Niners Nation After Dark: John Steigerwald Is A Poor Excuse For A Writer

Welcome to Niners Nation After Dark, where I've been in a bit of a huff today. I realize this is a 49ers blog, but I wanted to use this time slot to express my disdain regarding a horrible piece of "journalism." For those that don't follow baseball in general or the San Francisco Giants in particular, you may not have heard the story of Brian Stow. In the Giants season-opening series with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Stow was down at Dodger Stadium wearing a Giants jersey in support of his team. Upon leaving the game he was attacked in the parking lot and is now in a medically-induced coma.

Much has been made of the attacks but earlier today I came across arguably the most heinous response to this attack. John Steigerwald, a writer for the Observer-Reporter in Pennsylvania, decided Stow was somewhat to blame for this attack because he was wearing a Giants jersey to Dodger stadium:

Maybe someone can ask Stow, if he ever comes out of his coma, why he thought it was a good idea to wear Giants' gear to a Dodgers' home opener when there was a history of out-of-control drunkenness and arrests at that event going back several years.

Steigerwald takes people to task for wearing jerseys to games if they're past a certain age. I know some folks agree with that idea, and I'm perfectly fine with that. The problem I have is basically laying a certain amount of blame on Stow simply because he was wearing his Giants jersey.

Had Stow been yelling and taunting Dodgers fans, maybe then some blame would fall his way, much like any other instance where somebody is inciting violence. But to blame him for nothing more than wearing the jersey? How is that a remotely responsible position to take in this article?

If you are not offended by this article so be it. But if you are offended by what is truly a heinous piece of "journalism" I encourage you to email the editors of the Observer-Reporter to express your displeasure with their decision to publish this article. As per the Contact Us page on their website, you can reach Sports Editor Chris Dugan at dugan@observer-reporter.com.

I've already emailed him and I am encouraging everybody I know to email him with their disgust over this article.