Football has a penalty called “illegal motion” which is when an offensive player is in forward motion before the ball is snapped.
Speaking of offensive, there’s a contest currently being run by a Photoshop magazine (not affiliated with Adobe). The contest winner gets to pretend they’re a pro photographer on the sidelines at a USA college football game. The contest is open only to amateurs.
The prize is “a dream sports assignment of a lifetime” and includes: the winner will be loaned the necessary gear (with which they probably have no experience using); they will go to the stadium’s media room to get a “big spread of all kinds of food”, a “full blown buffet”; they will “mingle with other media folks”; and finally, the winner gets a media pass to shoot on the sidelines.
Maybe it’s just me, but this is insulting to pro photographers and demeaning to the sports media. This is the kind of stunt that makes people think professional sports photography is just a game or a joke. Walk in from the street, stuff your face with free food, hang around on the sidelines and then go home. This is not even close to the real thing.
The contest organizers state that the only people eligible to enter are those who do not have access to to sidelines. That should be the tip-off right there. If they’re not allowed access in the first place, then there’s probably a reason why.
Why give media passes to non-media people? It defeats the purpose. The sidelines are already crowded with people busy working for a living.
But then again, maybe it’s just me.
