CHICAGO – Anybody who follows Jim Harbaugh knows he loves to do fun things. When he goes to high school football games, he works the chain gang. In the offseason, he plays pickup football with recruits. Craving a court case? Judge Judy sounds like just the thing!
Harbaugh's latest adventure took him to Wrigley Field, where he sat in the first row for World Series Game 5 between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians. Harbaugh was wearing a Cubs hat, a Michigan sweatshirt and his new Woody Hayes-style glasses.
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Oh yeah, he also wore a baseball glove.
In honor of Halloween, when teenagers across the country will fight the internal battle over whether or not they're too old to go trick-or-treating, Harbaugh's attire begs the question: How old is too old to wear your glove to a baseball game?
Is 20 too old? 30? Is there an age when you're too old to wear your glove, but then it expires in your 70s because at that point it's endearing?
Regardless of what your own age expectations might be, remember: Harbaugh plays by his own rules. Being 51 years old didn't stop him from playing a shirtless game of flag football over the summer, or sleeping at a high schooler's house to make sure he landed a good kicker. Why would a new year stop him from wearing a glove to a baseball game?
In fact, part of Harbaugh probably believed he could get into the game -- maybe take a swing or two. Think about it: The Cubs were down 3-1, facing elimination. Why not give the former professional football player a shot? He'd take it as seriously as he took a game of catch with Tom Brady, batting gloves and all.
But Joe Maddon never called Harbaugh's number, so he had to settle for being a spectator as the Cubs won their first home World Series game since 1945.
It was an eventful end to a busy weekend for Harbaugh, who led Michigan to a 32-23 win over rival Michigan State in East Lansing Saturday afternoon. His Wolverines are 8-0 on the season and ranked No. 2 in the country.
Now that his World Series adventures are likely over, he'll get back to doing what he does best: preparing Michigan for another football Saturday.
But if he was eligible to take a few snaps this weekend against Maryland, you know he'd have his winged helmet ready to go.