2004 Celebrity Death Pool

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
Whiff!!! yes he does "like" the olson's, but did you forget his necro-tendancies?

That's a terrible thing to say about MTM.

Is it too late to add MTM to my list?

[Fugee]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
Oddmakers beware. I haven't gone twosies in three days. Fuckin' houseguests.

Well, no one can say you don't let your houseguests have the full run of the place. But isn't that taking hospitality a little far, dontcha think?

Have some prune whip for dessert.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
Is it too late to add MTM to my list?

thye have to wake up sunday morning to be a valid pick-I was going to PM Jack that there was a decnet chance several of his wouldn't make it.

[GodFred]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
Ohthankgod. I thought you knew something I didn't.

I do and I'm firing up the toaster in preparation!

[notcasesensitive]

Okay, the time of the pool draws near. I've gotten some great and varied picks so far.

As a reminder, anyone who has died before March 1 will not count as a hit for you. I did not do extensive research to confirm all picks are currently alive - you are supposed to do that before submitting them to me - so if you picked a pre-March 1, 2004 dead person, it is your loss. I've never run this pool before and 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.

I'll post the lists here on March 1, 2004 so you can all follow along at home.

Good luck everyone! Should be fun!

[Aloha Mr. Learned Hand]

Originally posted by notcasesensitive
Good luck everyone! Should be fun!

Except for the stiffs, of course...

[notcasesensitive]

Great turnout and some interesting picks. Here are all 25 entries:

Aloha’s picks:
1. Ronald Reagan
2. Pope John Paul II
3. Ricardo Montalban
4. Nelson Mandela
5. Boris Yeltsin
6. Margaret Thatcher
7. Marlon Brando
8. Robert Blake
9. Hamid Karzai
10. Eminem (wild card)

taxwonk’s picks:
1. Nick Nolte
2. Al Lewis (Grandpa Munster)
3. Charlton Heston
4. Roy Horn
5. Courtney Love
6. Ronald Reagan
7. Ozzy Osbourne
8. Gerald Ford
9. Koko Taylor (blues legend)
10. Colin Ferrell (wild card)

Flinty’s picks:
1. Ronald Reagan
2. Kirk Douglas
3. Ingmar Bergman
4. Fay Wray (starred in King Kong a million years ago)
5. Estee Lauder
6. Charles "Cold Dead Hands" Heston
7. Julia "I like Butter" Childs
8. Lady Bird Johnson
9. John "Lavin didn't kill me" Wooden
10. (wild card) Michael Stipe

Slave’s picks:
1 - Pope John Paul II
2 - Ronald Reagan
3 - Walter Cronkite
4 - Arthur Miller
5 - Gerald Ford
6 - Fay Wray
7 - Mickey Rooney
8 - Kirk Douglas
9 – Karl Malden
10 - Whitney Houston (wild card)

bold n brazen’s picks:
1. Pope John Paul II
2. Ronald Reagan
3. Jean Stapleton
4. Isabel Sanford
5. Abe Vigoda
6. Gerald Ford
7. Mary Tyler Moore
8. Lady Bird Johnson
9. Adam West
10. Anthony Michael Hall (wild card)

Atticus’ picks:
1. Ronald Reagan
2. King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz
3. Mickey Rooney
4. Julia Child
5. Dick Cheney
6. Pope John Paul II
7. "Grandpa" Al Lewis
8. Zsa Zsa Gabor
9. Muhammad Ali
10. 50 Cent (wild card) (damn you, John Goodman, for being 52!)

barely’s picks:
1) Billy Preston
2) Phil Rizzuto
3) Kirk Douglas
4) Max Schmeling
5) Barney Kessel
6) Pope John Paul II
7) Brooke Astor
8) Ronald Reagan
9) Johnny Oates
10) Wild Card: Horatio Sanz

learnedmano’s picks:
1. Pope John Paul II
2. Al Lewis
3. Ronald Reagan (ex-prez)
4. Jean Stapleton
5. Stephen Hawking
6. Osama Bin Laden
7. Chuck Berry
8. Eunice Kennedy Shriver
9. Curt Gowdy
10. 50 Cent (wild card)

baltassoc’s picks:
1. Pete Rose
2. Warren Buffet
3. Catherine Deneuve
4. Ronald Reagan
5. Nelson Mandella
6. Jimmy Carter
7. Keith Richards
8. Angie Dickenson
9. Clint Eastwood
10. Clay Aiken (wild card) (I want extra points if he is gunned down in retaliation for the murder of Ruben Stoddard, which I think will be the case)

