Yes you could put the things into reverse and gone merrliy along , for a
while, then your clockwise (std.) lower unit would have fried. The counter
would not be bothered by this reversal of position as reverse in this unit
is actually forward as far as which gear in the lower unit is engaged to the
pinion. Actually "fried" maybe be an overstatment, the std. being run in
reverse would just overheat and may or may not "fry". The frying would
depend on how hot it got. If it got hot enought to overpressure and lose
it's oil, then "fry" it would.
The counter unit is pretty much the same as the std. but it has some nice
needle bearing thrust washers to handle the unit being run in reverse all
the time. So to review, the std. would in reverse (not ok), the counter in
forward ( that's ok).

--
Ron White
my boatbuilding web site is:
www.concentric.net/~knotreel