It was suggested the penalty for grabbing a hammer could be relaxed but I think its a big part of no hammer and I wouldn't mind it being a DQ so if your opponent is dead and your still playing there is still some danger!
I was the one who suggested that. I was thinking about it on my ride to work. Although it didn't affect me this year (in tournament nor in practice), I still feel the penalty is excessive.
For a single player (world record attempt), I think immediate disqualification is the right penalty. However for a single elimination head-to-head match, I feel differently. In every head-to-head sport I can think of, an excessive penalty/disqualification would require one or more of the following:
-
intentional violation of the rules (a pitcher using pine tar, an athlete using steroids)
- a violation where
no "fair" penalty can be easily applied. (running out of your lane in a 100m sprint)
-
unsportsmanlike conduct or
unsafe behavior (roughing the kicker in NFL)
Grabbing the hammer in a head-to-head NH match violates none of these. Having the player immediately kill themselves off after a hammer grab offsets the violation fairly.
That's just my opinion. At the same time, I don't feel the current rule is that horrendous. I wonder how ChrisP feels about this.
