Speaker 1: Welcome to The No Sports Report, a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio Entree Fork Media. My name is Jensen Carp
Speaker 1: and I'm a sports fan and I've been trying my
Speaker 1: hardest to quench my thirst for games by watching k
Speaker 1: b O, the Korean Baseball Organization, and it's been great.
Speaker 1: I'm into the mascots, the cheerleaders in medical masks, the
Speaker 1: cardboard cutouts of fans. But I just found out they
Speaker 1: allowed ties after the twelfth inning. They just called the game,
Speaker 1: and in postseason they go fifteen and if it's still tied,
Speaker 1: they just replay a whole new game the next day. Normally,
Speaker 1: I'm all for saying I'm tired, let's go home, But
Speaker 1: in sports, I don't know. I have to reassess anyway,
Speaker 1: Go Samsung Lions, and yes, I continue to talk to
Speaker 1: athletes and sports industry professionals about what they're doing in quarantine,
Speaker 1: hoping to figure out if they mis competing as much
Speaker 1: as I miss watching it. This is the No Sports Report.
Speaker 1: Colton Wong doesn't give up. I've never talked to him
Speaker 1: before this interview, and I've never met the man, but
Speaker 1: I know this for sure because I first learned of
Speaker 1: the st Louis Cardinals infielder back in two thousand thirteen
Speaker 1: during the World Series against the Boston Red Sox. He
Speaker 1: was a highly touted rookie for the Cards, brought into
Speaker 1: pinch run with the tying run at bat and two outs,
Speaker 1: so close to flipping the lead in the ninth ending
Speaker 1: of a pivotal Game four matchup, and what happened next
Speaker 1: forced Colton to tweet after the game. All I want
Speaker 1: to say is I'm sorry to Cardinals Nation. Getting picked
Speaker 1: off to end a World Series game might break someone else,
Speaker 1: but not Colton Wong. In the past six years, Colton
Speaker 1: not only stayed a Cardinal, he's become a fan favorite superstar.
Speaker 1: In two thousand nineteen, he cemented himself as a division's
Speaker 1: top second basement batting two eight five with eleven home runs,
Speaker 1: fifty nine rb I, stolen bases, and the first Golden
Speaker 1: Glove of his career. That's more than a good season.
Speaker 1: That's an all out redemption. This year was going to
Speaker 1: be his well deserved victory lab pushing those stats even further,
Speaker 1: But now he sits at an option year, waiting for
Speaker 1: the chance to go back out and continue proving himself
Speaker 1: to Cardinals Nation a group of fancy loves and now
Speaker 1: undoubtedly love him back. We talked about his upbringing in
Speaker 1: Hawaii with a coach dad, losing an Instagram corn hole
Speaker 1: to Jet Jerko, and the beauty that is spam. It's
Speaker 1: a fun episode. I hope you enjoy the no Sports
Speaker 1: report from Golden Wong. Second Louis Cardinals to accept Press one.
Speaker 1: Hello Colton, Hey, how's it going. I'm well, man. I
Speaker 1: wanted to start off by asking you where you are
Speaker 1: quarantining right now and with who got you. I'm actually,
Speaker 1: you know, with my wife quarantine in St. Louis, because
Speaker 1: I was gonna be honest with you. If you said Hawaii,
Speaker 1: it was going to be very hard for me to
Speaker 1: feel bad for you at all. I wish I would
Speaker 1: have made that move, man, Man, I truly thought to myself.
Speaker 1: I mean, listen, Los Angeles is beautiful. I love my house.
Speaker 1: Those things are great. But if I had to pick anywhere,
Speaker 1: I would probably have picked Hawaii to be stuck. But
Speaker 1: then you're stuck indoors, just staring at the beautiful weather
Speaker 1: in the ocean and stuff, So maybe you pick the
Speaker 1: right place. Yeah, you know, it was one of those things.
Speaker 1: If I was you know, if we had spring training
Speaker 1: in Arizona, would have been an easy, easy choice. But
Speaker 1: being in Florida and having to make that flight all
Speaker 1: the way back, I just felt like, you know, coming
Speaker 1: back to St. Louis. At least come in the middle
Speaker 1: of we got to go back to Florida. You know,
Speaker 1: it's not a bad trip or where you know in St. Louis.
Speaker 1: It's you know, at least I made the right decision.
Speaker 1: So that's right. Well, how are you staying busy during quarantine?
Speaker 1: Tell me, tell me what you've been up to. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just you know, trying to continue to work out. You know,
Speaker 1: fortunately gonna have a little gym in the house, so
Speaker 1: I've been able to get my workouts in here and there.
Speaker 1: I bought this little whistle ball you know, pitching machine
Speaker 1: a while back that I've always used, um just to
Speaker 1: kind of say ground balls and whatnot. You know, I
Speaker 1: got a key in a net. So just trying to
Speaker 1: stay busy with that. But I mean that's basically it,
Speaker 1: you know, just trying to stay healthy and take care
Speaker 1: of my body and hope for a season to begin soon.
