5th Annual (2008 Version) Celebrity Death Pool!
 

It is almost that time... Have you all been making your lists and checking them twice?

Here are the rules for the uninitiated:

(Same rules as last year.)

*Each player submits 10 celebrity picks to me via PM (do not post them here).

*I will be the final arbitor as to whether someone qualifies as a celebrity. If you have a local celebrity that you wish to pick, or someone who I might not be familiar with, please include an explanation of why the person should qualify as famous for me. The TM anti-Earl Woods rule is in effect this year - no one qualifies as being a celebrity just because they popped out a famous kid. Also death row inmates, Michael Jackson's accuser, etc. do not qualify.

*All picks should be submitted to me by December 31, 2007 at 11:30 p.m. EST.

*Death Pool will begin on January 1, 2008 at 12:01 a.m. EST. Pool will close December 31, 2008 at midnight EST.

*I will post a listing of all picks here once they have been tabulated. If you wish to pick anyone of questionable celebrity status, get your list to me early to make sure I accept all picks.

*Ties in final number of deaths picked will battle it out in the Hank Chinaski tiebreaker, which will measure the difference between the ages of the celebrities picked and 100. Celebrities over 100 will not garner tied players any points in the tiebreaker. The younger the dead celebrity, the more points! So go for it and pick Prince Harry if you care to. Or an Olsen twin.

*In the event of any need for rules clarification, I will post those here. In the event of any dispute as to how the rules should work, I will have the final say. Though I may solicit opinions of pool entrants.

*If you pick someone and they die before the pool period starts, you may resubmit a new entry, but no geezer who drops before the beginning time of the pool will count as a hit for you (though if on you 2007 pool list, they wil count in that pool).

*I can't promise that I will catch every single celebrity death during the year, so I urge each of you to watch for stories confirming the death of your selected celebrities. If I miss a published death, just shoot me an e-mail with a link and I'll post the hit on this board.

*Winner gets no monetary reward. What do you think this is - a greedy associates board? But you do get to boast about it for all of calendar year 2009. Boasting is always fun!

*Person (or people) with the fewest hits during the year will grab the Angel of Mercy title.

*In case you care, here is the rundown of winners of prior Celebrity Death Pools:

2004 - Fugee
2005 - barely legal
2006 - Mr. Man
2007 - ?? (I think tmdiva is currently in the lead)

*Have fun and good luck!

ncs

Picks Due Soon!
 

Just a reminder. Picks are due Monday night! I have 11 entries so far (self and Mr. Man included). Don't be late.

Here they are, your death pool picks...
 

In no particular order:

SlaveNoMore
1. Billy Graham
2. Kirk Douglas
3. Olivia De Havilland
4. Ernest Borgnine
5. John Forsythe
6. Les Paul
7. Yitzhak Shamir
8. Eli Wallach
9. Karl Malden
10. Betty Ford

LessinSF
1. Fidel Castro
2. Jack Kevorkian
3. Ariel Sharon
4. Billy Graham
5. Oral Roberts
6. Amy Winehouse
7. Mark Felt
8. Pete Domenici
9. Osama Bin Laden
10. John Wooden

Hank Chinaski
1. Kirk Douglas
2. Tony Bennett
3. Walter Cronkite
4. Abe Vigoda
5. Nanette Fabray
6. Pauline Phillips (retired Dear Abby)
7. Jack Lalane
8. Peter O'Toole
9. Bob Feller
10. Jim Nabors

bold_n_brazen
1. Abe Vigoda
2. Kirk Douglas
3. John Wooden
4. Les Paul
5. Dick Clark
6. Harry Morgan
7. Bob Barker
8. Billy Graham
9. Mohammed Ali
10. Karl Malden

tmdiva Angel of Death 2007
1. Karl Malden
2. Charlton Heston
3. Billy Graham
4. Fidel Castro
5. Mark Felt
6. John Wooden
7. Ariel Sharon
8. Zsa Zsa Gabor
9. Tony Snow
10. Cyd Charisse

Flinty_McFlint
1. Darryl Strawberry
2. Kirk Douglas
3. Fidel Castro
4. Marion Suge Knight
5. Pat Robertson
6. Charlton "Cold Dead Hands" Heston
7. Yoko Ono
8. Dick Clark
9. John "Lavin didn't kill me" Wooden
10. Lindsay Lohan

learnedmano
1. Mickey Rooney
2. Robert Byrd
3. Karl Malden
4. Robert McNamara
5. Dick Van Dyke
6. Barbara Billingsley
7. Ernest Borgnine
8. Phyllis Diller
9. Mike Wallace
10. Amy Winehouse

barely_legal Angel of Death 2005
1. Kirk Douglas
2. Albert Hofmann (discovered LSD)
3. Fidel Castro
4. Ariel Sharon
5. Ernest Borgnine
6. Barbara Billingsley
7. Farrah Fawcett
8. Estelle Getty
9. Jack Kevorkain
10. Suzanne Pleshette

Miss Maine
1. Bob Barker
2. Dick Clark
3. Dick Cheney
4. Kirk Douglas
5. Farrah Fawcett
6. John Forsythe
7. Jerry Lewis
8. Andy Rooney
9. Margaret Thatcher
10. Amy Winehouse

Not Bob
1. Lindsey "James Dean Memorial Car Crash" Lohan
2. Abe "Yes, finally I *am* dead" Vigoda
3. John Wooden
4. Nelson Mandela
5. Kirk "No, I'm Spartacus!" Douglas
6. Jimmy Carter
7. Liza "Liza with a Z, not Lisa with an S" Minelli
8. George Steinbrenner
9. Mohammed Ali
10. Jerry Lewis

