Boomer Esiason heard the retirement rumors and he’s annoyed by them.
On Wednesday, Esiason’s longtime former co-host, Craig Carton, speculated on WFAN’s “Carton and Roberts” that Esiason could be approaching retirement. Carton said the “longest” Esiason would go would be 65 years old — he’s 61 — and that he “could see” his former partner retiring next year to spend more time with his grandkids and play golf.
In the character performance world of sports talk radio, there was no chance these comments would go unaddressed. So it was that, Thursday morning on “Boomer & Gio,” Gregg Giannotti brought it up in the context of how long he and Esiason have been working morning drive together for nearly five years.
“It happens so fast,” Giannotti mused, as covered by Barrett Sports Media. “Is that why you’re contemplating retirement?”
“Yeah, I read that,” Esiason responded. “I guess Spank (Craig Carton) is predicting that I’m retiring next year. You guys [producers] ok with that? He just throws crap out there.”
Esiason went into sarcasm mode.
“I read the one article that said Craig having worked with Boomer and he knows the executives there, so there’s probably some truth to this, you have to take him seriously because of his connections within the company,” he said.
“Alright. Ok. Big article. ‘I’m retiring.’ It gets sent to me and I don’t know where this comes from. Just wanna let you all know I will be signing a five-year extension today and also to let you know, in that new contract, I can leave at 9:00 any day I want. So I’m only working 6:00-9:00 AM, and they’re actually building me a whole studio out in the Hamptons.”
Boomer Esiason fired back at Craig Carton’s assertion he could retire next year.NHLI via Getty ImagesHe joked that he “tried “to get WFAN to build him a private bathroom in the studio and a hot tub on the roof.”
Giannotti said people in power were taking Carton’s prediction seriously.
“Well apparently people are panicking about you potentially leaving,” he said. “So now would be the time to ask for all of those demands. You seem annoyed by this.”
Esiason revealed he was aggravated by the whole situation — and referenced how Carton is pulling double-duty, working in the morning for FS1 and in afternoon drive for WFAN.
“I am annoyed by this,” Esiason said. “Spank is working 18 hours a day. He knows not what he says. He’s so tired when he works here and when he comes here. He’s just exhausted. I think he’s tired of working with Evan and I can hear that in his voice. The whole group. I think he’s just tired.”
Esiason said he could hear Carton’s fatigue.
“I can hear it in his voice,” he said. “I can hear how tired he is and he’s working himself to the bone, which is good. I appreciate the work ethic, I admire it. I think when they go into stuff like that he’s sending a message to Evan. You know what I’m saying?”
Giannotti did not follow. What message?
Esiason clarified, from Carton’s perspective: “‘I can’t stand working with you. You’re a pain in my ass.’ Is what it sounds like. And I don’t know why because Evan’s a great guy and really good at what he does. And Evan is the sports aspect of that show and Craig is the fire-starter. He’s always been the fire-starter and that’s why he’s always been good at what he does.”
Esiason concluded that, at the rate Carton is pushing himself now, by the time he retires his former partner may be dead.