Speaker 1: You think, I wonder if after this, you know, not
Speaker 1: that we're obviously thinking there will be another pandemic, or
Speaker 1: at least we're hoping not, but we've heard that these
Speaker 1: things will come in waves and stuff. Do you think
Speaker 1: the baseball players and athletes in general will start setting
Speaker 1: up these like home gyms and set ups so that
Speaker 1: in case this happens again. I think so. I think
Speaker 1: that's opened up a lot of eyes to a lot
Speaker 1: of people. Um, just realizing that, you know how important
Speaker 1: it is for us because obviously, if this happened once,
Speaker 1: you know, there's a good chance that might happen again.
Speaker 1: So you know, being ready and starting to prepare for that,
Speaker 1: I think is on a lot of guy's minds for sure.
Speaker 1: Have you been able to keep in touch with your teammates.
Speaker 1: We have. We've we've been doing zoom calls here and there,
Speaker 1: and then you know, I talked to everybody else in text.
Speaker 1: Lots of guys and we try to keep the communication going. Obviously,
Speaker 1: you know, usually we're around each other every single day,
Speaker 1: so to not be it's just a little weird, and
Speaker 1: we just want to continue to keep that camaraderie going. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, you tell me what is like other than
Speaker 1: working out? Because I'm trying to I'm trying to connect
Speaker 1: with you even closer. What lazy things have you done?
Speaker 1: Have you watched TV shows, binge j anything? Movies? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean just a lot of Netflix. I would say,
Speaker 1: you know, obviously, when I'm trying to not do anything,
Speaker 1: I just want to relax. So just doing Netflix and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, a little video games here and there. But
Speaker 1: I've never been the biggest video game player, so just
Speaker 1: trying to get into that just to kind of keep
Speaker 1: my mind busy. But yeah, that's what it is, and
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to stay They acted mostly well because
Speaker 1: of this podcast. I paid very close attention to the MLB,
Speaker 1: the show players League. And if you ever say something
Speaker 1: like I'm okay at it, don't go in the players League.
Speaker 1: It's a bad look. Dude. I've watched those guys and
Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, I'm glad I didn't sign up for this.
Speaker 1: It doesn't work. What did you watch on Netflix? Um?
Speaker 1: Actually watched Waco. Oh here's the thing. Here's the thing, Colden.
Speaker 1: Most people answer the same things Tiger King. They say, oh,
Speaker 1: Zark whatever, Waco completely different. Did you love it? I
Speaker 1: loved it? I loved it. I mean that was just
Speaker 1: it was intense from the get go, and honestly, I
Speaker 1: just felt like I never left the gas pedle man.
Speaker 1: That thing was just non stop. It kept me literally
Speaker 1: hooked onto the TV show and so I probably watched
Speaker 1: the whole TV show in two days. And this is
Speaker 1: one of those things where it just kept me on.
Speaker 1: It was awesome. And I know it's like, even if
Speaker 1: you think you know the story or everyone's saying it's
Speaker 1: kind of from a different angle, it actually gives you
Speaker 1: a bit of I don't want to say, uh happy
Speaker 1: thoughts about the Davidian, but I guess maybe it wasn't
Speaker 1: quite as devious as we thought. They were not at all.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously you just watched it from a different perspective,
Speaker 1: and especially with the pandemic going down, you're like, man,
Speaker 1: this government stuff is a little scary. He said that
Speaker 1: you don't know exactly what's going on totally. Well, listen,
Speaker 1: if it makes me into David koresh Moore, I'm down
Speaker 1: to watch it. So it's now on top of my list.
Speaker 1: But I'm happy just to hear a brand new show
Speaker 1: or movie that someone said. Every time I bring it
Speaker 1: up in these interviews, it's like just the same show.
Speaker 1: So thank you for the difference. Oh yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, I watched those other shows as well,
Speaker 1: but yeah, this that was definitely number one on my
Speaker 1: list of you know, exciting TV shows that I watched.
Speaker 1: And I also watched Outer Banks, which is actually another
Speaker 1: really good one too. Oh I don't even know what
Speaker 1: that is. Tell me who that is. Um, basically, it's
Speaker 1: about these kids who, uh I guess one of the
Speaker 1: kids his dad goes missing and they go on this
Speaker 1: crazy chase to find treasure and uh yeah, it's basically
Speaker 1: based out of Outer Banks in North Carolina, and these
Speaker 1: kids go and try to find like a ship that
Speaker 1: was supposedly buried or a sunk you know, off Data Banks,
Speaker 1: and it's a crazy kind of story that takes you
Speaker 1: down where these kids end up, you know, finding out
Speaker 1: his dad was you know, basically on this treasure map
Speaker 1: and it kind of found with the treasure and you know,
Speaker 1: was killed in the process, but you know, left his
Speaker 1: kid clues on how to you know, find the treasure.
Speaker 1: So it's cool. It sounds like Tarantino Goonies. It's like
Speaker 1: a little more intense, yes, exactly, a little newer version
Speaker 1: of the Goonies for sure. Well, let's talk about some
Speaker 1: things you put on the internet for people to watch.
Speaker 1: The Cornhole Battle on i G Live with Jed Jerko.
