Harbs - I had to do something since my toughness was being questioned
No, this doesn't excuse the MSU players for throwing down. This just emphasizes how hypocritical Harbaugh and the scUM machine is. No sign that he thought he should be prosecuted. No sign the the Detroit media will ask him about it.
Text from WAPO if the link is paywalled for you:
By Dave Sell
October 28, 1997
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Jim Harbaugh broke a bone in his throwing hand Saturday when he punched former Buffalo Bills quarterback and current NBC-TV analyst Jim Kelly in the head because of negative comments Kelly made about Harbaugh a week earlier.
Harbaugh told ESPNEWS, "I regret throwing the punch, but I felt I had to do something since my toughness was being questioned."
The incident occurred Saturday at the Colts' hotel in San Diego, where the Colts played the Chargers on Sunday. As part of the networks' contracts with the NFL, TV producers and announcers meet with key players and coaches the day before games.
During a Buffalo pregame show before the Bills-Colts game last Monday, Kelly reportedly called Harbaugh a "baby" and said that Harbaugh "overdramatized" his injuries.
"There has never been anything personal between us," Harbaugh told the Indianapolis Star last week, "so I'm curious as to why he feels it necessary to demean me and to slander me. I'm going to talk to him Sunday. I'm not going to let this pass."
When Harbaugh and Kelly met on Saturday, they reportedly went into a separate room from the other TV personnel. The altercation apparently occurred there.
"They started their discussion and at one point Kelly jumped up, got into a fighting stance, and they did exchange blows," Harbaugh's agent, Leigh Steinberg, told ESPNEWS, though Steinberg was not a witness to the incident. "It was a brief altercation, lasting maybe 30 seconds. Maybe four or five punches were thrown. Jim {Harbaugh} probably is not playing this week, but then he may not have played because of his previous injury. We'll have to see week to week about whether he can return, but it's not a season-ending injury."
On Sunday, Kelly and Harbaugh spoke by phone.
"I consider this something personal between Jim Kelly and I," Harbaugh said yesterday in a statement released by the team. "We settled things and came to an understanding."
Kelly could not be reached to comment and did not issue a statement through NBC, according to network spokesman Ed Markey.
"Kelly and Harbaugh spoke Sunday morning, had a good conversation and worked everything out," Markey said, adding that there are no plans to avoid having Kelly do commentary on future Colts games.
Harbaugh missed most of last week's practices with a sprained ankle. He was in uniform against the Chargers, but was listed as the third quarterback and could have played only in an emergency. But the Colts did not release information about the broken bone in Harbaugh's right hand until yesterday. And while they supported Harbaugh with words, they plan to make him pay financially for the incident.
The team will place Harbaugh on the non-football injury list today, which means Harbaugh will lose a week's pay for each week he can't play because of the broken hand. That reportedly will cost Harbaugh $140,000 per week.
No, this doesn't excuse the MSU players for throwing down. This just emphasizes how hypocritical Harbaugh and the scUM machine is. No sign that he thought he should be prosecuted. No sign the the Detroit media will ask him about it.
Text from WAPO if the link is paywalled for you:
HARBAUGH INJURED PUNCHING JIM KELLY
By Dave Sell
October 28, 1997
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Jim Harbaugh broke a bone in his throwing hand Saturday when he punched former Buffalo Bills quarterback and current NBC-TV analyst Jim Kelly in the head because of negative comments Kelly made about Harbaugh a week earlier.
Harbaugh told ESPNEWS, "I regret throwing the punch, but I felt I had to do something since my toughness was being questioned."
The incident occurred Saturday at the Colts' hotel in San Diego, where the Colts played the Chargers on Sunday. As part of the networks' contracts with the NFL, TV producers and announcers meet with key players and coaches the day before games.
During a Buffalo pregame show before the Bills-Colts game last Monday, Kelly reportedly called Harbaugh a "baby" and said that Harbaugh "overdramatized" his injuries.
"There has never been anything personal between us," Harbaugh told the Indianapolis Star last week, "so I'm curious as to why he feels it necessary to demean me and to slander me. I'm going to talk to him Sunday. I'm not going to let this pass."
When Harbaugh and Kelly met on Saturday, they reportedly went into a separate room from the other TV personnel. The altercation apparently occurred there.
"They started their discussion and at one point Kelly jumped up, got into a fighting stance, and they did exchange blows," Harbaugh's agent, Leigh Steinberg, told ESPNEWS, though Steinberg was not a witness to the incident. "It was a brief altercation, lasting maybe 30 seconds. Maybe four or five punches were thrown. Jim {Harbaugh} probably is not playing this week, but then he may not have played because of his previous injury. We'll have to see week to week about whether he can return, but it's not a season-ending injury."
On Sunday, Kelly and Harbaugh spoke by phone.
"I consider this something personal between Jim Kelly and I," Harbaugh said yesterday in a statement released by the team. "We settled things and came to an understanding."
Kelly could not be reached to comment and did not issue a statement through NBC, according to network spokesman Ed Markey.
"Kelly and Harbaugh spoke Sunday morning, had a good conversation and worked everything out," Markey said, adding that there are no plans to avoid having Kelly do commentary on future Colts games.
Harbaugh missed most of last week's practices with a sprained ankle. He was in uniform against the Chargers, but was listed as the third quarterback and could have played only in an emergency. But the Colts did not release information about the broken bone in Harbaugh's right hand until yesterday. And while they supported Harbaugh with words, they plan to make him pay financially for the incident.
The team will place Harbaugh on the non-football injury list today, which means Harbaugh will lose a week's pay for each week he can't play because of the broken hand. That reportedly will cost Harbaugh $140,000 per week.
