NFL quarterback Jeff Garcia has such manly biceps…sigh

BEREA, Ohio – Terrell Owens is at it again.

In an interview with Playboy magazine that will hit newsstands later this week, Owens is sure to cause controversy with remarks about the sexual orientation of former San Francisco 49ers teammate and current Browns quarterback Jeff Garcia.

The Philadelphia Inquirer procured an early transcript of the interview. According to the report, the magazine asked Owens, now with the Philadelphia Eagles, if he thought Garcia was gay, even though he’s denied those rumors in the past.

Said Owens: “Like my boy tells me: If it looks like a rat and smells like a rat, by golly it is a rat.”

The comments were popular fodder on local and national talk shows Tuesday.

It was quite ironic, therefore, that Garcia’s girlfriend, Carmella Decesare, was a high-profile bystander at practice Tuesday. It’s not just ironic that she was there, but because she is the 2004 Playboy Playmate of the Year.

Owens backed down from his comments somewhat after Eagles practice Tuesday.

“I didn’t say (Garcia) was gay; it was a loose interview,” Owens said.

This is not the first time such a rumor about Garcia has emerged, just the first time since he’s been a Brown. Garcia didn’t talk to the media Tuesday, but he’s been clear in addressing the issue in the past. In an interview with the Santa Rosa Democrat earlier this year, Garcia made his thoughts known.

“I’ve heard the rumor myself that I’m gay. That is not the case. I’ve had girlfriends in the past and I do want to be married someday,” Garcia told the paper. “Somebody saying it obviously doesn’t have any clue as to who I am as a person and, secondly, speaks from a sense of having jealousy for what I’ve been able to attain as a person and is trying to knock me.

“I don’t know if it’s how I speak or what it is about me that presents that sort of label, but I don’t know how many times I have to be out in public with a girlfriend to stop that from being said. Just because an individual in his 30s hasn’t found true love and, yes, there are opportunities to date but it also forces you to be more particular. In so many ways, you become more adamant about finding that right person and not allowing yourself to open up to just anybody.”