Shape Shifter’s picks:
1. Marvin Zindler (local Houston "celebrity" but famous for exposing the Chicken Ranch)
2. Jim Brown (the football player, not the singer)
3. James Brown (the singer, not the football player)
4. George Wendt
5. Marlon Brando
6. Liza with a Z
7. Ron Jeremy
8. Johnny Carson
9. Jerry Lee Lewis
10. Lara Flynn Boyle (wild card)

[continued in another post]

[notcasesensitive]

More picks:

Dave’s picks:
1. Bob Barker
2. Ronald Reagan
3. John Cougar Mellencamp
4. Lauren Bacall
5. Abe Vigoda
6. Don Rickles
7. Ernest Borgnine
8. Julia Child
9. Pope John Paul II
Wild Card: Jon Lovitz

tmdiva’s picks:
1. Deborah Kerr
2. Karl Malden
3. Kirk Douglas
4. Cyd Charisse
5. Marlon Brando
6. Bobby Knight
7. Ronald Reagan
8. Gerald Ford
9. Lady Bird Johnson
10. Jared Leto (wild card)

str8’s picks:
1. Johnny Oates (former manager of Baltimore Orioles)
2. Lady Bird Johnson
3. Pope John Paul II
4. Al Lopez (also baseball)
5. Estee Lauder
6. Max Schmelling
7. General Pinochet
8. Boris Yeltsin
9. Nelson Mandela
10. Jack White (wild card)

Jack Manfred’s picks:
1. Wilford Brimley
2. Gerald Ford
3. Hal Holbrook
4. Lena Horne
5. Ann Jillian
6. Jerry Lewis
7. Sydney Pollack
8. Omar Sharif
9. Maureen Stapleton
10. Gavin Newsom (wild card)

lookingformarket’s picks:
1. Yasser Arafat
2. Ronald Reagan
3. Boris Yeltsin
4. Dalai Lama
5. Pope, The
6. Marlon Brando
7. Richard Pryor
8. Queen Elizabeth
9. Jerry Lewis
10. Michael Jackson (wild card)

Thurgreed’s picks:
1. pope
2. julia child
3. walter cronkite
4. charlton heston (one can only hope)
5. kirk douglas
6. ronald reagan
7. jesse helms
8. gerald ford
9. earl woods
10. wildcard: Ruben Studdard

paigow’s picks:
1. reagan
2. pope
3. rodney dangerfield
4. richard pryor
5. kirk douglas
6. gerry ford
7. phyllis diller
8. abe vigoda
9. larry hagman
10. wild card – Michael Fucking Jackson

Hank’s picks:
1. Kirk Douglas
2. Tony Bennett
3. Al Lewis
4. Abe Vigota
5. Nanette Fabray
6. Pauline Phillips (retired Dear Abby)
7. Jack LaLane
8. Kurt Vonnegut
9. Bob Feller
Wild Card- Rodman

LessinSF’s picks:
1. Ronald Reagan
2. Pope John Paul II
3. Max Schmeling
4. Fay Wray
5. Simon Wiesenthal
6. Princess Alice
7. Byron Nelson
8. Ronnie Biggs
9. Ernest Gallo
10. Jay-Z (wildcard)

MmmBurger’s picks:
1. Ronald Reagan
2. Pope John Paul II
3. Marlon Brando
4. Hal Holbrook
5. Richard Pryor
6. Yogi Berra
7. Elizabeth Taylor
8. William F. Buckley
9. Walter Cronkite
10. Michael Jackson (wild card)

[continued in another post]

[notcasesensitive]

Last batch of picks:

NotBob’s picks:
1. Ronald Reagan
2. Gerald Ford (a bad year for former presidents, apparently)
3. Mickey Rooney
4. Ernest Borgnine (McHale!)
5. Pope John Paul II
6. Nelson Mandela
7. Lady Bird Johnson
8. Ricardo Montalban
9. Maureen O'Sullivan
Wild card: Macaully Culkin

