The San Francisco 49ers are a winning football team yet again -- and they, like their emotional coach, are full of swagger as well as victories.
That's Coach Jim Harbaugh's deal -- take it or leave it.
Harbaugh's team is in first place and his image is on the Internet, after the first-year 49ers coach slapped Detroit Lions coach Jim Schwartz on the back during the traditional post-game handshake after the Niners handed the previously-undefeated Lions a 25-19 defeat. That show of emotion was too much for Schwartz, who then chased Harbaugh 40 yards up the field in order to engage in a shoving match, broken up by the two coaches' players.
The former NFL QB and Stanford coach, credited with turning the Cardinal into a winner after a string of moribund seasons, is no stranger to Internet-friendly tirades: his "interaction" with former USC coach Pete Carroll following Stanford's blowout 55-21 win over the Trojans in 2009, in which the two coaches ask each other "What's your deal?" is the stuff of Web legend.
Harbaugh admitted his reaction may have been a bit over the top, but refused to apologize for his show of emotion.
"That was on me a little, too hard a handshake there," he said, before adding, "I do get emotional, I do get fired up. A lot. I'm not going to apologize for that. If that offends you or anybody else, so be it."
And with their team at 5-1 and a runaway first place in the NFC West, the long-suffering 49ers fans will take it.
