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Corey Maciel Relives Horror of Opening Night at Dodgers Stadium
It’s been nearly two weeks since Brian Stow was beaten outside Dodgers Stadium on opening day of the new baseball season. For what? Just being a fan of the rival San Francisco Giants. There are still no arrests to my knowledge, but at least Stow is in stable condition and on the road recovery. His friend Corey Maciel was with Stow when the horrific incident occurred at the hands of a couple of thugs, and he joined the air in LA to tell the story about what happened. Maciel joined ESPN Radio Los Angeles to talk about being on an emotional rollercoaster since his friend was attacked, what the mood at Dodgers Stadium was like on opening day, what exactly happened, how long it took help to arrive, how he doesn’t consider the attackers Dodgers fans or baseball fans, and how he’s in no way interested in revenge, just his friend getting better and out of the hospital. How are you doing?“I’m hanging in there. every day there are good minutes, bad minutes, the emotional rollercoaster that a traumatic event like this brings out. Brian and myself and two of my other best friends there. We knew we were going to get heckled, that’s just the way it goes.”
On what was it like in the Stadium that day?
“It was pretty hostile. Just walking up to the stadium it was intimidating, to say the least. There were a lot of Dodgers fans angry that we were there, got things thrown at us the whole time we were there, peanuts, hot dogs, wrappers, which we also expected.
On feelings toward Dodger fans:
“We appreciate the reaction we’re getting from the City of LA and the Dodgers organization. As family and friends of Brian, we don’t hold any animosity towards Dodgers fans. We don’t even regard these guys as Dodger fans. They’re criminals.”
So what happened?
We were walking out and the mood definitely changed from intimidating to hostile once we got into the parking lot. We were actually out there, we were saying great game, shaking some Dodgers fans’ hands. There were some that were yelling profanities and just being rowdy, that’s how it started. We were honestly just trying to get out of there with our heads down and our tails between our legs because it turned from intimidating to hostile and we were uncomfortable and wanted out of there. There was an initial encounter with these two guys[the suspects]. Brian and I were walking side and talking, not even about the game, about work I think. Somebody pushed Brian, this guy came out from behind the car and pushed Brian into me. I grabbed Brian and rolled away. We kept walking. Then at that point, my older brother Matt intercepted a punch on the cheek that was meant for Brian by the same guy that had pushed Brian. We all kept walking. we didn’t say anything. We just knew we needed to get out of there, we need to avoid this confrontation. About five minutes later, they came up from behind us and they caught us when we were all a little bit spread out. I never saw it coming. My other friend Jeff got hit in the mouth and Brian got hit from behind, he got hit in the side of the head and never saw it coming. Honestly, I didn’t want to get too detailed, but I think everybody should know that he was unconscious before he ever hit the ground.”
How long did it take for help to arrive?
“Hard to say. From a work experience, but when you’re in a situation like that time slows down. What is probably minutes, feels like hours. But if I had to guess, it was probably
If you could send a message to Giants fans tonight who are going to be at the park tonight:
“We don”t consider these guys that attacked us Dodger fans. These guys are criminals. We were there at Dodger Stadium because we love the game of baseball. We love the Giants. We love the game. I can’t say any more than that. There’s no need for an innocent person to end up in the hospital over something like this. There’s never any reason to escalate this rivalry to violence, especially tonight. We’re not looking for revenge. All that matters is that Brian gets better and walks out of that hospital.”
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