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Covering a sporting event on live television is a pretty difficult job that most veteran broadcasters are able to make seem pretty effortless, but they’re certainly not immune to the occasional misstep. However, it’s hard to think of many people who’ve messed up on a massive stage quite like ESPN reporter Sergio Dipp.
Dipp is a native of Mexicali, Mexico who has spent a decade with the outlet since he was hired to work as a SportsCenter anchor on ESPN Deportes in 2013, and he’s done pretty well for himself while offering viewers Spanish-language coverage of the various sports he’s covered over the years.
That includes the NFL, as Dipp has been at the helm of the NFL RedZone broadcasts in Latin America since 2018 in addition to patrolling the sidelines for ESPN Deportes during Monday Night Football games.
However, he’s best known for what unfolded when he stepped out of his comfort zone to do the same job on ESPN’s flagship network when the Broncos and the Chargers faced off in a Monday Night Football showdown on September 11, 2017, as his debut on the English version of the program didn’t exactly pan out as he’d hoped.
What has Sergio Dipp been up to since his awkward appearance on Monday Night Football?
In 2017, ESPN opted to go big for Week 1 of the NFL season by airing back-to-back Monday Night Football games on the evening of September 11th. However, it found itself dealing with some logistical issues as a result.
The first game between the Vikings and the Saints featured Sean McDonough and Jon Gruden in the booth and Lisa Salters on the sidelines in Minnesota, which meant ESPN had to assemble an alternate crew to cover the contest between the Broncos and the Chargers in Denver.
Beth Mowins and Rex Ryan were tapped to provide commentary from the press box, while Dipp was the man who was sent to cover the action down on the field. The reporter was no stranger to a job that tends to involve relaying injury updates, generic midgame interviews, and largely unremarkable anecdotes to viewers, but he got off to a bit of a rough start while doing it in his second language.
With around five minutes remaining in the first quarter, the MNF broadcast cut to Dipp before he stumbled his way through an awkward segment concerning the path Vance Joseph had taken to become the head coach for the Broncos, which he capped off with the infamous line, “Here he is having the time of his life.”
In hindsight, it’s pretty wild that Dipp went as viral as he did in the wake of that fateful moment, but he nonetheless got the Meme Treatment courtesy of viewers who couldn’t help but wonder why ESPN had given him a chance to cover the game in the first place (the segment was the first and last time the camera cut to him during the matchup).
After the game, Dipp recorded a heartfelt message where he somewhat needless apologized for failing to live to deliver on what he described as “the biggest stage out there,” and while he obviously regretted how things panned out, he still managed to spin the situation into a positive while discussing how it had impacted his life.
While Joseph led the Broncos to a victory over the Chargers en route to getting off to a 3-1 start on the season, the team ended up imploding with an eight-game losing streak that caused Dipp to go viral yet again in a tweet where he joked about his MNF appearance while noting “Vance Joseph isn’t having the time of his life anymore.”
Many of Dipp’s colleagues at ESPN and other outlets were quick to rally around him while noting basically everyone in that particular line of work screws up at some point, and the setback didn’t have any major impact on the reporter’s career.
He’s still employed by ESPN Deportes, and in addition to his aforementioned NFL work, he spends a ton of time covering soccer (with a particular focus on the Mexican national team) and has also reported from the Olympics, Little League World Series, and XFL games.