Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / CJ McCollum (2nd Appearance) Full Interview

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CJ McCollum (2nd Appearance) Full Interview · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

0:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to money making conversations. I'm excited I got my
0:02
Speaker 1: man CJ back on the show. I'm your host, rous
0:05
Speaker 1: Sean McDonald. I recognized that we all have different definitions
0:08
Speaker 1: of success. For some, it's a sizeable paycheck. Might is
0:11
Speaker 1: helping people wake up and inspiring them to accomplish their
0:14
Speaker 1: goals and live their very best life. These are my
0:17
Speaker 1: passions and that's what I'm going to do for you.
0:19
Speaker 1: I want you to stop tripping over small challenges and
0:23
Speaker 1: prepare to rise above the bigger obstacles that life will
0:26
Speaker 1: present to you and live your dream. My next guest
0:29
Speaker 1: is truly an NBA star. His name is c J McCullum.
0:33
Speaker 1: After his introduction to wine in the early twenties by
0:35
Speaker 1: his fiancee, CJ moved to Oregon and joined the Portland
0:39
Speaker 1: Trailblazers tent pick in the draft. Finding themself just short
0:42
Speaker 1: of drive away from one of the top wine regions
0:44
Speaker 1: in the country, he launched his own brand, mccullor Heritage
0:47
Speaker 1: and Nary One. It's all about legacy, bringing CJ's passion
0:51
Speaker 1: to life while honoring his roots in the process. It
0:54
Speaker 1: just so happened that the perfect word to describe that
0:56
Speaker 1: his heritage is also the name of the street he
0:59
Speaker 1: grew up on, a can't know how you combined with
1:01
Speaker 1: his birth year and the family name McCullen. Heritage Nati
1:04
Speaker 1: One truly embodies c J and all that he stands for.
1:08
Speaker 1: He's on the show to discuss he's sold out. To
1:11
Speaker 1: hear you sold out, it's sold out, Heritage naty One
1:15
Speaker 1: Wine collection, life doing it after the NBA bubble in Orlando,
1:19
Speaker 1: and his educational charity. Please welcome back to Money Making Conversations,
1:23
Speaker 1: My man, c J. McCullum. How are you doing, c J.
1:26
Speaker 1: I'm great man. Thanks for a great introduction and appreciate
1:29
Speaker 1: you having me on. Well, first of all, first of all,
1:31
Speaker 1: you know I I you're sold got though talk talks
1:35
Speaker 1: about that whole plan because because I've been following you now,
1:37
Speaker 1: c J. C You're you're a good planner. You went
1:39
Speaker 1: down there and then you started sharing your wine with
1:42
Speaker 1: everybody in the bubble. What that that was a strategy, right, Yeah,
1:47
Speaker 1: it was definitely a part of the strategy. Obviously, the
1:49
Speaker 1: situation shifted from when I first um began working on
1:53
Speaker 1: my wine project three years ago. UM I was planning
1:57
Speaker 1: on releasing year before the next season. Usually our season
2:00
Speaker 1: starts in September, and obviously that kind of change with
2:04
Speaker 1: the coronavirus situation didn't happen to potentially play in the bubble.
2:08
Speaker 1: So I had the wine that I was prepared to
2:10
Speaker 1: kind of distribute to friends and family and kind of
2:12
Speaker 1: switched that over and distributed to a bunch of players
2:15
Speaker 1: and staff and front office members in the NBA to
2:17
Speaker 1: just kind of get an idea of what they thought
2:19
Speaker 1: about it. I was it from the marketing standpoint. That
2:22
Speaker 1: was helpful as well, but the plan was more so
2:26
Speaker 1: just to get feedback on what they thought about the wine,
2:28
Speaker 1: like terms with the taste and um, just to kind
2:31
Speaker 1: of try to introduce it to them because a lot
2:33
Speaker 1: of people weren't familiar with it because it was my
2:35
Speaker 1: first project in the wine world. Now he hears me,
2:40
Speaker 1: Now wine is grapes, correct, Yes, okay, cool? Now I
2:46
Speaker 1: would I'm just a country bore. I'm born and raised
2:48
Speaker 1: in Houston, Texas. Okay, everything rose well in the South
2:51
Speaker 1: Wales war Now Portland, Oregon, that's wine country. Yeah, you'd
2:58
Speaker 1: be surprised that we're not. I have surprised because I'm
3:01
Speaker 1: I'm talking like this because I would think that grapes
3:03
Speaker 1: need to be warm to survive, and I know you
3:07
Speaker 1: have severe windows up there. Correct. No, it's actually not
3:11
Speaker 1: that bad here. Besides the rain, which can play a
3:13
Speaker 1: factor in the taste of of the wine going forward,
3:17
Speaker 1: our winners aren't bad. It's only snow probably three times
3:20
Speaker 1: in my seven years out here in the in the wintertime,
3:22
Speaker 1: it's it's pretty pretty balanced. And I think what helps
3:25
Speaker 1: our grapes is the climate. The climate we get from
3:28
Speaker 1: so many so many different landscapes. We have mountain ranges,
3:33
Speaker 1: we have the Hala Mountains, we have Dundee, we have
3:36
Speaker 1: so many different parts of of Oregon that are going
3:40
Speaker 1: through the fermentation process that go through the process of
3:44
Speaker 1: actually making a wine that you get so many different tastes.
