It's quite rare that I'll write something and call for someone's job as a result of something they've written -- hypocrisy lurks around the corner at every turn for most writers. But John Steigerwald, a columnist for the Observer Reporter in Pennsylvania, should probably sit these next few columns out.
That's because, In an indefensible decision, Steigerwald penned a column in which he blamed Bryan Stow -- the Giants fan who was attacked by Dodgers fans after the season opener, obviously -- for his own fate -- a coma! -- because he decided to do the "juvenile" thing and wear a Giants jersey to Chavez Ravine.
Maybe someone can ask Snow, 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.
And yes, he misspelled Stow's last name throughout the entire piece, which was entitled, "Know when you've outgrown the uniform" -- and which probably passes for the most reprehensible piece of opinion writing in memory.
Discovered by Jimmy Traina of Sports Illustrated (who called it "one of the worst columns ever"), this Observer-Reporter piece is quickly gaining steam across the Internet, having piled up about four times as many views -- they're noted at the top of the page -- in the past hour as it received since it was published on Sunday.
Look, there are many different view points that a writer can take on many different issues in the world of sports writing. But when a fan gets beaten by two other fans to the point that he's put in the hospital in a coma, there is only one attitude to take towards that fan and his family: sympathy.
Anything less is an insult to Stow, an insult to sports fans, an insult to readers and, frankly, kind of inhumane.
The comments below the article indicate as much, and with the vitriolic traction that the article's gaining, don't be surprised if it disappears before too long.
The same could, quite possibly, be said for John Steigerwald, who should probably make it a quick point to donate some of his salary to the Bryan Stow Foundation.
