Harbaugh using Standard Coach Tactics

So Jim Harbaugh doesnt like it when people say nice things about his team, because . . . well, just because.So I guess this means all you folks out there who like to bag on reporters for not drooling psychotically over your favorite team have some pologizin to do.Well, weve got time. Go ahead.Good. Do you now feel cleansed?More to the point, do you now feel like Harbaugh is making the public relations effort he wasnt earlier in the year? Because you should. Because he is.

Rest assured that he reviles the media as much as ever because they are not saying enough nice things about him. It is a tack he will use on his players for as long as he thinks it will work on them.Thus, when he says things like:"I feel exposed when people are saying flowery things about us;And:Id rather prefer that all that was written was written against us;And: I'm starting to get the feeling that there are too many nice things coming our way here. My coach in college said, when people start talking nice about you, kick 'em in the shins;. . . smart folks smelled a rodent, and this is it. He is worried his players might start thinking theyve figured it out, and he is using Standard Coach Tactic No. 4 -- Whatever people other than me are telling you is wrong.Thats all this is, and even though he is making more of an effort to seem multi-dimensional to a media corps who has already wearied of the tough-guy act, he knows what he is doing, the players know what he is doing, the media knows what he is doing, and the audience knows what he is doing.Will this hackneyed motivational ploy work? Check back every Sunday. Thats when youll know. After all, Mike Singletarys interminable morale speeches worked until they stopped, too. If the players believe, they wont need spin to help convince them, and if they stop, theyll never come back. Thats been true as long as sports have been used to generate income, and it is true now.But points for the effort. At least Harbaugh is changing up his cadence. Which is Standard Coach Tactic No. 5.