gets out of the car and he starts walking forward
to the guy in front and it's like, what's going on,
you know? And and uh yeah, the guys he goes
(24:41):
you want to go? You know, we can, we can
we can fight you. We're gonna let us go, you know,
and so so so so the guy then a guy.
Uh so the guy pulls out a knife. Oh my gosh,
okay pulls out a knife. So my dad turned and
he goes, hey, I'm not I'm not here to get
in a knife fight. So he turns around. He said,
the other guy is behind him now and is right
in his face and right there. So he as he
(25:02):
turns around, the guy with a knife grabs him from
behind and grabs both his arms and pulls his arms back.
And the guy so, this guy punches him, So my dad,
my dad goes, he goes, thank God for this coat
because because he sleeves being so slippery, he slipped his
hands out, and just as he pulled his hands out,
he says, he punched the guy. He caught the guy
just perfect time. He caught him right on the chin,
(25:23):
just like film right now. Caught him right in the chin.
And my dad tells a story, ever since we were kids,
I dropped him like a sack of sour apples, a
sack of sour apples. That is how he fell to
the ground. And the team reacts just like you react,
he or I tell the story, you know, and the
guy went to the ground, you know, and and right,
so kind of chaos, and soon he jumped in the
(25:45):
car and he pulled out and driving away down the road.
And he's driving away down the road and he realizes,
like five minutes later, it's like my coat, my coat.
I gotta get my coat. It's my coach. He's like,
forget the diary coat. The coats gone, Jack, We're not
going back there. He goes, no, I'm going back. He
wheels the car rout. Yeah, heads back to that same spot,
(26:06):
you know, and all the time I was like that
coach doesn't mean anything. Forget the coach and just get home.
You get two kids at home. You know. He goes
back and there's police cars. Oh wow, he's police cars,
you know. And so he pulls over and and you
know what happened, and they're like, that's the guy. That's
the guy, and the police offer him tell a story.
You know. He told the story what happened the guys today.
(26:26):
He goes, just get out of at go home. Oh wow,
he set him home. You know. These are the typical
stories that Jim John and sister Joni grew up on.
At bedtime. Instead of reading traditional children's books to the kids,
Jack used fighting or sports analogies as a way to
inspire his children. Jim remembers a handful of them, a
lot of people in the football profession. No Jack Harball
(26:48):
and of course of no, no, my mom as well,
how is he doing? I said, you know what it's like.
He has not changed a bit the time you knew
him forty years ago. He is the exact same the
year is today. You can see there is uh. He
lives in like a vacuum of time. He doesn't change.
When John and I were young, I know a lot
(27:09):
of parents probably read their children's stories books. We were
told stories. You heard one of the night, the Bill
Mallory story, because the Muhammad Alie story. There's the Willy
Pip story. Lou Garrick played over a thousand straight games.
Those were Those were our bedtime stories. They tell Anti
(27:30):
Fermo is another story. It's just a wonderful, wonderful childhood
to be raised that way. One in particular is a
Muhammad Alee story, which Jack used to demonstrate the power
and meaning behind a name and the respect that you
sometimes had the demand for that name. Well, Muhammad Alie
(27:54):
actually visited a Raven's practice early in the twenty twelve
Super Bowl season, about four years before for his death.
John asked his dad to come to practice to tell
the story as he introduced the team to the legendary
three time heavyweight champion of the world is my hero.
I'd have to tell you about the day and the
(28:16):
time and what it was all about. And you gotta
remember this man had gone through some things, some hardships,
some difficulties in his life. He changed his name from
Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali. He had decided he was
going to change his faith. He now was going to
be a part of the Muslim faith, and the world
kind of looked at him a little bit differently. They're
(28:38):
all kind of people out there were against him. His
old brothers in the boxing profession, they turned on him,
and they wouldn't recognize his name. They continue to call
him Cassius Clay when his name was Muhammad Ali. And
all he asked was for the respect. He asked for
respect from those fellow fighters. February sixth, nineteen sixty seven,
(28:58):
in the Way in to a guy by the name
of Ernie Terrell who was a good friend of his.
These guys that had been friends for twelve years, they
had fought into Golden Gloves or Arnie was a training
partner for Muhammad Ali. They weighed in and they looked
across with each other, and my hero here said, why
don't you call me my name? Man? Well, what's your name?
You told me your name was Cassius Clay, who years
(29:18):
ago was you My name was Cassius Clay. My name
is Muhammad Ali. And you will announce it right there
in the center of that ring after the fight if
you don't do it now. Next day, Houston, Texas Astrodome
World heavyweight Champion fighting Ernie Terrell. The first seven rounds
it was strictly Muhammed. He was in, he was out,
(29:41):
he was right, he was left in. Oh yeah, moved
around the Ali that we all know. Then in the
eighth round he locked both feet in the ground and
then he says aha, and then it was boo boo boo.
I got down. There are combinations through both hands, four
(30:04):
punch combinations. Terrell started to spend to go down, step
up her game. He started to spend to go down
and Alie grabbed it, pulled him back up was no,
not yet, It's not yet your time. And if you
ever listened to that broadcast. Howard Coasal and Joe Lewis
(30:26):
did the broadcasting for the eighth round. Howard Coasal said,
I think Terrell has gone down. I think this is
gonna be an eighth round knockout, and Joe Lewis said, no,
Ali is not ready. Ali has not punished him enough.
He hasn't heard Muhammad Ali yet. He hasn't heard those words,
(30:50):
and he won't go down until he's ready to put
him down. What's my name? Boot? What's my name? Boo? Boom, boom?
What's my name? Terrell couldn't defend himself anymore. All he
(31:12):
did was put his gloves up to his face. Both
eyes were cut, A cut here to cut here. His
left eye was completely closed at the end of the
eighth round, completely closed. The right eye was closing. At
the end of the fight. Terrell said this, I couldn't
see him anymore. Fight lasted fifteen rounds. You know why
it lasted fifteen rounds? Why are you thinking? Lasted fifteen rounds?
(31:35):
That's how long Mohammad wanted it to last. Both eyes
cut and he said to the world this what's my name?
It became a battlecry in our family. We would talk
to our John and Damn and Joni, what's my name? Respect?
That's what we're looking for in this world. The Hardbaugh
family's physical fighting has evolved into more figurative wrestles for
(31:59):
causes or core principles that they believe in, so fighting
is encouraged, but only as long as there is a
higher purpose. In twenty twelve, the year that they met
in the Super Bowl, John and Jim were talking about
the fights they endure on a daily basis as they
try to build and hold their teams together. Well After
the conversation, John decided to use their conclusions as a
(32:22):
motivating slogan for his team that year, so he printed
T shirts with the words on the front, the four
fights every day, and on the back it detailed those
four fights. The first fight was us versus Them, Second
division from within, third complacency, and fourth fatigue. These types
(32:45):
of fights require self mastery, not fists. Avoiding division demands
the unselfish exercise of putting teammates above yourself. Combating complacency
requires a mental edge so you're not lulled into a
false sense of security and a consistent healthy lifestyle helps
overcome fatigue. I think one theme, like I'm thinking about
(33:07):
this thing through like to me, the real theme about
like us is like it's it's how do I say it?
We're just like we're fighters, you know, we've always been fighters.
The point is is that like, like you know, we're
just we're not We're just kind of a raised We're
not afraid to fight for for success or for each other,
or for or for what you think is right, you know,
for your team. You know, I can even go back
(33:29):
to after the suit, you know, after the championship game
we lost, and the you know, the trick play things
and the and the deflate gates stuff and all that,
and you know, I've never backed down from any of
everything we said. I told the truth right from the
get go, which has all turned out to be actually
accurate and right. You know, we didn't have anything to
do with deflated footballs or reporting deflated footballs. I never
see that get reported. We said from the beginning it
(33:51):
wasn't we weren't part of that, and we weren't and
uh or we said that you know, we thought that
those plays shouldn't have been allowed in to the game,
and it's been proven that they shouldn't. But were I's
saying it's an excuse. We should have stopped him, you know.
