San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow was brutally beaten into a coma outside of Dodger Stadium, and his story has been a circus of tributes and accusations. He’s a single father with two children currently in elementary school, and he can’t do much about that now. Ex-Giant Barry Bonds has offered to pay for the college education of Stow’s kids.
Where can you read about this story? ESPN? No. Sports Illustrated? CBS has the story buried under the fold on their homepage. Yahoo Sports has it somewhere in the middle of the page, but not under their headlines. The most informative version of the story I’ve found so far is from the Business Insider sports page, and they spell Stow’s name as “Brian” instead of “Bryan.” THAT story links to “nbcbayarea.com.” Not MLB.com.
There’s a bigger point I’m trying to make here, and I’m not sure I’ve got enough gravitas as a sports writer for it to matter. I’ll let Jimmy Traina give it a try.
Bottom line: If Tebow donated the [money], how do you think these sites would play the story?
They certainly wouldn’t be waiting for comedy blogs to write about it. I’d already have a 1200 x 800 high-definition image of Tebow handing an oversized check to Stow’s kids. The fact that Barry Bonds did steroids, or lied about doing steroids, or is a jerk has nothing to do with a story like this. He’s doing a kind thing, because he’s able to, and because it should be done. If we have to bash him for it anyway, so be it, I guess. Just report it. It’s got to be more important than Kim Kardashian.
