Michigan Football Fact Check: Harbaugh Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread

The Big Lead recently published a story that, in part, said Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh is viewed as the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Part of the pain of the offseason months is trying to find things to talk about. It’s actually really difficult. So a piece of the fix that we’ve pieced together here at GBMWolverine is to fact check claims we see floated out there on the interweb.

In case you missed it, our first one came from a tweet.

This week’s claim comes in a little bit of an indirect way, via The Big Lead. In a story explaining why Jim Harbaugh is at his best when selling something other than himself (what?), Kyle Koster said, in part:

"Michigan fans have bought this in bulk from the moment he was announced as the next savior of the storied Wolverines. So has much of the national media, evidenced by the stampede to anoint him as the greatest thing since sliced bread."

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Do we have a straw man argument being made here? That’s possible. While the national media’s infatuation with Harbaugh is undeniable, you certainly don’t have to look far to find negativity. (Looking at you, Finebaum.)

But that’s not going to be our focus for this. Instead, we’re going to assess the “greatest thing since sliced bread” part, regardless of if the national media actually believes this.

First, some background…

One of the world’s oldest prepared foods, bread was only first sold as a sliced product on July 7, 1928, according to Time. This means we’re approaching the 89th anniversary of sliced bread.

The man who took this step, Otto Frederick Rohwedder, had to solve a problem: Sliced bread went stale much faster than intact bread. His solution was to slap U-shaped pins on the loaf to hold it together. This innovation made sliced bread a much more convenient product.

It was also apparently a rather momentous change for some. This is from a 1928 newspaper story for those who were having a difficult time with the concept:

"The idea of sliced bread may be startling to some people. Certainly it represents a definite departure from the usual manner of supplying the consumer with baked loaves."

What’s happened since sliced bread?

Here are some major inventions and innovations that have happened since sliced bread.

Sunglasses (1929)
Duct tape (1942)
Microwave oven (1945)
Hand-held calculator (1966)
Personal computer (1975)
Google (1998)
iPod (2001)
Facebook (2004)
Tinder (2012)

Jim Harbaugh’s accomplishments…

Harbaugh, 53, is notably without a Super Bowl trophy and a national championship at the college level, but his list of accomplishments in nonetheless impressive.

As a player…

Big Ten Most Valuable Player (1986)
AFC Player of the Year (1995)
NFL Comeback Player of the Year (1995)
Pro Bowl (1995)

As a coach…

Woody Hayes Trophy (2010)
NFL Coach of the Year (2011)
NFC champion (2012)

Entering his third season at Michigan, Harbaugh holds a record of 20-6 with the Wolverines and 93-46 overall as a head coach.

Verdict: Mostly False

There are some technicalities here. The case could be made that Harbaugh is better than sliced bread, but that’s not how the saying goes. Harbaugh would need to be better than things like the personal computer and Tinder.

Next: Top 10 running backs in Michigan history

Although Harbaugh has done some very impressive things throughout his coaching career (like resurrecting Stanford and saving Michigan), it would be a serious stretch of logic to pull for this to be true.

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