Mike Francesa Defends Himself In Fiery Call To 'Boomer And Gio' Show

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WFAN's Mike Francesa fired back at Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti on Tuesday morning after the morning show hosts criticized Francesa over comments he made about the New York Giants.

Giannotti first brought up that WFAN's relationship with the Giants was damaged and suggested Francesa had been ripping the franchise in recent days because general manager Dave Gettleman misled him behind the scenes about his draft plan. 

Then both Giannotti and Esiason said they had a problem with Francesa's comments that the Giants looked bad for emphasizing character just before one of their draft picks, Corey Ballentine, was shot. The cornerback's teammate at Washburn University, Dwane Simmon, was killed in the incident early Sunday morning in Topeka, Kansas.

"Those comments look idiotic now," Esiason said. "It's a horrendous story, and they just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

"His buddy got killed," Boomer added. "His roommate got killed. How do you take that and put that at the Giants' feet is beyond me."

Moments later, Francesa called in to the "Boomer and Gio" show to defend himself.

"How much misinformation can you guys give out in five minutes?" he said.

Francesa said he and Gettleman don't have any relationship and that the reason he has been blasting the Giants and their GM is because he believes the franchise lacks a plan.

"I didn't agree with them having two quarterbacks on the roster," he said, referring to Gettleman's decision to draft Duke quarterback Daniel Jones with the sixth overall pick. "I think they should've cut one if they were going to bring in a guy that they believe in as a franchise quarterback. They should've gotten rid of Eli (Manning)."

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Francesa said the Giants are mad at him for saying on the air that Manning canceled his weekly WFAN radio interview because he wasn't confident he'd be the starting quarterback all season and didn't want to have to questions if he were the backup. The Giants have said publicly that Manning was simply tired of doing the segments. 

As for his Ballentine comments, Francesa said Boomer and Gio failed to provide the full context of his remarks.

"You didn't say that I opened up my comment with 'this could happen to any player on any team in any organization in any sport or anywhere in life and if it turns out that he was in the wrong place or doing something wrong, the Giants will look embarrassed because they made such an issue of character,'" Francesa said. "I said 'if.' I said we have no facts, I've been trying to get facts, we don't have any facts. That's how I opened it up. How about you guys mentioning that before killing me for what I said?"

When Giannotti asked Francesa why even raise the character question about Ballentine, Francesa responded: "You do your show, I'll do mine, OK?

"But if you're going to quote me, quote me correctly. You spend enough time talking about me, sometimes immitating me. At least get it right."