Although most of the fans went home disappointed after the New York Islanders lost in overtime and were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Finals on Friday night, WFAN’s Gregg Giannotti left with a feeling of unease due to an encounter he had with longtime political commentator Bill O’Reilly.
On Monday morning, co-host Boomer Esiason expounded on the encounter.
“[Gio] relayed a story of an awkward handshake he had with Bill O’Reilly at UBS Arena Friday,” Esiason said. “O’Reilly went for the fistbump and [Gio], well, didn’t. Instead, he grabbed and covered his hand.”
Esiason and Giannotti welcomed Michael from East Brunswick, N.J. onto the program, who gave Giannotti a suggestion should he face a similar situation down the road.
“I’ve been there,” the caller stated. “It’s a classic; it’s called the stick-shift. They put out the fist; you shake it, but you have to pronounce, ‘Stick-shift,’ and the awkwardness goes away.”
“Wow, you stick-shifted Bill O’Reilly,” Esiason replied.
Giannotti felt that doing that would have aggravated the moment, surmising that he may have never been invited back to UBS Arena.
“Imagine – ‘Stick shift,’” Giannotti exclaimed. “‘Hey Bill, stick shift. Woo hoo – Let’s Go Islanders! Stick-shift my ass off in the elevator with Bill O’Reilly.’”
Esiason and the rest of the in-studio crew bursted out in laughter before he related it to another occurrence that took place over the weekend pertaining to Boomer & Gio producer Al Dukes.
“That’s about as bad as people coming up to me telling me that Al Dukes basically had a meltdown waiting for his Uber on Saturday night,” Esiason said. “People were uncomfortable watching Al Dukes get all tangled up and twisted up.”
Dukes expressed how he is fed up with disorganization, and he explained how it was pouring rain outside and the confusion Uber drivers had in navigating the event location. After making it back to the hotel partially inebriated, he realized the revolving door was locked. He vaguely remembers his wife telling him he was shouting at the revolving door, questioning its existence.
“I woke up the next morning thinking, ‘I know Gina’s mad at me. I’m trying to think what I did.’” Dukes recalled.
