Carson Palmer Is Loving Life While Living In The Middle Of Nowhere In Idaho
On today's Pardon My Take... CARSON PALMER! The Heisman Trophy winner and 2003 first overall pick in the NFL Draft joined Mr. Cat and Mr. Commenter in-studio to discuss what it was like to be the first player selected, life on the USC campus as a Heisman winner, and much, much more.
After players retire from professional football, some go into coaching, others go into the media world. But Carson Palmer, who earned over $174 million in his NFL career (before endorsements), currently lives with his wife and four kids in... Sun Valley, Idaho?! That's right. The former USC Trojan recognizes that this is a very unique post-football path he is taking, but he is embracing it. Take a look at what he had to say on today's show...
Mr. Cat: Okay, so before we started, we were just catching up and you told us that you live in Idaho now and I was like, "That's the dream." I mean, you really are living the dream. You live, like, I would assume, you obviously live in a town of people, but is it just the best to be away from all the noise in the world and just all the shit that's going on right now?
Carson Palmer: It's a safe haven. I mean, with al the stuff that's happening in big cities, and politically, and everything that's happening elsewhere, you don't feel it in a smaller town, and I'm up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere, and people mind their own business. I had a lady come up to me, like, "Oh, you played football!" And this is like, in April, and she's like, "When's your next game?" It's April, and I retired four years ago. "Oh, that's so fun."
Mr. Cat: That's great.
Carson Palmer: Football, you know, people don't live and breathe and die it. You know, it's you know, when I first moved there, I didn't have Direct TV installed yet. And I was asking something like, you know, Saturday, I want to go watch college football. Like what bars have TVs? Like, there's no sports bars here. People are fishing, they're hunting, they're skiing, they're out camping. People don't go to the bar and watch games, which is really cool. If you're a former pro athlete and you're looking to like, raise your kids around some normalcy and not sign autographs and take pictures at dinner, it's been really great for our family and I don't like people in general, so I like being out in the middle of nowhere and having my own space.
Mr. Cat: That's awesome. I think we all aspire to be like, "Yeah, just move on out there."
Mr. Commenter: Yeah, but also at the end of the day, if I found out they didn't have college football or NFL Football…
Carson Palmer: I figured that part out. I've got a great place to watch games.
Mr. Cat: Alright, you can watch every game? That is like my… I have, like, anxiety when my wife's like, "Oh, we should go to, like, Japan." I'm like, "But they don't have sports? How am I going to watch the sports for a week vacation?" So, yeah, as long as you have… you promise you have football?
Carson Palmer: I've got college, pro, yeah, I've got it all.
Mr. Cat: XFL?
Carson Palmer: Uhhh, you can probably find that.
Mr. Cat: Okay (laughs)
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Carson Palmer played in Los Angeles in college, and resided in Cincinnati, Oakland, and Arizona during his NFL career. But now? Idaho. And the three-time Pro Bowler couldn't be happier.