Over the weekend, Bengals QB (and former USC Trojan) Carson Palmer laid into The Ohio State University and its fans to Los Angeles radio station KCAL. For a bit of what he was saying:
" I cannot stand the Buckeyes and having to live in Ohio and hear those people talk about their team, it drives me absolutely nuts. We got Keith Rivers out there and we got Frostee Rucker, we finally got a couple other 'SC guys. It's amazing to hear what those guys think about that university and what they think about that football program and Tressel and all the crap I got to put up with being back there."
... and it goes on a bit.
Now, Carson is saying that he hgot caught up in the moment and was just "being a fan":
"I'm a Trojan all the way, and I was talking to a Trojan audience in California. I guess I got a little fired up, as all good fans will do. But I really do respect the Buckeyes, and I know their fans are passionate, too. I hope they all understand I'm just looking forward to a big game for my school against a very tough opponent, and that it's all in the good fun of a rivalry. You don't have a real rivalry unless both sides are great teams."
C'mon, Carson ... stick by your guns!
Sure, Palmer probably pissed off a ton of Cincinnati-based Buckeye fans ... but so what? What do they expect him to say? We want athletes to be candid and when Palmer did so (about a subject that has no real substance) he was nailed for it. Yeah, he did get hot for a minute and let it ride a bit too long, but it is funny.
What does this say about Cincinnati? That their love for Ohio State trumps their love for the Bengals? Fair enough. OSU knows how to handle problems (Maurice Clarett) better than the Bengals (insert any number of guys here) and competes for championships. The school is much bigger, older and tradition rich that the Bengals could ever be. Plus, I'm sure I wouldn't like a player from a local team dumping on my favorite school, either.
But I like what Palmer is doing and showing. That USC-Ohio State game will be the most hyped game of the upcoming college football season and we have a Heisman Trophy winning quarterback from one school entrenched in the backyard of the other. It isn't uncommon to have players on teams from different/rival schools go at it either.
Plus, I get it. As a North Carolina Tar Heel fan now living in Kentucky ... I know exactly what kind of smack you hear on a daily basis that you just want to shut everyone up (albeit basketball in that case).
The point is that he is a fan ... just like the rest of us. In professional sports, we forget that these players were and are fans of certain teams -- especially their alma maters. And just like we can come to blogs, message boards or talk radio and do the smack on an opponent, don't hate on someone just because he actually was a dog in that fight.
Previously at FanHouse:
Carson Palmer Hates Ohio State
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-22-2008 @ 10:39PM
Ben said...
Carson shot himself in the foot b/c no group of people are more unforgiving and hold grudges as long as Ohio State fans. He also turned thousands of Buckeye fans who casually follow the NFL against the Bengals. I usually go to a few games a year and now I'm kicking around not going at all last year. I dropped some coin on the Monday Night Pats game last year to watch Cincy suck, maybe Carson should worry about his job and not his alma mater.
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7-22-2008 @ 3:23PM
dokovacich said...
Palmer is entitled to his opinion to be sure, but alienating local fans already fed up with a team of hoodlums and underachievers is a real bad idea. So much for a team leader.
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7-22-2008 @ 3:26PM
stigma said...
I agree with everything he said the first time. Growing up in the Pac-10 area watching all the schools play weekly & then moving out here to Pittsburgh, I can't stand all the OSU/PSU/etc etc.... sure they're better fans out here than they are on the west coast, but at the same time, these schools haven't been able to control the Pac-10 in matchups vs each other in the past few years either.
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7-22-2008 @ 3:51PM
Me said...
Why doesn't Carson Palmer go back to the Mexican infested LA and leave the Buckeyes alone!!! Considering the OSU football team has a better fan base and is more popular than the Bengals in which he plays!!! What an arrogant ass!!! I hope the fans in Cinci let him know that when the season starts!!! Which most Cinci fans are also Buckeye fans!!!
Your a pompous ass and remember karma's always around the corner waiting for inflated ego's like yours!!!
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7-22-2008 @ 4:18PM
MeSaid2 said...
And who pays CP's monster salary that he gets...oh yeah, those darn Ohioans. I please ask that all Bengals/Buckeyes fans boo CP each and every home game (and chance you get), don't buy his jersey, and to be as non-supportive as possible towards this arrogant prick who needs to go back to SoCal. What kind of a man makes a statement that he truly means only to revoke it saying that he didn't really mean it and he was just being a USC fan. Cut the bs, he meant what he originally said and now that he realizes the uproar it has created, he wants nothing to do with it. Sounds like a typical SoCal pussay to me. Tough until someone stands up to them. By the way, how have the Bengals been doing since he has been there...doesn't look like CP is the missing link in Cincy, just another douch from SoCal.
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7-23-2008 @ 12:57AM
George B Vieto said...
I know that carson was speaking like a Trojan fan when he insulted the Buckeye fans. But in the state of Ohio where he plays for the Cincinnati Bengals he is looking for some real trouble since the rule is never insult the paying customer who pays your salary.
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