1) DD: 'Kahale' is a cool first name. What's it mean?
Warring: My whole first name is Kahalekuiokalani. It means 'sturdy house to the heavens'. It's Hawaiian. I didn't pick it, but yeah, my dad's from Hawaii. Mom's from Northern California.
2) DD: Have you been to Hawaii often?
Warring: Yeah, growing up. But once sports continued to get more and more important, all these sports these days are year round and stuff, so I had to stay home.
3) DD: Do you and kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn chit chat about Hawaii from time to time?
Warring: Yeah, we actually have some family that know each other in Hawaii. My aunt is good friends with some of his family. So it's kind of fun to interact.
4) DD: You ever had a chance to eat Spam musubi?
Warring: Huge fan. Especially if you go to the 7-Eleven, it's 99 cents. Go get a few and you're set for lunch.
5) DD: You played water polo growing up. How rugged a sport is it?
Warring: It's intense. There's a lot of stuff that goes on under the water that you can't always see because splashing, or you just can't really see under the water. It'll test how hard things are.
6) DD: I think you just gave the nice, PG version of 'stuff that goes on under the water'. What goes on under the water?
Warring: There's jabs. There's people digging their feet in your suit and pushing off you to get their advantage. It can be intense, so you have to try it out for yourself on one of these days.
7) DD: I'll just stick to the swimming. What was a typical practice like?
Warring: We normally had to practice in the morning before school where we'd get our swimming in, so we'd have to swim a certain distance. Then after school we'd come in and we'd have a practice. We'd do shots on goal, moving the ball or just all different things. It'll get you in good shape.
8) DD: But you can also play basketball, too. What was your basketball career like?
Warring: My stepdad, who I grew up with since I was two, he's the varsity basketball coach at my high school. So before school I was always in the gym getting up a certain amount of shots. After school you have practice. He was my travel ball coach for a good chunk of it, too. So I learned a lot. Your athleticism translates from basketball to football pretty well to seeing the ball going up and making catches.
9) DD: So if your stepdad was the varsity coach, it was almost like a natural thing to be a gym rat. Think that's a big reason for some of your success?
Warring: Oh, yeah. 100 percent. Especially coming from a small town. It's not San Diego, like where I went to school, where you got the beach and everything. You got your sports, you got your school, you go home, get a good night's sleep and redo it.
10) DD: Tell me about your favorite all time athlete. Who is it or was it?
Warring: It's definitely been Rob Gronkowski. Ever since I started playing football and learned football, learned about the tight end position. First thing I Googled when I heard about the tight end stuff, was Rob Gronkowski. So since that moment, I watched every single thing there is to watch on Gronk and studied him inside and out. Wore 87 in college. He's just been the big favorite of mine since since I started playing the game.
11) DD: You ever had a chance to meet him?.
Warring: I have talked to him briefly on FaceTime because I have a good friend, Sean Bunting, that plays on the Bucs. Put me on FaceTime for a second, but it wasn't too long, so maybe I'll get to meet in person someday.
12) DD: What's your favorite holiday of all time?
Warring: You can't go wrong with Christmas coming around the corner. Family gets together. Everybody's exchanging gifts. Always a good dinner. Can't go wrong with Christmas.
BAKER'S DOZEN) DD: What's on the perfect dinner plate at Christmas dinner?
Warring: That's tough. Definitely got to have the ham and turkey. Mashed potatoes and gravy.