3:48
Speaker 1: But I think historically, based on the research I've done
3:50
Speaker 1: and what I've seen in comparison to you look at
3:53
Speaker 1: at Napa, which is in California, that they have cooler
3:56
Speaker 1: climate at night. They kind of go through hot hot summer,
4:00
Speaker 1: is uh not too cold in the winter. Were similar
4:03
Speaker 1: in terms of hot summers, but it's not too cold
4:06
Speaker 1: in the winter and during harvards, which is around you know,
4:09
Speaker 1: September to October, we have ideal weather for grapes, not
4:13
Speaker 1: a lot of rain until end of October. Um it's
4:17
Speaker 1: it's hot, but it's cool at nine so we can
4:18
Speaker 1: get up during the day and they can get down
4:22
Speaker 1: as low as fifty at night. So you have that
4:24
Speaker 1: balance of a mount to the climates. But then it
4:27
Speaker 1: just comes down to luck, you know, having the right elevation,
4:30
Speaker 1: being being facing uh southeastern or southwestern. That also plays
4:34
Speaker 1: a huge role. But I had no idea until I
4:37
Speaker 1: moved out here, So I'm with you. I'm just fortunate
4:39
Speaker 1: enough to have moved out here and been exposed to
4:41
Speaker 1: it firsthand to where it's it's kind of shifted my
4:44
Speaker 1: perspective of it. And then talking to a bunch of
4:46
Speaker 1: experts and people in the business, they've come to the
4:48
Speaker 1: same conclusion that oregan Is is really known for the
4:51
Speaker 1: piano in the war, and they have some great shard
4:52
Speaker 1: in their grapes as well. Now you're talking like an expert.
4:55
Speaker 1: I love your tone, articulate anyway, but you really you
4:58
Speaker 1: really now Number two some We talked earlier about the
5:01
Speaker 1: great you know, and we talked about the wine being
5:04
Speaker 1: released in September with it being sold that where are
5:08
Speaker 1: you right now? Confidently when confidence about your product? Because
5:12
Speaker 1: I I hear confidence in your tone. I hear I
5:15
Speaker 1: hear a high level of professionalism. Not saying that you
5:18
Speaker 1: don't talk, but you know when once you taste a
5:20
Speaker 1: little bit of success, like what you did with more
5:22
Speaker 1: MORET on that basketball court. Remember, remember you know how
5:26
Speaker 1: you did, and you know when you came out the
5:27
Speaker 1: court you had a different attitude to buy how you
5:30
Speaker 1: treating them out there. See, I'm sitting to this an
5:32
Speaker 1: attitude with you now, t J, now that you're sold.
5:35
Speaker 1: I talked to us about that, you know, I mean,
5:38
Speaker 1: if we're being honest here, I created a good product.
5:41
Speaker 1: I had a lot of highly successful people around me
5:44
Speaker 1: to kind of mold me and help me go through
5:46
Speaker 1: this process too, where I had a great understanding of
5:48
Speaker 1: what was going to happen. When you hire the right people, Um,
5:52
Speaker 1: it's hard to fail. I know what I don't know.
5:54
Speaker 1: And I hired a bunch of experts who whose job
5:57
Speaker 1: is to put me in the position to succeed. And
5:59
Speaker 1: I think started with the I maker, starting with the
6:01
Speaker 1: partnership with the winery. I chose inn at a sign
6:04
Speaker 1: we knew it was going to be a success. We
6:05
Speaker 1: just weren't sure, you know, the reception that we would get.
6:08
Speaker 1: Weren't sure it would sell out in forty five minutes.
6:11
Speaker 1: But I knew that people would be attracted to it.
