Coaching brothers John and Jim Harbaugh have been confused on more than one occasion through the years by casual fans.
That’s not supposed to happen on national TV, however, certainly not on ESPN, which for years proudly boasted the slogan, “The Worldwide Leader in Sports.”
ESPN broadcast the Pittsburgh Steelers-Baltimore Ravens game Saturday. It was not a great performance by the network. The heavy rain and wind at M&T Bank Stadium made it almost impossible to keep camera lenses dry, and fans complained early and often on social media about the rain-blurred TV images.
Fans had barely stopped commenting on that when they noticed another glitch in the broadcast: During an interview with Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, the score bug at the bottom of the screen identified him as “Jim Harbaugh.”
That’s his brother, Jim Harbaugh, head coach of the Michigan Wolverines.
Busy weekend for Jim pic.twitter.com/rKk4qsYFyI
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 6, 2024
Understandably, many fans have the younger Harbaugh brother on their mind this weekend as Michigan gets set to play for the CFP National Championship Monday night. And Jim Harbaugh has been in the news quite a bit for other reasons in recent weeks, not only because of the sign-stealing scandal at Michigan, but because he’s been rumored as a leading candidate for an NFL coaching job.
But John Harbaugh is still the coach of the Ravens, despite the score bug. Some fans weighing in on the situation felt sympathy toward the person who’d made the mistake.
Busy weekend for Jim pic.twitter.com/rKk4qsYFyI
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 6, 2024
https://twitter.com/VecseyPrintHub/status/1743756514207154626
WHAAATT. JIM HARBAUGH IS THE RAVENS HEAD COACH. Since when. No but seriously that graphic confused me like I was in an alternate dimension.
— GB (@GamingB46236956) January 6, 2024
Must be too busy at ESPN/ABC not wiping off camera lenses to get that right.🙄
— Salvadore (@SalvadoreYoga) January 6, 2024
I remember when ESPN was the gold standard. Now any warm body will do. 🥴
— Ski Bum ⛷️ (@Sdsu94Ski) January 7, 2024