Running Into Your Ex

There's a great Family Guy clip (video below) where the show pokes fun of the awkwardness of running into an ex-girlfriend.  In an effort not to seem bitter and petty, guys will appear overly-enthusiastic about bumping into a former flame and hearing all about how well she's doing - inside, though, you know he's wishing that her life had fallen apart so that he can feel like he was the thing keeping her from completely imploding.  This situation isn't unique to former boyfriends and girlfriends, though - a similar set of reactions can be expected from Stanford football fans after former coach Jim Harbaugh left the school for the NFL's San Francisco 49ers.

After Sunday's victory over previously undefeated Detroit, Harbaugh's 49ers are 5-1 and threatening to run away with the admittedly weak NFC West.  On the surface, Stanford football fans seem thrilled with the prospect of Harbaugh turning the 49ers around - everyone around the school talks about the coach positively and seems excited to celebrate his early success.  To be fair, some of this enthusiasm might be legitimate; there is, after all, a large overlap between Stanford students / alums and San Francisco 49ers fans.  Most Stanford supporters seem to agree that Harbaugh left the school on good terms, kept his promise of staying in the Bay Area (contrast this with former MLB pitcher Mike Hampton, who famously justified a mega contract with the Colorado Rockies by praising the Denver area's public school system), and played a large (if not the largest) role in bringing the school to the top-ten ranking it enjoys today.

But below the surface, you have to wonder if some of these smiling Stanford fans are, like the guy who bumps into his ex-girlfriend, silently rooting for Harbaugh's 49ers to fail.  As long as Harbaugh succeeds in the NFL, it is he who will receive all of the credit for everything Stanford football did last year and for much of what the team continues to do this season.  For all of the talk about the brilliant play of Andrew Luck, the solid head coaching debut of David Shaw and the emergence of the team's three-headed tight end monster, Harbaugh's early dominance of the NFL competition seems to suggest that he deserves the bulk of the credit for Stanford football's reemergence.  If Harbaugh can turn the 49ers around, does that mean he was the sole reason for Stanford's stunning turnaround over the past few seasons?  Had Harbaugh taken a job at Cal or Oregon State or Washington State, would it have been the Golden Bears or the Beavers or the Cougars currently destroying PAC-12 competition?  With Harbaugh to the NFL and Luck set to join him after this season, are the Cardinal destined to fall back to mediocrity by the middle of the decade?

Personally, I'm happy for Jim Harbaugh.  I have nothing against the 49ers and, with the exception of their upcoming game against the Giants at Candlestick Park, I wish them well.  But to the extent that a few Harbaugh failures would build some credibility for the Stanford football program and shift some of the credit from their former coach to their current staff and players, I'm all for that, too.  While I'll smile outwardly every time I see Harbaugh energetically celebrating after a big win, I have to admit that I'll smirk inwardly if Harbaugh's 49ers do happen to come apart at the seams.