But but you can't be afraid that. You can't be
afraid to speak up for what you think is right,
what you think is true, and people want to disagree,
they can disagree. So we've always been willing to fight,
(34:11):
you know, our way out of something, you know, or
acknowledge that you know, hey man, okay, I was wrong.
I do think like you have to have a purpose.
Like if you've got to fight, you have to fight
for something. You have to fight for a purpose. And
that's part of it. It's not just fighting, it's fighting
for something and for somebody and for something bigger than yourself. Yeah,
that's just I feel like that's kind of what our
(34:32):
family has been about. You know. We haven't always been right,
but we've always thought we were right. You know, we
always had a part at least we believed in it.
You know, we believed in it, you know, and we
were we were sticking to it. Yeah, when your dad
came in and spoke to the team about Muhammad Ali,
the four fights every day that you bring to the Ravens.
Is that the hardbas I mean, that's that's I'm just
(34:56):
what am I trying to say here because it's kind
off the cuff, but like you've made the Raven's reputation
kind of the Harbus reputation. What do you say, just
hard working fighters? Yeah, I think so. I think that's
part of the transformation. But I think it was always here,
you know. I think that's what it's always my blue
collar here. Yeah, it was. It was a good fit.
I think to me that's what Steve like he figured
(35:18):
it out for some reason. I mean, I don't know
who else would have hired me necessarily in the NFL,
but Steve saw it. I think he saw the fit
because he kind of got our family right away. He's
told me. I mean, he's just he got us right away.
And it was just he saw the fit with what
it was, and so it was it was a natural
transformation from where the Ravens were and what they were
to who what he wanted them to continue to be
(35:40):
and what they could become. Many would assume that winning
or being the best is the Harbus highest purpose, and
while it's extremely important to them, winning isn't the absolute
and goal. It's actually deeper than that. Winning is the
tangible evidence that they're meeting that higher end goal. This
(36:01):
is something I started to discover while talking with Ravens
general manager Rozzie Newsome. I asked Newsome what he thought
was John's single greatest attribute is as a coach. Well,
you know, I watched him. I think his passion and
his work ethic, his passion for being a coach, and
he wants to be the greatest coach ever. And it's
(36:22):
no doubt in his mind that's what he wants. That's
a legitimate goal. Yes, he wants to be not some
pie in the sky, no, no, no, he wants to
be considered the greatest coach that ever coach. And he
works at it. I mean, and he works at it
on a daily basis, you know, And it could be
some times well I think, okay, well we kind of
got it, well we wanted and he'll come in there
(36:42):
and say what do you think about this? You know,
so he's always pushing the envelope. I asked John about
his goal to be the best coach in NFL history,
because that's a lofty goal considering his competition. There are
the greats like Vince Lombardi, Bill Walsh, Chuck Noll, and
Paul Brown. Shoot hard. Even competes regularly against who he
thinks is the best ever and the Patriots Bill Belichick.
(37:05):
You know, I'm from his era, so I'm probably biased,
But to me, he's the best coach in history the
National Football League. I think the record proves it by
having played against him and done everything. You know, you
know that you can as a coach to try to
win and compete and hang in there and try to
overcome him. I know how hard it is. I know
how good he is. So John knows how difficult it
(37:25):
is to be the best because he faces it almost annually,
and he's both been defeated by and victorious against it.
He's fully aware that he's lost to Belichick more than
he's won, but that doesn't make him shy away from
openly declaring a goal that he and most coaches on
this planet could easily fail to reach. That's because not
(37:47):
even attempting to be the all time best would be
inconsistent with his faith, which is very dear to John.
Religion and faith aren't frequently addressed in sports reporting, perhaps
because sports is where will go to escape such topics,
and everyone's faith is their own business. But this is
a site of John that I'm guessing most fans and
(38:08):
even his opponents have never seen, even though it's a big,
huge part of what makes him John Harbaugh. Both John
and Jim went to Catholic school growing up, and John
continued his study of all religions while attending Miami University
in Ohio as a political science major. Not only is
it important to him, but it greatly affects who he
(38:31):
is as the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. Is
your dream to be make Ravens perennial winners, to be
a perennial super Bowl winner? Like, is that a real
goal that you're like, I'm gunning for that and I'm
gonna get it. Yes, But it's not just that, okay, right,
(38:57):
So it's like what does that mean? Like it's way
deeper than just that, you know. It's like, it's like,
I think I believe that that that life, that we're
all they're all created for glory, Okay, that we're all
created for glory and it's for God's glory, So that
(39:18):
the creator of the universe, Like, why are we here. Okay,
what the Bible will tell you is that we're here
because because of all the all the principalities and the heavens,
all the authorities and the leaders and the incredible beings
that populate the universe. Okay, and God's creation. All right,
that's what the Bible says that God created man for
to to demonstrate his glory. That that actually that that
(39:42):
that these creatures who are just kind of weak and helpless,
that they could, without even ever really seeing God, having
direct evidence of God, could actually believe in God. Okay.
That's that's where God's glory is. And like like when
you when you walk in that kind of mindset, you realize, like,
oh my gosh, this is real. This could really happen.
So what does God happen store for? Here's glorious things
in store for us. Okay, we get in our own
(40:04):
way most of the time. Okay, we hold ourselves back
because of our doubts and our fears and all those
other kind of things. That's why the Bible says to
be strong and courageous, very strong and courageous, it goes
on to say in Joshua one. So it's like that's
that's that's what we're tasked to do in whatever area
that we're given to do it. And because of your
passions and where your place in life, it's that that's
(40:25):
your place, that's your area what you have like a
passion for like if you have if you have an
a biden desire that says, you know, I want to
make a difference for for for homeless people. I want
to make a difference for kids in tough inner city schools,
or I want to make I want to make a
difference for for people in Africa or whatever it might be,
you know. Or I have a family that you know
what this family to me is everything. These kids. I
just adore these kids and I want to I want
(40:46):
to be a good dad or a good mom. You know,
that is what that's where your glory lies. Okay, And
it's different for every one of us. So you know,
I know that I feel like I'm here for a
reason and it's not to be second, you know, it's
to be it's to be the best. And so my
job is to work my tail off to become the
(41:07):
best I can be and to trust God with all
the outcomes of all that. You know, I want to
make sure I understand that. So in your mind, those
goals to be great, to be the best, comes from
a desire to add glory to your creator. Right, So
if he wants it, or he can make it happen,
(41:28):
because he may want something for you that you can't
even dream, then why limit yourself exactly? Okay, that's exactly it.
That's exactly it. I mean, just be excited. That goes
back to enthusiasm unown to mankind. And this is something
like I think we've all kind of like got our
own view of this thing and our own piece of
this thing in our family, you know, like what it
really means. I don't think my dad thought it along
these lines when he said it. He wants us to
(41:50):
be fired up in the morning because we were dragging
our butts on the parking lot at the school one day,
you know what I mean, and I came to him,
you know, But I still think that's part of the
amazing plan about these things. It's like these things are
meant for far greater things than we can even dream of.
So you start, you start living your life and you
start realizing it's like, I mean, why wouldn't you approach
the day that way? Because man, you just can't wait
to see what what what's in store for you. And
(42:12):
you will have setbacks. You will be punched in the face,
you will get knocked down. You will have to slip
out of the coat and throw some punches. You know
you will, You just will figuratively, Okay. You got to
be willing to fight, you know, and you will, and
you will be wrong, and you have to say, I'm sorry.
I screwed up. You know, I stepped on my own feet,
I tripped myself up and I pulled three people down
(42:34):
with me. You know, I'm sorry, I'm wrong. I was wrong.
