Olympic Speed Skating Medalist to Red Sox Infielder, Eddy Alvarez's Amazing Journey || 310 TO LEFT

like what a special thing to be able to see Eddie Alvarez like a a multi-time multiport uh multi-season Olympic medalist uh going bananas overwatching the Olympics H how would you describe your passion for the Olympic competitions and like how much how much are you uh how how connected do you feel while watching this whole thing oh I'm a huge Olympic fan uh I've been for as for as long as I can remember something that's always been very um that my family's been very enthusiastic about uh growing up was always on it's something that we always look forward to and I just so happen to be in a in a sport and and um grow up in a sport that was the the the highest Pinnacle of of reaching that level of that sport was you know getting to the Olympics so um you know just being able to bring that to to this this side and the baseball side and and have it uh be as excited to watch as I am excited to watch it uh it's really cool to see Eddie I think I told you at spring training my first job was in Lake pla New York or right outside of Lake pla New York back in the late 80s when Lake plid you know it hadn't shifted yet West so you know my my first job was was covering whatever sport was coming into town for the World Cup that weekend right it'd be Lou this weekend it'd be Ski Jumping next weekend figure skating we didn't have short track back then yet uh but but I always Marvel at the athletes of those Sports because they get their moment in the sun once every four years you know it's not baseball where you get to go be a professional you know they're going to keep competing and lose and and lose is a big deal in in Germany and parts of Europe but not here in the US right so like you live that life as a short track speedcap what is that like you know where where you get that opportunity you know you went through a lot the the the two feet and the surgeries everything you needed to do to get back but you made that Olympics first right you began as the short track speed skater as far as your Olympic career I just think people have no appreciation for the work that goes in for that one opportunity every four years what is that like to to to see that through to become an Olympian to medal in it like that entire experience right yeah it's it's it's a much different world than the baseball world um I mean we can dissect it in so many ways um but yeah like going overseas and competing is a much different experience than competing what was like uh here in the United States um you know you go to the Netherlands you go to Japan you go to Korea South Korea like it's a it's a whole different world you're walking around like you're part of a boy band kind of thing uh where here in the United States uh you know back home no one knows absolutely who I am or what I've done uh being from Miami Florida no one watches game so uh you know it's a much quieter uh living situation that I have here in the US and and especially back home um and it's just it's it's cool to watch how the cultures uh blend together during the Olympics too right because you know you start seeing all these other athletes that are playing mainstream Sports here in the United States whether it be basketball baseball football hockey asking about hey look at what's handball what's badminton what's field hockey you know all these Sports you don't really get to see on a day-to-day basis but require just as much sacrifice require just as much um will and and you name it um just to get that one moment just like you said that one opportunity because for most of these athletes um you know it's not NE we'll get them next year it's you know we got to wait a whole four years to to be able to to get that opportunity once again that's the hardest thing that I think Olympic athletes have to go through is you know having once their event ends or their career ends it's it's like we got to wait a lot longer than just oh you know what I'll just wipe this year clean and hit it next year and hopefully get the the ball rolling uh and start off on the right foot it's it's more of like oh man four years is a long way to go uh uh so it's it's difficult in the sense of um post Olympic depression stuff like it's it's you see it a lot more in Olympic athletes than you do in the mainstream Sports when it's more of like okay my career is going to end now now it's time to figure out what to do with our lives it's it's so fascinating to think about that that kind of perspective um you know is that do you think that that's part of the reason why the idea of Switching gears and going to baseball was was appealing to you like was it like you know was it you know after after 2014 when you when you when you when you win silver right like are you like you know did you need to find a different purpose or like how much were you like okay no no no like how appealing was it to to stay in it and say I'm GNA go for Golden 18 you know um I'm GNA be honest with you I've always always told myself that I was going to go to one Olympics and then I was going to retire from the sport of speed skating I love speed skating it's it's um it's taking me all over the world it's giving me unbelievable experiences I've made unbelievable connections friends um and I owe a lot to it CU you know it it molded it molded me in my early days as as a young man into the man I am today and um you know I owe a lot to speed skating and and what I've learned through that but I always knew that I wanted to go to one Olympics and I was going to call it I was going to call it quits I didn't know that I I was going to make it all the way in baseball to be honest with you I I always knew that I wanted to try um I've always lived my life to have no regrets so I I knew speaking of my family and my coaches that I was going to attempt to play baseball I didn't know how far I was going to make it I didn't know how far I was going to go maybe I would have gone back to speed skating after a couple years after I I had the opportunity of signing professionally in baseball um it was it was a lot of just uh a lot of jumping I I I don't know how to explain it I never I never quite uh it's hard for me to explain I've never I never put something to rest completely now that I'm 34 yeah speed skate is probably out of out of my window uh but I'm never put it out like I never just said okay I I'm done I'm done so you know kind of skating was always in my back pocket and baseball was always in my back pocket and I just I I wanted to see where life would take me in both of them yeah well I'd love to go back on that a little bit like please explain like how a kid from South Florida ends up being uh being a speed skater on ice and uh it's not as strange as you think I promise okay well yeah I'd love to hear that then and also like you know and also like the role like how you did um how how you were picking your own pockets as you were talking about baseball and the speed skating upbringings yeah so I don't know have you ever traveled to Miami in the 90s were you ever in the on that were you in the night I mean it was it's a movie scene right it's you you you see the life outside at South Beach you see everyone on Rollerblades uh a certain type of music genre was playing I mean Miami in the 9s was a beautiful time and I just happened to grow up in that era um my parents would always take me to South Beach on the weekends to go skate and uh I became I I became good enough to have attention from a skate shop I was sponsored by a skate shop when I was little I was like a little walking bill or sorry skating billboard uh with skate shop all over me shirts I you name it and uh I just so happened to be stopped by two recreational speed skaters who said oh my God your son should try speed skating obviously being from Miami we've never heard of that Sport and my parents were like okay what is that uh all right we'll try it out a couple years later I became national champion and and that's when the the whole story begins I've I and I don't even know if Alex knows this I again I had a conversation with you Eddie it's bre trady but in the in the in the 90s I did playby playay for a fling League called roller hockey International and there was a belief that roller hockey was going to make hockey a more popular sport in the US and it was the weirdest season because half the league was minor league ice hockey players and half the league were roller blad from Miami you know and and some teams like South Florida right and and I swear like the first half of the season the Miami guys were were skating circles around these hockey guys because the hockey guys did you couldn't stop there was no hockey stop there was no you know it was completely thing but but you're right it was a culture in the 90s was a culture that was sort of yeah it was permeating the entire country yeah it's a it's an it was a culture and I wish it was still a culture um but yeah you don't see it it's but it's true I mean things evolve and uh life changes and uh you really just don't see rollerbladers out in Miami anymore we probably won't get a rollerblader turned to ice skater from Miami anymore I mean it's it's it's unfortunate but it's you know I I get to hold that proudly I get to hold my city you know or you know represent my city very proudly um you know me and and another a fellow a friend of mine Jennifer Rodriguez who also did the same thing you know she was a step ahead of me uh so I followed in her footsteps um she won you know couple medals in the Olympics turned from inline speed skater to ice beat skater and moved to Salt Lake City to train and I did the same thing as her so she kind of paved the way for me uh but yeah a it's a I don't want to say it's a dying sport but I just don't see it as much as I used to