Dabblin' With the Cockspur: Growin' Up In Front of Us
posted by Roger Olivieri, 9/25/2009 08:58:00 AM
It’s funny how things work…
When expectations soar, the end result seems to fall short. When expectations fall short, the end result soars. Example? Sure, no problem, going to Athens any of you (including me) would have predicted something like 16-10. With Ole Miss coming to town, all of you (including me) would have expected 41-37. See my point?
Touche’.
Time passes while the Stephen Garcia is holier than Jerry Garcia stories begin to settle. Years removed from the Taneyhill comparisons; the aforementioned “expectation” anomaly begins to fester.
Sure, we question his growth daily and overreact to small accomplishments, but he’s the quarterback for the love of God! Everyone overreacts to the quarterback.
Smelley transfers, Spurrier hands over the reigns, and a guy named Mangus strolls into town…
Before you know it, the kid is predicting wins over the #4 team in the nation. That’s right, I said it, he predicted it. He told us all that they were going to win on Thursday night. Usually the media jumps all over a prediction like that, especially when it comes from the quarterback. For some reason though, no one did.
He told us immediately following the FAU win this past Saturday, “We’re just going to take it very very serious this week and go out there and beat them.”
You don’t believe me? Look at the video below from the FAU postgame.
After the Ole Miss victory he’d predicted only five days before, Garcia doesn’t come out and say, “I told you so.”
Instead he comes out and says, “I was telling the guys in the locker room that that’s the first of many, so…” He drops off the sentence there as if daring anyone to disagree.
The kid is growing into a leader. He’s slowly becoming confident in his abilities, but willing to stand behind his words. The good decisions off the field are leading to much better decisions on the field as well – or is it the other way around? Who cares?
The long hair is gone, the keyed paint on a professor’s car has faded and the Taneyhill talk has even subsided. As a matter of fact it’s all but disappeared and turned into something better for Stephen Garcia. It’s turned into Stephen Garcia talk.
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Remember the long haired kid from Florida who had the town oozing with Steve Taneyhill expectations? Faster than a covert hike up the Appalachian Trail, though, he was in trouble. Then, even faster, he was in trouble again. Before you knew it, he was out of spring drills, then in trouble again, and then suspended for another spring. Within twelve months the ridiculous comparisons to Steve Taneyhill were as ridiculous as the Appalachian Trail story.
It’s funny how things work…
When expectations soar, the end result seems to fall short. When expectations fall short, the end result soars. Example? Sure, no problem, going to Athens any of you (including me) would have predicted something like 16-10. With Ole Miss coming to town, all of you (including me) would have expected 41-37. See my point?
Touche’.
Time passes while the Stephen Garcia is holier than Jerry Garcia stories begin to settle. Years removed from the Taneyhill comparisons; the aforementioned “expectation” anomaly begins to fester.
Sure, we question his growth daily and overreact to small accomplishments, but he’s the quarterback for the love of God! Everyone overreacts to the quarterback.
Smelley transfers, Spurrier hands over the reigns, and a guy named Mangus strolls into town…
Before you know it, the kid is predicting wins over the #4 team in the nation. That’s right, I said it, he predicted it. He told us all that they were going to win on Thursday night. Usually the media jumps all over a prediction like that, especially when it comes from the quarterback. For some reason though, no one did.
He told us immediately following the FAU win this past Saturday, “We’re just going to take it very very serious this week and go out there and beat them.”
You don’t believe me? Look at the video below from the FAU postgame.
After the Ole Miss victory he’d predicted only five days before, Garcia doesn’t come out and say, “I told you so.”
Instead he comes out and says, “I was telling the guys in the locker room that that’s the first of many, so…” He drops off the sentence there as if daring anyone to disagree.
The kid is growing into a leader. He’s slowly becoming confident in his abilities, but willing to stand behind his words. The good decisions off the field are leading to much better decisions on the field as well – or is it the other way around? Who cares?
The long hair is gone, the keyed paint on a professor’s car has faded and the Taneyhill talk has even subsided. As a matter of fact it’s all but disappeared and turned into something better for Stephen Garcia. It’s turned into Stephen Garcia talk.
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Roger Olivieri. Roger began working with GamecockCentral in December of 2007. He currently serves as the site's chief videographer. He may be reached by email at roger(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.