Speaker 1: Tell me how this even came together, honestly, Jed, Um,
Speaker 1: I do this little corn old tournament. Um. I took
Speaker 1: it over from Jason Mott. You know, I lost my
Speaker 1: mother back in and when he left the Cardinals, Um,
Speaker 1: he was kind of trying to find a person. He
Speaker 1: came at me with it, and I just felt like,
Speaker 1: you know, with what I went through, it would be
Speaker 1: cool to kind of give back to the cancers side
Speaker 1: idea and and you know, partner up with him and
Speaker 1: just trying to help out. So it was something that
Speaker 1: I've I've continued doing St. Louis and Jed would always
Speaker 1: participate in. He was always, i mean the best at it.
Speaker 1: He was always the best on our team. He was
Speaker 1: you know, pushing for the championships almost every year. So
Speaker 1: I knew he was a big fan of it, and
Speaker 1: he was I was watching his Instagram and he was,
Speaker 1: you know, doing these cornhole trick shops where he was
Speaker 1: shooting them from all different angles. UM, not looking you know,
Speaker 1: over his like Skywalk that he has in his house
Speaker 1: and I was like, I was like, man, this is
Speaker 1: pretty cool. And he's like, dude, we should do a
Speaker 1: cornhole challenge and I was like, dude, I don't know
Speaker 1: if I want to play you. I'm not good at
Speaker 1: this game and you're really good. And and how did
Speaker 1: it end up? Didn't end up too well? He kind
Speaker 1: of spanked me. And that thing. I mean, it was
Speaker 1: one of those things where I was trying to hope that,
Speaker 1: you know, my athleticism would take over Louis, but just
Speaker 1: having that feel throwing that bag was just something that
Speaker 1: I did have a good feel of. And yeah, he
Speaker 1: took it to me pretty good. Dude was a ringer.
Speaker 1: I think you walked into it. You you bring up
Speaker 1: your family. I know you're very close with your father
Speaker 1: and your brother. Have you been able to see them
Speaker 1: even though you're in St. Louis, just talking here and there,
Speaker 1: in habits with facetimes and just trying to stay business.
Speaker 1: But my brother is back in Hawaii. He was, you know,
Speaker 1: he was with the Giants to start the spring training,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's just one of those things where
Speaker 1: he was so close. He just went back and I
Speaker 1: was like, man, I wish I would have came back
Speaker 1: to Yeah, well, your father is a highly respected baseball
Speaker 1: coach and trainer in Hawaii. This this must be one
Speaker 1: of the first times he isn't helping someone play baseball
Speaker 1: in decades. I can't imagine he stopped playing for longer
Speaker 1: than three months since you were a kid. Oh no,
Speaker 1: I mean we've constantly his His whole thing is you know,
Speaker 1: he's a hitting constructor back in the Big Island, and
Speaker 1: like you said, you know, he's one of those guys
Speaker 1: who everybody knows who he is, so you know, baseball
Speaker 1: has been something that's been ingrained in him. He kind
Speaker 1: of stood out in us and gave us a love
Speaker 1: of the game and you know, just my hitting coach
Speaker 1: since day one, and I continue to go to him
Speaker 1: to the day. Great. Well, we talked about Hawaii and
Speaker 1: the Big Island. The economy obviously depends on tourism. Do
Speaker 1: you know what kind of effect this is having on
Speaker 1: the mainland, the idea that no one wants to travel
Speaker 1: and no one's really allowed to travel per se. I mean,
Speaker 1: is this Do you know what the effect is so far? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it's been it's been affecting all those small
Speaker 1: businesses back in Hawaii. Like you said, you know, Hawaii
Speaker 1: is a huge tourism state, and you know that's what
Speaker 1: we rely on. That's where we're getting most of our income,
Speaker 1: and you know, to not have this obviously, it's been
Speaker 1: tough on on all the people in Hawaii because you know,
Speaker 1: when you have money, it's harder to pay those in
Speaker 1: Hawaiian with how expensive is you know, the living costs
Speaker 1: and whatnot. I mean, you're talking about seven eight dollars
Speaker 1: for a down the milk there, you know. So it's
Speaker 1: just one of those things where you know, with this
Speaker 1: hitting and you know, people not being able to work,
Speaker 1: it's been it's been pretty tough. I've been trying to
Speaker 1: keep in touch with a lot of people, trying to
Speaker 1: figure out what I can do to to help out.
Speaker 1: But it's just been one of those things where it's
Speaker 1: kind of you know, it's above my head already. I'm
Speaker 1: just trying to see if I can do anything to
Speaker 1: just help these people. Um, you get some kind of
Speaker 1: break and I know that like in the past, I've
Speaker 1: thought of Hawaii is sort of a lot of people
Speaker 1: don't think of it in the States because it is
Speaker 1: the fiftieth. I guess maybe I don't know. Maybe it's
Speaker 1: because it's such a vacation destination for a lot of people,
Speaker 1: but it's front and center with a lot of these things. Obviously,
Speaker 1: I know you've been working with Young Fish Market to
Speaker 1: match and deliver any order placed for healthcare workers or
Speaker 1: first responders in Hawaii. They're delivering like six d a day,
Speaker 1: which is nuts. But how important is it to give
Speaker 1: back to where you grew up, especially in times like this?
