Boomer Esiason Joins The Podfathers
NFL legend, TV/radio broadcast legend, and the greatest goddam father you’ve ever come across Boomer Esiason joins the Podfathers today. Clem, Chaps and I hit up WFAN studios a couple weeks ago right after The Booms finished the morning show. Gave us an hour of his time before he was off to another one of his 50 jobs.
The interview has it all. How to balance parenthood with a career as a pro athlete, radio host, and TV personality. What do you do when your daughter brings home an NHL goon who plays for your team’s rival? Raising sons vs raising daughters. How to parent your kids through sports. How to embarrass your daughter constantly over the course of 24 years. But without a shadow of a doubt, the most important part of this show was Boomer explaining what it was like to raise Gunnar, his son who unfortunately has Cystic Fibrosis. Oddly enough, Boomer was already involved with CF in Cincinnati years before Gunnar was born. Which, depending on your outlook on life, could be considered a cruel twist or fate or a blessing. Gunnar original was misdiagnosed and they said he didn’t have CF, only to find out months later that he actually did. And the only thing more gut wrenching than that was a timeline of just 16-18 years for Yung Gunna.
Well today Gunnar is 26 years old. He’s the face of the Boomer Esiason Foundation and the fight against CF. He hosts his own podcast – Own it - and blog on GunnarEsiason.com. In September 2016 he launched the Gunnar Esiason Own it Scholarship. The only guy who grinds harder than Boomer is his son Gunnar and he does it all right in the face of Cystic Fibrosis. He and Sydney have become good personal friends and friends of the program here at Barstool. Two really great people courtesy of the Booms and his wife.
We released the podcast today because its May 1st. Officially kicking off Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month. To be crude about it, CF fucking sucks, man. Its a tough, tough disease for a lot of people out there. Everything you’ve ever needed to know about CF can be found on Esiason.org. Information, events, fundraisers, scholarships, all of it is there. If you’d like to donate, you can do so here. Gunnar, Boomer, and the entire Foundation do an incredible job but the more help they can get, the better. Awareness, donations, and any form of support against CF is much appreciated from everyone at the BEF and here at Barstool.