09.23.07
Best On Shrinking Violet Boomer
Against better judgement (ok, I’m too lazy to change stations that early in the morning), I’ve listened to WFAN’s new morning duo of Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton a few times. While I’m not about to nominate either for a Marconi Award this early, there’s something a little surprising about the degree to which Carton is carrying the show. Newsday’s Neil Best is amongst those struck by the timidity of the former Bengals/Jets QB.
When a caller told Carton (above) he was an “idiot” and Carton called him one back, Esiason said, “I am not going to call our callers idiots.”
When Carton was on a riff about the benefits of workplace porn or some such thing, Esiason said, “I find you offensive right now.”
Later, Esiason pulled a verbal punch as he discussed Isiah Thomas making a distinction between a certain offensive word aimed at black women based on whether it came from a black or white man.
Esiason said he found Thomas’ thinking to be . . . [long pause] … “problematic.”
Problematic! Whoa. Can you say that on radio?
The X-factor is Carton, who comes off as a less dangerous version of Sid Rosenberg, a live wire with a distinctive voice – the chatty wise guy who keeps everyone entertained as long as he lives on the edge and doesn’t fall off of it.
Carton even has shown a journalistic streak, prying newsworthy quotes out of Jim Fassel Wednesday, as well as a touch for literate but blunt observations. He compared A-Rod to Achilles, an “imperfect superhero with two little problems: One of them is October and the other is blonde strippers.”
This could work, given enough time, assuming Esiason doesn’t get tired (literally) of getting up at 4 a.m. and of the dominant force of Carton’s personality.
It would help if he stopped deferring. During a discussion of the Thomas trial, he started interviewing Carton about his opinions rather than expressing his own.
The closest he got to controversy was a sarcastic line about being a misunderstood “former Norwegian quarterback,” a shot at Donovan McNabb for saying blacks at the position face greater scrutiny.
They both suck big time.