While on a Los Angeles radio show Carson Palmer said that he, “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 #### 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.”

I am actually disappointed that Carson slightly backed down from his statements later saying that,” 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.” The fact is that Ohio State is an overrated team in an overrated conference.

Carson Palmer, thank you for coming out and saying what so many people are thinking. Nobody likes Ohio State University. I love how Buckeye fans are so fired up over these comments saying things like Carson is jealous.

What exactly is he jealous of? Palmer actually won a BCS bowl, unlike Ohio State who just seems content on getting there. He has his number retired and has won a Heisman trophy. Carson is about as accomplished as a college quarterback as you can be. (He does lack a championship) Although both teams have great history, USC has more championships and while Ohio State fans will bring out all the other stats, the rings are all that matter.

Now all the “obnoxious” Ohio State fans are going to jump on this and obnoxiously claim that USC fans are horrible and that the Pac-10 is overrated despite the fact that 6 of its 10 teams were ranked in the top 25 at one point or another last year. They will say that even though they lost, at least the reached the title game two years in a row. To that last argument I have two things to say: 1) Who Cares? You lost the championship, which is all that matters, nobody thinks the Buffalo Bills are great why should you be different? 2) You finished your season last year ranked number 7 and sat out for the final few weeks as teams lost and Ohio State snuck into the title game by default. Why don’t the Buckeyes try to earn it on the field this year rather than let other teams lose it?

We should all thank Carson’s Trojans’ as they will prevent everyone from being forced to watch the Buckeyes getting beat in the BCS title game for the third straight year.

 A sports rivalry is defined as “intense competition between athletic teams or athletes.” This is a very broad definition and it does not appear to cover the true meaning of a rivalry. Rivalry games are always more intense than other games, they mean more to both the players on the field and the fans in the stands. Beating a hated rival provides fans with bragging rights that are comparable to nothing else while losing to a rival gives the fans an unbearable pain as well as a fear of going to school or work on Monday.

We all have our favorite teams and along with cheering for these teams, we learn to hate their rivals. However, what makes these hated teams “rivals?” Is a rival a team that shares the same geographic region? Or, is a rival a team that may be in the same division as your favorite team and is always competing for the division title? Are rivals two teams that may not play often, but have rich histories and possibly only meet in championships? Can teams truly have multiple rivals?

Local rivalries are always fun for territorial bragging rights, but sometimes both local teams are not equal as competitors. If one team is clearly better than the other and always seems to win, I do not feel that it is a true rival. If both teams are on a level playing field, but are both bad it may be a good game and provide the fans with bragging right, but what is the point if nobody cares and the results of the game do not matter? Territorial rivals are only as good as the teams that participate. If a region has two teams that tend to be towards the top of the standings and both are able to beat each other then the area has a true rivalry that is able to be enjoyed by both sets of fans. Yes, we all want our team to win all the time, but rivalry games are not nearly as fun if we know our team will win or if we have to pray for the upset.

Divisional foes are sometimes the best types of rivals because of the importance of the game. Watching a game where a postseason berth is on the line makes a rivalry game all the more dramatic. This is what gives so much appeal to rivalries such as the Red-Sox and the Yankees as well as Ohio State and Michigan. Both of these sets of rivals always compete with something on the line. There have been plenty of postseason series involving the Red-Sox and Yankees that add to the rivalry. The Ohio-State and Michigan football game usually decides the winner of the Big-10 Conference. The bigger the magnitude of the game, the more intense the rivalry.

What about teams in opposite conferences, but are each rich in tradition? Rivals such as the Celtics and the Lakers or Notre Dame and USC have plenty of appeal to historians and true fans of the teams, but lack the appeal to the casual fan. Although these games may be fun to watch, the true significance of the rivalry may be lost to the casual fans as well as the younger fans.