Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh is known for his easy going personality and staying out of the limelight until Tuesday morning.

Harbaugh was a guest on Baltimore radio station 98 Rock where he gave a live radio interview.  The radio host made a comment about the recent bounty scandal and asked whether or not it was worth bending the rules if he thought he could get away with it.

This is Harbaugh’s response and what caused a social media uproar:

“In the end, everything is brought before the light of day, when it’s all said and done,” Harbaugh said on “98 Rock” in Baltimore. “What happens, even the thing in New England, no matter whether those things had any impact on whether they won their championships or not, they got asterisks now. It’s been stained.”

“To me, it’s never worth it. You have to figure out ways to use the rules to your advantage; you have to figure out ways to make the most of everything. We have new work rules here as far as what we can do and what we can’t do with our players, and we’re going to make the most of it. What we’re finding is, ‘Man, maybe we can do some things even better than we did before, because these rules make us focus more on some things that we didn’t focus on before.’ You just have to make them work for you. That’s what success is in the world. You have to find a way to do things better than somebody else. But if you’re cheating, in the end, you’re going to get discredited. It’s not worth it.”

The Twitter world was up in arms when people went off on Harbaugh for pointing the finger at New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, saying it was wrong to call him out.

There were so many backlashes that the Ravens later released a statement to amend Harbaugh’s earlier comments:

“I have so much respect for Coach Belichick and the job he does and has accomplished in his Hall of Fame career,” he said. “I called him to remind him of my respect for him. I also reached out to Tedy Bruschi, who rightfully defended those Patriot players and coaches on ESPN, to tell him that I agree with him that the Patriots earned every victory.”

Hold on people, not so fast, I support Harbaugh’s comments and agree with him 100%. We live in a country where we have freedom of speech and he is allowed to say what he thinks. Harbaugh is where he is today because Belichick vouched for him when he interviewed for the Ravens head coaching job in 2008.

When someone is caught cheating, they are always looked at in a different light. Even if they didn’t win world championships, the Patriots (and the New Orleans Saints) will always be scrutinized for what happened during those championship seasons.

I listened to the entire interview several times and I have a hard time wrapping my head around this story and figuring out why people are making a big deal about it. Even if the Ravens weren’t my football team, I would still have trouble understanding why it is a big deal and I would still support Harbaugh.

Harbaugh didn’t mention anyone by name, though we know Belichick was involved in the spy gate scandal, Harbaugh didn’t point the finger at him. He simply said what most of think about cheaters, you get caught, you get discredited and it’s not worth it.

When I look at the championships won by these teams, I can’t help wonder if they would have won them under different circumstances, hell I can’t help but wonder if they would have made it to the big game if things had played out differently during those seasons.

It is easy to say “what if?”, but the past is the past and we can’t change it. I wholeheartedly agree with Harbaugh about their championships being stained. The accusations put a damper on those seasons and their outcomes and Harbaugh was man enough to come out and say it.