Harrison Barnes can say he accomplished two feats this year that he had never done before, win NBA championship and take a shot of alcohol. Barnes has refrained from drinking all 23 years if his life but after the Golden State Warriors won the 2015 NBA title, it was impossible for Barnes to avoid all the alcohol. The locker room was full of chaos as players sprayed champagne all over the place but that was just the beginning for Barnes.
During an interview with 1460 KXnO in Iowa, Barnes revealed that coach Steve Kerr was the first to give him a shot of alcohol and it didn’t go well.
Barnes: “We go back to the hotel afterwards and have this big dinner, teammates all around. Coach Kerr comes over with a little shot. I was looking at him, like ‘wow this is a shot, I don’t know how you drink this.'”
Host: “He starts you with a shot? Okay, so what was it?”
Barnes: “Don Julio. I hated it, it wasn’t good. I don’t know why people drink.”
Host: “There was champagne in the locker room, correct?”
Barnes: “Yeah, it was all in my eyes.”
Host: “None of it went down the hatch?”
Barnes: “My eyes were burning too much, really couldn’t really see. I was trying to find my goggles, that was the most important thing.”
Host: “I’m so sorry that your first taste of alcohol was tequila. So did you end it right there?”
Barnes: “Yeah, it wasn’t for me after that. But it was probably good in hindsight, maybe he was doing that to say ‘Look, we don’t want you to get started on this thing. We will give you the worst stuff right now so you don’t have to worry about this again.”
Why would Coach Kerr scar Barnes with tequila? Don Julio might be the worst drink to offer someone who has never drank alcohol before. Maybe it was part of a master plan to keep Barnes away from alcohol, if so, it looks like Kerr was successful.
HT: TheScore