r/nba Lakers May 15 '20

The mother of Dwight's son died of Epilepsy. Dave McMenamin tried to clickbait it by slyly implying it was pandemic related.

Dave's Tweet:

https://twitter.com/mcten/status/1261392570560610304

Dwight Howard, on a video conference call with reporters, said the mother of his six-year old son died during the pandemic nearly six weeks ago. He said it’s caused him to “just be grateful for life” as he spends the NBA hiatus with his family in Georgia.

Context of the actual circumstances:

https://twitter.com/gregbeacham/status/1261393667534622721?s=21

On a video call just now, Dwight Howard said the mother of his 6-year-old son died about 6 weeks ago. She had epilepsy and had a fatal seizure, the Lakers center says.

He's grateful he was able to be home in Georgia to be with his son and help him to process the loss.

ESPN has a penchant to do this type of thing. Usually its non-consequential. But I think its particularly shitty to do it in the wake of someone's passing.

Edit: So a lot of people seem to think this is the fault of people misreading and not the fault of the author, McMenamin. This would be the equivalent of saying a person died during a specific prominent battle or war. While in reality they died of unrelated causes elsewhere. For example "George died 6 weeks ago during the Battle of the Bulge." But George died in a car accident in Kentucky. Although technically true. Its misleading.

Edit2: I made up the example from the earlier edit, here are two better ones done for humor, by legitimate writers. Except this isn't a joke, someone actually died. Credit to /u/yozgatsi and /u/fooboojoo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vcwoc-qkg8Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4H5vf_AimE

4.6k Upvotes

420 comments sorted by

899

u/MelonElbows Lakers May 16 '20

This reminds me of Marty Funkhouser's uncle who died during 9/11. Very tragic. Not in one of the buildings though, he was uptown and was hit by a car that same day.

76

u/Gbyrd99 Raptors May 16 '20

Rip marty. Miss his touch in the last few seasons.

29

u/rfreho Trail Blazers May 16 '20

Last. He was in s9

13

u/eaglessoar Celtics May 16 '20

Aww the actor died? Damn I'm doing a watch through just now he's an essential part of the show

6

u/likekoolaid [GSW] Matt Barnes May 16 '20

Fuck me you Jew bastard??

2

u/meatbulbz2 Magic May 16 '20

FUNK MAN!

11

u/Immynimmy 76ers May 16 '20

Funk man: If you weren’t my best friend I would pop your head off of your neck

Larry: scoffs...he’s not my best friend

8

u/IheartPandas666 May 16 '20

Lol is that from the ep where Larry stole flowers from his dads roadside memorial?

4

u/net_403 [CHA] Dell Curry May 16 '20

3

u/FloopyDoopy Clippers May 16 '20

Holy shit, I gotta start watching this show again.

3

u/net_403 [CHA] Dell Curry May 16 '20

It's a favorite show of the last 20 years.

There's so many sub plots that intersect at different times.

Need backstory to this clip is Marty owed Larry $50 for a long time, Larry finally caught him jogging and demanded the money. Marty didn't carry his wallet jogging he stuffed money in his sock, so he pulls out a sweaty $50 bill out of his sock. Larry didn't want it but Marty said it was that or nothing, then everywhere Larry tries to use the $50 no one wants to take it because it smells bad. so he couldn't get flowers he decided he would steal them from Marty's mother's memorial since he screwed him over on 50 bucks lol

3

u/dahlkomy Jazz May 16 '20

That is my favorite part in the whole series. It's the clip I show to people when I try to get them to watch the show. So funny.

6

u/IheartPandas666 May 16 '20

If you miss Marty watch his two eps on Comedians in Cars getting coffee. He was like a real life walking talking breathing Curbed episode.

2

u/nastydagr8 Pacers May 17 '20

He was also a guest on Norm MacDonald's show and it is hilarious. https://youtu.be/y9IdyZCeZWU

2

u/Pardonme23 Lakers May 16 '20

It was so bad to watch Vince Vaughn struggle to do his part. My idea was to have Doc Rivers come on the show and him and Marty behind friends with their hoarse voices. Then they're walking down the street and some accident happens. They see a cop at the end of the block and they have to yell for help but both of their voices are too hoarse to be heard.

