I rarely do this with "Scott Says," but I'm going to devote this space today to Steve Smith.

We've all seen the Panthers wide receiver get frustrated before, and he got testy with me in the locker room after the game when I asked about the holding penalty he drew in the final minute of Carolina's 30-3 loss to Tennessee. At one point, he sarcastically referred to himself as the "local thug."

On the play in question, Smith - who was held to five catches for 33 yards - basically tackled Tennessee defensive back Alterraun Verner instead of blocking him. Verner's helmet ended up on the field.

Here's the way our postgame exchange went in front of about a dozen other media types. Smith already had answered a couple of questions from other reporters before this exchange.

I'll refrain from offering any commentary with the transcript, so you can read it and make your own judgments.

Me: Steve, what happened at the end of the game?

Smith: You saw it. You're going to write about it. You write, Scott.

Me: I don't know what the ...

Smith: I don't really care, Scott. That's how I feel right now. I feel like crap. I'm not going to sit here and explain, I'm not going to apologize. This is me.

If people don't like it, people are going to write what they want to write, but I live with it. I'll get over it. I'll move on. You can harp on it, you can talk about it, you can report it. You can Google it, blog it, however you want to do it.

In a football game, emotions get high. I know I'm not the first one to ever get a penalty; won't be the last time the local thug gets a penalty. But at the end of the day, I was on a Super Bowl team, I'm going to play, I'm going to make mistakes, so write what you want. Don't really care, Scott.

You finished? You want any more questions? Because I really don't care.

Me: That's good for me.

Smith: It was great. So write your article, and keep it moving.

Another reporter then tried to interject a question, but Smith declared the interview over.