6:15
Speaker 1: We're not talking about fifty correct fifty dollars a bottle,
6:21
Speaker 1: and we we did a We did a really good
6:24
Speaker 1: job of marketing. And I think from a brand, brand
6:27
Speaker 1: name standpoint, uh, people know that I enjoyed wine, they
6:32
Speaker 1: know that Oregon Pino specifically is historically been good. And
6:35
Speaker 1: I think the confidence just comes from the work I've
6:38
Speaker 1: put a lot of work in on trying to learn.
6:40
Speaker 1: I'm not an expert by any means, but I have
6:42
Speaker 1: learned a lot in my in my nine years being
6:44
Speaker 1: involved in the wine industry and just kind of learning
6:46
Speaker 1: self taught and then speaking to experts about the importance
6:51
Speaker 1: of wine. The process of wine will go through the
6:53
Speaker 1: climates you need, and and so on and so forth.
6:56
Speaker 1: I just felt confident that, um, it would be a
7:00
Speaker 1: good wine because I tasted it. I had some psalms tasted,
7:02
Speaker 1: I had people who are considered wine snobs tasted and
7:06
Speaker 1: give me really positive feedback to where I'm comfortable with
7:08
Speaker 1: speaking on it because I literally went through the entire
7:11
Speaker 1: process of making wine with the help of experts so
7:14
Speaker 1: that I feel confident about it. So you went from
7:17
Speaker 1: just a just a connos sort a person who enjoyed
7:20
Speaker 1: wine to doing your homework. And now each step now
7:24
Speaker 1: is like you know, you know, getting another year notching
7:27
Speaker 1: your degree plan of being more and more of an
7:29
Speaker 1: expert and achieve the next level of success. Now you said,
7:33
Speaker 1: you said, okay, forty five minutes c J, So okay,
7:41
Speaker 1: tell me this. How did how was the release notify
7:44
Speaker 1: what it was? Was it noted notification on your social media?
7:47
Speaker 1: How did that work? Because you said, you guys did
7:49
Speaker 1: a really good job of marketing this, and so I'm
7:51
Speaker 1: sure you're planning the next series and you want to
7:54
Speaker 1: do a really good job again. So what was the
7:56
Speaker 1: what was there a couple of people to hear how
7:58
Speaker 1: you release a new brand, because like they were a
8:01
Speaker 1: very smart strategy, you know, in the bubble when I
8:04
Speaker 1: started reading about the players, that was a good strategy
8:06
Speaker 1: because it I'm sure someone post posted it about it
8:11
Speaker 1: and that really helped to raise the consciousness to people
8:14
Speaker 1: who could be potential customers. How did you release it
8:18
Speaker 1: so everybody would know his own not go by. Yeah.
8:24
Speaker 1: So we created brand awareness almost a year ago, started
8:30
Speaker 1: to notify people that, you know, there's a project in
8:32
Speaker 1: the works. UM end up doing a press release probably
8:36
Speaker 1: seven six or seven months ago to kind of notify
8:39
Speaker 1: people like, hey about So we started with the press
8:45
Speaker 1: release to kind of create that awareness and strategic branding. UM.
8:49
Speaker 1: Then obviously i've again posting, hired the marketing team, social
8:53
Speaker 1: media team. That's that's you know, spearheaded by Ashley comes
8:56
Speaker 1: from extent who's gonna tremendous job, very very bright one,
9:00
Speaker 1: a very bright individual who's kind of helped, you know,
9:03
Speaker 1: walk me through this process and we both learned a
9:05
Speaker 1: lot them to fly to doing doing interviews, things of
9:08
Speaker 1: that nature, to kind of talk about it, and just
9:11
Speaker 1: the more so the biggest thing is just educational. You
9:14
Speaker 1: educate yourself, you educate the masses actually going through the process,
9:17
Speaker 1: and you kind of draw them in. So we drew
9:19
Speaker 1: them in, you know what I mean, explained to them
9:21
Speaker 1: what the process was like, the story behind wine, while
9:24
Speaker 1: I got into wine, the designing process of the bottle,
9:27
Speaker 1: and and then we created a mailing list. The mailing
9:30
Speaker 1: list kind of went out sporadically with with videos, with
9:33
Speaker 1: with images, created a website and basically allowed people to
9:36
Speaker 1: subscribe and sign up. And the first day, I think
9:38
Speaker 1: we had seven people sign up and subscribe basically that
9:42
Speaker 1: they would like to purchase the wine, and that kind
9:45
Speaker 1: of allowed it to evolve. And this is two months
9:48
Speaker 1: before I end up going to the bubble to three
9:51
Speaker 1: months before I end up like giving out wine to
9:53
Speaker 1: about nine d NBA players. But I went through that
9:56
Speaker 1: process first, and basically every I know that, Hey, you
10:00
Speaker 1: can only purchase the wine on this website. It's only
10:03
Speaker 1: available online. And the rest is as they say, the
10:07
Speaker 1: rest is history. Basically shot updates. I did a little
10:10
Speaker 1: pre sale, were allowed some friends and family to purchase
10:12
Speaker 1: the day before, and we basically announced that the wine
10:15
Speaker 1: would go on sale on last Tuesday at nine am
10:19
Speaker 1: Pacific time, and it was sold out. By love it.