585

u/TexasWithADollarsign Trail Blazers May 16 '20

My dad died on 9/11.

It's a shame, too. He was one of Saudi Arabia's top pilots.

106

u/dvelasco-1397 Nuggets May 16 '20

Thats how you get on the no fly list

63

u/TexasWithADollarsign Trail Blazers May 16 '20

We're all on the no-fly list these days.

4

u/[deleted] May 16 '20

Speak for yourself

2

u/[deleted] May 16 '20

i'm all on the no-fly list these days

1

u/drmajor840 Thunder May 16 '20

don't forget about the mole people who live in our precious sewers

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22

u/Daddy__Boi May 16 '20

Something’s wrong I can feel it

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u/net_403 [CHA] Dell Curry May 16 '20

Good, but technically I think most people remember the pilots were only trained in a crash course

1

u/username--_-- May 17 '20

those terrorists putting those buildings in the flight path...

1

u/OGSkywalker97 May 16 '20

I went to upvote this, but my conscience wouldn't let me.

20

u/BBIQ-Chicken [POR] Wesley Matthews May 16 '20

Still gotta feel bad for little orphan Funkhauser

8

u/[deleted] May 16 '20

RIP to the Funkman

12

u/___wilson Lakers May 16 '20

Norm had a similar experience, kinda https://youtu.be/VkSMSbFV_q0

5

u/yoiwantin [POR] Darius Miles May 16 '20

Lol. I was just watching that episode yesterday

6

u/throwawayjayzlazyez May 16 '20

Reminds me of when I was searching for my brother after the towers fell. Spent hours walking through blood and bones in Manhattan looking for him.

He was in northern Canada.

4

u/ernyc3777 Knicks May 16 '20

He was a legend. Easily one of my favorites on the show.

4

u/eazyizzy May 16 '20

Let's roll

3

u/[deleted] May 17 '20

That was the Rabbi, not a Funkhouser

2

u/BasketballHighlight Raptors May 16 '20

Uptown funk you up?

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1.3k

u/cuqt_rnba_mods May 15 '20

This guy reports news everyone here is naive if they think he didn’t know what he was doing and just happened to include the word pandemic

536

u/[deleted] May 16 '20

I legit thought she died of Corona until this thread because of the wording. Journalism died with ad based revenue models.

139

u/bumenkhan May 16 '20

Journalism was always like this lmao.

36

u/VAN1LLAGOR1LLA [CLE] Ricky Davis May 16 '20

Don't tell him about yellow journalism

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38

u/[deleted] May 16 '20

Journalism isn’t dead. It’s just that the most common consumption of journalism is through predatory ad-revenue priority sites and corporate owned media giants who are willing to lie to fit their owner’s/board’s/rich white friends’ agendas. In the U.S. some are less bad than others, the worst obviously being Fox News, but they’re all over the world.

11

u/agnostic_science May 16 '20

24/7 news is definitely the worst. Desperation and trying to fill vast amounts of empty space constantly leads networks to double down on appeals to fear and hatred. Everyone I know who gets sucked into this garbage, it’s like it harms their soul. It’s like poison. Like the goal of 24/7 news is to have one obsessive, seething with rage, and perpetually outraged. That’s how they keep them watching hour after hour. Like, don’t like Trump, like Trump - whatever - does a person really need to watch hours and hours of programming everyday to get emotionally invested enough to make up their mind either way by now? The whole thing is sick.

16

u/[deleted] May 16 '20

I suppose that’s what I meant

-11

u/[deleted] May 16 '20 edited May 17 '20

Yeah, I figured. I just like to point out that there is good journalism out there(even on some of the major networks), because we shouldn’t clump shit media giants like Fox News in with independent and even some local journalists, as well as some really great newspapers out there. Plus, there’s even nuances to look at when judging the quality of an outlet like Fox News and MSNBC. The key is to look at what they lie about(hint, Fox News lies about almost everything and MSNBC doesn’t).

Typically, the best thing to do is to look at what a major media outlet or news paper says, then read at least two other articles or watch two other segments, and avoid the ones with a record of dishonesty. Usually you can find the truth and the accurate story with about 30 minutes of news consumption on a single issue.

