Carson Palmer speaks his mind, the truth

That’s it. Game over. Carson Palmer is my favorite NFL quarterback.

Not because he won me a fantasy football championship (he didn’t), plays for my favorite team (he doesn’t) or is even the best at his position in the league (he’s not.) It only took one long quote, one radio interview, one beautifully phrased piece of truth to turn me into a Carson Palmer fan.

I don't watch what I say. 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 (Ohio State coach Jim) Tressel and all the crap I gotta put up with being back there. I just can't wait for two years from now when 'SC comes to the 'Shoe and I get to, hopefully we'll have a home game that weekend and I can go up there and watch us, pound on them in their own turf and kind of put all the talk to rest. Because I'm really getting sick of it and I just can't wait for this game to get here so they can come out to the Coliseum and experience LA and get an old-fashioned Pac-10 butt-whoopin' and go back to the Big Ten . . . I can't wait.

Have I converted you, too? No? You must be an Ohio State fan.

Let’s put aside the cojones it takes to say these words while playing for the Cincinnati Bengals in Buckeye country. Especially because the fans that pack your stadium and buy your jersey care 10 times more about OSU than they ever will about the Bengals.

The fact of the matter is Palmer did two things I love and respect: (1) He spoke the truth without regard for backlash and (2) He still has pride and loyalty to his school and conference.

To a lot of NFL players, college football is a stepping stone to the pros. But there are always those select few that bleed (in this case) cardinal and gold through-and-through, even when their playing career is over. It is even better when those players are solid pros as opposed to your fourth-stringers that hardly see the field.

Aside from having pride in his former accomplishments, Palmer points out a painstakingly obvious fact: the Big Ten is a joke. It has been a joke, and it will continue to be a joke until one more team is added and there is a conference championship game. As if their last two BCS Championship games are not proof enough, they have missed the boat on how the game is played these days while the powerhouse SEC schools like LSU, Florida and Georgia and major programs like the Pac-10’s USC and Big 12’s Texas have it easily figured out.

Yet fans of the Big Ten and, more importantly, Ohio State, continue to carry on like their stool don’t stink while they slowly become the Buffalo Bills of college football—always the bridesmaid, never the bride.