The Harbaugh who actually gets it

Jim Harbaugh takes the exact opposite approach to his numb nuts brother, John "Getting Counseling" Harbaugh, after a player is arrested for domestic violence:

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11452986/jim-harbaugh-san-francisco-49ers-says-not-tolerate-domestic-violence

"There's going to be two principles at play here, and one is, I'll speak for myself, I'll speak for the 49ers, we will not tolerate domestic violence," Harbaugh said. "Second principle is we're firm believers in due process. And I ask for your understanding on those two principles."

 

Don't kid yourself. That's a highly managed message coming from team HQ and in response to goings-on around the league as well as Harbaugh's "who gives a fuck, he's playing" attitude about Aldon Smith after his DUI arrest last year.

If Ray McDonald happened before Ray Rice, we'd be saying Jim is the asshole and John is the one who gets it.

 

From my limited dealings with Jim, I think he's a douchebag of the highest order. One of the worst I ever crossed paths with.

But whatever the reason and however it happened, he handled this correctly.

 

I don't think it's as cut and dry as you think.

I think part of the reason John Harbaugh responded the way he did about Ray Rice was because it was so unexpected. It seems crazy to say now, but this was a guy who was seen as one of the good guys in the league.

That doesn't excuse what John Harbaugh said, but I'm guessing Jim Harbaugh was less surprised by what Ray McDonald did than John Harbaugh was by what Ray Rice did.

 

I'm a Niners fan and I can't really give Harbaugh credit for this.

I know he doesn't have say over the roster, but the real stance here would be to cut the guy. But we all know that won't happen because he'd be picked up immediatley.

 

The 49ers have some serious violence in their recent past. Last summer, Ahmad Brooks cracked a teammate over the head with a beer bottle and then said he was going to get his gun. During the off-season Chris Culliver got arrested for going after someone with brass knuckles following a car accident. Aldon was waving guns around at his party to get people the eff out of his house. And now this.

At this point it would be hard to say the 49ers would be surprised if one of their players got picked up on a murder charge.

 

I think we should wait to see Harbaugh actually follow through on this before he gets the pat on the head for a coach who "gets it."

It's funny how he wants to be the most clever guy in the room and take a shot at his brother or pretend to take a stand against domestic violence, assuming everyone will forget about the colorful rap sheets his own players have.

 

The Whitner comment makes him look pretty good.

Did he take a shot at his brother? If he did, I missed that in the above link.

 

I would be surprised given his temperament if Harbaugh hadn't himself straddled the line of domestic violence somewhere in his past.

 

It's being noted here that the 49ers' second-round pick is Carlos Hyde, who once faced assault charges after an incident with a woman at a nightclub. The case was dismissed because the woman did not want to press charges.

Did the 49ers do background and find the charges were baseless? Or has Harbaugh just come by this domestic-violence stance in the last week or two?

 

His position on it has been evolving ...

 

DW, considering how Jim handled the Aldon Smith thing last year, I can't believe you'd picture him as a "Do the right thing, consequences be dammed" kind of guy.