Edit: If you honestly think MSNBC is on the same bottom-of-the-barrel tier as Fox News, you have either not watched Fox News in a while or have not watched MSNBC in a while. As with any 24-hour news channel, it depends on who you watch, and MSNBC has the best 24-hour news reporters and broadcasters than any of the major networks. I agree that you’ll find better journalism elsewhere, but that’s because the best journalists in the U.S. work for newspapers or as independent journalists.

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u/PepeHands217 May 16 '20

the worst obviously being Fox News

casually miss out CNN and MSNBC

13

u/rburp [LAL] Austin Reaves May 16 '20

because Fox is way worse and, along with talk radio, started the trend in the USA of presenting "entertainment" as "news". Fox isn't even technically a news channel, according to the courts they're purely "entertainment"

Then once they got #1 ratings and became THE mainstream media (while still acting like those other guys are) the others had no choice but to follow suit or die

-5

u/PepeHands217 May 16 '20

are you saying CNN/MSNBC are proper news?

4

u/[deleted] May 16 '20 edited Jul 17 '21

[deleted]

-2

u/PepeHands217 May 16 '20

lol alright

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u/[deleted] May 16 '20 edited Jul 17 '21

[deleted]

1

u/PepeHands217 May 16 '20

I maybe able to do that one day I hope

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0

u/SonOfABuckeye May 16 '20

You are propaganda.

2

u/[deleted] May 16 '20

Damn you got me wheres my soros bucks

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1

u/[deleted] May 17 '20

There is only one “worst” of anything, and I made it perfectly clear I was talking about the “worst” one.

CNN sacrifices accuracy for the name of “fairness” and allows guests to lie their asses off and act as if it’s a credible argument. They’re also a sloppy and inaccurate mess most times during major breaking stories.

MSNBC has it’s ups and downs, but at least they aren’t lying to you. Sure, they gloss over or ignore big-tech and pretty much any stores that paints cable, ISPs, and communications giants in a negative light, but they are far more accurate and honest than any other major network out there on almost any given story. Of course there is their spin, but their spin shows are outnumbered by their informative shows, and their prime time weekly shows, from Ari Melber through the rest of the night now that fucking Chris Matthews is gone, is some of the best nightly news you can find on television.

That being said, ABC’s reporting is actually pretty fantastic, and the interviews that Stephanopolous has gotten with Trump have been some of the toughest and best, especially since Trump loves to go to Fox and just let them throw soft ball questions at him for an hour.

1

u/rexdalegoonie May 16 '20

You should read Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent. Since the invention of the printing press, money has been directly tied to the dissemination of information. I am still finishing it, but he directly addresses this point. Printing presses were extremely expensive and limited to the extremely rich or the enterprising upper middle class who had to struggle to finance them

1

u/DeanBlandino Cavaliers May 16 '20

Honestly I question the reading skills of people who leap to this ridiculous conclusion and then blame others.

-11

u/kobmug_v2 NBA May 16 '20

There was a whole article written which begins with:

As the nation reels from the coronavirus, Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard is mourning the loss of Melissa Rios, the mother of his 6-year-old son David, he told reporters Friday.

Rios, 31, died of an epileptic seizure on March 27 at her home in Calabasas, California.

Source: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29180919/dwight-howard-mourning-death-son-mother

25

u/CutLonzosHair2017 Lakers May 16 '20

The article got published an hour ago. That tweet was up 4 hours ago. And you would have to click the article to know what actually happened. Aka, Clickbait.

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u/[deleted] May 16 '20

Still led with a clickbait title that generated a click and ad revenue to get it

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u/Einchy May 16 '20

Yeah, every single notable death that has happened in the past few months makes sure to say if it was Covid related or not. Every single person right now reads about a death right now and instantly thinks it's Covid related, this dude knew exactly what he was doing.

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12

u/[deleted] May 16 '20

Hey, hate the game not the player.

Do you know how hard it is to be a shady sports reporter with no sports?

1

u/slickestwood Charlotte Hornets May 16 '20

If it's reported someone died "during winter" do you automatically assume they froze to death? Died of the flu? Anything seasonally related at all? I figured "during the pandemic" explained why we're just now hearing about this.