Speaker 1: So important? You know, those people are the people who
Speaker 1: have created me, who you know, invested in me, who
Speaker 1: kind of made me the person that I am today.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know for me growing up and seeing
Speaker 1: you know what it was like. I wasn't somebody who
Speaker 1: grew up with a lot of money. My parents, you know,
Speaker 1: we weren't broke lin any means, but we weren't well off,
Speaker 1: you know. So I was able to be in the
Speaker 1: trenches with you know, these people seeing how life was
Speaker 1: back then, you know, like to understand, you know, where
Speaker 1: I was and where I am now. It seems like
Speaker 1: an obligation that I feel deep down that I need
Speaker 1: to help these people. Um, I know what it's like
Speaker 1: I know when when you come home and you know,
Speaker 1: you see these kids who haven't had meals the whole
Speaker 1: day or you know, the past a couple of days,
Speaker 1: and they're just trying to figure out some way of
Speaker 1: getting food. You know, it's one of those things where, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it's just I know there's the pandemic, and
Speaker 1: I know we're not getting paid, but you know, I'm
Speaker 1: still trying to do whatever I can to help, you know,
Speaker 1: just put some kind of meal on the table for
Speaker 1: these kids, that's great. And also you know they're they're
Speaker 1: talking about not being able to internationally fly through the
Speaker 1: end of the year. That's what it seems like. So
Speaker 1: they did encourage people that want to take a vacation
Speaker 1: to do it within the States. So remember why you
Speaker 1: would be would be an easy travel destination, even if
Speaker 1: there's an international band. Yeah, absolutely, that would be great.
Speaker 1: So you are of Chinese descent, I'm wondering if you
Speaker 1: have faced any racism with like morons over COVID nineteen
Speaker 1: or if you know anyone else who's faced it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, unfortunately for me, I have not faced it,
Speaker 1: but you know, being on social media and just going
Speaker 1: through you know, watching TV and whatnot, and you see that,
Speaker 1: you know, racism is starting to show up even more
Speaker 1: and more, and it's just so sad, man, because at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, we're not taking but humans.
Speaker 1: You know, we're all the same, you know, we all
Speaker 1: believe the same with all the same color blood. And
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, this time, instead of worrying about
Speaker 1: you know, this guy being this race or this guy
Speaker 1: made that one, we just were are being good humans
Speaker 1: and pain care of one another, doing what we can
Speaker 1: in this time. And it's just one of those things
Speaker 1: where I sit back and it's like, growing up in Hawaii,
Speaker 1: you never saw racism, you know, you never understood what
Speaker 1: that was. But as times get worse and worse, you
Speaker 1: see it come back and it's like, man, it's such
Speaker 1: an ugly face that o. And you see all these
Speaker 1: people coming on and calling each other names, and you know,
Speaker 1: just because of how they were born. You know, we
Speaker 1: don't have control over that. We just control our emotions
Speaker 1: and who we are. So um, yeah, you know, it's
Speaker 1: just one of those things where I hope people understand that,
Speaker 1: you know, we're all humans at then to day and
Speaker 1: let's just do what we can to take care of
Speaker 1: one another. Amen more with the St. Louis Cardinals. Coulton
Speaker 1: Wong after this right now, Feeding America is working tirelessly
Speaker 1: to ensure our most vulnerable populations, like students who are
Speaker 1: out of school, the elderly individuals whose jobs are impacted,
Speaker 1: and low income families continue to have access to food
Speaker 1: and other needed resources during the COVID nineteen pandemic. The
Speaker 1: Feeding America Food Bank Network is committed to serving communities
Speaker 1: and people facing hunger in America, and their greatest need
Speaker 1: is donations and support of local food banks. This podcast
Speaker 1: is committed to donating a portion of the proceeds from
Speaker 1: the show to Feeding America, and we hope that you
Speaker 1: can join us in this effort to find out how
Speaker 1: you can help Feeding America dot org Back Flash COVID
Speaker 1: nineteen and now the rest of my chat with Colden Wong.
Speaker 1: So you grew up as family friends with b J. Penn,
Speaker 1: which is almost its own sitcom. Uh, you guys utilized
Speaker 1: a gym with his family. I know you do follow
Speaker 1: some m m A. What do you think about the
Speaker 1: UFC continuing to fight through all this? Man, it's crazy?
Speaker 1: You know then know why it is one of those
Speaker 1: businessmen who has done things, you know, to this extent,
Speaker 1: and you know, you're talking about doing a fight island
Speaker 1: and whatnot, and I mean it's cool for just people
Speaker 1: to kind of have something to do. You know. Obviously
Speaker 1: everyone's kind of going stair crazy being at home and
Speaker 1: and whatnot. But me being a UC fan and understanding,
Speaker 1: you know, what these fighters go through. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: it's honestly incredible to see these guys, you know, put
Speaker 1: it on the line with no fans. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: it's got to be tough, you know, from from mental
Speaker 1: standpoints to go out there and you know, basically in
Speaker 1: the street fight with your your friends behind you, and
Speaker 1: not have anybody to cheer you on, you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: usually when you get a street fight, you're provoked. And
Speaker 1: for these guys, it's just you know, they're doing this
Speaker 1: because they love the sport, and you know, it must
Speaker 1: be kind of crazy for them. I just bought there
Speaker 1: and find somebody with no cheering or anything going on.
