Carson Palmer of the Arizona Cardinals set social media on fire last Sunday at the end of the game against the Seattle Seahawks by excitedly doing a pelvic thrust in celebration of the game-winning score. However, the quarterback now claims that celebratory gesture wasn’t a dig at Seahawks fans, but rather it was in response to friends of his in the stands.
Palmer spoke with the folks at ESPN and said his three friends, whom he named “Pup, Phil and Sugar Cane,” were to blame for his rather uncharacteristic moves.
“I had my buddies in the sideline, right four or five rows up,” Palmer said. “I saw them pretty excited and [that] got me excited to see them excited.”
And by excited, Palmer means EXCITED.
https://twitter.com/TheCauldron/status/666125714358444032
Regardless of your stance on the validity of the “Pup, Phil and Sugar Cane” excuse, Palmer could be fined by the NFL for his thrusting celebration, per ESPN: “Palmer could be fined either $11,576 for unsportsmanlike conduct or $8,681 for taunting, according to the NFL fine schedule.”
Palmer’s brother, Jordan — a career NFL journeyman himself who is now without work — doesn’t think there is any way his older sibling was trying to taunt anyone, though, and called the entire thing “a joke.”
We’ll see soon enough if the league views Palmer’s actions in the same light.