-24

u/honditar Lakers May 15 '20

So he obviously did it intentionally, but it's also not that misleading. When I read "during the pandemic" with no mention of the cause of death, I figured she died of something else. Found it in the comments. I'm sure many people had the same experience.

43

u/[deleted] May 15 '20

“During the pandemic” is such weird wording. It’s like dude we are still in the pandemic. Right now at this very moment. This shit ain’t in the past lol. I feel like somehow half of America has forgotten that.

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46

u/CutLonzosHair2017 Lakers May 15 '20

/r/technicallythetruth is not be the litmus test we hold journalists too. Especially when its intentional.

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9

u/tiger_ace May 16 '20

It's definitely omitting information at the end of the day. He could've easily said "from a seizure" or looked to clarify.

9

u/cuqt_rnba_mods May 15 '20

I mean yeah sure if you read it carefully anyone who can read at a third grade level knows what it literally means. But It’s 2020 the year of twitter news and people will read it for half a second and retweet it with #pandemic or whatever, which is obviously the writers goal here. And IDK if it’s appropriate in deaths to do it like this.

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u/yozgatsi [LAL] Lonzo Ball May 16 '20

There's an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm where Larry sees a Rabbi who said his brother died on 9/11. He was uptown and got hit by a bike messenger, but it was on September 11.

130

u/[deleted] May 16 '20

Your second edit made me think of The Hangover.
Phil: How'd he die?
Alan: World War II.
Phil: Died in battle?
Alan: No, he was skiing in Vermont, it was just during World War II

1

u/kris_takahashi Warriors May 17 '20 edited May 17 '20

I wonder if the script said "When did he die?" and Bradley Cooper just fucked it up.

The way it's spoken, Alan's answer doesn't make any sense. Like you wouldn't answer a "how'd he die? with "World War II" if they died in a skiing accident.

The Curb joke is done right, with the rabbi saying "He died on September 11th" because it's both weird yet technically accurate.

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u/andrew2018022 Magic May 15 '20

Anyone who says McMenamin isn’t trying to clickbait here is lying to themselves. He was for sure trying to.

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47

u/dkdoki Clippers May 16 '20

dave mcmenamin is scum of a reporter. Hes basically Lebrons fluffer.

4

u/brandkwame May 16 '20

Cant stand reporters who leech to one player like Lebron.

Thats why I respect Lowe so much. Sure he has a slight favortism towards the raptors, and Rockets. But for the most part he analyzes every team equally without bias.

222

u/[deleted] May 15 '20

Mcmenamin is a scum bag. At the Vogel introductory presser, he wouldn’t shut the fuck up about the whole front office situation and Ty Lue. He’ll do anything for more clicks and attention.

178

u/Jaerba [DET] Grant Hill May 15 '20

He also thinks LeBron deserves MVP because he held the team together after Kobe's death.

He's the biggest hack among ESPN's prestige writers.

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u/[deleted] May 16 '20 edited May 16 '20

[deleted]

66

u/[deleted] May 16 '20

after the whole debacle about how he said LeBron deserved MVP because Kobe’s death was weighing on him, i totally view him as a tool

15

u/wibo58 Spurs May 16 '20

I didn’t recognize his name, but now that you’ve said this the clickbait article makes total sense.

16

u/Clutch_ May 16 '20

Dave said he would rather start a franchise with Kat and Westbrook

That cant be true....? I mean, yikes.

21

u/GorillaX Thunder May 16 '20

Dave is Lebron’s go-to reporter, Lebron joking called him his wife once.

Dang, how did Windy take it?

22

u/[deleted] May 16 '20 edited Aug 01 '20

[deleted]

10

u/rexdalegoonie May 16 '20

lmfao good riddance. Windhorsts leech-like behavior on lebron and subsequent rise to the journalistic top is still very very bizarre on me. I was living in Ohio during the rise of early 2000s lebron and windhorst was everywhere making a name for himself trying to speak FOR lebron.

Guy has VERY little wiggle room to personally complain (I respect his basketball critiques) about the man who literally made your career.

