No nostalgia for 49ers' Harbaugh

Jim Harbaugh is not looking forward to seeing his older brother, John, on Thanksgiving Day. Not when he and his team, the San Francisco 49ers, had to travel across the country on a short week to play John's Baltimore Ravens.

Jim Harbaugh is too busy preparing for a short week and long trip to Baltimore to reflect much on his history-making match-up Thursday night with big brother, John, the Ravens coach.

"There's not a lot of time to really think about the warm and fuzzy reunions, the nostalgia," said the younger Harbaugh, who leads the San Francisco 49ers.

He thanked the NFL for the feel-good Thanksgiving Day pairing, an anticipated game on the schedule since Harbaugh was hired away from Stanford in January to turn around a fallen franchise. He appreciates being part of a special "first" featuring siblings on opposite sidelines as head coaches, but added, "no doubt we got the short end of the straw" because of the travel involved - nearly 4,000km each way.

Jim Harbaugh plans to use every minute to get ready for the daunting task of facing his brother's AFC North-leading Baltimore team (7-3), which he considers to be the toughest opponent yet and perhaps all year for San Francisco.

Harbaugh said this will be the first time since the schedule became 16 games that a team from the Pacific coast has had to fly three time zones after a Sunday game to play on Thursday. This is the first time a team has gone three time zones for a Thanksgiving game since the Rams, then playing in Los Angeles, won 20-0 at Detroit on November 27, 1975.

The 49ers (9-1) can clinch the NFC West and their first play-offs berth since 2002 by beating the Ravens and with a Seattle loss.

"You probably want to peel back the onion some more and get into my soul, but this week my brother is just somebody we're trying to beat," Harbaugh said.

"I think it'll probably be a big deal for my parents. If it is or it isn't, that's not relevant to what we're trying to accomplish this week, either."

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