Diane_Keaton
1. President of Haiti, Rene Preval
2. President of Guinea, Lansana Conté
3. President of Cuba, Fidel Castro
4. Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah, former Emir of Kuwait & Crown Prince
5. Nepal Prime Minister, Girija Prasad Koirala
6. Pakistan President, General Pervez Musharraf
7. Israel Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon
8. Mahmoud al-Zahar - Hamas Chief
9. Soupy Sales
10. Peter O'Toole

Jack Manfred
1. Fidel Castro (cigar and beard afficianado)
2. Billy Graham (Larry King guest actually older than Larry King)
3. Olivia De Havilland (actress/plaintiff)
4. Oral Roberts (evangelist/inspiration to MC 900 Foot Jesus)
5. Betty Ford (ex-pill popper)
6. Barbara Billingsley (jive-talker)
7. Zsa Zsa Gabor (ur-Paris Hilton)
8. Nancy Reagan (sloganeer/astrology buff)
9. Liza Minelli (gay icon)
10. Ricardo Montalban (leather afficianado)

Sparklehorse
1. Kirk Douglas
2. Ariel Sharon
3. Zsa Zsa Gabor
4. Elizabeth Taylor
5. Margaret Thatcher
6. Karl Malden
7. Farrah Fawcett
8. Britney Spears
9. Pete Doherty
10. Amy Winehouse

Mmm, Burger (C.J.)
1. Margaret Thatcher
2. Jesse Helms
3. Queen Elizabeth II
4. Ariel Sharon
5. Sargent Shriver
6. Eunice Kennedy Shriver
7. Fidel Castro
8. Dick Clark
9. John Wooden
10. Cassius Clay/Muhammed Ali

Anne Elk
1. Fidel Castro
2. Zsa Zsa Gabor
3. Mike Wallace
4. Billy Graham
5. Art Linkletter
6. Amy Winehouse
7. Mike Tyson
8. Michael Jackson
9. Nelson Mandela
10. Bilawal Bhutto

Fugee Angel of Death 2004
1. Farrah Fawcett
2. Phyllis Whitney
3. Amy Winehouse
4. Pauline Phillips
5. Zsa Zsa Gabor
6. Stephen Hawking
7. Claude Levi-Strauss
8. Fidel Castro
9. Mohammed Ali
10. Charlton Heston

Mr. Man Angel of Death 2006
1. Fidel Castro
2. Jack Kevorkian
3. Ariel Sharon
4. Claude Levi-Strauss
5. Albert Hofmann
6. Kirk Douglas
7. Oscar Niemeyer
8. Billy Graham
9. Les Paul
10. BB King

notcasesensitive
1. John Wooden
2. Sargent Shriver
3. Ariel Sharon
4. Billy Graham
5. Fidel Castro
6. Karl Malden
7. Louis Farrakhan
8. Studs Terkel
9. Pauline Phillips
10. Robert McNamara

18 players. Good luck to all. May the deaths begin!

Thoughts
 

I thought I was foolish for putting Amy winehouse on the list this year. Imagine my surprise to see her on so many other lists! I guess those pictures of her convinced a lot of people.

I had Billy Graham on my list until a few minutes before I sent it in. Between his wife dying and his health issues, this might be his year. But I felt bad and swapped him for someone else.

Given how few of my picks over the last 3 years have died when I had them on my list, perhaps I should have left him on.

Ms. Keaton has an interesting approach to the death pool.

And who is Miss Maine?

Thoughts
 

Fugee
I am (yet another) long time lurker whose New Year's resolution is to be a bit more active on this board. The Death Pool seemed to be a good place to start...


Miss Maine

Thoughts
 

Well, I didn't get mine in, but, unofficially, here are my picks:

Liz Hilton Wilding Todd Fisher Burton Warner Fortensky Taylor and all of her surviving husbands (that would be Eddie Fisher, John Warner, and Larry Fortensky); Ted Kennedy; Michael Jackson; Larry Craig; Jim Bakker; the elder George Bush; and, finally, Fidel Castro.

Death Pool Guilt
 

After reading about Britney Spear's apparent manic breakdown last night, I am feeling a little guilty about putting her on my death pool list. Also, I was surprised to note that mine was the only list on which she appeared.

Death Pool Guilt
 

I considered Jayden, but decided it was in bad taste.

I think she'll survive. It's the kids who are at risk.

Death Pool Guilt
 

At least for the next 72 hours, while Winehouse roams free.

Death Pool Guilt
 

It was a tossup between Britney and Amy Winehouse. In the end I decided Britney was more likely to get pregnant again this year than to die. Winehouse looks like she has one foot in the grave already.

Death Pool Guilt
 

I too pondered Britney. But with all the public attention on the Spears' family right now, I figured there would eventually be an intervention and she will be carted off to the psychiatric facility that she so desperately needs.

Because it's there.
 

Sir Edmund Hillary died.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Sir Edmund Hillary, the unassuming beekeeper who conquered Mount Everest and was the first man to drive a tractor across Antarctica to win renown as one of the 20th century's greatest adventurers, has died, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark announced Friday. He was 88.

His 1953 climb of Everest with Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay made him an international hero. Norgay died in 1986.

Because it's there.
 

Another Clinton coverup!!!!

. . . the Showman
 

other than for the death part (on both sides), this has Chris Farley skit written all over it:

former figure skating champion Christopher Bowman, in a recent picture:


http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-...8011100218.jpg

Another child star bites the dust
 

Brad Renfro dead at 25: http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movi....ap/index.html