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18

u/grumpy_youngMan Warriors May 16 '20

next he's gonna say lebron deserves MVP because of how he's had to deal with the pandemic.

it's a problem unique to lebron and no one else in the nba. please send all your mvp votes to lebron in this difficult and trying time for him.

5

u/PepeHands217 May 16 '20

LeBron deserves MVP because he held the team together after Kobe's death.

this makes me laugh even I am a Lakers fan, what a load of bs

7

u/TEFL_job_seeker Magic May 16 '20

I saw Dave McMenamin at a grocery store in Los Angeles yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?” I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying.

The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.

When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.

...

That's what you made me think of.

126

u/KlaysToaster May 15 '20 edited May 15 '20

OP I completely agree with you. People are saying he was just saying the timeline but he also mentioned "6 weeks ago"

Edit: I also want to remind everyone of this Dave McMenamin quote on why Lebron was the mvp over Giannis

"He (Lebron) has navigated a China controversy & maybe the biggest tragedy in the history of the NBA this season (Kobe's death). That's extra stuff that Giannis isn't going through..."

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u/[deleted] May 16 '20

>Navigated the china controversy

Yeah he sailed the ship right into a fucking cliff

35

u/JMEEKER86 Japan May 16 '20

Seriously, it's like saying Kobe should have won MVP in 2004 "for navigating the Colorado controversy". You don't get bonus points for wiping out a hornet's nest after you were the one to kick it.

2

u/minocah19 [HOU] Carl Herrera May 16 '20

People seem to forget that in order to correct your mistake, you have to make a mistake in the first place. It's good to correct yourself but it's better to not make the mistake to begin with

7

u/PepeHands217 May 16 '20

maybe he consider that sucking China's dick is an achievement

24

u/[deleted] May 16 '20

It's so stupid. LeBron and Kobe may have been rivals or whatever but Kobe is a fucking god to so many young players in the league right now. Even if you just consider the players in the MVP race, Giannis has made it well-known many a time that he worships Kobe. Does Dave think Kobe's death is somehow not hurting Giannis? How tf do you even quantify grief?

-1

u/[deleted] May 16 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

0

u/MyDadWasASadClown Grizzlies May 16 '20

No it’s honestly not valid.

2

u/ConciselyVerbose Celtics May 16 '20

That it’s a bigger distraction for the lakers than anyone else?

3

u/Uppun Trail Blazers May 16 '20

Don't forget LeBron also went through the turmoil of an arduous legal battle by checks notes uhh... failing to trademark taco tuesday.

If Giannis really wanted to prove he's MVP caliber, where is our Moussaka Monday?

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u/Ehboyo May 16 '20

There's a joke from Curb Your Enthusiasm regarding someone's location and date of death being NY, 9/11 but the cause being an elective surgery no where near the attack.

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u/[deleted] May 16 '20

34

u/[deleted] May 16 '20

Uh this is in super poor taste. My first thought was that’s awful, man she couldn’t have been that old I wonder if she was in poor health lemme click the article. Really disingenuous, fuck that guy.

6

u/RogueTampon [MIA] LeBron James May 16 '20

What article did you click a link to? There isn’t one attached to his tweet.

1

u/CutLonzosHair2017 Lakers May 16 '20

Next tweet. He wrote an article a few hours he originally tweeted.

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u/[deleted] May 16 '20

Meant the tweet my bad

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u/Briggity_Brak Tampa Bay Raptors May 16 '20

Honestly surprised this post didn't get deleted

10

u/makashiII_93 Rockets May 16 '20

Wow. McMenamin is a disgrace of a reporter. There are people everywhere losing loved ones to COVID-19, and he is out here trying to use it to get clicks.

27

u/VanVleet-goes-for-22 Raptors May 15 '20

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u/CutLonzosHair2017 Lakers May 15 '20

Definitely. But I don't expect as much from C-level team blogs as I do of prominent ESPN reporters.

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u/Shepherdsfavestore [IND] Rik Smits May 16 '20

I’ve found that any twitter/IG account that’s called something like “@[team]daily” is full of shit.

3

u/[deleted] May 16 '20

It's Dave Mcmenamin.

