The ceremonial puck drop might not hold the same place in the collective consciousness as a first pitch, but damn they’re still important. Unfortunately for Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons, nobody told the poor dude how they worked.

The AHL’s Hersey Bears, who are an affiliate for the Washington Capitals, invited Parsons to walk out on the ice on Sunday night and drop the puck. On paper it made perfect sense. Parsons is from Harrisburg, PA, he went to Penn State, this should all be hand-meets-glove. The only issue is that nobody told him how this should all work.

So, instead of waiting for the team captains, dropping the puck and shaking their hands, Parsons instead strolled out on his own, quickly dropped the puck with nobody around, then shrugged as if to say “what did I do wrong?”

In his defense, Parsons did exactly what the job title entailed. He dropped the puck as part of a ceremony. The rest is on the Bears for not laying out how this all worked. It’s still hilarious. I mean, imagine if someone was asked to throw out the first pitch and they just strolled out to the mound with nobody around, threw the ball, and watched it roll to the fence. That’s basically what happened here.

Perhaps this was all an elaborate ruse. Think about it. What if the Bears shed their Pennsylvania allegiance to Parsons as part of a fiendish Washington-based plot to humiliate a Cowboys’ star? It’s not outside the realm of possibility to imagine Dan Snyder made a call or two to the Capitals, because lord knows the only way he’s claim a dub against the Cowboys these days is by trying to make one of their players seem foolish at an AHL game.

It’s okay Micah, I’m sure you’re not the first person in history to botch a puck drop. Okay, maybe you’re the first.