Jeff Garcia Is Not As Bitchy As I Thought

Yesterday in part of my rambling about Jeff Garcia's contract, I called him a whiny little bitch because he wouldn't stand up and take a position on whether he was going to hold out for a new contract or not. That's because the story in the times didn't contain this little nugget:

"I'm under center [when training camp begins]."

Those were the words he said right before he started about how physical the game of football is. That was kind of an important sentence to leave out, don't you think? He said he's not holding out of training camp. These are the kinds of things that make the newspaper web sites next to worthless to me. I got the whole quote from Pewter Report. If you are reading this, chances are you already know about them, but if you don't, check them out here. They are one of the only sources of Buccaneer information that doesn't have an agenda (except, perhaps, a pro-Kansas State agenda, but that can be overlooked because Kansas isn't a real state anyway.) They're not paying me to say it and very possibly don't know I exist, so you know I mean it when I recommend them. Subscribe to them and tell the Times to eat a dick.

Anyway, back to Jeff. Granted, he still sounds like a bit of a pussy because he thinks the process is taking too long and he almost sounds like he's making a veiled threat to be "distracted" by the delay at some point. I don't think he'd throw a game or anything, but maybe an injury that he'd normally play with will cause him to have to sit out a game or two. Read it all in context:

"I'm under center [when training camp begins]. But after a while it does start to play with you mentally. This is a physical game and you want players to go out and give everything they have and lay their bodies on the line and lay their hearts on the line."

It sounds like he's saying he's not going to be able to lay his heart on the line without a new deal, doesn't it? From what I know about Garcia, he only plays at 100%, so I don't think he's got it in him to really dog it, but even suggesting it is kind of lame.

But what he didn't do is act wishy-washy about holding out of training camp, so I take back calling him a whiny little bitch and apologize. And nothing says I'm sorry like a half-naked chick on a beanbag.

UPDATE: Yes, I read the part where Garcia talks about holding out. The way Pewter Report covers it, it doesn't sound like a threat. He's bringing it up to start people talking, but Garcia's earlier statements make me think that he won't. The Tribune, however, structures it so that it sounds a little more menacing. I really think unless the Bucs do something insulting to him, he'll be in camp.