New and Improved Celebrity Death Pool 2005

[notcasesensitive]

Alright, folks. This is the thread for all things death pool 2005. A quick summary of the rules:

*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 famous. 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, 2004 at noon EST.

*Death Pool will begin on January 1, 2005 at 12:01 a.m. EST. Pool will close December 31, 2005 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 a tiebreaker named after one of the 2004 pool's least successful entrants. The Hank Chinaski tiebreaker 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.

*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 2006. And maybe you'll end up with unsolicited photos of TITS in you PM box. Hey, it could happen. I'm in negotiations with ABBA on this one.

*Person with the fewest hits during the year will grab from Jack Manfred the Angel of Mercy title.

Good luck!