I learned from it, you know. And you know that's
just like to me, that's like that's the glory of
the whole thing. That's where the glory of the whole
thing is. You know. Um, yeah, I mean that that
that's it right there. Whenever you speak, it seems like
it's it's God. And faith is such a driving momentum.
Where does that come from? And I even see it
(42:55):
in gym a little bit? Is it just innate in you?
I mean, I don't know. I'm yeah, Oh, I think
it's in terms of personally think it's innate and everybody,
you know, like C. S. Lewis said, everybody has a
God sized hole, you know, in them, in their soul.
You know, I do think that's true for all of us,
you know. And uh, it's just a matter whether we
(43:15):
address it or not. You know, it's the kind of
the reasoning to understand it. You know, Okay, what are
we here for? What is this all about? And I've
thought a lot a lot about it and and read
a lot about it, and and I you know, read scripture,
I've listened to I've listened to I have. Let's study
other religions too, you know, as a political science, and
study all the other religions, you know. And basically to me,
(43:37):
it's just it's just so clear cut to me that
that if there is a creator, which to me clearly
there has to be out there, you got to You're
gonna come down on one side or the other. You
can't be in the middle. It says in the Bible,
you know, for luke Warm, God spits us out, you know,
like and any of us would you know, you got
somebody's walking the fence, you know, they can't make a decision,
(43:58):
be committed. What sidy? What do you stand for you know,
And I think that's what God says to us too,
What do you stand for? You know? Are you with
me or against me? You know? It says bide with
God is for us? Who can be against us? Well,
I just choose. I'm gonna be. I'm gonna be with God.
I want God to be for me. I don't want
and I don't want to be lukewarm. I don't want
to say you know what, I don't really know. I'm
(44:19):
not really sure. It's like it's like none of us
are really sure. You know, that's what faith is in
the end, But but to me, it's just it's so evident.
I walk around, I look at look at people or
or just creation, and you're like, man, this is pretty awesome,
you know, And that leads you down a path. But
it's everybody has their individual journey, so jims and eyes
(44:39):
are probably different. But for me, it's it's just an
abiding faith and and and and um and in grace,
in the saving and the power of the grace of
the Cross. And I'm just all in for that because
because it's either you're all in or you're all out.
It's either you're you're you're all in for hope or
it's just about to spare and hopelessness. Otherwise the existence
(45:01):
is like completely meaningless. I'm going all in for meaning.
I'm saying everything has meaning, yeah, and I'm going for
the power of that. And then the power like if
you connect yourself to the creator of the universe in
an intimate way, which is what Christianity says that you
do through Jesus. Okay, and then you start doing it
and you start realizing, oh my gosh, this is kind
(45:22):
of real. This actually works, right, this, actually, this actually
is powerful. This is transformative. Okay, this is not just
words or myths. Is this is actually And how do
you know? Because I know because it's inside of me.
I'm not the same. Can you hear the conviction in
John's voice? Now, whether you agree with his faith is
(45:44):
really not the point. The point is that John is
all in when it comes to making the Ravens a
perennial super Bowl winner and becoming the best coach of
all time. And that's because it's his way of connecting
with his creator. Removing all man made limits allows him
to be like malleable clay in his creator's hands. When
(46:06):
somebody is that deeply rooted in a belief system watch out.
Combine that with the hardball way of attacking the day
with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind and their fighter mentality,
and it isn't easy to knock the Harbaugh's off. Course,
Kevin Byrnon the Ravens discovered that as soon as John
(46:26):
came to town in two thousand and eight. I've been
in the business a long time, so, you know, since
nineteen seventy seven, every year except two years, so I've
seen a lot of coaches. I've seen a lot of
coaches fired and hired. With separates John from all the
coaches I've ever worked with, and I've worked with some
very good ones, is that John is relentless. He's not
(46:47):
going to take the obvious. He is going to study it.
He is going to miss sleep, he is going to
ask people to help him so the study is more
thorough and he the reason we will continue to succeed
with on Harbaugh is that he still takes everything with
the seriousness he took on day one. He's relentless in
(47:07):
the pursuit of winning. Wow. Next time, on Man of
the Crowd, we made the very difficult decision to fire
Brian this morning, I could be three coaches past Brian
Billick nine years from now. There is a Hall of
Fame coach out there and it's our job to find him.
And he goes, and I will be a great head coach.
(47:27):
I'm going to be a great head coach for somebody,
but with the people in this room, I can be
a great head coach here. And Steve said something like, well,
we believe you can. You can see John's eyes kind
of wander around the room and they looked over at
Steve and he goes, are you offering me the job?
But I saw in the eyes of the guys in
the first meeting was just no, we're not buying into this.
(47:50):
Brian set the bar pretty high, so John vetterby successful. Hey,
Man of the Crowd listeners, Before you go, I just
wanted to say thank you for such a strong showing
of support for this podcast. We've been very happy with
(48:10):
how many there are of you out there listening, and
we'd love to have even more people find us, So
please consider rating the podcast and writing a review. The
more subscribers and the more positive ratings that Man of
the Crowd gets, the more others will be able to
find it too. Also, don't forget to continually check back
on our microsite at Baltimore Ravens dot com backslash Man
(48:31):
of the Crowd for content that compliments what you're listening
to here, including biographies of key interviews I've conducted, photo
galleries and more. And as always, I want to hear
from you guys after each episode. If you have any
comments or questions or whatever, hit me up on Twitter.
My handle is at sg Ellison. I'll look forward to
(48:51):
your feedback and would love to interact with you. Okay,
that's it. That's all I've got, but I'll be back
next week with episode three, Steve Kushati's Fear of being
wrong
Last time on Man of the Crowd, thet rabit Our
super Bowl Tremor, Sean Harball over Jim Harball, The Rabits
over the forty nine. Unique was the Super Bowl having
those two brothers there again. No, it will never happen again.
The super Bowl was like winning the lottery on back
(00:21):
to back days. John would never feel guilty for winning,
would he. No, he's good. You gotta be competitive, you
got the juice has got to flow every day and
just today it happens to be your brother. Yeah, you
want to well and my brother or not my brother.
Good thing about the officiating in the game has never
been resolved. He forgets the calls that went his way.
(00:41):
I think he over exaggerates the calls that didn't get
called against them, especially in the last series and all that.
But you know, he's never got to agree with that iman.
He's never gonna take that position. So he's just well,
basically had a hard There's a lion of sand on that.
You know what you do wake up thinking thank God
I beat him? You do, yes, it would have been
a long life, you know. From the Baltimore Ravens. This
(01:03):
is Man of the Crowd, a multi episode podcast that
pulls back the curtain on Ravens figures personal lives this
season the Horrorbaugh family. I'm Sarah Ellison. We're going to
turn this day with an enthusiasm compared pie because you
(01:28):
are a fighter and that's what you are going to
be today. The law will hold it twice. Both John
and Jim Harbaugh's NFL careers have been defined in part
by the battles they fought with their own teams while
(01:49):
simultaneously finding success on the field. It's just that Jim's
battle with the San Francisco forty nine Ers was a
lot more public than John's because of several unusual leaks
to the media during the twenty fourteen season, Really just
a little more than a year removed from the Super Bowl,
that was followed by what was term day mutually agreed
(02:09):
upon separation. At least that's how a forty nine Ers
public relations press released to find it, although a few
people believed it was really mutual. Despite making San Francisco
an instant perennial Super Bowl contender after the team hadn't
notched a winning season in almost a decade, Jim was
still out as the head coach after four seasons with
(02:31):
the forty nine Ers. The drawn out battle between Jim
and the forty nine Ers ownership was long enough that
Jim recently joked this last offseason on the t K
Show in the Bay Area that he deserved an award
for enduring it. And that's because Jim's two coaching successors
only lasted one year under owner Jed York, while Jim
(02:52):
lasted four. I think we did, and correct me if
I'm wrong. I think we did set a record for
being for waching. They're the longest under the president president ownership.
