JamesBondHerpesMeds

March 26th, 2024 at 9:38 AM ^

Harbaugh first dropped the RV idea when he was hired by the Los Angeles Chargers in January, saying he wanted to live in a trailer park down by the water, or near Disneyland. His brother-in-law helped make that dream a reality, driving the RV to Southern California this winter.

How did we not catch that Tom Crean is delivering RVs these days?

Joined: 04/13/2009

MGoPoints: 39552

WestQuad

March 26th, 2024 at 1:26 PM ^

Not just working a retail/service job but having to work a retail/service job. Trading places was a great version of the Prince and the Pauper because Dan Akyrod quickly devolved.  It is the lack of resources/desperation that make those jobs/situations suck more than the work itself. (IMHO)

Joined: 07/22/2011

MGoPoints: 31146

BlueMk1690

March 26th, 2024 at 9:47 AM ^

It feels to me like the Michigan media still follows Harbaugh a lot more closely than the L.A. media. Maybe that tells us where the Chargers are in the hierarchy of "things L.A. gives a shit about".

Interestingly the article does not mention where Jim's RV was actually parked. I know in coastal Southern California there's certainly a certain sensitivity in many nicer areas regarding people living in RVs (given the nice year-round climate it attracts a lot of drifter types).

Joined: 02/04/2011

MGoPoints: 12935

PhillipFulmersPants

March 26th, 2024 at 11:32 AM ^

Haha. Assuming you're saying "nut job" affectionately.  I'll allow it.  :  )  It's been said by many and often how different he is, so no sense repeating it (though I guest I just did). Most of us find it endearing while it rankles people who despise him. So be it.  Love, hate or indifferent, he's not boring. 

Joined: 01/06/2009

MGoPoints: 4222

ST3

March 26th, 2024 at 1:09 PM ^

There’s a long term parking lot by LAX airport where a lot of pilots keep RVs. It’s cheaper than staying in a hotel I suppose. I wouldn’t be surprised if that is where Harbaugh ended up. It’s reasonably close to the chargers new facility and SoFi.

Joined: 09/11/2010

MGoPoints: 52524

WVWolverine

March 26th, 2024 at 4:09 PM ^

I was out in LA recently, and the amount of homeless people is unimaginable.  Tents are under every over pass, and along the roads.  Vehicles parked along all empty / open spaces.  I asked some friends what the deal was and they said the new laws just allow for them to be anywhere at anytime basically.  The wife and I rented a car and drove up the coast, and trucks and RV's parked along the road.  I told my wife - if you live in an RV on the side of the road in Maui, are you really homeless?????  I can imagine Jim going along and being part of it...  people thinking he's some crazy vagrant when he tells them to pull it down and enjoy it...  we did that!  WE DID THAT!

Joined: 01/21/2024

MGoPoints: 696

kalamazoo

March 26th, 2024 at 10:17 AM ^

I think this is the reason. Having fun at home (RV) and keeping a singular focus at work. LA is new to him again.

I used to love having a small place in LA so it forced me to spend so much time outside with friends or building my biz. Fewer things to think about. Harbaugh had his dream of an RV or could have done the AirBnB, he chose the RV.

Now that Greg Roman has a bigger RV close to him and now that his family is arriving to jump into what Harbaugh calls a nicer rental house, he seems ready to move on. His family will help get the house going and he didnt have to.

Joined: 08/20/2010

MGoPoints: 2566

The Oracle 2

March 26th, 2024 at 10:38 AM ^

He mentioned in his introductory press conference with the Chargers that he wanted to do that and that his inspiration was Jim Rockford from The Rockford Files. For those who are too young, it was a series in which James Garner played an LA private detective who lived in a trailer at the beach.

Joined: 02/25/2018

MGoPoints: 19188

charblue.

March 26th, 2024 at 12:08 PM ^

This is not a surprise. When he was growing up, Harbaugh watched network TV dramas. He was a Rockford Files TV show fan. In the popular NBC program featuring James Garner as a private detective, his character Jim Rockford lived in a trailer by the beach. He drove a muscle car and lived by the beach. Harbaugh thought this was cool. 

So, when he was hired by the Chargers, he was interviewed and asked whether he might want to pursue a Rockford Files lifestyle at the beach. That planted a seed. 

Now, today there are some really swanky RV's. I actually spent some useless time recently looking at a zoom video tour of a brand new 3 BR, 2 bath, two story RV near the Mississippi coastline.

The trailsr in Rockford Files wasn't really cool, but if you can live by the beach in California, well, that might be cool enough. Harbaugh  is nothing if not a product of his environment and goofy thoughts. 

So, while transitioning to new his job while his wife is still packing the family up for a new chapter in California, Harbaugh is reliving the halcyon years of his youth recreating a bygone era of trailer life that never was. And it's cool. Jim Rockford was cool. 

Joined: 05/25/2010

MGoPoints: 11404

robpollard

March 26th, 2024 at 3:47 PM ^

Yeah, Jim (Rockford's) trailer was on the beach in Malibu. I don't think those uber-wealthy folks are allowing any trailers or RVs, regardless of how nice Harbaugh's might be, anywhere close to them these days.

Still, I hope Harbaugh is having fun. It is neat to see someone actually follow-up on a goofy & harmless, once-in-a-lifetime idea.

Joined: 06/03/2009

MGoPoints: 13966

Rendezvous

March 26th, 2024 at 1:02 PM ^

I didn’t know how much I had in common with Jim! My wife and I lived in our 26-foot, no-slide fifth wheel for two months the summer we moved back to Michigan, including the first two weeks of the school year after I secured a teaching position but we hadn’t yet found a bricks-and-sticks home to move into. 

Joined: 03/29/2019

MGoPoints: 3519