Lowell Cohn: Playoffs are a joyous time for 49ers' Harbaugh

SANTA CLARA -#8212; This is what Jim Harbaugh said the day after his team beat the Packers in Green Bay. Read his words. Think about them:

"People may disagree, but personally, what that meant for the players I was happy and ecstatic for them because I haven't found anything that makes you feel more like a man than to go, not only beat your opponent, but you're beating their crowd, and then the elements in a playoff game. And both teams have to beat the elements. But, in a playoff game, to beat the elements, to beat the opposing team, to beat the opposing crowd, just nothing quite makes you feel like a man like that that I've found."

I'm giving you a pop quiz. I'm asking, as an old English teacher, what's the theme of Harbaugh's words. I think I know.

He's talking manhood. Twice he uses the word "man." Beating the Packers in their place with their fans in that cold was a demonstration of the 49ers' manhood, a demonstration to the world of their character. For Harbaugh, winning is about being a man.

I compare him to Bill Walsh, the greatest 49ers' coach. Harbaugh merits the comparison. Someday, he could be the greatest 49ers coach.

Walsh rarely spoke about manhood, although he was proud of being a boxer at San Jose State, knew boxing, argued with me Joe Louis would have defeated Muhammad Ali (I disagreed), told me he once punched out a younger guy at Lake Tahoe after the younger guy pushed his truck behind Walsh's car and forced Walsh off the slick, snow-covered road. Walsh returned to the house covered in blood and his wife, Geri, asked, "What happened to you?"

A man.

Walsh was a cerebral coach. Harbaugh is an emotional coach who preaches manhood. His team, especially his defense, is tough as they come.

On Wednesday, I had this dialog with Harbaugh who has opened up his personality this season, who enjoys the give-and-take of talking, who goes places inside himself we have not seen before. As we spoke, I thought about Walsh. Think about both of them as you read what follows. I speak first in our dialog:

"Preparing for a big game like this and playing in it, is it fun for you?"

"Yes."

"What's the nature of the fun?"

"You can't have any more fun. This is as much fun as you can possibly have, playing in the playoffs."

"When you say 'as much fun as you can possibly have,' do you mean in football or even in life?"

Pause.

"It's as much fun as you can possibly have in football and as much fun as you can have in life. Yeah."

"Do you ever experience a moment of self-doubt as you go into a game like this?"

"I'd call it more worry. Better to worry about things before something happens rather than wait until actually you're in the moment and something happens. I find that to be a better way to prepare."

"By worry you mean that you've covered all your bases, that you've anticipated whatever a person could."

"I think it starts with what's the worst possible thing that could happen. When going into a situation, 'What's the worst possible thing that could happen? Let's make sure that doesn't happen.' And then, ticks down a subset of questions that are in the hundreds and thousands."