SportsCenter anchor Chris Hassel made his debut on ESPNews’ Goal Line this week, and oh, what a debut it was.
Hassel started his segment standing, but quickly realized the chair behind him was there for a reason, and decided to pop a squat while delivering the college football highlights from the early window.
There was only one problem: The chair did not want to be sat on.
When it's just not your day pic.twitter.com/WyikIWFEgM
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) September 24, 2016
Hassel handled this about as well as one could. There was no avoiding the awkwardness, so he turned into the skid and managed to make an embarrassing situation a genuinely hilarious one.
Deadspin spotted the gaffe, and the social media response took off from there. Hassel, to his credit, did not shy away from it either.
That didn't take long https://t.co/kdpvZ3c8Sa
— Chris Hassel (@hasselESPN) September 24, 2016
#lifegoals pic.twitter.com/hVFNI0cKsL
— Chris Hassel (@hasselESPN) September 24, 2016
His colleagues at ESPN empathized with his plight, and his old boss at WHO in Des Moines, Keith Murphy, also got in on the fun.
In fairness, we never went over talking and sitting down at the same time. #chairsits https://t.co/jv3YgKBnat
— Keith Murphy (@MurphyKeith) September 24, 2016
This story does have a happy ending, though. He eventually figured that damn chair out.
Finally figured out the chair pic.twitter.com/eU2qDoo9rB
— Chris Hassel (@hasselESPN) September 24, 2016
Hassel may have mastered the sitting highlight delivery moving forward, but we’ll always have “the most awkward chair sit in the history of chair sits”. And for that, we thank him.