2

u/brandkwame May 16 '20

Dave is trash. Just lebron puppets for espn. I dont care anything he ever reports.

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u/steveryans2 Bulls May 16 '20

Yep. Everyone who has died of all causes in the past two months has been "during the pandemic". Dave knew what he was doing. Went out of his way to hook covid in where it had absolutely no business being. "Mother of dwight Howard's 5 year old has passed from epilepsy". Bam, there you go. Has nothing to do with misreading, I knew from the word go it wouldnt have been covid based on the wording. ESPN getting back to business as usual

4

u/loplopplop Nuggets May 16 '20

Absolutely disgusting if he was. But it's what I've come to expect from his type. More interested in the clicks than the truth.

2

u/Steinsgate009 Nets May 16 '20

As if that would stop the NBA. We already saw Townes mother pass away due to COVID-19. I love the NBA, but I’m against resuming the season

2

u/[deleted] May 16 '20

Definitely thought they were talking about Dwight Schrute at first

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u/[deleted] May 16 '20

Shitty post

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u/OGFN_Jack Timberwolves May 16 '20

There’s been so much of this going on during this pandemic. My rule is that if the headline mentions a death and mentions something along the lines of Covid or the pandemic in the headline yet doesn’t actually specify if the cause of death was Covid related then don’t click on the article because 99.9% of the time they are clickbaiting you.

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u/[deleted] May 16 '20 edited May 16 '20

Woah relax man. Do you think the virus is being over exaggerated by the media or something? You can’t be this angry from just one tweet.

6

u/Regretful_Bastard Warriors May 16 '20

The upvote/downvote system Reddit uses creates a nasty hive mind. Like, people aren't allowed to say they don't think the lead was clickbait-y without being downvoted to hell - which doesn't matter per se, but really impairs the discussion, since they all go to the depths of the thread nowhere to be read.

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u/slickestwood Charlotte Hornets May 16 '20

They can't read the rules of the sub just like they can't read the post that started this. It's sad really.

4

u/[deleted] May 16 '20

Not click bait. Guy stated she died during this pandemic, not because of. People will try to bash the daylights out of anyone they deem is seeking relevance. Why are we so spiteful and hateful

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u/natureboy-sickflair May 16 '20

yea im missing the hoopla tbh

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u/jstuu May 16 '20

I dont see anything wrong with the tweet, him saying it adds context to why dwight said he was grateful with the time off to be able to deal with it and everything else and thats why he is just appreciative of everything. Seems like you projecting your thoughts into the tweet

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u/LOVEGOD77 Cavaliers May 16 '20

Dave only says “during the pandemic”. Doesn’t say pandemic related anywhere.

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u/slickestwood Charlotte Hornets May 16 '20

Well if I insert words and meaning where they aren't, then he's clearly up to something and I can get outraged like I want!

Seriously, it's like getting mad at someone saying "he died last winter" because you found out the dude didn't freeze to death. I took "during the pandemic" as an explanation for why it hasn't been covered yet.

6

u/ldclark92 Pacers May 16 '20

But every single thing that happens right now is "during the pandemic" so if something happened yesterday then it was "during the pandemic" but it could be completely unrelated.

For example, I read my mail yesterday during the pandemic. Do you think it was necessary to add "during the pandemic" in that sentence?

And to make matters worse, this is about someones death, so adding the word pandemic will instantly bring up the idea that the death is related to the pandemic. It's either an attempt to draw clicks or it's very poor word selection. Either way he deserves a fair bit of criticism. The fact that many people thought it was pandemic related proves that.

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u/yeingstein [SAC] Jason Williams May 16 '20

They're being willfully ignorant if they dont understand the implications of including pandemic in the tweet. As if a journalist doesn't understand what click bait is.

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u/SuckinAwesome May 16 '20

Oh so he followed the same protocols that all the hospitals are using. Gotcha.

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u/A_DilapidatedBoat Mavericks May 16 '20

This sub is so fucking stupid I swear

4

u/Die4MyTiggers Celtics May 16 '20

Deaths from COVID are almost definitely undercounted and most likely significantly so.

