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A sideline reporter stole the show during Monday Night Football
Though it doesn't hold the same cultural status as yesteryear, there remains a certain aura and gravitas around Monday Night Football. Whether you're suited up on the field, working the contest or watching it from the stands, the game means something. This is especially true for those in the booth, even for the back-up crew calling the annual Opening Day double-header.
And yet, despite Beth Mowins making history as the first woman in 30 years to call a regular-season NFL game, as well as the much-anticipated arrival of Rex Ryan behind the mic, it was a sideline reporter who stole the show.
Sergio Dipp has been with ESPN since 2013, mostly contributing on the Worldwide Leader’s Deportes network. But the 29-year-old Dipp found himself on the gridiron in Denver, and became a social-media star with this intro:
“Folks, it’s a pleasure to be with you guys, here on the field, from up close, just watching Coach Vance Joseph from here, you watch him now on the screen,” Dipp said.
As the camera cut to Joseph, the new Broncos head coach, Dipp unleashed this, ahem, prose.
“His diversity and his background is helping him a lot tonight. Quarterback at Colorado, defensive back in the NFL, and here he is, having the time of his life this night, making his head coaching debut.”
It wasn't as painfully epic as the "Boom goes the dynamite" guy, but Twitter -- rough crowd, that Twitter -- immediately went to town on Dipp's "performance. Barbs that Dipp mostly took in stride:
But, after the game, Dipp aired a heartfelt message, apologizing if his diversity comment was digested in the wrong manner:
No need for sorry, Sergio. You gave us the time of our life last night.