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| Wizards beer-soaked waitress describes her ‘SportsCenter’ moment | Wizards beer-soaked waitress describes her ‘SportsCenter’ moment |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Mason Plumlee’s collision with Delia Barr was designed for six-second video clips. Six seconds lets you see Plumlee’s approach, see him slam into Barr on the Wizards sidelines, see a bunch of domestic lite beer and other alcoholic beverages cascade onto the floor, a waterfall of wasted buzz. You’ve probably already seen those six seconds, and you’ll probably see them again. | Mason Plumlee’s collision with Delia Barr was designed for six-second video clips. Six seconds lets you see Plumlee’s approach, see him slam into Barr on the Wizards sidelines, see a bunch of domestic lite beer and other alcoholic beverages cascade onto the floor, a waterfall of wasted buzz. You’ve probably already seen those six seconds, and you’ll probably see them again. |
| For Barr, though, the episode will last more than six seconds, because this was her ESPN moment. The 26-year-old is a former college athlete, having played softball and field hockey at Division III Drew University. She’s a part-time coach; she spent a year as the field hockey coach at Elizabeth Seton. And she’s a huge sports fan, mostly cheering for Philly teams. (Sorry.) | |
| But in addition to her full-time job on the Hill, she also has student loans, so for more than a year she’s worked as a waitress at Wizards games. Which is how she finally got her face on just about every sports Web site in the world. | But in addition to her full-time job on the Hill, she also has student loans, so for more than a year she’s worked as a waitress at Wizards games. Which is how she finally got her face on just about every sports Web site in the world. |
| It started when the basketball hopped lazily in her direction during the first quarter Saturday night. “I just kind of see a ball coming towards me, and you can see me kind of kicking it out of the way so I don’t trip,” she remembered. “Then all of a sudden, I just see this giant white mass coming toward me.” | |
| The giant white mass, of course, was Plumlee. He kept coming, as large white masses in motion tend to do. Barr remembers tensing up, prepared to protect her precious cargo. | The giant white mass, of course, was Plumlee. He kept coming, as large white masses in motion tend to do. Barr remembers tensing up, prepared to protect her precious cargo. |
| “I literally held onto that thing like it was a newborn,” she said of her tray, which by her recollection included four Bud Lights, a winter ale, a gin and tonic and a Chardonnay. (Beer and wine are complimentary for her patrons; cocktails are not.) | “I literally held onto that thing like it was a newborn,” she said of her tray, which by her recollection included four Bud Lights, a winter ale, a gin and tonic and a Chardonnay. (Beer and wine are complimentary for her patrons; cocktails are not.) |
| Then came the moment of contact; “total calamity,” in her telling. | Then came the moment of contact; “total calamity,” in her telling. |
| “The way I spun, I just knew it was done,” she said. “And when I kind of stood up again, I’m just looking at my tray: it has one cup on it, and a soaking wet napkin, and everyone in the stadium was booing. I was like ‘Oh my God, that just happened.’ Because it was ridiculous, and it takes your brain a couple seconds to register — okay, all eyes are on me, and there’ s beer everywhere.” | |
| While her brain was processing the scene, the sports Internet was already churning. In a matter of moments, Barr had made it big: on the Web sites of Sports Illustrated and the New York Daily News, on Bleacher Report and Deadspin, on SB Nation and For the Win, on Huffington Post and NBC Sports. ESPN’s SportsCenter account tweeted video of the incident to its 14 million followers. “Good Morning America” talked about the episode. Every time Barr logged onto any of her accounts, there were “a thousand notifications,” she said. | |
| Party foul! Brooklyn C Mason Plumlee runs into a courtside waitress and spills SIX beers all over the first row. » http://t.co/as23EU4agA — SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 8, 2015 | Party foul! Brooklyn C Mason Plumlee runs into a courtside waitress and spills SIX beers all over the first row. » http://t.co/as23EU4agA — SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 8, 2015 |
| Party foul! Brooklyn C Mason Plumlee runs into a courtside waitress and spills SIX beers all over the first row. » http://t.co/as23EU4agA | Party foul! Brooklyn C Mason Plumlee runs into a courtside waitress and spills SIX beers all over the first row. » http://t.co/as23EU4agA |
| — SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 8, 2015 | — SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 8, 2015 |
| And her little sister Cody, hearing that an NBA waitress had found instant fame, told Barr that she should try to place herself in such a collision. | And her little sister Cody, hearing that an NBA waitress had found instant fame, told Barr that she should try to place herself in such a collision. |
| “I was like, Cody, that was me,” Barr said. | “I was like, Cody, that was me,” Barr said. |
| Of course, there were some — including Barr’s boyfriend — who wondered if Plumlee could have done more to stop his momentum or could at least have apologized to Barr after the beersplosion. Instead, he seemed to march off in a bit of a huff, ignoring the waitress, the soaked spectators and the susurrus of the crowd. | |
| “He kind of was a little brat about it; he threw his arms up in the air and stormed off,” Barr said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know that impacted your life so much. But he played at Duke, so what do you expect?” | “He kind of was a little brat about it; he threw his arms up in the air and stormed off,” Barr said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know that impacted your life so much. But he played at Duke, so what do you expect?” |
| (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) | (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) |
| (Would that every NBA player could give a quote like that, right?) | (Would that every NBA player could give a quote like that, right?) |
| Since she’s having fun with this whole ordeal, Barr told her boyfriend “he should challenge [Plumlee] to a duel, 1800s-style, to defend my honor.” Instead, her boyfriend decided to send Plumlee insults on Twitter. Fans, meantime, debated whether Plumlee could have hit the brakes but also whether Barr should have been in that place, at that time, with those drinks. (Clearly, that’s not her call, but her previous run-ins have been mostly with officials, who “come charging down the sidelines so fast that I usually try to duck and jump into the seats,” and also with ESPN producers worried about their sightlines.) | |
| L’affaire de Lite Beer ended with towels guzzling all that spilled hooch, and with the two fans who wore the brunt of the suds being gifted goodie bags of Wizards swag and new shirts, and with Barr finishing her shift in her sopping uniform after failing to find a replacement. | L’affaire de Lite Beer ended with towels guzzling all that spilled hooch, and with the two fans who wore the brunt of the suds being gifted goodie bags of Wizards swag and new shirts, and with Barr finishing her shift in her sopping uniform after failing to find a replacement. |
| “It was just so gross,” she said. “It was like waking up on a Sunday morning in college when there’s just that stale beer smell from beer pong everywhere. That’s what it was like.” | “It was just so gross,” she said. “It was like waking up on a Sunday morning in college when there’s just that stale beer smell from beer pong everywhere. That’s what it was like.” |
| Some of you might be wondering why this matters, why anyone would be curious about these details. My answer goes like this: The NBA puts on 1,230 games a year. It’s too many games, and everyone knows it’s too many games, and it sometimes encourages you not to pay attention, since you’ve seen it all before. | |
| This, though, felt new. It felt spontaneous, too, and you didn’t know how the actors would react — Plumlee, Barr, the wet fans, the gawking crowd. There’s a constant tension in sports: They offer a reassuring routine but also the promise of something realer than life, something you’ve never bothered to imagine: the Odell Beckham Jr. catch, the Klay Thompson third quarter, the Alex Ovechkin baseball swing, the Plumlee alcoholission. That’s when sports transform from ephemera into something etched a bit deeper, something closer to art. | |
| Anyhow, Barr isn’t scheduled to work again until the Cavaliers visit D.C. on Feb. 20. She was paranoid about another crash throughout Saturday’s second half — “please don’t, please don’t, please don’t,” she remembered thinking. But one beer-drenched night won’t make her walk away from the gig. | Anyhow, Barr isn’t scheduled to work again until the Cavaliers visit D.C. on Feb. 20. She was paranoid about another crash throughout Saturday’s second half — “please don’t, please don’t, please don’t,” she remembered thinking. But one beer-drenched night won’t make her walk away from the gig. |
| “No,” she said. “With my college loans, money is money.” | “No,” she said. “With my college loans, money is money.” |