Jeff Garcia Got Very Mad At Cam Newton For Wearing Clothes
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Cam Newton likes to wear fancy clothes when he goes to work. Cam Newton has not been performing his job at an acceptable level lately.
Those two things are undeniably true. But are they connected in any way?
Most people would say, "No. Of course not. He has to wear clothing. His sartorial choices have no impact on his quarterbacking. What are you some type of buffoon?"
Former 49ers quarterback Jeff Garcia, though? He would not say that. He just would not.
How do we know that? We know that because instead of saying that, he said this:
"You go into this game [with] two touchdowns, four interceptions. You throw -- what -- three more interceptions, you get yanked in the second half. There's nothing good going your way. Why are you dressing like that, to bring more attention to yourself? I'd be trying to ask the equipment managers, put me in our jock sock cart and sneak me in the back door and I'll show up on the field and do the best that I can."
Weird commentary on the 49ers' postgame show in San Francisco, for sure!
Garcia continued, because Cam's clothing was the big story, baby:
"This just goes back to a couple years of just watching this guy and seeing him at the podium. But yet what he's doing on the field does not translate to being that guy. ... When you predict you're going to win a Super Bowl and you go out and do it, wear whatever the hell you want. But, you know, right now, I'm not buying it."
Garcia was referring to Joe Namath in the middle there, in case you missed that. Which is funny, because outside of his historic Super Bowl win, Namath was very bad! He led the league in interceptions four times, finishing his career with 173 touchdowns and 220 interceptions. But you wear that fur, king!
Anyways, it's clear that Jeff Garcia doesn't want Cam Newton to wear nice clothes when he shows up to work, which is a weird thing to really care about. (Had Cam shown up wearing a tattered sweatshirt, gym shorts, and flip-flops, would Garcia have criticized him for not taking his job seriously by showing up to work wearing pajamas? Would it have had anything to do with Newton's on-field performance? Are we talking about quarterback clothing right now?)
It's important, though, to broach this topic now, because with Cam and the Patriots looking like they are spiraling, it's only a matter of time before similar commentary starts to crop up in the Boston area as the pitchforks come out from the people who yelled about the team being bad even when they are making the Super Bowl every year. Those folks must be frothing at the mouth with this new opportunity to pick apart the Patriots.
So, as a general reminder: There are 168 hours in a week. Cam Newton can only spend three of those hours playing in a football game. The rest of the time, he's going to have to wear some clothes. Nice clothes, bad clothes, doesn't matter, doesn't have an actual impact on his football playing. There's no need to really dissect the situation any further ... unless you're Jeff Garcia, on the San Francisco 49ers postgame show.
What a weirdo.
UPDATE! Cam Newton was asked about Garcia's comments during his weekly WEEI interview and he ... took Jeff Garcia's side?
"Well, you know what's crazy? I agree with him," Newton said. "And the fact that he's a former player, he has every right to say that. And until that happens, then so be it. But that's another opinionated theory, and it's fair to say. I know I come off to so many people so many different ways. And you know what? He's exactly right."
How about that? The high road.
Cam did add this, though: "But I'm not changing the way I dress."
Good. Those are some nice clothes.
