Tragedy nearly struck Patriots quarterback at the Jan. 20 Patriots v. Chiefs game. This tragedy came in the form of a Chiefs fan with a high-powered laser pointer directed at Brady’s face, trying to distract and potentially stun him. Both the Chiefs and Patriots agreed to ban the offending audience member from the Arrowhead Stadium for life, as well as press charges under the Kansas City District, according to CBS Sports.

Arguably, Tom Brady is one of the best quarterbacks of all time. Whether you like him or not, he has the most Super Bowl rings in the entire NFL. As a quarterback, one of the most important positions, he has truly risen to be an outstanding player who takes on a role that his team would otherwise fail without. It is easy to see why someone would want to disable him during a game to help out their favorite team. The culprit, who has not been named, thought he was doing his team a favor by trying to get them a victory against the Patriots, but was turned against by both teams who agreed to give him what CBS Sports writer Sean Wagner-McGough is calling the “maximum penalty.”

As one of the most controversial quarterbacks in the NFL, it is no surprise that someone tried to sabotage him. Starting way back in 2015, Tom Brady has been a major target of hate. The ‘Deflategate’ controversy that centered around Brady was one of the biggest football scandals of the decade, landing him in exceedingly hot water. Regardless, attempting to blind a quarterback is far from moral, and is an act that is being appropriately punished.

The penalty itself is nowhere near excessive. Laser researcher Charles Cobb says “[the laser pointer]  is enough [that], if it hits the retina of the eye for just a short period of time, it could cause [permanent] damage to the retina.”

The situation itself sounds like something out of a movie, but sadly, it’s real life. As fortunate as it is that no damage was done to Brady, it’s still sad that anyone in the audience would even consider harming a professional player for their chosen team’s gain.