I find this John and Jim Harbaugh thing fascinating.

The odds of brothers meeting as coaches of opposing teams in a Super Bowl … have to be extreme. (But then, it’s happened in the 47th Super Bowl, so perhaps we would have to concede that the odds look like 1-in-47.)

I like this on several levels, not the least of which is what seems like these coaches’ devotion to (and success at) retro-style physical violence among their football players.

The original Bash Brothers were Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco, roided up baseball super heroes who hit all those home runs in the late 1980s. Catchy name.

Those guys were hitting baseballs. The Harbaughs are coaching their guys to hit other football players.

I saw this live today. I regained consciousness at about 4 a.m., which is 4 p.m. in California, or 7 p.m. in New England, and I watched the final three quarters of a game I thought the Baltimore Ravens could not win.

But win they did, and from my viewing in the dark of the UAE it seemed as if a lot of it was about the Ravens physically dominating the Patriots throughout the game.

The Patriots seemed to be one big, collective flinch as the game went on, the result of the big and physical Ravens defense blowing up more than a few plays and players. (Hello, Wes Welker.)

The most memorable was the enormous lick Bernard Pollard put on Stevan Ridley in the fourth quarter, apparently knocking out the Patriots running back who, not surprisingly, did not hold the football, leading to a fumble the Ravens recovered and converted into the final touchdown in a 28-13 victory.

We have talked before about New England’s clever offense, which scored 100 points more than any other NFL team, during the regular season, and in an age in which nearly any major collision can result in a penalty on the hitting end … it was refreshing to see the more assertive side — rather than the cuter side — win the game. That is what the NFL is supposed to be about.

John Harbaugh‘s team was hardly more physical than his brother Jim Harbaugh‘s 49ers. One thing that San Francisco team has been about since the former Stanford coach took over is … just beating up people.

They did the same to the Falcons and, again, the word “flinch” comes up. Both the Niners and Ravens seemed to have planted the seed of “impending pain” in the minds of their slicker opponents, and that is a huge step towards victory.

That these two teams have made the Super Bowl with the style of football they have satisfies me. They imposed their will on the opposition and deserve to be in the championship game.

Now, it is entirely possible that Super Bowl XLVII will be a low-scoring slugfest of the 16-6 Miami-Washington sort (1973) or the 16-6 Pittsburgh-Minnesota game (1975) … but I am willing to take that risk.

I know that Colin Kaepernick could go to the end zone at any moment, and Joe Flacco may be erratic but he is pretty solid in playoff games, and Ray Rice is a handful. So some points may be scored even as knockouts (fair ones — at least for now) are racked up.