If I'm not wrong, you are correct, You are correct. Yeah,
take take pride and that maybe there should be an
endurance courage mental for that. Have you had any conversation
(03:16):
with Jed York since you left? No? Huh. Interestingly, John
had an internal battle of his own with the Baltimore Ravens.
Now His was far less public, but it actually lasted
longer than jim struggle in San Francisco. It took five
years to resolve the quarreling, which started the day John
walked onto the job and really didn't completely end until
(03:39):
he won the Super Bowl. But instead of fighting with
ownership and management, John's battle was with his players, because
really it was there was really a real, real, real,
real fight for the kind of control of the team,
so to speak, you know, and uh, and I wish
I wasn't backing down right, And what I saw in
the eyes of the guys in the first meeting was
just basically almost come like, no, we're not buying into this.
(04:03):
So I was in a position where I just had
to have a real strong backbone, and I just couldn't
back up. What's remarkable is that despite these battles, John
and Jim became the only NFL head coaches to ever
advance to three conference title games and their first five years.
Is NFL bosses. Hey, Jim even did it in three years.
It took John the five, but he topped it off
(04:24):
with the Super Bowl win. Anyway, I promise I'm going
to dive more into these battles later, but first, I
think it's important to point out that the Harbob brothers
were groomed from childhood for this type of success and
the fights that came with it. And I'm not just
talking about the football entree they received from their youth
(04:45):
growing up inside college football locker rooms like at the
Michigan Wolverines, where they watched their father work with the
legendary Beauchambeckler. Their football upbringing is unmatched. But there's more
to it than that, and that's why I'm going to
attempt something here. I'm going to attempt to take you
inside the mind of a Harbaugh. I think you'll find
(05:08):
it a fascinating place to be. You want to know
what makes these guys tick. I think I can answer that.
You want to know how a single family produces two
of the best coaches in football today. I can tell
you what's worked for them beyond the xs a nose,
and I'll try to sum it up for you in
one simple sentence. They relentlessly and enthusiastically fight for a
(05:33):
higher purpose. Let me say that again, because it's so important.
They relentlessly and enthusiastically fight for a higher purpose. What
is so special about that hardball blood? I wish I knew,
because you meet all of them, and they all have
(05:53):
Jonie his sister. Their sister is similar. I just talked
to her last week. He is similar. Similar. That's Kevin Byrne,
who you heard from last week. He's the senior vice
president of pr at the Ravens Well. To demonstrate Kevin's
point about the Harbor children all being alike, I wrote
a quote to Jonie that was given by her husband,
(06:14):
the former Indiana men's basketball coach Tom Creane. Well, this
quote is describing her personality. But you tell me if
it sounds like the two head coaches in Baltimore and Michigan.
Now you've probably heard this quote. I saw this quote
from Tom on you. I think he gave it to
the New York Times, and he says she's opinionated, very smart,
(06:36):
and she doesn't like to be wrong, and she rarely is.
She'll raise our kids in the pool, and she's not
letting her two oldest beat her in anything she wants
to win. Jonie is not going to lose an argument.
To grow up in that house, you had to be competitive.
Would you say that's accurate? I'd say, yeah, I think
it's quite accurate. Probably unploite. Yeah, yeah it is. It's
(06:58):
sad to say than it is. Yeah. Well, I told
him the other day, we're discussing something. They don't think
they're argon we're discussing something, and I said, well, you
know it's old saying would you rather be right? Or
happy looks like doctor Phil I think said that would
you rather be right or would you rather be happy?
Quite frankly, I'm good with both. Yeah, I think I
can be right and be happy. Who says they're mutually exclusive?
(07:23):
I don't believe they are, so I try really hard
to be right and be happy. I love it. Well,
what's funny is I don't. I obviously don't know Jim
as well as John. I've been here since John was hired.
But you could probably, you know, put the keys in
for the sheese, and it sounds like him also, you
know which, which isn't surprising, No, it is. Usually people
(07:49):
like to compare and contrast John and Jim to pinpoint
their differences, and there are many. But the brothers are
probably more alike than different, the same as set of Janey.
All three of them want to be right and happy.
So how did they become so similar? Well, it's no
different from any other family. It all starts with mom
(08:09):
and dad in the lessons they taught their children. Their
parents emphasize enthusiastic competition as a way to motivate their
children to relentlessly take advantage of every moment of every
second of every day. Here's burn again. I don't know
what mom and dad did, Jack and Jackie to instill
(08:31):
in their kids this ability to look at a moment
and say, why can't we maximize this moment in some way?
It's remarkable, it's remarkable. It's I don't know if it's
a self examination they constantly do. I think religions very
important to the family. I think that's part of it.
(08:51):
You know, the greater good? How can I do the
greater good? What's to be expected me of this moment
in the greater scheme of life? I think that's very
important to him. Here's an example of how John maximizes
what seems like an ordinary moment with this team during
a typical meeting, and he goes, guys, let me ask
you a question. There are thirty two teams in the
(09:14):
NFL having a Wednesday morning meeting. Is there any reason
why we can't have the best meeting in the league today?
Is there any team that could have a better meeting
than we can? Does anybody think raise your hand if
you think there's a team that could have a better
meeting than us? Right now? And I'm thinking to myself,
what a wonderful way to get everybody's attention. Instead, he
(09:35):
probably noticed somebody wasn't paying attention. But instead of calling
a guy out, he says, Hey, is there a reason
we can't have the best meeting? I mean, he's inspired
me on a Friday afternoon to play better racquetball if
I'm having If I'm going to play a racquetball game
before I leave on a late Friday afternoon, and I
(09:57):
pass him in the hallway, I'll say to myself, is
there any reason i can't play the best racquetball game
I've ever played on a Friday after today? Right? Is
there a reason? But I'm gonna go play. I might
as well do my best. And so he's got that knack.
He's unbelievable. It's funny because I keep trying to pinpoint
that for the whole Harbaugh family and what you just said.
(10:17):
I don't think it's normal for people to be the
greatest at what they're doing in that second, do you
know what I'm saying? Like everybody wants to be a legend.
Everybody wants to be great, But to get there, are
you're going to be the best at whatever it is?
Eating your lunch that day? You know, Like with the
most healthy lunch that you can bribe have ever in
this world. You know. I'm sure there are Sunday mornings
(10:40):
in the off season where John's thinking them this himself.
Is there a reason I can't make the best pancake
Alison has ever had in her life. I'm gonna do
that this morning, right right, I have to stand and
give a standing ovation to Jack and Jackie, who I think,
as an aside, are great teammates. Oh yeah, they are
(11:02):
a good team together. I think it's time to give
a proper introduction to their father, Jack Harbaugh, who coached
football for more than forty years despite being seventy seven
years old. Now it's hard not to notice someone he
walks into a room because of his loud and enthusiastic
approach to everyday life. In fact, he's the one who
(11:24):
invented the line attack life with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind. Well,
we followed the Harbos to ann Arbor, Michigan for a
coaching clinic, where Jack explained when he first used the
phrase on his two young sons. When that all came up,
unknown to enthusiasm, unknown to mankind, it was Iowa back
(11:44):
in nineteen seventy two. John was I think nine years
old and Jim was eight years old, and it was
a dead a winner take him to school. And these
two guys were all bundled up in the back seat.
They had to remember the snow pants and the snow
jackets and the hats and the moths, and sitting back
there just miserable, I mean absolutely miserable. Didn't have backpacks
(12:06):
in those days, just had their books and took them
for about five days, they'd get out of the car.
I mean, I'd watched them to walk to school. I said, this,
this is crazy. What's what? Where's the enthusiasm. So one
day we're in the car and earned the backs. He said, gentlemen,
we're going to attack this day with an enthusiasm unknown
(12:28):
to man kind. And I want to remind you. They
get out of the car and it was exactly the
same reaction. And then I think after that, after that,
you'd say, don't take any Wooden Nikels. No, no one
in here has any idea what wooden nickels are all about,
but that wash. Don't take Wooden Nickels. It's not hard
(12:51):
to figure out, you know, they're all gray haired. Coach
phraised his hand, you got your hand on. But when
we get the definition, don't take any wooden nickels, I'm
not sure. I know, I know it, I know well.
