“Be Like Mike” was a long-running Nike campaign centered on NBA superstar Michael Jordan. It’s safe to assume that current Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone was adamantly opposed to that direction.
Saturday night, the Nuggets were taking on the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA Playoffs and ESPN’s Cassidy Hubbarth interviewed Malone before the start of the fourth quarter. At the time, the Nuggets trailed and it’s understandable that the coach wasn’t super-excited about having to do an interview while he could be game-planning. Perhaps that agitation was what led him to immediately correct Hubbarth when she referred to him as Mike Malone.
Michael Malone apparently doesn't like being called "Mike Malone", corrected Cassidy Hubbarth during interview https://t.co/RrnFIxyzUN
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) May 23, 2021
Hubbarth was all-pro in her response, offering apologies and telling Malone that she will “get that right here in the playoffs” before launching back into her question.
Hubbarth also took to Twitter after the game to offer up another apology on the call.
When you call Michael Malone Mike…
Sorry coach!! I get it. I’m not Cassie. pic.twitter.com/q9ovbZtctS— Cassidy Hubbarth (@CassidyHubbarth) May 23, 2021
There seemed to be two competing reactions to the moment. On one hand, that if we assume Michael Malone doesn’t like being called Mike and it’s been a thorn in his side for some reason, then he has the right to correct someone when they refer to him as such.
It’s MICHAEL Malone not Mike Malone. Put some Respek on his name!! @nuggets pic.twitter.com/LjAbfTT0Gy
— A$AP-Raw B (@RobbieLight_02) May 23, 2021
I’ve never felt a tweet more… My Name Is Michael Not Mike! https://t.co/7ZxXINm39Y
— Michael Reeves (@RenoReeves) May 23, 2021
His name is Michael, he refers to himself as Michael. It’s not hard to call him by what he goes by.
— Kate Limit Exceeded (@KateBDoll) May 23, 2021
On the other hand, it was a fairly benign thing that could have been corrected after the fact and it was kinda rude because no malice was intended.
https://twitter.com/ogbillybatson/status/1396321984460378114?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1396321984460378114%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbrobible.com%2Fsports%2Farticle%2Fespn-cassidy-hubbarth-michael-malone-mike-interview%2F
Yuck. My name is Michael. People call me Mike all the time. Who gives a shit. I understand being upset if people refuse to learn how to pronounce your name or something like that but this is annoying.
— Michael Gatti (@chattigatti) May 23, 2021
There’s also the subtext at play of a man correcting a woman that exists whether that was intentional or not. Some also pointed out that Malone sure didn’t seem to feel the need to correct Gregg Popovich when he referred to him as “Mikey.”
At least you didn’t call him Mikey 😅 pic.twitter.com/iBhPWmoyuS
— Erick M (@bullfanatic894) May 23, 2021
The problem now for Malone is that he’s made it clear that he dislikes being called Mike Malone. And you can be sure that Portland fans are well aware of that fact thanks to him, especially after winning Game 1.
We need to make sure the Blazers crowd chants "Mike Malone" at Game Three on Thursday….. @PinwheelEmpire retweet to get the word out pic.twitter.com/kuBu77Ewnd
— Joe Fischer III (@JoeFisch3) May 23, 2021
https://twitter.com/PDXpain/status/1396321611783950339
Sorry, Michael.
