jim harbaugh says things he probably shouldn't

4 hours and 26 minutes

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1. Weird Jim Harbaugh Era Highlights

Starts at 1:00

There was too much to remember, so we crowd sourced. Sleepovers, satellite camps, the pope, and fun recruiting shenanigans. The Harbaugh era kind of starts and ends with Lou Holtz. There was a lot of diving into pools while fully dressed. People who cover the pope have been watching to see if he ever wears the Jordans that Jim gifted him. Don't drink out of the public fountains in Rome. You ever just grab a handful of meatballs? Character growth arc - Jim Harbaugh and chickens. He told a Peruvian Catholic priest "I'm in the Notre Dame ass-kicking business." Never forget "the white board", what's your favorite quote from it? He's directed traffic for hours. Jim Harbaugh war dad. Alejandro continues to be a real go-getter. Make sure you swipe Freddy P Soft off your shoulder. 

[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]

Hey, what about… Nope. Don't care.

Here's another bullet? Stop it.

It's in your contract to talk about these things. What contract?

The one you foolishly signed with the internet before clearing with with Richard Hoeg? Ah, dammit, never sign a contract with the internet. FINE. You win:

IN WHICH JIM HARBAUGH SAYS A THING LIKE A WEEK AGO. Jim Harbaugh has an unusual tendency for a head football coach: sometimes he opens his mouth and says things that he thinks. At Big Ten Media Days he made the case for a one-time no-sit transfer by invoking the prospect of players making stuff up, particularly about their mental health, in an attempt to get a waiver.

Since James Hudson is currently trying to get a waiver by asserting his transfer was due to mental health issues he did not report to anyone at Michigan, people put two and two together. And they're probably right: Harbaugh probably was referencing Hudson, and probably thinks his case is dubious.

But people mess up and Harbaugh in particular will occasionally speak like a human being instead of a robot preprogrammed to expel the most boring things possible. Harbaugh was trying to say that Hudson should be eligible. Okay. It seems like he does take mental health issues seriously. Okay. Sometimes he says stuff badly. Okay.

[After THE JUMP: the bad thing Harbaugh didn't say]

[Eric Upchurch/MGoBlog]

Jim Harbaugh is the first person to admit he's obsessed with football. Everything else is secondary. This is a man who traveled to Paris with his wife, went to a Mexican restaurant that appears to be decent but by no means world-renowned, and declared it the best restaurant while also boiling down his personality into a damn near perfect tweet.

I"m not a food critic, merely a blunt instrument who only knows football. In my opinion this restaurant is the Best! pic.twitter.com/oIdvpemrIn

— Coach Harbaugh (@CoachJim4UM) July 15, 2015

Harbaugh is a blunt instrument. He doesn't get sick. He doesn't take holidays. He's a jackhammer. We know this.

Harbaugh also has strong ties to the military. One of his oldest, closest friends is retired Marine colonel Jim Minick, who now serves at Michigan's director of football operations. He has a well-documented history of bringing in military officers to speak to his teams. He stops by Omaha Beach while on vacation. He welcomes servicemen into his office and genuinely looks more excited to take a photo with them than vice versa.

Which brings us to yesterday. Harbaugh emerged from the fall camp submarine—his term; he's also referred to it as a "bunker"—to address the media for the first game-week press conference of the season. Harbaugh is well-known for his unpredictable, off-the-cuff answers in pressers (not to mention on Twitter). We have a "jim harbaugh says things he probably shouldn't" tag, and the proprietor of this site has described him as "being himself at maximum volume at all times" on multiple occasions.

The odds that Harbaugh had the time or inclination to seriously ponder Colin Kaepernick's protest of the national anthem before the press conference are exceedingly low. This is a football coach known for being way more football-obsessed than even the average football-obsessed football coach. He's briefly emerging from three weeks of fall camp and its four-hour practices and endless film study to talk about the Hawaii game. He's probably aware of the basic details of Kaepernick's protest, but that's not anywhere close to his primary focus. He's thinking about his team, preparing for Hawaii, and not letting on anything about the ongoing quarterback competition.

[Hit THE JUMP.]