I know what it means to me is that don't
let somebody sneak up from behind you and hit you
over the head with a bag of shit. Don't let one.
(13:13):
Don't let somebody put something over on you. That was
a subliminal. That's what I took from it, people, And
I was gonna get into good football stats. Shoulders over knees,
over ankles, with a head on a swivel, nobody's gonna
put one over on you. That's not what you meant.
I think so. But there's some other meeting I had
(13:34):
to do with wooden nickels and street cars. Back in
New York, people would put wooden nickels in there and
it would go through the machine and they got free ride.
I think that was the direct. Is that the original?
No one knows, but but I want to finish the story.
I like my definition better. So Jim got the job
at Stanford and they were like they were one and
(13:57):
ten a year before and he was at the press conference,
and at the press conference, some reporter asking Jim, tell
us what's the first thing you're going to do as
a football coach at Stanford University? And I'm watching the
press conference and I hear we're going to attack this
day with an enthusiasm Unknown to man Kin, I said, wow,
(14:18):
he was listening. Hey, listen, how's the first time I
ever got any feedback on that store. Can you feel
the energy that Jack brings to this auditorium of coaches? Well,
I can tell you that energy, it's contagious. After I'm
done talking to Jack, he has me feeling like I
can move mountains. His optimism is extremely inspiring, and he's
(14:43):
optimistic all the time. No matter how about a situation seems,
he makes it feel like it's the greatest opportunity on earth.
This is Jim again. Sometimes we had a car, sometimes
we didn't have a car. We'd come out and if
we didn't have the car. We only had a car
after a dealer car from his coaching job. We didn't
(15:04):
actually own a car. But sometimes they take the dealer
car back and he'd say, okay, boys, were what today?
We got better than us? Body wants with the left
hundred gibbs through the right, we're gonna get better today.
(15:28):
Jack simply came up with these phrases off the top
of his head in the midst of life, small and
mundane moments, the same moments most families face. All he
wanted to do was motivate two little boys who were
dragging their feet on a normal weekday. I doubt Jack
envisioned that these phrases would soar in popularity throughout the
(15:49):
football world. They're so popular they've almost become cliche now,
which John says is a testament to the truth behind them.
Rap artist Bailey got Jim to join him in a
music video that featured the Harbas rallying cries, well, question,
tell them all got it? Why would you wake up
(16:15):
every morning? I mean you get you get We get
to wake up every morning and like we're alive. This
is John, you know, we have this this gift of life.
It's like, we're alive. What would you rather not be?
You know? So, why wouldn't you be fired up? Excited
about that? Or he always says, you know, who's got it?
He's always said it of the kids, and he would
draw it out, who's got it better than us? And
then you know, now are a little Ansley or a
(16:37):
little enough. He's got somebody's got it better than us, Papa,
somebody's got it better than somebody out there has to
have it better than us. No, that's not the right answer.
The answer is no body, you know. And that's the
way you got to say it. And my team and
Jim's teams, my team, they love it. When I asked
him that, I probably should ask him more because they
know it and they draw it out Jack harball Way
(16:58):
and I just it's like, it's I promise you they're
sharing with their kids. Yeah, and I think that's really cool.
Sorry about sharing with kids. I actually do it to
my kids when I'm dropping them off. They say to me,
because I'm waiting from the say nobody, because I play
on the clip of your dad, and they're like, Mom,
you're not the Harbos. Of course, Ansley is right, somebody
(17:24):
probably has it better than the Harbaws. They can't literally
be on top of the world all the time. But
that's not the point. The point is to approach life
with hope and optimism so you can take advantage and
maximize each moment, good or bad. That's why these are
not just catchy sayings for the harrbas with no action
(17:44):
behind it. Enthusiasm is literally a way of life. It's
a belief system. They believe that if you attack life
with enthusiasm, you'll become a solutions oriented person rather than
a pessimist who is paralleled by cynicism. Every roadblock can
become an opportunity to get better if approached with the
(18:06):
right attitude. This is John at the Coach's Clinic. It's
not about what you can't do, and everybody always wants to,
you know, be paralyzed by what they can't do. We
have the same conversations and free agency. We can't do this,
and we can't sign that guy because we're gonna lose
this pick, or we can't go that route because it's
going to cost too much. And a lot of times
you can't do it. But by the time you start
discussing all things you can't do, all the things you
(18:28):
can do, somebody else is already doing. I mean, find
what you can do. There are lots of things you
can do. There's an opportunity and everything that happens. We
lost one of our one of the best offensive linemen
in football, Collectio Assemily. I love him. Okay, we offered
him eight and a half million dollars to come in
a year to play for the Ravens. Would have been
would have been the highest paid guard in football. It
wasn't enough. Okay, are you kidding me? Okay, So he's
(18:50):
getting he's getting even more than that. I'm happy for COLLETI.
I'm happy for k we worked for He's in great shape.
But that's not that's not a minus for us. That's
a positive. Now we got an opportunity to build an
offensive line in another way, and we got that money.
Jim has one more pointer on the topic. You want
to be enthusiastic. I'll give you one more tip. Act enthusiastic.
(19:12):
He says it all the time. You want to be
be enthusiastic. You know, I have a passion for something
that you do. Then how do you be enthusiastic? Enthusiastic?
Oh boy, am I enthusiastic? That's how you do well.
It's obviously worked for the horrorbas My colleague John Eisenberg
pointed out that being enthusiastic isn't the only way to
(19:33):
ascend the coaching rinks and win games. It's just what
has defined their family journey, which started with Jack when
he began as a high school coach in Eaton, Ohio
in nineteen sixty four. He ultimately coached Western Kentucky to
a Division one Double A national championship, and the boys
clearly followed suit. It's probably unusual. I mean, that's the
way they do things, and it's worked for them. This
(19:54):
is John Eisenberg, columnist for the Baltimore Ravens. You know,
I've been around a lot of coaches, and they all
go through things different they all handle it differently. Now,
Bill Belichick, I don't know the people would say he
attacks the day, you know, I don't know what he
does exactly, you know, but he doesn't attack the day, right,
But whatever he's done is work for him. So I
(20:17):
think it's unique to them. And and you know, I
mean there may be some others. Does Andy Reid attack
the day? I'm not sure he does, you know. So
I think that all these coaches have emos and work
for them that work for them. And there is no
doubt that the Harbaugh mo is, you know, we're gonna
(20:40):
be up early, we're gonna work harder than you. We're
gonna be sweating by nine am. And what you don't
know is that we're going to be smarter than you two,
but we are going to work hard. We're gonna work
as hard. You're not going to outwork us. Some of
that probably that's Midwestern values, and I think it's growing up.
I mean, I think you can get into a lot
of sorts of sociology there that you know, maybe I'm
(21:01):
a little over my head, but they grew up. It
was not an I mean, it was a middle class
you know. I mean they had entree into sports, but
it was you know, there was no doubt that you
were going to work. And I do think John has
sort of remade the Ravens into that into that, you know,
post ray Lewis. You know, there's no doubt some transition
has occurred here, you know, and it just had to.
(21:24):
I mean, the heroes got old and they left, you know,
and so you move on. You got to figure out
something that you're going to be next. And so I
do think that they you know, if you can use
one quality that can describe to Ravens, you know, win
or lose in the last three or four years, it's effort.
They've always had a lot of effort, you know, really
worked hard, so I think he sort of remade made
(21:46):
the Ravens into that serling was on display in the
losing season. Yeah, and so not mail at any week
seventeen when they was no chance to go to the playoffs. Yeah,
I think it's working for them, you know, going forward.
