During a recent interview with a Los Angeles radio station, Carson Palmer was asked to give his thoughts on the upcoming USC vs. Ohio State college football contest.

And despite earning his living in a state where Woody Hayes commemorative plates are treated with more care and love than newborn babies, Carson couldn't help but let loose with his hatred of all things Ohio State:

I cannot stand the Buckeyes. 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 gotta put up with being back there.

I just can't wait for two years from now when SC comes to the 'Shoe and 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.

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.

Goodness. That's some straight-up hate. And it's ill-advised hate, given that about 90% of the people who fill Paul Brown stadium to watch Carson Palmer play are also Buckeye fans.

Actually, let me rephrase that ... they're not just Buckeye fans. They're people who, if they were standing in front of Carson Palmer and Kirk Herbstreit, and both quarterbacks were engulfed in flames, and they had two fire extinguishers at their feet, they'd use the first extinguisher to put out the fire on Herbstreit, and they'd use the second extinguisher to beat to death anyone who suggested that Tom Brady was better-looking than Herbstreit.

So Carson did a little backpedaling today, via a statement on Bengals.com:

"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."

Mmhmm. I'll let you decide which quotes from Palmer sound more like a guy expressing his true feelings.