Damar Hamlin was ready to celebrate following the Buffalo Bills’ 27-25 victory over the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL Divisional Round on Sunday night. However, he was not in the mood for a postgame interview plagued by technical difficulties, which is exactly what occurred when he joined SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt for a chat.
Standing on the field at Highmark Stadium, the fourth-year safety donned a headset for a remote interview, but it quickly went awry. “Damar, hey, it’s Scott Van Pelt here on SportsCenter. Can you hear me?” Van Pelt began. “Bro, they taking too long,” Hamlin could be seen and heard telling a Bills staffer. Van Pelt repeated his question, saying, “Damar, it’s Scott. Can you hear me? Hey Damar, it’s Scott Van Pelt. Can you hear me?”
Hamlin responded, “I don’t hear nobody, bro. I’m about to dip.” Van Pelt acknowledged, “Okie doke,” and gave a thumbs up towards the camera, saying, “He’s gonna dip. Good times.” He then turned to narrate the highlights from the Bills’ win over the Ravens, but not before giving Hamlin one last try. “Damar, it’s Scott, can you hear me?” he asked in frustration, but to no avail. “Back to the highlights, why wouldn’t we? One of these days, we’ll get it all figured out.”
Absolute GOLD on espn studio shows tonight: a mere minutes after the championship drive moment, Damar Hamlin and Sportscenter with SVP couldn’t get on same page, leading to some funny quips from Damar… @awfulannouncing pic.twitter.com/jwbOBfLjrM
— Austin Maida (@Maida904) January 20, 2025
Roughly eight minutes later, Hamlin successfully joined SportsCenter, audio working perfectly. “Scott, what’s up bro? How you doing?” he asked. “I’m better now,” Van Pelt replied. “Because — I was trying to speak to you and there’s nothing more frustrating than when the guy out there can’t hear me.” Van Pelt then proceeded with the interview, revealing no signs of the earlier technical glitches.
While the initial interview attempt could have led to an embarrassing moment for both Van Pelt and Hamlin, who was unaware his audio was live on national television, Van Pelt skillfully navigated the situation despite his understandable frustration. Credit also goes to the real unsung hero of the moment, the field producer, who ensured that the initial botched attempt did not prevent a successful interview from taking place.
