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| CBS' Boomer Esiason |
BOOMER ESIASON spent 14 years as a quarterback in the NFL with the Bengals (whom he took to the Super Bowl in '89 as the league's MVP), Jets and Cardinals before embarking on a career in media in '97. He is now a studio analyst for the NFL Today on CBS, a member of Westwood One's "MNF" radio broadcast, the host of a sports show on the MSG network and co-host of a morning drive-time sports-talk show on WFAN-AM. He established the Boomer Esiason Foundation in '93 to raise money and awareness for cystic fibrosis, a disease that afflicts his son Gunnar. A N.Y. native and resident, Esiason spoke recently with SportsBusiness Journal N.Y. bureau chief Jerry Kavanagh.
Favorite piece of music: Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir."
Favorite vacation spot: Arizona.
Favorite book: "Memorial Day," by VINCE FLYNN.
Favorite movie: "We Were Soldiers."
Pet peeve: People who are late.
Athlete you most enjoy watching: MARK MESSIER.
Greatest extravagance: My golf club memberships. Got a couple of those.
Best sports movies: "North Dallas Forty" and "Slapshot."
Worst sports movie: "The Replacements."
Most memorable trash talker: ANDRE WATERS.
Best career decisions: In football, it was going back to Cincinnati in 1997 for my last year. In broadcasting, it was to accept JOEL HOLLANDER's offer to be a "Monday Night Football" radio analyst after I was fired from the ABC TV booth.
Most influential person: My dad, without question.
Biggest challenge: Making sure my son outlives me.
Q: GEORGE WILL wrote, "Football is a mistake. It combines the two worst elements of American life: violence and committee meetings." Obviously it was not a mistake for you.
Esiason: No, it wasn't. But I can understand where George Will is coming from because he's probably a pacifist. The fact of the matter is, I think football is America's game because of the struggle that's involved with it. And football was the lead-in to the rest of my life. It has been fulfilling and has given me every opportunity, in radio and television and even from a private foundation standpoint. It's been the oyster for my world.
Q: Life after football: You have been busy. Upon retiring in '97, you went straight into broadcasting.
Esiason: That's right. Went into television. Was fired from ABC after two years. Worked at Fox for one year and then was hired by CBS in television and by CBS Westwood One radio to do the "Monday Night" broadcast. I have my own television show on MSG, and working for WFAN in the largest market in America has been a dream come true. I don't take any of it for granted. I owe everything that I'm doing now, No. 1, to my college education and, No. 2, to the opportunities that were afforded to me via the game of football.
Q: You have been on both sides of the microphone. What was the adjustment like?
Esiason: Early on, I was covering guys I played with and coaches I played for. So it was a little tough to be strong critically. You want to do the best you can and carry off a message that has credibility behind it and without embarrassing anybody. But the further I've gotten away from it, the more apt I am to just let it fly and say what I feel, which is really the key to every broadcaster, I believe: delivering your message honestly and with credibility. Hopefully, I've been able to do that.
Q: About sports-talk radio, RICK REILLY said, "It's delivered to people who are holding down couch springs by people who should be holding down couch springs."
Esiason: (laughing) Well, I hope he doesn't feel that way about me.
Q: As a former player, you have some credibility.
Esiason: I do, but you know there's a need for talk in general, not just sports talk. How about the political-talk radio scene? It really has brought to the forefront many issues, especially now in a presidential race. But as far as sports talk is concerned, the one thing I have found out since working at WFAN is that the fans want a place to vent. They want to verbally blog the issues they think are important.
Q: There is a greater forum than ever now for fans.
Esiason: With the advent of the Internet -- which I think is 10 times more dangerous than the radio -- there is this blog element where people don't have to put their names to it. At least on the radio, you know who the guys are who are giving their opinions.
Q: How is it dangerous?
Esiason: Some people don't do their homework. Nothing could be worse than reading a blog that is completely inaccurate because someone has an ax to grind. In the culture that we live in -- what have you done for me lately, or what is the next news cycle going to involve -- the Internet is an extremely dangerous place. You can't take anything on the Internet very seriously unless it comes from a reputable source. And I would think that three-quarters of the Internet is not reputable.
Q: It doesn't have the checks and balances of other sources of information.
Esiason: No, it doesn't. Listen, I've written on the Internet myself, but I've always attached my name to it. People always know that it's my opinion, and my opinion only. It's not, you know, some Internet hack who's unwilling to put his name to it.
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Esiason Feels QB Hardest Position
To Play In Any Team Sport |
Q: What don't the media and the fans understand about pro sports?
Esiason: How hard it is and what you have to put into it to be successful. Quarterback is by far the hardest position to play in team sports. Not only because of your own preparation, but the things that you have to learn. You have to be a very good and succinct communicator and then deal with all the pressures that go into trying to get a play to be successful. It's hard for the fan to understand that. When they watch the game in front of their TV, they just see a guy dropping back and trying to complete a pass. What they don't realize is how much that goes on between the actual dropping back and throwing the ball and the guy catching it.
Q: What do you know now that would have been helpful to you earlier in your career?
Esiason: It's interesting. The last four or five games of my career could have been the best five-game stretch that I ever played. When it all finally kicked in and I saw the game with such clarity, I understood my offense better than I ever had in my 14-year career. I had good young players around me that allowed me to utilize their abilities. I was so in tune with how the defenses were playing us. When it all came together both physically and mentally, unfortunately the physical part kind of ran out on me a little too early.
