On Friday morning, MLB USA Today reporter Bob Nightengale tweeted several quotes from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Orange County, California manager Joe Maddon, talking about COVID-19 and the players who could choose not to participate in the 2020 season.
Here’s a screenshot of Nightengale’s now-deleted tweet that caused Twitter to point its gallows at Joe Maddon, where Maddon apparently said that if a player doesn’t think they can play amid a pandemic, they should choose not to participate.
Yes, that did not go well at all.
The only problem is that Maddon was not referring to the players who were not playing, he was referring to the fact that they could not follow the protocols.
Two hours later, Nightengale tweeted her story with Maddon’s full quotes, which includes much of that important context.
“Everyone talks about high risk and those types of people who choose not to participate,” says Joe Maddon, “for me, the person who should choose not to participate is the person who does not want to follow the protocols of a T to any age, at any risk. (more) https://t.co/1dKpqaeRWx
– Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) July 3, 2020
(More Maddon): “That has not been promoted enough. If you do not think from heart to heart that you could do all this, the way we need you to do all this, you are the person who should choose not to participate.” Maddon wants his players to be ultra responsible. “
– Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) July 3, 2020
And here is the full passage from the story itself, which makes Maddon’s comments not only reasonable, but completely alters the meaning of Nightengale’s initial tweet.
“Every organization really needs to beef up its bubble,” says Maddon, “and that is what we are trying to do. We ask that you be the best version of yourself and that you be the best teammate you have ever had. We need follow the protocols and be the best teammate. ”
And, if you don’t want to follow safety and health protocols, Maddon said, you must choose not to participate.
“Everyone talks about high risk and those types of people who choose not to participate,” says Maddon, “for me, the person who should choose not to participate is the person who does not want to follow the protocols of a T to any age at any risk. That has no bene [sic] promoted enough.
“If from heart to heart you don’t think you could do all of this, the way we need you to do all of this, you are the person who should choose not to participate.”
Nightengale’s initial tweet omitted “a T at any age” and “the way we need you to do all of this,” and provided no context for Maddon’s quotes in previous or subsequent tweets, surrounding the quote with an article. like Mike Trout’s comments about playing in 2020 and a note about Gerrit Cole and his wife welcoming their first child to the world.
In the grand scheme of things, sports are insignificant. Except on very rare occasions, ruining a quote from a sports figure in a tweet isn’t going to cause a national panic or a worldwide incident. But if you’re a reporter with as much experience as Bob Nightengale, who works for a national outlet like USA Today, you have to do better. Not only is he ruining his own credibility, but he’s dragging the reputation of whoever is dating contextlessly through the mud.
