As rumors swirl that Jim Harbaugh may be next in line to head coach the Seattle Seahawks, it's time we all ask Harbaugh that infamous question from Pete Carroll's lips after their memorable 2009 USC-Stanford matchup, “What's your deal?” And as that question is only a hop, skip and jump away from Seinfeld's weekly refrain of “What's the deal with…?” in his Seinfeld opening monologue, another question is also begging to be asked — is Jim Harbaugh the Bania to Pete Carroll's Seinfeld?
I'm speaking of course about Kenny Bania, the hack comedian role made famous by actor Steve Hytner. Bania was a professional rival and thorn in the side of (the character) Jerry Seinfeld on his eponymous beloved NBC sitcom.
Bania annoyed Seinfeld in various ways, and over many episodes, as has Jim Harbaugh irked Pete Carroll time and again over the course of their careers. After annoying each other in several exciting Pac-10 matchups between USC and Stanford, Carroll then bolted from USC faster than Reggie Bush out of the backfield — with an impending NCAA punishment set to be handed down — in favor of a head coaching job with the Seattle Seahawks.
One year later, Harbaugh followed Carroll again, and continued their petty competition as head coach of Seattle's NFC west rival San Francisco 49ers.
Here again they had many classic and chippy head-to-head showdowns, with Carroll winning one Super Bowl (and nearly winning a second), as Harbaugh led the Niners to a Super Bowl against his second biggest rival, his older brother John Harbaugh.
This all sounds eerily similar to one great Seinfeld episode in particular, “The Butter Shave,” in which Seinfeld gets sick of Bania always following him in stand-up sets where Seinfeld has already warmed up the crowd. Seinfeld's grievance? That Bania doesn't earn the laughs — Seinfeld teed up the audience and conditioned them to be in a jovial mood after his own set, which Bania simply piggy-backs onto.
Now, am I suggesting that Jim Harbaugh has made a career out of piggybacking off of the accomplishments of Pete Carroll? Yes, yes I am — but since I'm no fan of Pete Carroll either (as a diehard UCLA Bruins fan) — let's take the analogy one step further so we can find fault with Carroll too, shall we?
Carroll's recent career missteps as the Seahawks have plunged into mediocrity also mirrors the next story beat of “The Butter Shave” episode — where Seinfeld winds up throwing a stand-up set to make Bania bomb on stage. The only problem with that logic is that Seinfeld didn't know talent scouts from NBC were in the audience during the show, and they wind up giving Bania a deal to develop a pilot instead of Jerry. (And since Jerry already had developed a pilot with NBC, it seems despite his best efforts to change their entwined fates, Bania will be following Seinfeld once again.)
Tell me this doesn't sound exactly like the poetic justice of Carroll doing his best impression of a hack coach this season in Seattle, and now having Jim Harbaugh come replace him in the very same position?
And don't forget, Harbaugh is bolting college football under nearly the same shady auspices as Carroll — with an impending NCAA penalty set to be handed down, and his team on top of the college football world.
Now it seems Jim Harbaugh might be following Pete Carroll again. But with NFL viewers excited to see the next stage of their bickering, grumpy suburban dad chemistry, maybe these two should stop fighting it and develop a pilot together instead. You could call it “What's your deal?” It practically writes itself.
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