10:23
Speaker 1: I love it. I'm talking to c J. McCullum. His
10:25
Speaker 1: wine so a lot like he told you forty five
10:28
Speaker 1: minutes nine am, which is noontime East Coast time, but
10:31
Speaker 1: Colum Heritage and ain'ty once sold out. Fifty dollars a
10:35
Speaker 1: bottle is a pinot, right, yep. Poor. Yeah, because my wife,
10:40
Speaker 1: she's a huge wine drinker. So I was I was
10:42
Speaker 1: bragging by that out of interview you and your wine
10:44
Speaker 1: was coming out. So she was asking me, where's where
10:47
Speaker 1: CJ win it? You know? I say, hey, So so
10:51
Speaker 1: she's looking at me crazy right now. So let's let's
10:53
Speaker 1: find out when the next batch come come out and
10:55
Speaker 1: maybe I can get into that pre sale and put
10:58
Speaker 1: in I get in the pre sale coup on, and
11:00
Speaker 1: I said, I pay. I don't ask for anything free, CJ.
11:04
Speaker 1: That's about me. That's why money making conversations about making money.
11:07
Speaker 1: When is the next run? So we can you know,
11:11
Speaker 1: I'm sure be you you'll make even more a bigger
11:14
Speaker 1: batch to go out there. But wine is seasonal or
11:16
Speaker 1: how does that work? Educate us? Yeah, So basically I
11:21
Speaker 1: went through a three to five year plan when I
11:22
Speaker 1: bought the grapes in two thousand seventeen. So when I
11:25
Speaker 1: brought the grapes and two thousand and seventeen, I knew
11:27
Speaker 1: that I wasn't going to put off the wine until
11:29
Speaker 1: because obviously from a wine standpoint, I had to go
11:33
Speaker 1: through harvest. So those are those grapes were planted in
11:37
Speaker 1: two thousand eighteen, and it goes through ten to twelve
11:40
Speaker 1: months in the bottle of depending on you know how
11:42
Speaker 1: you aged. I aged Mind ten months in French oak Baros,
11:45
Speaker 1: and then we we go to go to the fermentation
11:49
Speaker 1: process and then we rack them and put them in bottles,
11:52
Speaker 1: and that's basically a a year process. They were bottling
11:55
Speaker 1: in two thousand nineteen and kind of let them sit
11:59
Speaker 1: on the shelves and rotatum and didn't do what you
12:01
Speaker 1: need to do depending on the process you take. And
12:03
Speaker 1: I knew I wasn't selling until so in two thousand
12:06
Speaker 1: and seventeen I brought I bought the grades for eighteen,
12:09
Speaker 1: and two thousand eighteen I brought I bought the grades
12:11
Speaker 1: for nineteen. So my nineteen version of what I just
12:14
Speaker 1: sold will go until probably a year from now. I
12:16
Speaker 1: haven't checked it and figure out how we want to
12:18
Speaker 1: market it, but we've already bottled the nineteen version of
12:21
Speaker 1: what I sold last week, and it's it's still not ready.