But so yeah, it's always there's always going to be
effort and starts with the coaches. That is the coach,
that's the coach. Not only did Jack teach his kids
(22:08):
to be enthusiastic, but he also taught them to fight
for what they believed in. He learned that from his
own father, who was briefly an amateur boxer. Jack said
his dad lasted about seven fights and then he got
his butt kicked in the eighth. Anne decided boxing was
no longer what he wanted to do, but he was
still known for his blue collar toughness. He became an
(22:30):
engineer for the Pennsylvania Railroad to support his five children
and wife. Well, the apple didn't fall far from the tree,
as there are numerous family stories of Jack getting into fights,
both as a child and an adult. John recalls one vividly.
My dad grew up in a real tough environment, you know,
and it was actually in his town. He actually grew
up fighting and knocking people's teeth out. And there's a
(22:53):
lot of great stories there. I mean, he guys his
story about him New Year's Eve story, you know, coming
back when we were little kids. I tell it, I
should tell that story. Tell. Yeah. My dad was coaching
at at at Eton High School, which is like thirty
miles west of Dayton, and they were invited were we
(23:14):
were like two and three years old, and they were
invited to a New Year's Eve party in Dayton somewhere.
And so they go to the New Year's Eve party.
It's after New Year's you know, and they're driving back
home and on this kind of this road and they're
going through a tough part in West Dayton, real bad area,
and all of a sudden, you know, these two cars,
three cars pull up and start harassing them, and my
(23:37):
dad like he'll say, I probably cut them off, you know,
and they didn't like it, you know, and I was,
you know, I made a mistake. You don't cut them off.
And all of a sudden they're like us on the side,
banging on the door, yelling out the window, you know,
beer bottle smashing, you know, and bumping them from behind,
and finally one of the cars just runs up in
front of him and cuts them off on the side
the road and pulls them over and stops him. So
(23:59):
there's a car in front of car behind that's maybe
five or six guys, as he remembers it, and the
mom's in the passenger's side and she's like, stay in
the car, Jack, just stay in the car. And he's like,
what am I gonna do? I got nowhere. I can't
I have nowhere to go. Really, I can't pull out.
I mean, mom will tell you that he could have
pulled out, you know. So he jumps out of the
car and he had just gotten for Christmas a brand
(24:19):
new i'm gonna say cash mirror coat, brand new. He
never had a dress winner coat before with a long coat,
had to like the soft inside, the real slippreeth kind
of silky inside type of a thing. So he's got
this beautiful coat and he loved this coat. And he
gets out of the car and he starts walking forward
to the guy in front and it's like, what's going on,
you know? And and uh yeah, the guys he goes
(24:41):
you want to go? You know, we can, we can
we can fight you. We're gonna let us go, you know,
and so so so so the guy then a guy.
Uh so the guy pulls out a knife. Oh my gosh,
okay pulls out a knife. So my dad turned and
he goes, hey, I'm not I'm not here to get
in a knife fight. So he turns around. He said,
the other guy is behind him now and is right
in his face and right there. So he as he
(25:02):
turns around, the guy with a knife grabs him from
behind and grabs both his arms and pulls his arms back.
And the guy so, this guy punches him, So my dad,
my dad goes, he goes, thank God for this coat
because because he sleeves being so slippery, he slipped his
hands out, and just as he pulled his hands out,
he says, he punched the guy. He caught the guy
just perfect time. He caught him right on the chin,
(25:23):
just like film right now. Caught him right in the chin.
And my dad tells a story, ever since we were kids,
I dropped him like a sack of sour apples, a
sack of sour apples. That is how he fell to
the ground. And the team reacts just like you react,
he or I tell the story, you know, and the
guy went to the ground, you know, and and right,
so kind of chaos, and soon he jumped in the
(25:45):
car and he pulled out and driving away down the road.
And he's driving away down the road and he realizes,
like five minutes later, it's like my coat, my coat.
I gotta get my coat. It's my coach. He's like,
forget the diary coat. The coats gone, Jack, We're not
going back there. He goes, no, I'm going back. He
wheels the car rout. Yeah, heads back to that same spot,
(26:06):
you know, and all the time I was like that
coach doesn't mean anything. Forget the coach and just get home.
You get two kids at home. You know. He goes
back and there's police cars. Oh wow, he's police cars,
you know. And so he pulls over and and you
know what happened, and they're like, that's the guy. That's
the guy, and the police offer him tell a story.
You know. He told the story what happened the guys today.
(26:26):
He goes, just get out of at go home. Oh wow,
he set him home. You know. These are the typical
stories that Jim John and sister Joni grew up on.
At bedtime. Instead of reading traditional children's books to the kids,
Jack used fighting or sports analogies as a way to
inspire his children. Jim remembers a handful of them, a
lot of people in the football profession. No Jack Harball
(26:48):
and of course of no, no, my mom as well,
how is he doing? I said, you know what it's like.
He has not changed a bit the time you knew
him forty years ago. He is the exact same the
year is today. You can see there is uh. He
lives in like a vacuum of time. He doesn't change.
When John and I were young, I know a lot
(27:09):
of parents probably read their children's stories books. We were
told stories. You heard one of the night, the Bill
Mallory story, because the Muhammad Alie story. There's the Willy
Pip story. Lou Garrick played over a thousand straight games.
Those were Those were our bedtime stories. They tell Anti
(27:30):
Fermo is another story. It's just a wonderful, wonderful childhood
to be raised that way. One in particular is a
Muhammad Alee story, which Jack used to demonstrate the power
and meaning behind a name and the respect that you
sometimes had the demand for that name. Well, Muhammad Alie
(27:54):
actually visited a Raven's practice early in the twenty twelve
Super Bowl season, about four years before for his death.
John asked his dad to come to practice to tell
the story as he introduced the team to the legendary
three time heavyweight champion of the world is my hero.
I'd have to tell you about the day and the
(28:16):
time and what it was all about. And you gotta
remember this man had gone through some things, some hardships,
some difficulties in his life. He changed his name from
Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali. He had decided he was
going to change his faith. He now was going to
be a part of the Muslim faith, and the world
kind of looked at him a little bit differently. They're
(28:38):
all kind of people out there were against him. His
old brothers in the boxing profession, they turned on him,
and they wouldn't recognize his name. They continue to call
him Cassius Clay when his name was Muhammad Ali. And
all he asked was for the respect. He asked for
respect from those fellow fighters. February sixth, nineteen sixty seven,
(28:58):
in the Way in to a guy by the name
of Ernie Terrell who was a good friend of his.
These guys that had been friends for twelve years, they
had fought into Golden Gloves or Arnie was a training
partner for Muhammad Ali. They weighed in and they looked
across with each other, and my hero here said, why
don't you call me my name? Man? Well, what's your name?
You told me your name was Cassius Clay, who years
(29:18):
ago was you My name was Cassius Clay. My name
is Muhammad Ali. And you will announce it right there
in the center of that ring after the fight if
you don't do it now. Next day, Houston, Texas Astrodome
World heavyweight Champion fighting Ernie Terrell. The first seven rounds
it was strictly Muhammed. He was in, he was out,
(29:41):
he was right, he was left in. Oh yeah, moved
around the Ali that we all know. Then in the
eighth round he locked both feet in the ground and
then he says aha, and then it was boo boo boo.
I got down. There are combinations through both hands, four
(30:04):
punch combinations. Terrell started to spend to go down, step
up her game. He started to spend to go down
and Alie grabbed it, pulled him back up was no,
not yet, It's not yet your time. And if you
ever listened to that broadcast. Howard Coasal and Joe Lewis
(30:26):
did the broadcasting for the eighth round. Howard Coasal said,
I think Terrell has gone down. I think this is
gonna be an eighth round knockout, and Joe Lewis said, no,
Ali is not ready. Ali has not punished him enough.
He hasn't heard Muhammad Ali yet. He hasn't heard those words,
(30:50):
and he won't go down until he's ready to put
him down. What's my name? Boot? What's my name? Boo? Boom, boom?