Speaker 1: I watched a little bit of it the other night,
Speaker 1: and being able to hear the corner yelling or hear
Speaker 1: a punch, I was just like, this is a completely
Speaker 1: different sport with no one in the audience. Oh, it's incredible.
Speaker 1: And then you hear that the guy's breath, you know,
Speaker 1: and you see like you can you can tell the
Speaker 1: guy who's getting tired quicker. And it's just a whole
Speaker 1: different way of watching fights. And I thought those, you know,
Speaker 1: pretty cool, but also just very very surreal at the
Speaker 1: same time. Yeah, you're coming off a career year. It
Speaker 1: feels like you were able to stay healthy and get
Speaker 1: really comfortable in your surroundings some incredibly hard work on
Speaker 1: your behalf. Does does the postponement mess up your flow
Speaker 1: at all? Um? It did for me. Honestly, after that year,
Speaker 1: coming into the spring training, I knew who I was
Speaker 1: as a player, you know, I kind of have an
Speaker 1: understanding before then I was I was still searching about
Speaker 1: trying to, you know, figure out what maybe the most consistent,
Speaker 1: How was I going to be able to be consistent
Speaker 1: in this league? Because you watch all the best players
Speaker 1: in this league, they're consistent. You know, they know how
Speaker 1: to play their game and they know how to bring
Speaker 1: it out every single day. And so I was I
Speaker 1: was always chasing that, trying to figure out, you know,
Speaker 1: what makes me the best that I could possibly be,
Speaker 1: and I started understanding, you know, who I was and
Speaker 1: what made me good. And you know, it was one
Speaker 1: of the things that came to the spring training this
Speaker 1: year and everything was starting to click. You know, you
Speaker 1: usually go through a chart and you like, you know,
Speaker 1: you want to have something, you know, to kind of
Speaker 1: see where you are going into the season. And for me,
Speaker 1: you know, I always wanted to check off, you know,
Speaker 1: certain boxes and make sure because obviously when you start
Speaker 1: a season, you always have certain things that are a
Speaker 1: little behind, you know, and they kind of started picking
Speaker 1: up as you get more games in. But this year,
Speaker 1: it was just like, man, everything felt good. You know,
Speaker 1: I was I was seeing the ball well, I was hit,
Speaker 1: I was hitting well about three hundred. I was you know,
Speaker 1: doing my thing leading off actually to start spring training,
Speaker 1: and it was one of those things where everything was
Speaker 1: falling into place. And when this thing hint, it was
Speaker 1: just such a bummer for me because I just felt
Speaker 1: like I knew who I was the spring training, I
Speaker 1: knew what I was trying to you know, accomplish in
Speaker 1: the spring training, and I felt like when the season
Speaker 1: was going to be ready to go, like I was
Speaker 1: ready to start where usually you're kind of like, you
Speaker 1: know what, I don't really know how this is the
Speaker 1: beginning is going to go. It's just call out their compete.
Speaker 1: But you know, I just felt really confident in what
Speaker 1: I had going and I thought it was gonna be
Speaker 1: a really, really good and you know, then this whole
Speaker 1: COVID thing came up and you know, just kind of
Speaker 1: stopped at all in the tracks totally. Yeah. I mean
Speaker 1: it's true because you're you're going into kind of a
Speaker 1: contract your they have an option on you. They'd obviously
Speaker 1: would be stupid not to renew that considering you're you're
Speaker 1: really getting into your stride with the Cardinals. But do
Speaker 1: you think of it from a business standpoint that, like,
Speaker 1: you know, you want to get out there and prove
Speaker 1: yourself for those those type of situations. Also, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean the biggest thing is people always are like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, he did it one year, you know, good
Speaker 1: for him. But for me, it's like, you know, I've constantly,
Speaker 1: every single year, have gotten better and better and better
Speaker 1: because that's I've just constantly tried to focus on what
Speaker 1: makes me the most consistent. And um, it was one
Speaker 1: of those things where I just felt like, you know,
Speaker 1: I was doing really well and I knew who I was,
Speaker 1: and you know, hopefully the car does understand that. You know, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm getting into my thirties now, but I
Speaker 1: feel like I'm just scratching the surface with with the
Speaker 1: player that I am, and you know, I know who
Speaker 1: I am now announced about just you know, continuing to
Speaker 1: build on that and make myself the best that I
Speaker 1: could possibly be. Yeah, and especially with the city getting
Speaker 1: behind you, it just it just does feel like it
