For those of you who missed it, I got the fortunate pleasure of interviewing Ravens head coach John Harbaugh to talk about his USO trip overseas to visit the troops.  The only reason I got the 1-on-1 exclusive was because I, myself, served overseas in Iraq back in 2005-2006.  (I will post the link for the video at the end of this blog if you want to watch it … the audio interview is also podcasted on this page!) Since we spend so much time talking about wide receivers who don’t even play in Baltimore, it was a relief to talk about something else that is football-related, but not an everyday topic.  Here’s a couple of observations that I learned …

1) John Harbaugh has a fire and a passion for what he does.  You can hear it in his voice.  You can see it in his eyes.  This is a man whose dedication to his craft is at the highest of levels.

2) John Harbaugh understands expectations and limitations.  Sometimes it’s the failure of grasping these two things that sends most NFL head coaches packing after a short tenure in their position.

3) John Harbaugh is a man.  And what I mean is that he can both stand in front of the fire and fight it, but also nuture those who are suffering as a result of it.  I guess “compassioniate” is the word I want … and that doesn’t usually accompany a NFL head coach’s name in the same sentence.

4) John Harbaugh is grounded. He knows he is fortunate and is making the most of his opportunity every chance he gets.  I feel like he is a guy who will be able to walk away from coaching on his own terms, not someone else’s.

5) John Harbaugh is cool.  Obviously, you didn’t see or hear our off camera discussions.  He asked me questions and talked to me like a peer.  We laughed, made jokes, and just chilled together.  There is a normal guy underneath that head coach … that can’t be understated.

I hope you enjoyed this interview.  Here is the link:

http://www.masnsports.com/index_ravens.html 

It is in two parts in the bottom, left-hand corner.

Zinno

Posted on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 at 11:27 am.
Categories: Personal, Ravens.
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