2008 Dead Pool

The 2008 Dead Pool Draft took place on Saturday, December 29, 2007. Rosters are as follows:

Ashley Ruby Muhammad Shimon Peres W. Mark Felt Georgia Frontiere - 1/18 Les Paul Amy Winehouse Elizabeth Taylor Arnold Palmer Beverly Cleary Jerry Lewis Wild Cards: Fred Phelps Tom Cruise	Steve/Mary Eli Wallach Kirk Douglas Billy Graham Muhammad Ali Annette Funicello Chuck Berry Pervez Mumsharref Phyllis Diller Britney Spears Cyd Charisse Wild Cards: Vladimir Putin Cal Worthington	Rachel Claude Levi Strauss Dr. Michael DeBakey Mickey Rooney Hal Holbrook John Forsythe Harper Lee Louis Jourdan Sandra Dee Jonathan Winters Eva Marie Saint Wild Cards: Lindsay Lohan Al Sharpton
Marlene Ariel Sharon Suzanne Pleshette - 1/19 Margaret Thatcher Andy Rooney Charlton Heston - 4/6 Judge Joseph Wapner Eugene Patton Jayne Meadows Ali Hassan Abd al-Majid ("Chemical Ali") Maureen O'Hara Wild Cards: Louis Farrakhan Osama Bin Laden	Shirley Mitch Miller Betty Garrett Bobby Mercer Richard Widmark - 3/24 John Wooden Jean Stapleton Tony Martin Van Johnson Al Molinaro Jack LaLanne Wild Cards: Cloris Leachman Boy George	Sean/Chelsea Fidel Castro Mel Brooks Dick Clark Michael J. Fox Art Linkletter Paul Newman Bret Hart Gene Barry Anne Jeffries Lena Horne Wild Cards: Phil Spector Howard Stern
Lindsey/George Bob Barker James Whitmore Ernest Borgnine Barron Hilton Abe Vigoda Larry Hagman Ricardo Montalban King Sihanouk Roscoe Koonz Martin Landau Wild Cards: Paris Hilton O. J. Simpson	Bill Alan Young Patty Andrews Rod Taylor Walter Cronkite Rose Marie Kay Ballard William F. Buckley - 2/27 Vin Scully Barbara Billingsley Chuck Barris Wild Cards: Larry Flynt Hillary Clinton	Terri Meip Gies Abigail Van Buren Andrew Wyeth Esther Williams Sargent Shriver Earl Butz Karl Malden Olivia De Havilland Gloria Stuart Mike Wallace Wild Cards: Dick Cheney Donald Trump
Sue Chuck Yeager Alexander Solzhenitsyn Nancy Reagan Edwin Newman Jan-Michael Vincent Marjorie Lord Paul Prudhomme Don Pardo Roger Ebert C. Everett Koop Wild Cards: Dick Button Kathy Hilton	Jim Luise Ranier Dolores Hope Meinhardt Raabe Huey Long (Ink Spots) June Havoc Oral Roberts Charlie Callas Jane Withers Paul Harvey Professor Irwin Corey Wild Cards: Lyndon LaRouche Mary-Kate Olsen

Standings:

First Place:
Marlene

Second Place:
Ashley
Bill
Shirley

Third Place:
Everybody else

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1/18 - Ashley moves into the field with Georgia Frontiere, former owner of the Rams football team.
1/19 - Marlene pulls forward with Suzanne Pleshette.
2/27 - Bill enters the race with William F. Buckley.
3/24 - Shirley begins to move with Richard Widmark
4/6 - Marlene takes the lead with Charlton Heston

How does it work?
Players are assigned a position in the rotation as follows: New players choose first, in order determined by drawing straws. Returning players go in the reverse order of their standing in the previous game; the winner chooses last. On each turn, a player chooses the name of one celebrity to add to his list. There are no duplications allowed; once a celebrity is chosen by one player, he/she is not available for other players. The choosing of teams continues in this manner until every player has a list of 10 (ten) celebrities.

The next step is the choosing of Wild Cards. Each player chooses in turn until every player has two Wild Cards. The first is added to the player's roster, and the second is written on a card and put into a basket, from which they will be drawn at random so that each player ends up with someone else's Wild Card. If a player picks his own nominee, he may keep it if he so desires.

Throughout the year, at random intervals, the Commissioner will publish updated listings of each player's score. These will be posted on the Dead Pool website as well as being distributed in printed form. At the end of the year, the player who has had the most deaths on his/her list is declared the winner, and takes the pot. The game is winner-take-all; there are no prizes for second or third place.

What's a Celebrity?
Our standard is that candidates have to be noteworthy enough for the Associated Press to publish their obituary. We have to be able to find out who's dead. There are certain exclusions: Convicted criminals facing execution by the state are disqualified. You can't just check in with the Texas Penal System and get their schedule. Convicts who are not on death row are valid candidates, provided they are noteworthy public figures (Richard Ramirez, Charles Manson or Sirhan Sirhan, for example).

Players are not allowed to choose minors for their rosters. Sorry, the Jamie-Lynn Spears is off-limits. Celebrities can be chosen from any walk of life. Previous candidates have included mathematicians, rap singers, architects, astronomers, and writers, as well as the usual contingent of actors and politicians (same thing).

What's a Wild Card?
Wild Cards are candidates that a player does not have any reason to think would die, rather he/she wishes they would. This is your chance to vent your hostility and choose someone simply because they annoy you. Some suggestions might include Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Dick Cheney, OJ Simpson, Martha Stewart or Tom Cruise.

This introduces two elements into the game: Random Chance and Personal Animosity. By choosing people who aren't likely to die, and by distributing some of them at random, the opportunity for an upset is added. By nominating objects of loathing for these slots, players are (1) free of the problem of nominating unlikely candidates simply because they are hated, and (2) given the opportunity to cheer for the possible demise of such people. Simply put, it makes for a livelier game.

How do I find names to pick?
Research is the key. Pay attention to the news and make note of public figures who are old, ill, or self-destructive. Search the Internet for sites that track the dead and dying (there are a lot of them). Call the retired actors' home and see who's there. When you see someone on TV who looks like hell, make a note to yourself. Above all, research, research, research. We can't do everything for you!

What if I pick someone who's already dead?
If anyone notices during the choosing period, you'll get to pick a replacement. If it's discovered after the game begins, you lose a point. It's happened before.

That's it. Pick your potential stiffs, and let's see who pushes up the daisies this year. It's a fun game, but extremely corrupting. You'll find yourself keeping track of old movie stars, asking "gee, how's her health?" When you hear that some rocker has gone belly-up in a hotel room, choking on his own bile, you won't say "too bad." You'll say "who had him?" Prepare to be warped.

Sound like fun? Good.

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