Q: Maybe you can make a comeback, like VINNY TESTAVERDE?
Esiason: Well, I will say this: Nowadays, they don't hit the quarterback as much. The game is such that receivers and running backs can get away from the line of scrimmage without contact. So there's going to be even more of an offensive mindset. The game has completely changed because of the emphasis on the defense not being allowed to put their hands on the offensive players.
Q: How much preparation do you do before a broadcast?
Esiason: The whole week is preparation for me because of my "NFL Today" show on CBS and my "Monday Night Football" and my WFAN duties. I better be up on it because if I'm not, the listeners and the fans will know. The good thing is that I love what I do. I love sitting and discussing games. I love doing the game with MARV [ALBERT]. When I was a kid listening and growing up, Marv was my hero. How many people get to not only play the game that you love for a lot of money, but also cover the game for a lot of money and get to work with the guy you've had so much respect for?
Q: Does the game itself need any changes?
Esiason: I don't think so. When I played, it was more of a defensive game. The league has made it more of an offensive game, which I think the fans love. I think they love seeing teams in shotgun and throwing the ball down the field.
Q: What's the biggest challenge facing the NFL?
Esiason: Oversaturation. The NFL Network not being on the cable systems has been a little bit of a negative for the NFL, which doesn't really deal with negatives very often. I think they thought they had the content and the product that was going to be accepted. That's No. 1 from a business standpoint. And No. 2 would have to be player behavior. When you have guys like MICHAEL VICK and PACMAN JONES running around out there, even though they are two guys out of 1,500 who are playing, they leave such a big stain on the NFL that unfortunately all the good things that good players do around the league get lumped into that. And I think that's a big problem.
Q: The Giants and the Packers played for the NFC Championship in sub-freezing weather. How can the game be improved for the fan in the stadium?
Esiason: I don't necessarily know that the games in cold weather are any different from the games they used to play in cold weather. It's just a part of what the end of the season brings in Northern cities. It's part of the tradition of football, part and parcel of playing the game outside. I know the Green Bay Packers have gone to great lengths to make sure that fans know how to dress and know not to drink.
Q: How can the game be improved for the fan at home?
Esiason: Because of the amount of money that is spent on the NFL, there are way too many commercials. But those commercials pay my salary, too. When CBS is paying a few billion dollars to have the rights to the NFL, they've got to make that money back somehow. Unfortunately, it's the cost of doing business.
Q: Are there any sports business stories you are following closely?
Esiason: I'm very interested in what's going on in New Orleans and in Seattle from the NBA standpoint. You have two franchises that are not very happy with where they are and what they're doing. You've got to wonder how long they'll be able to sustain the basketball team [in New Orleans]. I know [the fans] will go see the Saints because I believe the Saints are more of a regional team than tied to just one city. Plus, they only have eight to ten games, so it's not a big deal. But for the basketball team, you're going to find out the hard-core economics of what Katrina did down there and how many people left.
Q: Anything else?
Esiason: A couple of other things: I thought the NHL Freezer Bowl game [in Buffalo] was terrific. I went to that game. I'm hoping the NHL adopts an annual game on January 1 and plays it outdoors. It's a great look for them. I'm a huge hockey fan and I think the players don't get the coverage they deserve. After that, what's really interesting to me is the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium. It will be the biggest and baddest of its kind because everything in Dallas has to be big and it's being run by JERRY JONES. I can't wait for that thing to open and get down there and do a game.
Q: Super Bowl XXIII: the Bengals vs. the 49ers. You had the lead late in that game.
Esiason: Thanks for reminding me.
Q: What's your lasting memory of that game?
Esiason: I was supposed to do the Disney World commercial. We had just kicked a field goal to go up 16-13 with about three minutes left. And with that, the group that was shooting the commercial (the cameraman, the sound man, the client, the agency -- they even had makeup, believe it or not) surrounded me on the sideline as the San Francisco 49ers were getting ready to embark on one of the greatest drives in the history of pro football. The group kept asking me if I knew what my lines were. And I'm saying, "You can't think I'm that stupid." For that entire three-minute period, I'm sitting there going, "I'm going to Disney World. I'm going to Disney World." When JOHN TAYLOR scored the winning touchdown, I dropped my head into my hands. Before I could even lift it up and say, "I'm not going to Disney World," those people were running directly across the field looking for JERRY RICE. That is my lasting memory of Super Bowl XXIII.
Q: Any thought given to the road not taken, say, coach or GM?
Esiason: I don't miss that, for two reasons. One, I really feel like I have a much bigger calling in life, and that is to try to cure cystic fibrosis. And being a head coach or GM tied to one team basically doesn't give you the entire country to work over, and you become kind of plugged into the fan base. And, two, I don't know if I could get along with today's athletes.
Q: Tell me about your foundation.
Esiason: We were founded in 1993 because my son, GUNNAR, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis the year that I was the Jets' quarterback. Gunnar and I graced the cover of Sports Illustrated. He was 2 years old. Might have been the youngest ever on the cover of SI, but it kind of got us off and running and we put a name and a face to cystic fibrosis. Since that time we've raised over $60M. Gunnar is living, breathing proof that you can live with cystic fibrosis and have a very good teenage life. He is a quarterback and a lacrosse and hockey player. Twenty-five years ago, that might not have been the case. To me, that's probably the biggest accomplishment -- that we make people realize that it's not the end of the world.