12:24
Speaker 1: That's still young, still premature, but we'll figure out our
12:28
Speaker 1: release date and kind of go from there. But historically
12:30
Speaker 1: I've done things in September, so I might just wait
12:33
Speaker 1: a full year and I release it in September and there, brother,
12:37
Speaker 1: don't get greedy. Now, we all know about these fires
12:40
Speaker 1: that I happened in and Oregon. Uh tell me if
12:43
Speaker 1: it's making any impact or will it make any impact
12:46
Speaker 1: on the wine industry up there? Yeah, I mean first
12:51
Speaker 1: and foremost, and my prayers go out to all the
12:54
Speaker 1: families and people that were affected by the fires. You know,
12:58
Speaker 1: living here in Oregon and being close to the fires
13:01
Speaker 1: that it really hits home. And I told my fiance
13:03
Speaker 1: the other day, I think the biggest thing wrong with
13:06
Speaker 1: our society is that unless things directly impact or involved you,
13:10
Speaker 1: you tend to not pay attention. And until you get
13:13
Speaker 1: the email saying you need to evacuate, you don't understand
13:16
Speaker 1: the severity of a fire. And once we got the
13:18
Speaker 1: email saying, you know, kind of packed your house up
13:20
Speaker 1: and get ready, that's when you begin to panic and
13:23
Speaker 1: feel so sorry for so many people out there that
13:25
Speaker 1: either a have nowhere to go be, don't have the
13:28
Speaker 1: means or see, or it's too late. And I think
13:30
Speaker 1: over a half million people had to evacuate. Homes were
13:33
Speaker 1: burned out, people have lost priceless valuables, you know, pictures, memories,
13:37
Speaker 1: things that you can't replace, are going along with your home.
13:40
Speaker 1: So it's it's very, very unfortunate. We were forced to
13:44
Speaker 1: kind of, you know, pack up our home and prepare
13:47
Speaker 1: to leave. But luckily we didn't have to end up leaving.
13:50
Speaker 1: But the the effects of the smog, the smoke, the
13:54
Speaker 1: pollution that's caused, but the fires is definitely probably going
13:57
Speaker 1: to affect the grade space on what I've heard from
13:59
Speaker 1: being the venus these last couple of weeks, they won't
14:02
Speaker 1: know until until they go through harvest, which is delayed,
14:06
Speaker 1: like most wires, delayed harvest because of the fires. They
14:08
Speaker 1: didn't want to have people out there picking, uh, and
14:10
Speaker 1: what was considered um, they went from very very poor
14:14
Speaker 1: air pollution to toxic air pollution, hazardous to the point
14:18
Speaker 1: point that where no one could really be outside. So
14:21
Speaker 1: they say they won't know until until the harvest is
14:23
Speaker 1: finished it and they get to kind of check out
14:25
Speaker 1: the grapes in the next phase. But hopefully too many
14:29
Speaker 1: people weren't impacted by that in the in the wine
14:32
Speaker 1: where I know a lot of other people were, and
14:34
Speaker 1: my prayers go out to them. I know that's right, uh,
14:36
Speaker 1: that I might have a little fun with you because
14:38
Speaker 1: you know, watching and doing the bubble uh playing and
14:42
Speaker 1: um you know one of my favorite players anyway, just
14:45
Speaker 1: just just so astute and uh to see you. Um
14:49
Speaker 1: have I seen that from you in the court before,
14:51
Speaker 1: being an emotional being at um vostrous um about what
14:56
Speaker 1: you was accomplishing, you know, on on the court. If
14:59
Speaker 1: I missed it because you up in Portland, I don't
15:00
Speaker 1: get to see you all the time. I think sometimes
15:05
Speaker 1: got and let people know what time do come on?
15:07
Speaker 1: Come on, come on. I'm very very confident for myself,
15:14
Speaker 1: but I think there's a time and a place for everything,
15:16
Speaker 1: and sometimes you have to let people know. And I
15:18
Speaker 1: think I've I've always been like that people out here
15:21
Speaker 1: in Oregon and people that really watch us, I have
15:24
Speaker 1: seen that before. But I think when it's different when
15:27
Speaker 1: it's on the national stage and it's in the playoffs.
