There is no reason to ever fear for your safety at a sporting event, but sometimes fans take rivalries too seriously and someone gets hurt. This is exactly what happened to Cubs fan Steven Rebenda. He decided to go experience a Cubs-White Sox matchup, but did so in what he thought was the most careful way possible, and despite this, Rebenda claims three White Sox fans started bullying him.
“I had a White Sox shirt on and a Cubs hat,” Rebenda said. “I mean, I’m a Cubs fan, but I wasn’t going to go all in Cubs gear. I know better than that.”
“They kind of surrounded me in a little triangle and were running their mouths,” he said. “I noticed one guy down here playing with his hand a little bit.”
“Next thing I know I get sucker punched in the face,” he said.
Rebenda suffered a detached pupil, a fractured globe and six stitches to his left eye.
He says he wants to bring it to the public’s attention to ensure the safety of every fan — not just the visiting team’s.
“I just don’t want this to happen to anybody else,” he explained.
“I think this is ridiculous. Everybody is trying to make this about, ‘Oh he’s just a Cubs fan trying to get PR.’ This isn’t about the Cubs. Or the Sox. This just shouldn’t have happened in the first place.”
At just 28 years old, Rebenda nearly lost his sight over a sports rivalry by some crazed fans. The White Sox say there are looking into the incident further with Chicago police and Rebenda’s family, but the reality is that we hear about fan against fan violence too many times. Security at games have increased over the years, but the question now is whether or not it’s enough. The last thing that fans need to worry about preventing them from supporting their teams is the worry that their lives are at risk if they go to a game in a certain jersey or team memorabilia.
[h/t Sporting News]