Speaker 1: would be a good place for some sort of extension
Speaker 1: or whatever. But obviously the game and everyone's health is
Speaker 1: sort of in limbo. But you proved yourself as a
Speaker 1: four category guy last year, you won your your first
Speaker 1: Golden Glove. You're now a veteran in the league, like
Speaker 1: you said, hitting your thirties. Uh, with rumors that you
Speaker 1: will be taking that leadoff spot that you tested out
Speaker 1: during spring training, do you see yourself as taking a
Speaker 1: leadership role when things start back up. You know, that's
Speaker 1: one of those things where I try to let my
Speaker 1: actions speak for for that. You know, I love helping
Speaker 1: out the young guys. That's something I've always had a
Speaker 1: passion with. I always love, you know, trying to show them,
Speaker 1: you know, the things that I went through, the hardships
Speaker 1: that I went through. You know, when they go through,
Speaker 1: I try to be there to help them. So you know,
Speaker 1: I think just allowing my actions to speak for that,
Speaker 1: you know, because I talked to these guys and some
Speaker 1: of these guys who are struggling. My listen, man, go
Speaker 1: look at my beginning of my career, like I was there,
Speaker 1: you know, like you want to talk about hitting the
Speaker 1: rock bottom beginning, like I got caught up in and
Speaker 1: I went to the world hears got picked off that
Speaker 1: exact same year, you know. So it's like I started
Speaker 1: at absolutely ground zero and work my way to where
Speaker 1: I am now. So you have any question, please ask me,
Speaker 1: because I promise you I've been in your shoes. So, um, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I think I'm definitely starting to get more
Speaker 1: into that leadership role. But um, we still have such
Speaker 1: good leaders and you know Wayno and Yadi and all
Speaker 1: these main veterans in St. Louis, and it's just one
Speaker 1: of those things where you know, you see those guys
Speaker 1: and how they carry themselves. You know, it just makes
Speaker 1: you understand, you know, what it's like to be a
Speaker 1: cardinal and how you're supposed to act as a cardinal totally,
Speaker 1: and such great fans in the city as well, which
Speaker 1: which brings me to my next question. Have you ever
Speaker 1: thought about playing with no fans? You know, obviously it
Speaker 1: was one of those things where you know that that
Speaker 1: thing has been thrown around here and there. I told them, listen,
Speaker 1: and I grew up playing with no fans like I
Speaker 1: grew up, you know, on the Big Island, where you know,
Speaker 1: we'd go out and play our games with literally, you know,
Speaker 1: ten people in the stand. So, you know, if I
Speaker 1: got to go back to the old childhood days, man,
Speaker 1: it's all good. You know, I'm ready to go. I'm
Speaker 1: ready to grind. But um, as you know, it comes
Speaker 1: down to owners and a you know, obviously money is
Speaker 1: the most important thing. But uh, the day I think,
Speaker 1: you know, I think it'd be fun. Man. Obviously you'll
Speaker 1: hear a lot more talking between teams and you a
Speaker 1: lot more and you know, Pete, where you people don't
Speaker 1: really hear as much. Where I think it'd be cool.
Speaker 1: I think people would understand that. But it would be
Speaker 1: a little a little bit of a transition being able
Speaker 1: to get yourself up for the game knowing that you know,
Speaker 1: there's nobody in the stands to kind of bring that out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: speaking of chirping, I talked to Jared Stole, who who
Speaker 1: used played for the l A. Kings about this a
Speaker 1: little bit. But I wonder if without any fans, do
Speaker 1: you even get the adrenaline to want to go fight.
Speaker 1: I feel like I feel like everything will get spelched, like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm mad, but no one's yelling at me to go
Speaker 1: punch him in the face. Yeah, you know, I don't
Speaker 1: I don't know if it will be like that kind
Speaker 1: of chirping more. It is just like you know, probably
Speaker 1: pictures talking, you know, to hitters, and you know, it's
Speaker 1: it'll be more of like a good fun kind of
Speaker 1: chirping because you're not going to have that killer mentality
Speaker 1: like you know sometimes you do. It's just gonna be
Speaker 1: you know, I'm gonna try and outplay you. You You know,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try and out talk you. I'm gonna trying
Speaker 1: to get your head, so, you know, I think it'll
Speaker 1: be something that you know, hopefully we can figure out
Speaker 1: a way to kind of show that a little more
Speaker 1: because since we're not having a stands people are gonna
Speaker 1: hear we might us to let them hear the exact
Speaker 1: words that are coming out. Yeah, it's just gonna be
Speaker 1: one of those things where we gotta say y're out.