What's my name? Terrell couldn't defend himself anymore. All he
(31:12):
did was put his gloves up to his face. Both
eyes were cut, A cut here to cut here. His
left eye was completely closed at the end of the
eighth round, completely closed. The right eye was closing. At
the end of the fight. Terrell said this, I couldn't
see him anymore. Fight lasted fifteen rounds. You know why
it lasted fifteen rounds? Why are you thinking? Lasted fifteen rounds?
(31:35):
That's how long Mohammad wanted it to last. Both eyes
cut and he said to the world this what's my name?
It became a battlecry in our family. We would talk
to our John and Damn and Joni, what's my name? Respect?
That's what we're looking for in this world. The Hardbaugh
family's physical fighting has evolved into more figurative wrestles for
(31:59):
causes or core principles that they believe in, so fighting
is encouraged, but only as long as there is a
higher purpose. In twenty twelve, the year that they met
in the Super Bowl, John and Jim were talking about
the fights they endure on a daily basis as they
try to build and hold their teams together. Well After
the conversation, John decided to use their conclusions as a
(32:22):
motivating slogan for his team that year, so he printed
T shirts with the words on the front, the four
fights every day, and on the back it detailed those
four fights. The first fight was us versus Them, Second
division from within, third complacency, and fourth fatigue. These types
(32:45):
of fights require self mastery, not fists. Avoiding division demands
the unselfish exercise of putting teammates above yourself. Combating complacency
requires a mental edge so you're not lulled into a
false sense of security and a consistent healthy lifestyle helps
overcome fatigue. I think one theme, like I'm thinking about
(33:07):
this thing through like to me, the real theme about
like us is like it's it's how do I say it?
We're just like we're fighters, you know, we've always been fighters.
The point is is that like, like you know, we're
just we're not We're just kind of a raised We're
not afraid to fight for for success or for each other,
or for or for what you think is right, you know,
for your team. You know, I can even go back
(33:29):
to after the suit, you know, after the championship game
we lost, and the you know, the trick play things
and the and the deflate gates stuff and all that,
and you know, I've never backed down from any of
everything we said. I told the truth right from the
get go, which has all turned out to be actually
accurate and right. You know, we didn't have anything to
do with deflated footballs or reporting deflated footballs. I never
see that get reported. We said from the beginning it
(33:51):
wasn't we weren't part of that, and we weren't and
uh or we said that you know, we thought that
those plays shouldn't have been allowed in to the game,
and it's been proven that they shouldn't. But were I's
saying it's an excuse. We should have stopped him, you know.
But but you can't be afraid that. You can't be
afraid to speak up for what you think is right,
what you think is true, and people want to disagree,
they can disagree. So we've always been willing to fight,
(34:11):
you know, our way out of something, you know, or
acknowledge that you know, hey man, okay, I was wrong.
I do think like you have to have a purpose.
Like if you've got to fight, you have to fight
for something. You have to fight for a purpose. And
that's part of it. It's not just fighting, it's fighting
for something and for somebody and for something bigger than yourself. Yeah,
that's just I feel like that's kind of what our
(34:32):
family has been about. You know. We haven't always been right,
but we've always thought we were right. You know, we
always had a part at least we believed in it.
You know, we believed in it, you know, and we
were we were sticking to it. Yeah, when your dad
came in and spoke to the team about Muhammad Ali,
the four fights every day that you bring to the Ravens.
Is that the hardbas I mean, that's that's I'm just
(34:56):
what am I trying to say here because it's kind
off the cuff, but like you've made the Raven's reputation
kind of the Harbus reputation. What do you say, just
hard working fighters? Yeah, I think so. I think that's
part of the transformation. But I think it was always here,
you know. I think that's what it's always my blue
collar here. Yeah, it was. It was a good fit.
I think to me that's what Steve like he figured
(35:18):
it out for some reason. I mean, I don't know
who else would have hired me necessarily in the NFL,
but Steve saw it. I think he saw the fit
because he kind of got our family right away. He's
told me. I mean, he's just he got us right away.
And it was just he saw the fit with what
it was, and so it was it was a natural
transformation from where the Ravens were and what they were
to who what he wanted them to continue to be
(35:40):
and what they could become. Many would assume that winning
or being the best is the Harbus highest purpose, and
while it's extremely important to them, winning isn't the absolute
and goal. It's actually deeper than that. Winning is the
tangible evidence that they're meeting that higher end goal. This
(36:01):
is something I started to discover while talking with Ravens
general manager Rozzie Newsome. I asked Newsome what he thought
was John's single greatest attribute is as a coach. Well,
you know, I watched him. I think his passion and
his work ethic, his passion for being a coach, and
he wants to be the greatest coach ever. And it's
(36:22):
no doubt in his mind that's what he wants. That's
a legitimate goal. Yes, he wants to be not some
pie in the sky, no, no, no, he wants to
be considered the greatest coach that ever coach. And he
works at it. I mean, and he works at it
on a daily basis, you know, And it could be
some times well I think, okay, well we kind of
got it, well we wanted and he'll come in there
(36:42):
and say what do you think about this? You know,
so he's always pushing the envelope. I asked John about
his goal to be the best coach in NFL history,
because that's a lofty goal considering his competition. There are
the greats like Vince Lombardi, Bill Walsh, Chuck Noll, and
Paul Brown. Shoot hard. Even competes regularly against who he
thinks is the best ever and the Patriots Bill Belichick.
(37:05):
You know, I'm from his era, so I'm probably biased,
But to me, he's the best coach in history the
National Football League. I think the record proves it by
having played against him and done everything. You know, you
know that you can as a coach to try to
win and compete and hang in there and try to
overcome him. I know how hard it is. I know
how good he is. So John knows how difficult it
(37:25):
is to be the best because he faces it almost annually,
and he's both been defeated by and victorious against it.
He's fully aware that he's lost to Belichick more than
he's won, but that doesn't make him shy away from
openly declaring a goal that he and most coaches on
this planet could easily fail to reach. That's because not
(37:47):
even attempting to be the all time best would be
inconsistent with his faith, which is very dear to John.
Religion and faith aren't frequently addressed in sports reporting, perhaps
because sports is where will go to escape such topics,
and everyone's faith is their own business. But this is
a site of John that I'm guessing most fans and
(38:08):
even his opponents have never seen, even though it's a big,
huge part of what makes him John Harbaugh. Both John
and Jim went to Catholic school growing up, and John
continued his study of all religions while attending Miami University
in Ohio as a political science major. Not only is
it important to him, but it greatly affects who he
(38:31):
is as the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. Is
your dream to be make Ravens perennial winners, to be
a perennial super Bowl winner? Like, is that a real
goal that you're like, I'm gunning for that and I'm
gonna get it. Yes, But it's not just that, okay, right,
(38:57):
So it's like what does that mean? Like it's way
deeper than just that, you know. It's like, it's like,
I think I believe that that that life, that we're
all they're all created for glory, Okay, that we're all
created for glory and it's for God's glory, So that
(39:18):
the creator of the universe, Like, why are we here. Okay,
what the Bible will tell you is that we're here
because because of all the all the principalities and the heavens,
all the authorities and the leaders and the incredible beings
that populate the universe. Okay, and God's creation. All right,
that's what the Bible says that God created man for
to to demonstrate his glory. That that actually that that
(39:42):
that these creatures who are just kind of weak and helpless,
that they could, without even ever really seeing God, having
direct evidence of God, could actually believe in God. Okay.
That's that's where God's glory is. And like like when
you when you walk in that kind of mindset, you realize, like,
oh my gosh, this is real. This could really happen.
