Agree to disagree. That hypothetical clause in the passage is about Raya being down:

And for whatever reason, there might be a day where he’s down and even though I’m suffering and hurting for not playing, I have to stand up and be able to push him.

I read that as the same as saying

even though I’m suffering and hurting for not playing, there might be a day where he’s down for whatever reason and I have to stand up and be able to push him.

So, I don’t think the headline really warps the passage significantly.

a provocative “I don’t like this get me out of here now” sense.

I don’t think the headline implies that.

In any case, it’s certainly much too harsh to say they’re “making shit up”