Everybody's Talking About It, Why Shouldn't I?

"Waaah, waaah, waaah - you shook my hand too hard
and you said a naughty word!"

The Jim Harbaugh - Jim Schwartz altercation following yesterday's impressive come-from-behind victory in Detroit has now been dissected and discussed by every sports media outlet for the past 20 hours. Except "Adios 49ers." Until now.

Here are my quick thoughts:

Schwartz had it coming. Anybody who's checked out his fist-pumping theatrics on the sidelines this year knows he'll stick a victory in any opponent's face. For the first time this year, it was the Lions who ended up on the short end of the stick against a superior team with a head coach who's maniacally wired just as much as Schwartz. If you're going to dish it out, you better be able to take it as well, "protocol" be damned. Otherwise, you just end up looking like the sore loser and poseur that you are.

The Lions as a team had it coming, too. I can't remember a mid-October game with so much posturing and celebrating after routine plays as the Lions were doing on Sunday afternoon. I know Detroit has been awful for several years/decades/centuries, and they have every right to be excited. But, when you disrespect an opponent by flapping your gums about how you're going to hurt their quarterback while trying to punk them on the field after every play, you better expect to get it all thrown back in your face when you can't walk the walk.

I suppose it would be easy to tell the Lions that they should "act like they've been here before," but when your last NFL title was nearly 55 years ago and you're one of only four teams who have never played in a Super Bowl, maybe that's asking too much. So instead, my advice to the Lions is to just shut your mouths and play hard. Maybe - MAYBE you'll have the good fortune of seeing the 49ers again in the playoffs. If you manage to win your wild card game in the first round.