  A gamma-ray excess over background has been claimed in the inner regions of
the Galaxy, triggering some excitement about the possibility that the gamma
rays originate from the annihilation of dark matter particles. We point out
that the existence of such an excess depends on how the diffuse gamma-ray
background is defined, and on the procedure employed to fit such background to
observations. We demonstrate that a gamma-ray emission with spectral and
morphological features closely matching the observed excess arises from a
population of cosmic ray protons in the inner Galaxy, and provide proof of
principle and arguments for the existence of such a population, most likely
originating from local supernova remnants. Specifically, the "Galactic center
excess" is readily explained by a recent cosmic-ray injection burst, with an
age in the 1-10 kilo-year range, while the extended inner Galaxy excess points
to mega-year old injection episodes, continuous or impulsive. We conclude that
it is premature to argue that there are no standard astrophysical mechanisms
that can explain the excess.