15:30
Speaker 1: But I've done those same things and said those same
15:33
Speaker 1: words in a in a pickup game and practice. You
15:35
Speaker 1: know what I mean. That's just something, man, because that
15:39
Speaker 1: boy's talent, you superstar, You're you're a bad boy. You're
15:44
Speaker 1: a bad boy. Man. You had them stumbling, yeah, them
15:48
Speaker 1: reaching yeah you you you just man. I was, I was,
15:53
Speaker 1: I was just laughing so hard. Man. I called Stevens said, man,
15:57
Speaker 1: did you see my boy? Did you see him? Did
15:58
Speaker 1: you see him clowning tonight? And you started laughing, said yeah,
16:03
Speaker 1: I know. Hey, I ain't saying I know you're a
16:05
Speaker 1: bad boy. And so so what feedback just getting social
16:09
Speaker 1: media from all left CJ. I just thought it was funny, man,
16:14
Speaker 1: And personally I like that. No respectful, that's true, he's real,
16:21
Speaker 1: but no, I mean it's it's people just give you
16:23
Speaker 1: credit what credit is due. I think that's that's that's
16:26
Speaker 1: what you have to do in this society. You tipt
16:28
Speaker 1: your hat, you know, when you lose, and you tip
16:30
Speaker 1: your hat when you win and salute the next person,
16:33
Speaker 1: understanding that um in life and things are gonna always
16:36
Speaker 1: go your way. But you know, I had I had
16:38
Speaker 1: some some really good games, and I had some games
16:40
Speaker 1: where I wish I would have played better. But all
16:42
Speaker 1: in all, I was I was the best version of
16:44
Speaker 1: myself every night, and I can live with that. And
16:46
Speaker 1: I think the rest of the world social media, they've
16:49
Speaker 1: seen me play, They've seen me rise to the occasion
16:52
Speaker 1: and big moments. So some people probably were surprised, but
16:54
Speaker 1: people that know me and know the game. Uh, they
16:57
Speaker 1: know what I'm capable of. Oh no, no, no, it
16:59
Speaker 1: wasn't wasn't. I wasn't surprised at what you did. It
17:02
Speaker 1: was a surprise of you. You know, the you know,
17:04
Speaker 1: the personality of shifts. You know, you know in your chest,
17:08
Speaker 1: you know hit in your chest. You know that. That
17:10
Speaker 1: was the part I hadn't seen before. You've been clouding
17:12
Speaker 1: since you came in the league as a rookie. You've
17:14
Speaker 1: been stepping up that game. You know, you and uh
17:19
Speaker 1: Daman the two of the underserved I think under recognized
17:22
Speaker 1: backcourt duos and uh and the NBA in the last
17:26
Speaker 1: ten years, do y'all some bad boys? Now? You went
17:30
Speaker 1: into the bubble the pandemic was going on, and you
17:32
Speaker 1: came out of the bubble the pandemic was going on.
17:35
Speaker 1: What was the bubble like? What was that life in
17:38
Speaker 1: that bubble for? For for just the lifestyle, just being
17:42
Speaker 1: able to socialize, being able to get information? What was
17:45
Speaker 1: that all about? The testing? Can you walk us through
17:48
Speaker 1: those steps? C J? Yeah? It was unique. Honestly, I
17:52
Speaker 1: didn't like anything I've ever experienced before. Uh. Due the
17:55
Speaker 1: circumstances that we're going through obviously in the world and
17:58
Speaker 1: when we're still going through today from an injustice standpoint
18:01
Speaker 1: to two blacks and minorities to seeing the COVID, the
18:06
Speaker 1: situation with COVID, how many lights were taken away or affected,
18:09
Speaker 1: and how we had to kind of take extra precaution.
18:12
Speaker 1: It was. It was really a special, special time because
18:15
Speaker 1: I think the biggest thing we wanted to accomplish was
18:18
Speaker 1: to obviously continue to spread awareness to some of the
18:21
Speaker 1: things that are going on in America, have initiatives in place,
18:23
Speaker 1: have things that we can kind of touch on and
18:25
Speaker 1: bring light to while being able to play the game
18:27
Speaker 1: we love, and get people in the state because there's
18:30
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff going on on a day to
18:32
Speaker 1: day basis to where it affects your psyche, your mentality,
18:34
Speaker 1: and we wanted to get people in the States to
18:36
Speaker 1: be able to watch entertainment. And I think we were
18:38
Speaker 1: able to accomplish all those things. But the day to
18:41
Speaker 1: day life was crazy. Man. When you first land, for one,
18:45
Speaker 1: you started testing like two weeks before you get there,
18:47
Speaker 1: every other day and then when you get you guys
18:51
Speaker 1: had a fast test, a quick test, right, Yeah, I
18:54
Speaker 1: think it was rapid where the results of the next day,
18:57
Speaker 1: I think for five hours in the next day, so
19:00
Speaker 1: we did testing upon arrival, and then you quarantine in
19:04
Speaker 1: your room for forty eight hours, so you can't leave
19:05
Speaker 1: the room and they bring you food and drop it
19:07
Speaker 1: off at the door. So you go through that process,
19:10
Speaker 1: and then once you get i think two or three
19:13
Speaker 1: consecutive negative tests, you're able to leave your room, but
19:16
Speaker 1: you can't leave the hotel, so you're basically stuck there
19:18
Speaker 1: in three different hotel or hubs with sick teams, and
19:21
Speaker 1: you do daily testing based on time slots. Every day
19:25
Speaker 1: you do the nasal test as well as the oral swap,
19:28
Speaker 1: and you go through that process and it's just it's
19:31
Speaker 1: almost like a summer camp for like an AU tournament,
19:34
Speaker 1: because there's just a bunch of teams, a bunch of
19:37
Speaker 1: guys who you compete against. But it was just it
19:41
Speaker 1: was just a really really unique situation to where it's
19:43
Speaker 1: it's unlike anything I've ever been through, and it's something
19:46
Speaker 1: that I will remember forever. But I'm glad I was
19:49
Speaker 1: able to experience it. I think that we made the
19:51
Speaker 1: best of the situation. Obviously, there's there's four teams still
19:54
Speaker 1: left competing, and um, I think that one of the
19:57
Speaker 1: best parts of bout it. They eventually began to let
20:00
Speaker 1: people sell numbers then, because it can get very lonely
20:02
Speaker 1: out there, right, Um, just kind of being away from
20:05
Speaker 1: your kids, a significant other, all those things you're accustomed to.
