Your 8th Annual Celebrity Death Pool. 2012 Edition.

[notcasesensitive]

Hey there, ghoulish death aficionados. Oops. I mean followers of celebrity gossip and debilitating ailments. Or, uh, degenerate gamblers and chronically competitive types.

It is almost that time. I'll post the rules again during the week between Christmas and New Years, but start making your lists and checking them twice! As always, I'll be accepting lists until 12:00 a.m. (East Coast time) on January 1st. Check the first post in the 2011 edition if you are unclear of the rules and shoot me your picks when you've made them. I'll post the list here once I've compiled it. I'll have a status update on the 2011 pool sometime next week. Happy picking!

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by notcasesensitive

Hey there, ghoulish death aficionados. Oops. I mean followers of celebrity gossip and debilitating ailments. Or, uh, degenerate gamblers and chronically competitive types.

It is almost that time. I'll post the rules again during the week between Christmas and New Years, but start making your lists and checking them twice! As always, I'll be accepting lists until 12:00 a.m. (East Coast time) on January 1st. Check the first post in the 2011 edition if you are unclear of the rules and shoot me your picks when you've made them. I'll post the list here once I've compiled it. I'll have a status update on the 2011 pool sometime next week. Happy picking!

do you have a scoreboard for 2011?

[Fugee]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

do you have a scoreboard for 2011?

I've got 3 -- don't know how that stacks up against the group.

[notcasesensitive]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

do you have a scoreboard for 2011?

Did you read the post that you responded to? I'll be going through and tallying 2011 hits next week and I'll post to that thread when I have the standings.

[Fugee]

Originally Posted by notcasesensitive

Did you read the post that you responded to? I'll be going through and tallying 2011 hits next week and I'll post to that thread when I have the standings.

Haven't you read the politics board? Hank never reads other peoples' posts before responding!

[Atticus Grinch]

A word to the wise: The U.S. has a magic cancer ray and is using it on Latin American leaders. Adjust your picks accordingly.

[notcasesensitive]

As we head into our eighth big year of Lawtalkers death pools, once again I post the rules for all who wish to enter:

(Same rules as last year. And the year before. And the year before that, etc.)

*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 (unless they were famous prior to committing their special crime -- the OJ/Saddam Hussein exception), Michael Jackson's accuser, etc. do not qualify.

*All picks should be submitted to me by December 31, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. EST.

*Death Pool will begin on January 1, 2012 at 12:01 a.m. EST. Pool will close December 31, 2012 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. Or Amy Winehouse! Wait, not Amy Winehouse.

*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 your 2009 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 2013. 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 - tmdiva
2008 - tmdiva
2009 - barely_legal
2010 - Diane Keaton
2011 - ??? Fugee is currently winning in a tiebreaker with Miss Maine

*Have fun and good luck!

your faithful deathpooltrix,
ncs

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Teach me to give up on Dick Clark.

[notcasesensitive]

Originally Posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)

Teach me to give up on Dick Clark.

Four more people have one hit each -- good job bnb, Miss Maine, GGG and Flinty sticking with that pick.

[Flinty_McFlint]

Originally Posted by notcasesensitive

Four more people have one hit each -- good job bnb, Miss Maine, GGG and Flinty sticking with that pick.

I may not be smart, good looking, rich, stylish, well-educated or well-liked, but god dammit I'm stubborn. Or just perhaps lazy.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Flinty_McFlint

I may not be smart, good looking, rich, stylish, well-educated or well-liked, but god dammit I'm stubborn. Or just perhaps lazy.

I may not be one or two of those things, too, but I'm not really that stubborn. I think this was just the first or second year I had him.

[Flinty_McFlint]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

I may not be one or two of those things, too, but I'm not really that stubborn. I think this was just the first or second year I had him.

Oh don't be so modest, you're none of those things.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)

Teach me to give up on Dick Clark.

Apparently big news as two people in less than 15 second felt the need to tell me.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)

Teach me to give up on Dick Clark.

the heart breaker is that he did better on the count down last NYE than he has for years. I thought he was on the comeback trail.

[Fugee]

Originally Posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)

Teach me to give up on Dick Clark.

Ditto. But in my defense, I thought science had figured out some way to turn him into a cyborg and he'd never die.

That or he had a creepy decomposing portrait hidden somewhere.