Professional esports players spend hours a day for years and years honing their craft, just like traditional athletes. Imagine then, on your chosen game’s biggest stage, accidentally snubbing the man that made your enviable career in the Overwatch League possible in the first place.
That nightmare situation recently became a reality for Stitch, real name Chung-hee Lee, a South Korean DPS player currently representing the Vancouver Titans. After an Overwatch League match had concluded, the game’s lead designer and Blizard Entertainment vice president Jeff Kaplan walked the line of Vancouver Titans players and shook the hand of each participant, until he reached Stitch, that is.
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The absentminded pro player was looking in the opposite direction, seemingly deep in thought, and in the process managed to completely miss the fact that Kaplan was stood just to his left with an arm outstretched in anticipation of a handshake. Kaplan, who some refer to as a living meme and the human face of hero shooter Overwatch, then had to lean in and grab an understandably embarrassed Stitch’s attention in order to complete the handshake.
Stitch’s teammates enjoyed a laugh at the situation, as did the event’s commentators, who audibly chuckle and state “Don’t worry Stitch, it’s fine” in the Twitch clip. Kaplan deftly handled the situation like a professional, probably because he’s had a lot of practice, seemingly being a magnet for events that turn into internet memes and mostly well-natured instances of faux online mockery.
Sorry Papa Jeff 😂😇https://t.co/Uk7rzT2GvR
— Vancouver Titans (@VancouverTitans) September 15, 2019
The Overwatch League match had been contested by players using mouse and keyboards to interact with the PC version of the game, though it was recently officially announced that Overwatch is making its way to Nintendo Switch on October 15. People using Joy-Cons to play will perhaps be placing themselves at a comparative disadvantage, so third-party gaming peripheral manufacturer PowerA has partnered with Activision Blizzard and Nintendo to offer a pro wireless controller with three additional mappable buttons said to give Switch players a competitive edge.