Speaker 1: You know, how to really you know, control that because
Speaker 1: there's gonna be a lot of chirping. There always is
Speaker 1: during the games. It's just usually have fans kind of
Speaker 1: covering it up. So it'll be fun to see how
Speaker 1: they how they do that. Speaking of fans and chirping
Speaker 1: and hearing things, I mean, listen, Obviously we'd have to
Speaker 1: bring up that this next season was going to be
Speaker 1: very strange with with the Astros and sort of what
Speaker 1: has come out over the year, Like, do you think
Speaker 1: this postponement helps them as a team. Do you think
Speaker 1: that time will will heal this wound? Or you think
Speaker 1: as soon as opening day comes up, fans or no
Speaker 1: fans there, people are going to remember what at least
Speaker 1: their own opinions on it. Yeah. Man, that's just a
Speaker 1: tough situation. I honestly don't know how that's gonna go about. Obviously,
Speaker 1: you know a lot of guys have you know, some
Speaker 1: bigger things to say about that team. Fortunately for us,
Speaker 1: we didn't play them when that whole thing kind of
Speaker 1: went down. So, you know, for me, at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, when when I think about, you know,
Speaker 1: the Houston National is all I think about it. At
Speaker 1: the end of the day, I know that I played
Speaker 1: the game right. I know that I've done things right. Um,
Speaker 1: and that's all I can speak about. People are going
Speaker 1: to have their own opinions about People are gonna have
Speaker 1: their own feelings. But for me, like I know that
Speaker 1: I've been doing things the right way because I got
Speaker 1: into the league. I know I haven't cheated. I know
Speaker 1: I haven't done anything of that sort. So when I
Speaker 1: put my head down every night to go to bed,
Speaker 1: I know that I can sleep with a clear conscious.
Speaker 1: It's great Korean baseball. Have have you watched it yet?
Speaker 1: Have you? Have you checked it out on ESPN? Honestly,
Speaker 1: I haven't donne the chance of checking out because it
Speaker 1: just starts so late. It's either so later, it's you know,
Speaker 1: at five o'clock in the morning, and it's one of
Speaker 1: those things where I've I've wanted to watch, I just
Speaker 1: literally cannot stay up to watch it. Usually if I'm playing,
Speaker 1: it's easy for me to stay up I'm usually not
Speaker 1: going to bed soil one two o'clock in the morning,
Speaker 1: so it would have been cool. But I mean nowadays
Speaker 1: it's just like, man, I'm already sleeping about time that
Speaker 1: things on there, so I haven't really got a chance
Speaker 1: to watch it too much. Well, I'm I'm I'm backing
Speaker 1: the Samsung Lions for no other reason other than I
Speaker 1: have a Samsung TV so that I'm fully engulfed. I'm
Speaker 1: rooting them on there my team. So we usually like
Speaker 1: to close this thank you. We usually like to close
Speaker 1: this off with with something positive and then some suggestions
Speaker 1: I'll give you that that could be stupid. I don't know,
Speaker 1: you'll you'll listen in first. Is there anything that's been
Speaker 1: going on during the quarantine during this time that you
Speaker 1: hope sticks around for when there's a vaccine or we're
Speaker 1: all allowed out of our house, something something you hope
Speaker 1: we uh, we sort of change into when things clear up. Um,
Speaker 1: I think from you know, at the standpoint of you know,
Speaker 1: guys using face masking, while not obviously, I think there's
Speaker 1: a place for that, you know, I don't I don't
Speaker 1: think you know, every human in the world should be
Speaker 1: wearing a face mask. But I do think when it
Speaker 1: comes down to like you know, restaurants or things of
Speaker 1: that matter, when you're handling something of you know, that importance,
Speaker 1: maybe it is something we should look into, you know,
Speaker 1: having you know, servers have a face masker, you know,
Speaker 1: something like that. But I think you know, from all
Speaker 1: the studies that I've done about this, you know, germs
Speaker 1: is what helps us create antibody. So making everybody use
Speaker 1: a face mask, you're not doing anything but actually hurting yourself.
Speaker 1: So you know, I'm big, Like, I still use my
Speaker 1: face mask, but i'd use it when I am told
Speaker 1: to use it. I try to, you know, still live
Speaker 1: the same lifestyle when I go out, but make sure
Speaker 1: that you know, I'm still following the guidelines, but I
Speaker 1: want to make sure I'm still getting those germs in
Speaker 1: my body and still you know, kind of build you know,
Speaker 1: my antibodies that way. Yeah, it feels like the six
Speaker 1: feet thing. If you're within six ft, wear the mask.
Speaker 1: If you're not, it doesn't seem as you know, at
Speaker 1: least maybe now were it anyway, but down the road
Speaker 1: it does feel like, Okay, we're gonna probably have to
Speaker 1: be socially distant for a while yeah, and I agree
Speaker 1: with that. I mean, I feel like at some point,
Speaker 1: you know, it was getting a little crazy with just
Speaker 1: how you know, people were in you know, just the
Speaker 1: freedom they had. I mean, obviously, you know we need
Speaker 1: to be a lot more on top of this, but
Speaker 1: it's just one of those things where you know, it's
Speaker 1: good that we're starting to get into this point because
Speaker 1: the health of people is the most important thing at
Speaker 1: the end of the day. True, Well, let's get into
Speaker 1: these suggestions. These are some ideas for you for quarantine
Speaker 1: and St. Louis. I mean you could you could obviously
Speaker 1: take them in or just ignore them. But here's here
Speaker 1: are three suggestions. We'll start off for training and playing
Speaker 1: sports when we're confined to our house, possibly with the
Speaker 1: promise of social distancing, like we talked about. You know,
Speaker 1: we can still play in our yards. We can do
Speaker 1: stuff inside like workout, but the yard is still fair game. Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: I mean I I used my yard all the time. Perfect,
Speaker 1: so you'll love this. So I say we take the
Speaker 1: time to figure out what the hell bocci ball is. Okay,
Speaker 1: do you even know? I mean, obviously you know what,
Speaker 1: you know the term, but like, have you ever even
Speaker 1: looked into what the game is. We know old people
Speaker 1: love it in Boca Raton, but like, is there any
Speaker 1: is there any reason to play it? Actually, I mean
Speaker 1: I've played it here and there. I'm not a huge
Speaker 1: fan by any means, Like, but I've also I've played
Speaker 1: the game. Understand that you you throw a ball out
Speaker 1: there and then you know, basically that's your target to
Speaker 1: get your you know, your ball and the other players ball.
