It started out as a routine post-Monday Night Football interview for ESPN, with play-by-play duo Joe Buck and Troy Aikman discussing the Los Angeles Chargers' playoff chances after their 20-3 win over the Indianapolis Colts with SportsCenter anchor Scott Van Pelt. 

But boy, did it get cringy. 

Van Pelt addressed the first question to Buck, but focused the rest of the five-minute day-after-Christmas inquiry on the announcer's Hall-of-Fame quarterback booth mate, Troy Aikman. 

The embedded YouTube video picks up towards the end of the segment, when Van Pelt tries to smoothly segue on. Buck suddenly raises a sharp elbow about just having to "awkwardly stand there" as Van Pelt directed most of the questions to Aikman.

A somewhat tense back-and-forth ensues, despite Aikman's comical attempt to make peace, with Van Pelt specifically targeting Buck's $15 million-a-year salary. 

Warning: This milk is as sour as we have described it:

Scott Van Pelt, anchor of ESPN’s SportsCenter, is featured in a new ad campaign for the Ram 1500 TRX truck.

Spots created in collaboration with Disney Creative Works and ESPN show Van Pelt in a fictitious location called Trucktopia, that only extraordinary trucks may enter.

Each of the campaign’s four spots focus on one of Ram’s attributes. The first, 30-second spot, airing exclusively on ESPN kicked off during coverage of March Madness, looks at its performance. 

In the spot, Van Pelt grants the Ram 1500 TRX access to Trucktopia after making sure the vehicle meets a strict set of specs.

Other spots will appear during Major League Baseball Opening Day, the NFL Draft and College football and look at the truck’s capability, luxury and technology.

The ads will run on the ESPN linear and digital platforms, plus social media channels for ESPN, Ram and Van Pelt.

A behind-the-scene video with outtakes and making-of content will also be shown later this year.

“Leveraging a world-class platform like ESPN and incredible storytellers like Scott Van Pelt, we’re joining forces with Ram to introduce the brand’s new truck to our audience,” said Andrew Messina, senior VP, Disney Advertising Sales. “We married creativity with VFX technology to tell the story of Ram 1500 TRX and align the truck with key sporting tentpoles including March Madness, MLB Opening Day, NFL Draft and College Football.”

SportsCenter anchor Scott Van Pelt said on Twitter that he has tested positive for COVID-19.

“Won’t be doing shows for a bit after a positive Covid-19 test. Thankfully, no fever & I feel fine. Just can’t smell or taste anything which was my clue to go get a test,” Van Pelt’s tweet said. “So, I will hunker down and hopefully can be back at it before too long.”

While Van Pelt is out, the late night editions of SportsCenter will be a mixture of the Bristol and Los Angeles-based shows. The 11 p.m. show from ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn., may expand by an hour on some nights. On other nights the 1 a.m. SportsCenter from LA may start earlier, an ESPN spokesman said.

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The spokesman had no comment on whether other ESPN staffers were exposed to COVID or in quarantine, citing privacy concerns.

Van Pelt has hosted the midnight edition of SportsCenter since 2015.

He is also the main host of ESPN’s golf coverage, including the Masters and the PGA Championship.

Van Pelt has been with ESPN since 2001.