20:08
Speaker 1: It it can change you and kind of affect your mentality. Now, um,
20:13
Speaker 1: let's talk about the opening day. You know when you guys,
20:17
Speaker 1: um all Um, I wanted to say student solidarity are
20:21
Speaker 1: uh or I want I won't use the word protests,
20:24
Speaker 1: want to recognize that Black lives matter, do matter? What
20:28
Speaker 1: was it? What were your emotions? And because I'm not there,
20:30
Speaker 1: all I can do is realized that I was proud
20:33
Speaker 1: of the unity. I was proud, and I know there
20:35
Speaker 1: was You know when you when you do it, when
20:37
Speaker 1: you when you're doing what you're doing, you're not worried
20:39
Speaker 1: about your wine sales, You're not worried about endorsements, You're
20:42
Speaker 1: not worried about you You're you're committed to making a
20:45
Speaker 1: change in your voice being heard. What was running through
20:48
Speaker 1: your mind personally when all that was going on? And
20:50
Speaker 1: then I want to ask you about the the Milwaukee
20:53
Speaker 1: when they made that decision to walk out. What was
20:56
Speaker 1: running through your mind then yeah, I mean you hit
20:59
Speaker 1: that and men when they had the biggest thing for
21:01
Speaker 1: me and most of the guys was just right and
21:03
Speaker 1: this wrong, and what we're seeing in America and beyond
21:06
Speaker 1: right now is just not right. It's it's wrong and
21:08
Speaker 1: we have to stand for something. I think the fact
21:11
Speaker 1: that the NBA backed us, the league as a whole,
21:14
Speaker 1: our teams backed us and stick with us, understanding that
21:18
Speaker 1: there's just so many things that need to be corrected
21:20
Speaker 1: and changed, and we put that to the forefront. I
21:22
Speaker 1: think that was the goal and objective. So I felt
21:24
Speaker 1: proud to be a part of that and proud to
21:26
Speaker 1: see it. I think when the Milwaukee Bucks decided not
21:29
Speaker 1: to play, I think it's sparked another conversation. Um. I
21:33
Speaker 1: think they were the spearheaded leaders and us kind of
21:36
Speaker 1: having to sit down and collect ourselves. And historically, when
21:39
Speaker 1: the NBA does something, the rest of the world follows.
21:42
Speaker 1: We were the first professional sports league to shut down
21:45
Speaker 1: during COVID, and then the rest of the world and
21:48
Speaker 1: in sports teams began shutting down. We were the first
21:51
Speaker 1: UH league to have players protests and not playing a game,
21:54
Speaker 1: and then shortly after that MLB and they would not
21:58
Speaker 1: be playing. Uh, every other sport basically followed in line,
22:02
Speaker 1: the Wimbledon tennis, all those players that would both participated
22:05
Speaker 1: on the on the on the large stage. Well, I
22:08
Speaker 1: think soccer exactly exactly. And that sparked another conversation as
22:13
Speaker 1: to why so many things in America are happening to
22:16
Speaker 1: to black and brown people and why these injustices are
22:20
Speaker 1: are just intolerable and not fair. And I think that
22:23
Speaker 1: was just proud to be a part of it. I
22:24
Speaker 1: think the conversation that that it allowed to happen, to
22:27
Speaker 1: dialogue get created, was positive and has pointed the right
22:31
Speaker 1: light on so many lives that have been affected in
22:34
Speaker 1: this in this way. Well, you know, it was really
22:37
Speaker 1: interesting that because all I can do is, you know,
22:41
Speaker 1: sometimes you get so far. All you can do is
22:42
Speaker 1: pray for a change, pray that people will see the light.
