‘Average dude’ Harbaugh a bro to fellow Wolverine
At the Super Bowl, two famous Michigan guys shared garlic fries and high-fives and had a grand time.
The seatmates in the Club section were Akash Nigam, who dropped out of Michigan to form the mobile collegestudent social-networking app Blend, and Jim Harbaugh, who dropped out of the 49ers to go back to Michigan.
Harbaugh sat in the sunny stands at Levi’s and enjoyed the game with the regular folk — if you consider folk who can fork over $10,000 or so for a seat “regular.”
So at least part of Jed York’s original dream came true: a Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium with Harbaugh in the house, radiating an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.
Harbaugh was with his wife and one of their daughters. By random chance, he was seated next to Nigam, co-founder and CEO of Blend.
Nigam, a lifetime 49ers fan, introduced himself. With Harbaugh’s daughter helping bridge the generation gap, the former 49ers head coach learned what Blend is. And he and Nigam shared that deep Wolverine connection.
They became instant BFF, LOL.
“He was very charismatic, but down to earth,” Nigam said. “We shared fries, talked about life.”
Said Nigam: “He was literally coaching the game, breaking down plays. I was kind of stressed, because I had no idea what he was talking about.”
(“Tell me about it,” Colin Kaepernick might have said.)
Nigam said Harbaugh was rooting mainly for the Pan- thers, cheering good plays, booing the officials, constantly high-fiving a young fan in front of him. And dancing. “He was dancing the whole game,” Nigam said. “Whipping it, nae-naeing. His daughter taught him to dab.”
Added Nigam: “He was like the average dude.”
(“That’s the Jim Harbaugh I know,” York might have said.)