So what does God happen store for? Here's glorious things
in store for us. Okay, we get in our own
(40:04):
way most of the time. Okay, we hold ourselves back
because of our doubts and our fears and all those
other kind of things. That's why the Bible says to
be strong and courageous, very strong and courageous, it goes
on to say in Joshua one. So it's like that's
that's that's what we're tasked to do in whatever area
that we're given to do it. And because of your
passions and where your place in life, it's that that's
(40:25):
your place, that's your area what you have like a
passion for like if you have if you have an
a biden desire that says, you know, I want to
make a difference for for for homeless people. I want
to make a difference for kids in tough inner city schools,
or I want to make I want to make a
difference for for people in Africa or whatever it might be,
you know. Or I have a family that you know
what this family to me is everything. These kids. I
just adore these kids and I want to I want
(40:46):
to be a good dad or a good mom. You know,
that is what that's where your glory lies. Okay, And
it's different for every one of us. So you know,
I know that I feel like I'm here for a
reason and it's not to be second, you know, it's
to be it's to be the best. And so my
job is to work my tail off to become the
(41:07):
best I can be and to trust God with all
the outcomes of all that. You know, I want to
make sure I understand that. So in your mind, those
goals to be great, to be the best, comes from
a desire to add glory to your creator. Right, So
if he wants it, or he can make it happen,
(41:28):
because he may want something for you that you can't
even dream, then why limit yourself exactly? Okay, that's exactly it.
That's exactly it. I mean, just be excited. That goes
back to enthusiasm unown to mankind. And this is something
like I think we've all kind of like got our
own view of this thing and our own piece of
this thing in our family, you know, like what it
really means. I don't think my dad thought it along
these lines when he said it. He wants us to
(41:50):
be fired up in the morning because we were dragging
our butts on the parking lot at the school one day,
you know what I mean, and I came to him,
you know, But I still think that's part of the
amazing plan about these things. It's like these things are
meant for far greater things than we can even dream of.
So you start, you start living your life and you
start realizing it's like, I mean, why wouldn't you approach
the day that way? Because man, you just can't wait
to see what what what's in store for you. And
(42:12):
you will have setbacks. You will be punched in the face,
you will get knocked down. You will have to slip
out of the coat and throw some punches. You know
you will, You just will figuratively, Okay. You got to
be willing to fight, you know, and you will, and
you will be wrong, and you have to say, I'm sorry.
I screwed up. You know, I stepped on my own feet,
I tripped myself up and I pulled three people down
(42:34):
with me. You know, I'm sorry, I'm wrong. I was wrong.
I learned from it, you know. And you know that's
just like to me, that's like that's the glory of
the whole thing. That's where the glory of the whole
thing is. You know. Um, yeah, I mean that that
that's it right there. Whenever you speak, it seems like
it's it's God. And faith is such a driving momentum.
Where does that come from? And I even see it
(42:55):
in gym a little bit? Is it just innate in you?
I mean, I don't know. I'm yeah, Oh, I think
it's in terms of personally think it's innate and everybody,
you know, like C. S. Lewis said, everybody has a
God sized hole, you know, in them, in their soul.
You know, I do think that's true for all of us,
you know. And uh, it's just a matter whether we
(43:15):
address it or not. You know, it's the kind of
the reasoning to understand it. You know, Okay, what are
we here for? What is this all about? And I've
thought a lot a lot about it and and read
a lot about it, and and I you know, read scripture,
I've listened to I've listened to I have. Let's study
other religions too, you know, as a political science, and
study all the other religions, you know. And basically to me,
(43:37):
it's just it's just so clear cut to me that
that if there is a creator, which to me clearly
there has to be out there, you got to You're
gonna come down on one side or the other. You
can't be in the middle. It says in the Bible,
you know, for luke Warm, God spits us out, you know,
like and any of us would you know, you got
somebody's walking the fence, you know, they can't make a decision,
(43:58):
be committed. What sidy? What do you stand for you know,
And I think that's what God says to us too,
What do you stand for? You know? Are you with
me or against me? You know? It says bide with
God is for us? Who can be against us? Well,
I just choose. I'm gonna be. I'm gonna be with God.
I want God to be for me. I don't want
and I don't want to be lukewarm. I don't want
to say you know what, I don't really know. I'm
(44:19):
not really sure. It's like it's like none of us
are really sure. You know, that's what faith is in
the end, But but to me, it's just it's so evident.
I walk around, I look at look at people or
or just creation, and you're like, man, this is pretty awesome,
you know, And that leads you down a path. But
it's everybody has their individual journey, so jims and eyes
(44:39):
are probably different. But for me, it's it's just an
abiding faith and and and and um and in grace,
in the saving and the power of the grace of
the Cross. And I'm just all in for that because
because it's either you're all in or you're all out.
It's either you're you're you're all in for hope or
it's just about to spare and hopelessness. Otherwise the existence
(45:01):
is like completely meaningless. I'm going all in for meaning.
I'm saying everything has meaning, yeah, and I'm going for
the power of that. And then the power like if
you connect yourself to the creator of the universe in
an intimate way, which is what Christianity says that you
do through Jesus. Okay, and then you start doing it
and you start realizing, oh my gosh, this is kind
(45:22):
of real. This actually works, right, this, actually, this actually
is powerful. This is transformative. Okay, this is not just
words or myths. Is this is actually And how do
you know? Because I know because it's inside of me.
I'm not the same. Can you hear the conviction in
John's voice? Now, whether you agree with his faith is
(45:44):
really not the point. The point is that John is
all in when it comes to making the Ravens a
perennial super Bowl winner and becoming the best coach of
all time. And that's because it's his way of connecting
with his creator. Removing all man made limits allows him
to be like malleable clay in his creator's hands. When
(46:06):
somebody is that deeply rooted in a belief system watch out.
Combine that with the hardball way of attacking the day
with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind and their fighter mentality,
and it isn't easy to knock the Harbaugh's off. Course,
Kevin Byrnon the Ravens discovered that as soon as John
(46:26):
came to town in two thousand and eight. I've been
in the business a long time, so, you know, since
nineteen seventy seven, every year except two years, so I've
seen a lot of coaches. I've seen a lot of
coaches fired and hired. With separates John from all the
coaches I've ever worked with, and I've worked with some
very good ones, is that John is relentless. He's not
(46:47):
going to take the obvious. He is going to study it.
He is going to miss sleep, he is going to
ask people to help him so the study is more
thorough and he the reason we will continue to succeed
with on Harbaugh is that he still takes everything with
the seriousness he took on day one. He's relentless in
(47:07):
the pursuit of winning. Wow. Next time, on Man of
the Crowd, we made the very difficult decision to fire
Brian this morning, I could be three coaches past Brian
Billick nine years from now. There is a Hall of
Fame coach out there and it's our job to find him.
And he goes, and I will be a great head coach.
(47:27):
I'm going to be a great head coach for somebody,
but with the people in this room, I can be
a great head coach here. And Steve said something like, well,
we believe you can. You can see John's eyes kind
of wander around the room and they looked over at
Steve and he goes, are you offering me the job?
But I saw in the eyes of the guys in
the first meeting was just no, we're not buying into this.
(47:50):
Brian set the bar pretty high, so John vetterby successful. Hey,
Man of the Crowd listeners, Before you go, I just
wanted to say thank you for such a strong showing
of support for this podcast. We've been very happy with
(48:10):
how many there are of you out there listening, and
we'd love to have even more people find us, So
please consider rating the podcast and writing a review. The
more subscribers and the more positive ratings that Man of
the Crowd gets, the more others will be able to
find it too. Also, don't forget to continually check back
on our microsite at Baltimore Ravens dot com backslash Man
(48:31):
of the Crowd for content that compliments what you're listening
to here, including biographies of key interviews I've conducted, photo
galleries and more. And as always, I want to hear
from you guys after each episode. If you have any
comments or questions or whatever, hit me up on Twitter.
My handle is at sg Ellison. I'll look forward to
(48:51):
your feedback and would love to interact with you. Okay,
that's it. That's all I've got, but I'll be back
next week with episode three, Steve Kushati's Fear of being
wrong
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