22:46
Speaker 1: And then you see, you see a part of this
22:49
Speaker 1: country just don't care, man, just really don't care. Just
22:52
Speaker 1: they is gonna move forward, acting like this ain't even happening.
22:56
Speaker 1: And then uh, and then paying a story like we're
22:59
Speaker 1: the villains, like like like our history means nothing and
23:02
Speaker 1: it won't tell our history. And when I see you.
23:05
Speaker 1: You might use the generation of change to me when
23:08
Speaker 1: I look at you, c J. And I I'm really
23:10
Speaker 1: proud of your brother, and and I say that because
23:14
Speaker 1: of the fact that that's a lot of pressure, man,
23:16
Speaker 1: for a young man like you to to make a
23:18
Speaker 1: decision to do what you're doing. And there's a lot
23:21
Speaker 1: of you doing it. Not just you, but a lot
23:23
Speaker 1: of you guys are making these decisions. And I'm telling you,
23:26
Speaker 1: when when the Major League Baseball stepped away, I was stunned.
23:30
Speaker 1: I was absolutely stunned, c J. When MLS, MLS, uh
23:36
Speaker 1: mad leads soccer stepped away, I was absolutely stunned. Um,
23:41
Speaker 1: because these are these are leagues are not predominant African
23:43
Speaker 1: American leagues. And and I know you said, uh, you know,
23:49
Speaker 1: people tend to follow the lead of the NBA. Were
23:53
Speaker 1: you caught off guard by that? How quickly the other leads,
23:57
Speaker 1: the other sporting leads reacted or what your thoughts. I
24:03
Speaker 1: was surprised at how quickly they all reacted and stood
24:08
Speaker 1: with us, especially some of those other leagues that are
24:12
Speaker 1: majority uh white, predominantly white leagues. I was very surprised,
24:17
Speaker 1: but I was happy to see it. It's the change
24:20
Speaker 1: we need to see. And I think a lot of
24:22
Speaker 1: times when when minorities are complaining about issues that are
24:27
Speaker 1: happening to minorities, people tend to not listen. But when
24:30
Speaker 1: the majority is speaking on behalf as well as with us,
24:35
Speaker 1: I think that's when the most change can occur. And
24:37
Speaker 1: I think that's what we're starting to see throughout the world.
24:42
Speaker 1: The old presses are starting to speak on behalf of
24:45
Speaker 1: the rest of the world, and I think that's what
24:48
Speaker 1: you need in order to have changed. You need people
24:51
Speaker 1: that are a part of the problem but also not
24:54
Speaker 1: affected by the problem to speak up for us. You're
24:57
Speaker 1: absolutely telling the truth. J Thank you for coming on
25:00
Speaker 1: the show again. Man. You know, I'm sorry. I can't
25:03
Speaker 1: help yourself anymore your wine because you know, you did
25:05
Speaker 1: such an amazing marketing job, and you're such a badass
25:08
Speaker 1: basketball player on the NBA court, you know, and you
25:12
Speaker 1: leading this. But more importantly, just just just bru Sean McDonald.
25:16
Speaker 1: I'm an older member over this of this, of this change,
25:19
Speaker 1: and talking to a younger man who has generations, you
25:23
Speaker 1: can affect generation. You are affecting generations, man, And as
25:26
Speaker 1: an entrepreneur, as your your nonprofit, as an athlete who
25:31
Speaker 1: who does more than just dribble the damn ball. Go change, brother,
25:35
Speaker 1: Please don't change the thing. Yes, sir man, That's just
25:39
Speaker 1: one thing I can assure you, is that I remember
25:42
Speaker 1: where I come from and what I come from in
25:44
Speaker 1: the biggest thing you can do as a as a
25:46
Speaker 1: young black man in Americas, as the cigareund ways to
25:49
Speaker 1: affect the masses, and he'll pull somebody out that comes
25:52
Speaker 1: from a situation just like you. Cool. Thank you. He's
25:55
Speaker 1: on the show to promote his wine Herodage, not Heridage.
25:58
Speaker 1: Native One wine collection is Solder, y'all, fifty a bottle.
26:01
Speaker 1: You got another set coming out next year, so be
26:03
Speaker 1: ready one September. I'll be ready because I'm getting in
26:07
Speaker 1: front of the line. He's already told me he's gonna
26:09
Speaker 1: take care of me, and I'm gonna buy the wine.
26:11
Speaker 1: J We were talking soon, brother, tell your family high man,
26:14
Speaker 1: my brother, I love you, and don't you change by
26:18
Speaker 1: I got you absolutely and I appreciate you, brother. Thank you, brother,