TRC Weighs in on the Latest Stephen Garcia News

As you have probably already seen, a report has surfaced that alleges there was good reason for Stephen Garcia’s three-interception performance during the December 31 Chick-fil-a Bowl. The late night scene in Garcia’s Atlanta hotel room apparently involved heavy drinking, and as many as FIVE women, two of whom may or may not have been clothed. We here at TRC are yet to solidify our public response, so here is where we are on the discussion at present:

Buck says – POINT – If the allegations are anywhere close to being true, the third strike for #5 just crossed the plate. Eric Hyman and Steve Spurrier need to stand together and send the message that this type of behavior will not be tolerated – AGAIN – and dismiss Garcia from the team. Running on a treadmill with a hangover is not punishment enough.

You are all familiar with the rocky path that has been the career of Stephen Garcia – the vandalism and underage drinking that led to arrests. How much is too much? After what he has been through, how could he make the conscious decision to do something like this before one of the most important games in recent memory? At what point do you stop waiting for someone to mature?

The upcoming football season has the potential to be the greatest in school history, but Stephen Garcia should not be a part of it. One football player should not be allowed to sully the good name of our beloved university the way he has done. Adios, Mr. Garcia.

Tbone says – COUNTERPOINT�- Let’s see, a starting quarterback for an SEC team is caught in a hotel room in the ATL with a bottle of booze and five women (two of which were reportedly naked). So, what’s wrong with this picture? I’ll tell you what’s wrong – what’s wrong is the three other women.

They were in the hotel room with Stephen Achilles Garcia for cryin’ out loud. He was in the hotel room because he just led his team to a 9-win season in the toughest conference in organized sport. The boy earned a little celebratory revelry.

What’s that? Such a debache is inappropriate on the eve of a Big Game, you say? I would be the first to agree with you-if it were a Big Game. No one is alleging that Garcia was with the “Marriott Five”on the eve of the SEC Championship. That would be different, and would betray a complete lack of focus and commitment from our leader.

But the Chicken Nugget Bowl? Who cares. Only two things can happen in the Chicken Nugget Bowl, and both of them are bad. You could lose the game, which counts on your final record I guess, but even worse, you could actually win the thing, and thereby run the risk of seeing a victory over an also-ran team from an also-ran conference as evidence of SEC-level superiority.

Hubris like that will get you beat. But a few girls and a bucket of barley-pops on the eve of kickoff shows you aren’t about to give in to that sort of hype. Good on you, Achilles.

Buck says – POINT– Seriously? Not a big game? We have won ten games once in our history. Getting to that tenth win on New Year’s Eve would have put Garcia in rarified air that neither Todd Ellis nor Steve Taneyhill even sniffed.  So it wasn’t a BCS game, but it was a big game for USC and for our program.  He could’ve waited one more day to get hammered and skank it up.

Tbone says – COUNTERPOINT�- I’ve got news for you: Garcia was up in the thin air the minute the clock hit triple zeros in the ‘Bama game. If not then, then he soared up above the others about the time the Gatorade hit the HBC in the Swamp. He’s probably going to finish behind Todd in career passing stats, but he’s gonna have championship hardware in our trophy case forever.  For that fact alone Garcia, warts and all, is a net gain for SC.

Oh, and I’ve got other news for you:  If five women knocked on your hotel room door (and you were SINGLE, of course) with a bunch of booze and stars in their eyes . . . well, I think we all know what we would all do.

Buck says – POINT�- First of all, if five women knocked on your door with a bunch of booze and stars in their eyes, you’d need to tell them they have the wrong room and point them to the Buckster’s suite.  And at that point I’d pass out rain checks for the following evening after my 300-yard, 4 TD performance.  Then we’d have a party.  That’s why I’m the conscience of this blog, because I’m a big picture guy and I want more “hardware” than an SEC East trophy in a down year.

Tbone says – COUNTERPOINT – The “Buckster Suite”?  Is that a pet name you’ve given to the all-you-can-eat buffet at Ryan’s?  Might wanna mix in a salad every now and then, big guy.  And SEC East was in a “down year?”  You wanna know why this was a “down year” for the East? ‘Cause Achilles had his way with the three big boys (Uga, UT, & FL) before he did the same with those ladies.  You’re just jealous because he’s got tiger blood and Adonis DNA, while you’ve stuck with possum blood and the genes of Cletus the Slack-Jawed-Yokel.

Buck says – POINT– That’s awfully tough talk from a girl-armed hillbilly lawyer that thinks an Oklahoma drill is a dress rehearsal for a musical.  Go knit another sweater, d-bag.

Tbone says – COUNTERPOINT – We’re not talking about an Oklahoma drill – we are talking about an Atlanta drill (or two).� And I’m not “girl-armed”; I’m lithe. No risk of you ever being described that way, lard-ass.