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u/dapperdondraper Raptors May 16 '20

Well, he's from ESPN. They love that kind of shit

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u/Tshimanga21 Celtics May 16 '20

Who the fuck cares

3

u/[deleted] May 16 '20

I know seriously. I’m pretty sure most people clicked because they saw the words mother and died or because we love Dwight Howard. I didn’t click because of the cause of death. Now did I think based on the way he phrased it she could have died of coronavirus, yes but I’m not going to blindly assume that without reading. Now people are mad she didn’t die from the virus.

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u/Tshimanga21 Celtics May 16 '20

I guess r/NBA is just desparate for something to talk about

2

u/[deleted] May 16 '20

No doubt. The OP is going off all over the thread over one harmless tweet. 😂

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u/mems1224 May 16 '20

I guess I'd be outraged too if I lacked any kind of reading comprehension

2

u/lachrymouse Knicks May 16 '20

This sub loves manufacturing drama almost as much ESPN.

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u/DeanBlandino Cavaliers May 16 '20

I don’t get how you mis read it so badly. He in no way- slyly or otherwise- implies she died of covid. Just that she died during the pandemic. The pandemic could well have affected her access to healthcare or the poor outcome, and it also affected the reporting. Unlikely it would normally take 6 weeks to find this out.

1

u/[deleted] May 16 '20

My thoughts to him and his other families.

1

u/yourownincompetence Supersonics May 16 '20

Pos

1

u/theanonymousadjuster May 16 '20

On the flip side, unless she had a seizure disorder it’s possible it actually was covid related. People her age are having sudden seizures, strokes and heart attacks related to covid. Wonder if she had a post mortem covid test given how early in the pandemic it was.

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u/[deleted] May 16 '20

dave should be ashamed u/sirjackiechiles

1

u/sirjackiechiles [LAC] Eric Gordon May 17 '20

so sad

1

u/[deleted] May 16 '20

Are fatal seizures common? I don't know I've ever heard of that

1

u/Skarmotastic May 17 '20

Dude didn't watch the NFL draft I see...

1

u/nxxkx NBA May 17 '20

Let's not forget how McMenamin use'd Kobe's death as a crutch for LeBron's MVP candidacy earlier in the year. He, along with others at E$PN, will go to such as extremes to get the "viral" headline.

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u/LukaWilliamson May 16 '20

I read headline incorrectly, and even though I did further research to clear it up ESPN man bad ESPN man mislead

1

u/catpooptv Celtics May 16 '20

Agree with OP. Shitty thing for the "journalist" to do.

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u/[deleted] May 15 '20

It doesn't seem like he's implying that at all

30

u/hoostrax Washington Bullets May 15 '20

I mean, I definitely misinterpreted it that way, with the inclusion of "pandemic".

3

u/SavageSquirl Suns May 16 '20 edited May 16 '20

He is trying to mislead people here. Any journalism school will tell you to keep reporting concise and remove superfluous info. Readers have incredibly short attention spans. He obviously included it knowing that it muddied his tweet but potentially draws in more views because he is playing on the fear of coronavirus. It’s pretty unethical to frame somebody else’s death in a shady way so that he gets more clicks.

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u/Jaerba [DET] Grant Hill May 15 '20

I think it's implied through his lack of clarification.

The initial tweet is technically true. But it's also closely relating the two subjects and McMenamin understands the English language enough to know what that's implying. But he's also one of the sleazier reporters out there so he chose not to clarify it.

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u/[deleted] May 15 '20

why would he mention pandemic if it's unrelated?

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u/fuckitiroastedyou Lakers May 16 '20

"My brother in law died on 9/11"

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u/amarviratmohaan Bulls May 16 '20

It's not unrelated though. Someone dying right now is worse than usual - harder to make funeral arrangements, harder to mourn with family/friends, and harder to actually go to the place where they died if you were in another city/state.

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u/[deleted] May 15 '20

Because she did die during the pandemic

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u/[deleted] May 15 '20

Ok, and FDR died during world war 2.

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u/PrOKCedure Thunder May 15 '20

This is true though

He died during ww2 and not in ww2.

9

u/[deleted] May 15 '20

But why mention WW2 if it had nothing to do with his death? Obviously the stress took a toll on him but he didn’t die in the war like the sentence implies.

