When pictures are taken of blatant penalties (a bunch in the face, a low block, an elbow to the gut, a hit with a helmet) and they are posted and glorified by the photographer and/or the league.
It signifies one of more of the following:
- The photographer doesn't understand the rules
- The photographer doesn't respect the rules
- The league doesn't understand or respect the rules
And it leads to:
- People thinking that elbowing someone in the eye (insert other penalty here) at a game is legal
- People thinking that elbowing someone in the eye at a game is cool
- People thinking that derby is about elbowing people in the eye
- The skater looking like an idiot (even if she isn't and it was a totally rare thing that she/he got called for and never does again)
- The sport seeming less legit
Penalties happen. Of course they do. If they didn't, we wouldn't need herds of zebras.
What shouldn't happen is the glorification of these penalties. It doesn't matter if it's a pretty picture, it's doing the league, skater, photographer, and sport a disservice.
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