John Harbaugh has a laugh

PITTSBURGH — In football, at least the NFL — the No Fun League — it seems to be against the law to flash a smile, possess a sense of humour.

Walk in on any coach’s media conference leading up to a game and you’d think you had walked in on General Patton and his discussions for his plan to battle the Germans across France in the Second World War.

It’s all such serious stuff you think that your head is going to come to a point.

But not Baltimore coach John Harbaugh.

He cracked what he thought was a joke earlier this week and everybody treated it as if he had the remarks chiseled on stone tablets and was marching down from Mount Sinai alongside Moses.

Earlier in the week, Harbaugh said how he was “glad we broke his nose,” when discussing Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Harbaugh was referring to the Dec. 5 game between the teams when Baltimore defensive tackle Haloti Ngata knocked Big Ben in the beak, broke it and had Roethlisberger bending over and gushing blood.

Harbaugh was joking around when he made the statement but a lot of folks took it literally and attempted to make a big deal, using it as the prime example in what a blood feud the two teams had developed.

Now, Harbaugh has to explain what he thought needed no explanation — that he was joking. He was amazed that so many people took him seriously.

But then, this is the NFL and jokes and wisecracks are simply not tolerated.

“Did you see the context of it?” Harbaugh said. “Go back and listen to it. You’ll see it was in humour.

“It was in response to a humorous question and I was laughing. It was tongue in cheek. It was fun.”

Fun? How dare he. This is the NFL and these are the playoffs and there‚s no time for fooling around.

No word yet on whether Harbaugh’s attempted humour will result in a fine.