In four days, Joani (Harbaugh) Crean can stop fielding the impossible question about which brother she’s rooting for in the Super Bowl. The New York Times goes there in a warm article about her, though the musical approach below, titled “Harbaugh Sister” and set to Train’s hit “Hey, Soul Sister,” scores more points for creativity (and extra love for the gratuitous Tom Brady bashing). Sample: Was one brother mean? / Did either tell you when you met Tom Crean / that he sometimes can look wacko? Is it Kaepernick or Flacco / in the Super Bowl?
As the NYT points out, Joani Crean has a pretty stressful week ahead with high-pressure IU games against Purdue and Michigan before her family leaves for New Orleans. If that weren’t enough, she’s also the singular embodiment of the irresistible intersection of two major national sports stories, the historic Har-Bowl and the media-darling Hoosiers. Still, while she might be the “most anxiety-ridden sports fan in the United States this week,” as the article says, she has to feel better than she did this time last year. Flash back 12 months: Both Harbaugh brothers lost their conference championship games on the same day, and IU was on a three-game buzzkill losing streak.
The article quotes the Hoosiers coach describing his wife as “at least as competitive as her legendarily competitive brothers” and says he thinks she “could have been a C.E.O., or maybe an industrial psychologist.” (This article offers another peek into her personality.) Forget scanning the Assembly Hall crowd for Meg Ryan; we’ll be looking for the feisty Mrs. Crean and Crimson in the stands now—and in the Superdome this Sunday.
