Harrison Barnes’ First Taste Of Alcohol Was A Shot Of Tequila From Coach Steve Kerr

Golden State Warriors’ forward Harrison Barnes is a noted non-drinker, but exceptions can be made when something as momentous as winning an NBA title happens in your life. When he said that he was breaking his policy for the championship, most probably assumed that it would be for the locker-room champagne, synonymous with celebration.

Thanks to an interview Barnes did with an Iowa radio station, we now know that it wasn’t the case. The actual drink he had is one synonymous with regret. Here it is in Barnes’ words, as transcribed by CBS Sports:

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 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.'”

It is pretty smart of Steve Kerr to deter Barnes with the bracing burn of a tequila shot. Even if Don Julio is one of the smoothest tequilas around, it’s going to taste gross to someone who has never tried alcohol before.

Listen, tequila shots have their time and place. Their time is after you should have stopped drinking, and their place is at a dive bar. But for a lifelong teetotaler like Barnes, that shot was a neon sign reading “NOT FOR YOU.” It’s just as well he didn’t taste the champagne, because that stuff’s dangerously delicious.

(Via CBS Sports)

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