Carson Palmer Debut Generated Huge Ratings For Local 12

Asked by a friend Monday night what I thought about Carson Palmer's Raiders debut and it boils down to this: I genuinely don't wish ill-will on him and hope he finds what he's looking for in Oakland. I hope that with all people and praying for ill-will on a professional athlete is petty. But it doesn't mean I can't laugh hysterically when he throws a pick-six; something we watched agonizingly five times last year.

Most importantly during Oakland's loss in Kansas City, there was a sense of closure to the Carson Palmer saga. And it wasn't just for me. According to Jim Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer, Palmer's debut generated the highest ratings in Cincinnati from 6-7 p.m. hour:

Carson Palmer’s Oakland Raiders debut in the second half was the #1 show at that hour Sunday (6-7 p.m.), but the 13.5 rating was not enough to win the time period.

The 13.5 rating translated to 120,960 TV homes here — but the entire game averaged a 10.7 rating, second at 4-7 p.m. to Fox 19's Packers-Vikings game (10.9).  The #1 show Sunday was the boring Browns-Seahawks game at 1 p.m. on Fox 19, so the Palmer game was the #3 program on Sunday.

But once the flavor wore off and the process towards closure hit warp speed with visual evidence of Palmer in another uniform, I went back to the Vikings and Packers game, which was close, headlined by perhaps the best quarterback this season and another rookie quarterback making his starting debut.