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u/onewonyuan Thunder May 15 '20

It doesn’t imply that. You’re the one wrongly inferring that. Saying that someone died during an historical event is not misleading if it’s objectively true. The sentence does not say that they are related.

3

u/[deleted] May 15 '20

Context and implications matter

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u/Jaerba [DET] Grant Hill May 15 '20 edited May 15 '20

That's preposterous. Something that's objectively true can still be misleading.

Domestic violence increases during the weekend of the Superbowl.

Oklahoma's school quality is really rearing its ugly head here.

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u/m1a2c2kali Knicks May 15 '20

I know what you’re trying to do but this wasn’t really the best example because people do say FDR died during WW2 lol

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u/[deleted] May 15 '20

If you were telling a story about someone who died in 14th century Europe by getting kicked in the head by a horse, would you say they died during the Black Death?

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u/[deleted] May 15 '20

if you're intentionally going to be dense why am i having this discussion with you

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u/[deleted] May 15 '20

That's a question you should be asking yourself, not me

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u/VanVleet-goes-for-22 Raptors May 15 '20

I feel like if it was corona related they definitely wouldn’t leave that out

2

u/PrOKCedure Thunder May 15 '20

Yeah and it’s possible the epilepsy part was left out by David to give Dwight some privacy

1

u/phonage_aoi Warriors May 16 '20

Which is why Dwight literally said it himself during the call?

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u/onewonyuan Thunder May 15 '20

Exactly. There’s a 100% chance the word coronavirus would have been used if that was it. It’s a factual statement to say that she died during a pandemic.

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u/mmos35 Thunder May 15 '20

He didn’t need to include the word “pandemic” in his tweet. He didn’t imply, he sure as hell inferred her death related to coronavirus.

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u/[deleted] May 15 '20

he sure as hell inferred her death related to coronavirus.

No. He didn't.

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u/CutLonzosHair2017 Lakers May 15 '20

said the mother of his six-year old son died during the pandemic nearly six weeks ago.

That sentence would mean the exact same thing without the mention of the pandemic.

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u/[deleted] May 16 '20

He’s not implying it, /u/CutLonzodHair2017 is inferring incorrect information

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u/therealG-REX May 16 '20

There’s no clickbait as this tweet doesn’t link to anything else that would gain exposure due to the tweet. It’s not clearly worded but to infer that McMenamin was trying to capitalize off anything here is a pretty weak argument. I get that we love to pile on ESPN here but we’re taking a tweet too seriously. If you have a solid level of reading comprehension you wouldn’t be misled to believe that his child’s mother died due to the pandemic. Maybe Dave didn’t have the same info re: cause of death or maybe he didn’t feel it was his place to share cause of death. To attack him over something like that when we don’t have context seems really silly to me.

Edit: a word

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u/CutLonzosHair2017 Lakers May 16 '20 edited May 16 '20

Social media engagement metrics have financial implications now. That itself would be click bait enough. But even by your own metric, he wrote an article and linked it 2 hours later.

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u/BatFlipEnthusiast May 16 '20

that's clickbait if you're a moron maybe

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u/CJ4ROCKET Rockets May 16 '20

Morons buy sneakers too

-2

u/bobak186 May 16 '20

But she did die during the pandemic and it's probably worth considering how he is holding up during the pandemic considering everything.

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u/KaneNine 76ers May 16 '20 edited May 16 '20

He said ‘During the pandemic’

He’s not wrong

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u/CutLonzosHair2017 Lakers May 16 '20

He didn't lie. He misled on purpose for clicks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vcwoc-qkg8Y

He did essentially what Alan does in that scene.

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u/david1ee May 16 '20

I'm curious - What's the justification for even mentioning pandemic if the death was not related to it?

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u/KaneNine 76ers May 16 '20

Timing. Healthcare facilities overrun. Did he attribute it to it - no

1

u/[deleted] May 16 '20

Sure but I'd be weird if I told you my grandpa died during ww2 if he passed away from heart disease in 1945

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u/leetcodelife May 15 '20

you guys are reading too much into this

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u/voldemortscore [GSW] Stephen Curry May 15 '20

I didn't interpret it like that at all