Anne Elk’s picks:
1. Vin Baker (recently released Boston Celtic)
2. Ronald Reagan
3. Nelson Mandela
4. Pele
5. Rush Limbaugh
6. Osama Bin Laden
7. Marlon Brando
8. Michael Jackson
9. Leif Garrett
10. Whitney Houston (wild card)

Fugee’s picks:
1. Brooke Astor
2. Fay Wray
3. Julia Child
4. Alistair Cooke
5. Max Schmeling
6. Eddie Albert
7. Karl Malden
8. Ronald Reagan
9. Artie Shaw
Wild Card: 50 Cent

Spooky’s picks:
1. Ronald Reagan
2. Pope John Paul II
3. Mickey Rooney
4. Jesse Helms
5. Max Schmeling
6. Fay Wray
7. Eddie Albert
8. Karl Malden
9. Julia Child
10. Michael Jackson (wild card)

notcasesensitive’s picks: (I’m not in the running for the gift certs)
1. Ronald Reagan
2. The Pope
3. Faye Wray
4. Estee Lauder
5. Kirk Douglas
6. Courtney Love
7. Byron Nelson
8. Abe Vigoda
9. Al Lewis
10. Rosie O’Donnell (wild card)

mmm3587's picks:
1. Jack Palance
2. Ronald Reagan
3. Pope John Paul II
4. Ozzy Osbourne
5. Dick Cheney
6. Scott Weiland
7. Elizabeth Taylor
8. Lize Minelli
9. Courtney Love
Wild Card: Alex Rodriguez

That's it. Ronald Reagan had a whopping 21 picks, with 16 for John Paul II. Wild card picks were pretty diverse, with Michael Jackson receiving the most votes at 4, 50 Cent followed with 3. And reality tv makes an appearance with wild card picks for each of Clay and Ruben.

I'll post hits here as warranted.

[ETA mmm's picks that were inadvertently left off.]

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by notcasesensitive
50 Cent followed with 3.

Official Rules:
Sorry. One more rule. Your wild card pick cannot have an inherently dangerous job that involves a high likelihood of death. For example, James Bond (were he not fictional) or the leader of the PLO (were he not too old to be eligible for wild card status anyway).

Since I always complain, let me just make the bitch that while "rapper" doesn't automatically carry h.l.o.d., 50 cents has been shot on 3 seperate occasions.

[notcasesensitive]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
Since I always complain, let me just make the bitch that while "rapper" doesn't automatically carry h.l.o.d., 50 cents has been shot on 3 seperate occasions.

As several will attest, I spent a fair amount of time reading about wild card picks to determine their eligibility. 50 Cent was shot 4 years ago. There was no set rule as to amount of time since shooting (like the 5 year rehab rule), but I thought the time period was long enough to say OK to those picks. If he happens to die due to his 4 year old wounds, then those picks will be disqualified from wild card contention.

Frankly, the wild card thing was a total pain in the ass for me to figure out. Maybe next year we'll skip that element of the game.

I'm not going to disqualify all rappers from contention just because they are rappers. Seems overbroad to me.

Thanks for your, as always, helpful criticism.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by notcasesensitive
As several will attest, I spent a fair amount of time reading about wild card picks to determine their eligibility. 50 Cent was shot 4 years ago. There was no set rule as to amount of time since shooting (like the 5 year rehab rule), but I thought the time period was long enough to say OK to those picks. If he happens to die due to his 4 year old wounds, then those picks will be disqualified from wild card contention.

Frankly, the wild card thing was a total pain in the ass for me to figure out. Maybe next year we'll skip that element of the game.

I'm not going to disqualify all rappers from contention just because they are rappers. Seems overbroad to me.

Thanks for your, as always, helpful criticism.

I was kidding, I was kidding at the Super Bowl pool. Mostly, i was pissed I didn't think of him. I appreciate your efforts to do this.

[spookyfish]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
I was kidding, I was kidding at the Super Bowl pool. Mostly, i was pissed I didn't think of him. I appreciate your efforts to do this.

You truly can't help but be a pain in the ass, can you?

[robustpuppy]

Shit, I thought half the people listed were already dead.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by robustpuppy
Shit, I thought half the people listed were already dead.

I had an already dead guy on an early list. I checked one of the "alive or dead" pages for my finals, but I don't know if its really up to date.
I think the best pick was Boris Yeltsin. You know the guy's living on a state grant of lifetime free vodka.