Harbaugh brothers to face off again

Jim Harbaugh thought there would be many more chances to face his older brother after John Harbaugh’s Ravens beat the 49ers in Super Bowl 47. It ended up taking nearly 12 years for it to happen. “Walking off the field at that Super Bowl was like, there will be another day. And then there wasn’t for many years and it looked like I wouldn’t have a chance for another day,” Jim Harbaugh said of Monday night’s matchup between the Chargers and Ravens. More than half of Harbaugh’s 26-minute news conference on Wednesday was on the relationship between the brothers, especially after the Ravens’ 34-31 victory in Feb. 2013 on football’s ultimate stage. “That loss was tough, but after some reflection and time, it’s my brother and best friend. I’m really proud of him and happy for his success. It was earned.” While John Harbaugh has the second-longest tenure among current NFL coaches with 17 seasons as Ravens coach, Jim remained with the 49ers for only two more years after Super Bowl 47 before taking over his alma mater, the University of Michigan, in 2015. He was hired by the Chargers this past offseasn. Besides the Super Bowl, John won the first matchup on Thanksgiving Day 2011 when the Ravens beat the 49ers 16-6 in Baltimore.

LeBron taking social media break

LeBron James says he’s taking some time off — from social media. The Lakers star posted on X and Instagram on Wednesday to announce that he’s stepping away from his pages. James, 39, has 159 million followers on Instagram, 52.9 million on X. He started the farewell by reposting something that Rich Kleiman, Kevin Durant’s longtime manager, posted to X on Oct. 24. “We can all acknowledge that sports is the last part of society that universally brings people together. So why can’t the coverage do the same?” Kleiman wrote. “It’s only click bait when you say it. When the platform is so big, you can make the change and allow us all an escape from real life negativity. I for one find it all a waste of breath.” James, on Instagram, posted a screengrab of Kleiman’s post and added the caption, “Damn shame what it’s come to.” On X, his repost of Kleiman said, “AMEN!!” James’ announcement came one day after he said “everybody on the Internet called me a liar all the time” when he said | he was watching Dalton Knecht’s games last year at Tennessee — long before the Lakers drafted the guard.

Swim org eases rules for Russians

The World Aquatics governing body of swimming has eased rules that now allow approved athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete in team events at international meetings. World Aquatics confirmed Thursday that its ruling bureau has updated competition rules that will let athletes who have been competing as neutrals in individual events during the invasion of Ukraine to team up and compete in swim relays, artistic swimming and synchronized diving. Ahead of the Paris Olympics, aquatics and other sports bodies followed International Olympic Committee guidance and vetted individual athletes with passports from Russia and Belarus to return to competition. The IOC suggested a complete ban would be discrimination, though track and field’s World Athletics imposed one. The neutrality rules included not publicly supporting the invasion of Ukraine and not having ties to the military and state security agencies. The IOC also advised continuing to exclude Russia and Belarus from team sports. The countries remain barred from international water polo “which intrinsically involves ... physical contact between athletes,” the World Aquatics guidelines stated. —Associated Press