Frightening Grant Wahl news

It's awful no matter how he died, but apparently super healthy 17 year old athletes die from undiagnosed issues often enough that it isn't shocking, so perhaps we should wait for more information.

 

Two places, maybe: murder or a heart attack. Both tragic.

 

Yeah, no need to jump to conclusions. This was yesterday.

 

Apparently Wednesday was his birthday.

 

I've shared many press boxes with Grant Wahl over the years. I can only hope the story of his death is as well reported as what he wrote in life.

From his wife, Dr. Celine Gounder, who is a rock star in her own right:

 

Killed? killed?!! What in the actual fuck?

 

@Inky_Wretch makes a good point that he did not tweet during extra time or the shootout of the NED-ARG game. To bring it over here for good (my post was in the wrong thread), the "while" in the NPR tweet does a lot of work, though if he were literally in the press box, it stands to reason that it would at least be less likely that he was out and out murdered. But we should probably leave that to the cops, or maybe the US State Department. Fuck.

 

From the AP first lede, which also reports that he was "stricken while in the media tribune":


He wrote Monday that he had visited a hospital while in Qatar.

“My body finally broke down on me. Three weeks of little sleep, high stress and lots of work can do that to you,” Wahl wrote. “What had been a cold over the last 10 days turned into something more severe on the night of the USA-Netherlands game, and I could feel my upper chest take on a new level of pressure and discomfort. I didn’t have Covid (I test regularly here), but I went into the medical clinic at the main media center today, and they said I probably have bronchitis. They gave me a course of antibiotics and some heavy-duty cough syrup, and I’m already feeling a bit better just a few hours later. But still: No bueno.”

 

He wore a rainbow shirt to a game and nearly got arrested for it. These qatari fucks have had it out for him from the start.

 

It is hard to believe this is a coincidence.

 

Fuck that shit. Nobody gets the benefit of the doubt.
If he had died covering matches and being critical of governments in St. Louis or Rome or Sydney, I'd say, OK.
This? No way. If he had committed suicide on livestream with a hand written note in Qatar, I'd still call bullshit.

 

His wife: