One of the biggest story lines heading into Sunday's big game between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers, is the fact that two brothers will be on opposite sidelines for the first time in Super Bowl history. So what's it like to face your brother on game day? A pair of Arkansas high school head coaches know the feeling all too well.
Older brother Bobby Bolding, head coach of the Pine Bluff Zebras, and his younger brother Brad, head coach of the North Little Rock Charging Wildcats have squared off against each other for years.
"I feel sorry for them. I don't enjoy it at all," said older brother Bobby. "I take no pleasure out of playing against my brother. Not in preparing, not in the little trash talk that we do."
And sometimes the toughest trash talk, involves no talking at all.
"The first year we played he did some stuff where he just did not speak to the media...on purpose," said younger brother Brad.
"Anything I can think of to mess with him, " said Bobby. "He'll text me something and I'll say, 'Hey I appreciate that, good bulletin board material.' And I may not even use it I'll just delete it, but anything I can think of to mess with him."
"There are times where we have said some things through the media that maybe no one else would catch," said Brad.
The most recent Bolding battle was a 37-point blowout last fall in favor of Brad's Charging Wildcats.
"We beat 'em pretty good, which is similar to what he did to me when I was at Mayflower, so I looked at as kind of a payback," said Brad. "But a lot of people don't realize that after the game we kind of gave one of those half hugs and he kind of covered up my ear and just let me know that it probably wasn't a good idea for me to score that last touchdown. I've been really wanting to get that off my chest for awhile, because no one caught it with all the cameras and everybody out there, he did it very professionally. Brother to brother."
In response, Bobby said, "I don't have any idea what he's talking about."
But one thing these brothers can agree on is the fact that the stress of the big game can weigh just as heavy, if not heavier, on the coach's parents.
"I know our parents, they feel sorry for Brad when he got beat. But when I got beat this year, they were celebrating with Brad. He's the baby. So they go right over to Brad either way and say, 'It's ok baby.' They baby him."
And sometimes the baby of the family has been known to fudge the numbers a bit.
"I'll clear up the record, Brad said I'm 2-and-1. I am 643,211-to-1. It's the only time he's ever beat me in anything in his entire life. Ever."
