Some people like Craig Carton, many apparently don't

My story about Boomer/Carton today sparked spirited debate, which is a good thing in this business.

I considered it primarily an even-handed update on the show from the perspective of the hosts and their boss, not a hard-hitting opinion piece.

Some of those who don't like the show considered it too kind, even though I called Carton at times unlikeable, abrasive and sophomoric.

Readers today have called me "stupid" and "drunk" and perhaps on the take. Other readers have weighed in in favor of Carton/Boomer. (I sense a generational component to this particular debate, by the way.)

I even got a phone call from Sid Rosenberg, with whom I had a nice chat on this topic.

Let's face it: I have the strangest job in America.

Click below for random stuff from Boomer for which there was no room in the paper.On how he has enjoyed the show and working with Carton so far:

"Better than I thought I was going to. Originally, to be honest with you, the money was good, it was yet another opportunity. I had no idea where this show was going to go. I knew who he was. I was like everybody else, reading everything that was written about him, as we were getting started. We had a couple of really good conversations early on. To be honest with you, you heard me in there, every day I’m laughing more and I think part of what comes through your radio is you hear two guys who are really enjoying what they’re doing. It’s a lot more fun than I thought it would be."

On the work hours:

"It’s painstaking sometimes getting up at 4:15 in the morning, but when I get here I don’t even think about that. The hard part was Tuesday mornings in the football season, but I even made it through that, and the reason is that this guy is a catalyst. He’s the guy pushing the train down the road and I’m the one who kind of gets it back on the tracks. Every once in a while he wants to go somewhere where maybe I don’t feel like we should go, but it’s really been going well."

On his schedule easing after the football season:

"Now I have a lot more energy. This is my main job now, this is what I’m thinking about."

On the show so far being sports oriented, contrary to what Esiason thought last summer:

"There’s a sports base to it, but who knew you were going to have the Anucha Browne Sanders issue, who knew you were going to have the Roger Clemens/Andy Pettitte issue, who knew you were going to have the Giants go to the Super Bowl, who knew you were going to have the Mets collapse? . . . It’s been mind-boggling the amount of stories we’ve had."

On not wanting to talk X's and O's:

"I'm not going to be Chris and Mike. They’re completely different than what we’re doing. Chris was trying to determine who’s the best point guard in the NBA. I don’t think we’ve ever discussed anything remotely close to that. But we have discussed our love for the Knicks, what a disaster that is, how much of an embarrassment Isiah Thomas is, and the story has been there for us to talk about."

On the show's philosophy:

"We're here to entertain the morning drive person, to maybe make their commute a little more enjoyable, take away the fact they have to go to work, probably a place a lot of them don’t want to go, but they go because they have to feed their families."

On Carton:

"I’m the older brother of the two, but he’s smart, he’s really smart, and he knows how to play off of that. He is really a good radio person. I knew going into this there was no way I could do this by myself . . . He's a brilliant guy; people don’t realize how talented he is."

More on Carton:

"I have people say there are times he’s not being respectful to you. I say, 'You don’t understand, this is guys being guys.' He knows how to make fun of me without embarrassing me. I’ve never once felt when I left here in the morning that he has not been respectful to me, and vice versa."

On the possibility of being dragged into a discussion not in keeping with his clean image:

"There have been a couple of times where I said some things where when I left the show I said I wish I hadn’t said that because that’s not who I am . . . But I would have to say 99.9 percent of the time when I leave here I have no ax to grind, I’m not mad at anybody and I feel really good about the show we did."

On his schedule:

"I try to be in bed by 9:15, but often it's 9:30 to 10."

More on Carton:

"He's crazy, but he’s crazy like a fox, in the sense he’s really smart. He’s timely, he can quote Shakespeare, he can quote People magazine. He can refer back to things, or he’ll jog my memory. Even though we’re close in age it almost sounds like we’re from two different worlds. He plays video games. I don’t understand how a parent can play video games."

On the challenge of live radio:

"Jerry Seinfeld worked five days a week to do 22 minutes of television. You show up here it’s five days a week, 20 hours of radio. You have to be on."

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