Speaker 1: Whoever gets closest to the ball is the winner. From
Speaker 1: what I get of the game, that was a very
Speaker 1: minimal explanation, but I will take it. But that is
Speaker 1: one suggestion. Figure out if bocci ball is worth our time.
Speaker 1: It sounds like it might be, so add that onto suggestion. Secondly,
Speaker 1: if there's one thing I know about Hawaiian cuisine, it's
Speaker 1: the state's love for spam. Were you raised eating a
Speaker 1: lot of spam? Oh? Absolutely absolutely, I love spam. Okay,
Speaker 1: So unfortunately in the States, especially Los Angeles where I
Speaker 1: grew up, people don't know how good of a product
Speaker 1: it is. So I'm wondering, is there a world where
Speaker 1: you create like a goop or something. It's like Wong's
Speaker 1: favorite like recipes with spam, Like, what what do you
Speaker 1: remember off the top of your head that's good for spam?
Speaker 1: Number one, that's the one thing people always, you know,
Speaker 1: they're always like, oh, spam off same and then you know,
Speaker 1: I'll tell'll give them the spam moosity that you know
Speaker 1: it's homemade, and they're like, oh what is this. I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's spam and they're like no way. I'm like yes,
Speaker 1: Like spam is good, but people just don't know how
Speaker 1: to prepare it the right way. Yeah. You know, if
Speaker 1: you do a little soy sauce and brown sugar and
Speaker 1: you you know, marinated in the spam and you try that,
Speaker 1: it's incredible. I see that's what we need. We need,
Speaker 1: we need someone doing this kind of service for our country.
Speaker 1: Would be in great hands with caltaon Wong. So that's
Speaker 1: my second one. We we we figure out spam better.
Speaker 1: And then thirdly, we've been talking a lot about you know,
Speaker 1: what we can do and the charity work that you've done,
Speaker 1: and you you seem altruistic, Like you said, your brother
Speaker 1: plays baseball for the San Francisco Giants as well, And
Speaker 1: I have an idea for you guys that involves teaming
Speaker 1: up and forming your own charity. Does this seem possible? Maybe? Alright,
Speaker 1: so you can focus on anything. It could be kids,
Speaker 1: or women's rights, or racial equality or COVID, whatever you
Speaker 1: want it to be, as long as it has this name. Okay,
Speaker 1: So this, this is the one that I've I've figured out. Okay,
Speaker 1: here we go. You're ready, all right? The charity will
Speaker 1: be called two wongs make a Right. I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 1: I've heard that numerous times. Oh damn. It's here's how
Speaker 1: I can fix it, Kelton, I can fix it. You
Speaker 1: involved the New York Mets David Wright, and it becomes
Speaker 1: two wongs make a right with a right. Okay, Okay,
Speaker 1: I can see where you're going with it. I mean, hey,
Speaker 1: that'd be awesome to have the cabin on there. See
Speaker 1: there you go, And if there's someone has ever pitched
Speaker 1: that to you before, I also would love to involve
Speaker 1: backup first Baseman on the Dodgers, Tyler White, because then
Speaker 1: it's two wongs make a right with right and white
Speaker 1: about canny people at that point. Alright, See, right, when
Speaker 1: you thought I suggested something, as someone else has, I
Speaker 1: I flip it on you. That's what I do. Well,
Speaker 1: thank you buddy for talking to me. Stay safe and
Speaker 1: uh please, I'm excited to see you back on the
Speaker 1: field because I really am truly a huge cut Wong
Speaker 1: fan and and watching you come into your own and
Speaker 1: like you said, kind of uh taking what you had
Speaker 1: in your rookie year and turning it into a gold
Speaker 1: Glove season and becoming a bit of a franchise player.
Speaker 1: I can't well, I can't wait to see you back
Speaker 1: out there. I appreciate man. I can't wait to be
Speaker 1: up back out there too. But I appreciate you guys
Speaker 1: with the sport and um yeah, man, Hopefully this clears
Speaker 1: up soon so we can get back to doing our
Speaker 1: things for sure. Absolutely, take care, Carlton, Are you take care?
Speaker 1: The No Sports Report is produced and distributed by Treeport Media.
Speaker 1: The show was executive produced by Kelly Garner, Lisa Ammerman,
Speaker 1: Matthew Coogler, and me Jensen Carr. Tom Monahan is our
Speaker 1: senior audio engineer and sound supervisor, with production and editing
Speaker 1: by Jasper Leek additional production help from Tim Shower, June Rosen,
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