Transcript: Boomer Esiason on Sports Bad Boys

This is a partial transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," Jan. 12, 2005, that has been edited for clarity.

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BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the "Children at Risk" segment tonight, more bad influences on American kids.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Now you'll remember this horrendous fight between pro-basketball players and fans in Detroit. Millions of children saw it. It was all over the news.

O'REILLY: And then last Sunday, pro-football player Randy Moss aimed this disrespectful action at fans in Green Bay.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BUCK: That is a disgusting act by Randy Moss.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: And indeed it was. And Joe Buck called it the way he should have.

Joining us now from somewhere in Manhattan is Boomer Esiason, former NFL quarterback and current football analyst for CBS and Westwood One, among others. All right, there's two things in play here. Has Moss been fired, by the way?

BOOMER ESIASON, CBS NFL TODAY ANALYST: No, he won't be fired.

O'REILLY: I don't mean fired, but fined.

ESIASON: He will be fined, however, Bill. And I think he'll be fined somewhere around the number of $10,000, which is significant because Jake Plummer (search) was fined $5,000 a few weeks ago for flipping the finger to the Denver fans. So Randy Moss has a history. So the $10,000 does reflect that.

O'REILLY: OK. So he's going to be fined. I would have suspended him for a game and...

ESIASON: Well, that's not going to happen, not for the playoffs.

O'REILLY: Right, but I'll tell you what, because if you did suspend him for a game, he wouldn't do it again and the other people wouldn't do it again. And you'd end it.

Now I don't care about that. You know, adults, we just think he's just an idiot. That's all. But children imitating this, particularly in rough neighborhoods, if you do that, what he did, and you do it in, you know, Bed-Stuy here in New York or South Central (search) in Los Angeles, you get a bullet in the head. OK, that's what this is all about.

And now I'm saying, conflict resolution, kids seeing this, can lead to very big problems. Am I wrong?

ESIASON: No, I don't think you're wrong. And I understand where you're going to. But for every Randy Moss (search), every Ron Artest (search), I can point to 200 athletes that respect the game, respect the traditions of the game, and certainly have had a positive effect on their community.

Randy Moss, unfortunately, much like Ron Artest of the Indiana Pacers, have a history of this type of behavior. And that's why Ron Artest was dealt with so significantly by the David Stern (search) of the NBA. And that's why Randy Moss is fined so significantly by the NFL. I mean...

O'REILLY: Yes, but $10,000 for Moss, that's lunch money.

ESIASON: Yes, I know. And you also have to understand the circumstances in Green Bay. I didn't realize this, but I guess the Green Bay fans literally pull their pants down and do moon the bus — that's why he's reacting.

O'REILLY: I understand.

ESIASON: I understand that he has to be above all of that, Bill.

O'REILLY: Right.

ESIASON: And I also go after him from, you know, time and again, simply because of his behavior is so egregious. And I've covered him since he's come into the league. And he's done far worse things than this. And that's why, you know, it's players like Randy Moss that unfortunately put a stain on the entire league.

O'REILLY: But the league knows this guy is a bad influence on kids. They know he is. And they don't really deal with him at the level that the NBA dealt with Artest. Now Artest was much worse...

ESIASON: Oh, there's no question that Artest was much worse.

O'REILLY: But the league is saying, basically look, we don't care whether this goes out. I mean, $10,000, all right. And I think the league should take a harder stand. Like I said, I would have suspended Moss. I don't know he's going to play that much. He's got a sprained ankle. But I would have suspended him, because that would have put an end to it, I believe.

ESIASON: Well, I know that Art Shell, who is the vice president of football operations of the NFL did call the head coach, Mike Tice. They did speak about proper behavior.

Listen, the only thing that you can do is sit these players down, talk to them, try to, you know, talk to them man-to-man. But the problem with that is every now and again they act like a child. They always say that they want to be treated like a man, yet they do childish acts like this.

And that's why Joe Buck, you know, went after Randy Moss because of this history. In truth, it was a disgraceful act. No question about it.

O'REILLY: Buck was really good on it.

ESIASON: I think I agree with you in that case as well.

O'REILLY: Right.

ESIASON: You know, But there are people, even Tony Dungy, the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts came out this week and said, ah, I found it to be somewhat funny.

O'REILLY: Yes...

ESIASON: And I found that to be somewhat disappointing.

O'REILLY: But if you look at it from an adult's point of view, it's OK. I mean, again, this is nothing if you're an adult. But when kids start to do it, particularly in neighborhoods, as I pointed out, it can lead to violence.

Now, when you're in an NFL locker room, and you have a couple of guys like this on the team, what does the team think? Do they just ignore this? Do they think they're idiots?

ESIASON: Well, I can tell you this. Two weeks ago against the Washington Redskins, Randy Moss inexplicably left the field of play with two seconds remaining on the clock. His center Matt Birk and his head coach Mike Tice confronted him on this. So it certainly is an issue within the body of the team.

And for the most part, Randy has been a model citizen the last couple of years for the Minnesota Vikings. And he does do a lot of stuff off the field that he doesn't get credit for in terms of a positive influence within his community.

But certainly, it does bother the players on the team. They say, "Randy's being Randy." Well, I find that as a cop-out. I think Randy is being a jerk in certain situations. And this one definitely highlights that.

O'REILLY: I think the league has got to be more proactive in the message that kids are picking up from...

ESIASON: Well, I think they try, Bill, to be honest with you, but they, you know, they want to be treated like men but yet they act like children.

O'REILLY: All right, [they've] got to hire me and you. We'll take care of the problem in about 20 minutes. We appreciate it very much. Thanks a lot.

ESIASON: All right, Bill, any time.

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