This writeup was updated February 21, 2005.
It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
A Dead Pool is a type of sick and twisted game that has been around for decades, but has become very popular on the Internet. In its most common form, a dead pool is where a group of people each pick a list of names for individuals they think will die during a specified time period. The time period is usually one year (i.e., who will die in 2005), and the list is usually limited to famous people such as actors, musicians, politicians, professional athletes, and other celebrities. Most incarnations of the game define a celebrity death as one which a major news organization (such as the Associated Press, NBC, ABC, CNN, BBC, Washington Post, New York Times, etc) will report on. Death row inmates are not eligible.
Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box.
The game is not a wish list, but rather should be based on educated guesses relating to age, health, occupation, and other factors. In other words, you don't pick who you hope will die; you pick people you believe will die. Does your favorite musician like to do a little too much heroin? What about that comedian who's over 100? Isn't there a famous athlete battling a deadly disease? Is the US Army on a rampage against any world leaders? Know a celebrity who likes to play with guns? How about an unlikely young man with a family curse? Any of these could win (or could have won) you the game.
A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.
Typically an organized dead pool will have an entry fee with the winner receiving a lump sum of cash at the end of the game. Obviously, the idea is to score the most points, and there are several points systems in use.
- Total Count - This type almost always has a set number of entries you can make, and the person who gets has the most deaths wins.
- Ratio - This type typically allows an unlimited number of entries, but at the end of the contest, the person with the highest ratio of dead vs. living is the winner.
- Rank/Order - In this version, you get X points if your #1 choice dies, Y points if your #2 choice dies, Z points if your #3 choice dies, etc.
- Age-Weighted - Coupled with the Total Count or Rank/Order versions, the age at death is weighted into this system to determine your points. Typically, the number of points will be equal to 120 minus the age at death (i.e., you get more points for people who die young).
E2 Dead Pool
No, I'm not suggesting that we start our own dead pool. That's because we already have our own version of the game (however unintentional it may be). I've noticed several examples where, within the hour of a famous death making it to the headlines, a writeup (or multiple writeups) about the famous person gets a C!. In the same manner, if no writeup exists for the celebrity stiff, his obituary is almost immediately created in the form of a new writeup. Quite often, some editor also places a mournful goodbye message as the new chatterbox topic (complete with hard link). Even without these helpful links, when a famous person dies, people want to know more about them and will simply search for and read the writeups. Anyone with a writeup in the dead person's node gets free XP all day long - often undeservingly. Perhaps voters consider it a tribute to the deceased. I've heard this phenomenon referred to in the catbox as Death XP. Please note that I am not trying to say that anyone is doing this because they are looking for cools and XP - it's simply how things work here.
I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather. Not screaming in terror like his passengers.
2005
Shirley Chisholm, Danny Sugerman, Rosemary Kennedy, Ruth Warrick, Virginia Mayo, Rose Mary Woods, Johnny Carson, Philip Johnson, John Vernon, Max Schmeling, Ossie Davis, Jimmy Smith, Arthur Miller, Sandra Dee, John Raitt, Hunter S. Thompson
2004
Tug McGraw, Brother Boniface Schnitzbauer, Spalding Gray, Randy VanWarmer, Ron O'Neal, Uta Hagen, Ann Miller, Billy May, Bob Keeshan, Jack Paar, Elroy 'Crazylegs' Hirsch, Preston Love, Jan Miner, Carl Anderson, Marge Schott, Mercedes McCambridge, Edmund Sylvers, Jan Berry, Peter Ustinov, Alistair Cooke, Estee Lauder, Hubert Selby Jr., Clement Dodd, Barney Kessel, Alan King, Elvin Jones, Archibald Cox, William Manchester, Ronald Reagan, Ray Charles, Marlon Brando, Laurance Rockefeller, Isabel Sanford, Thelma Kaualulehuaoaiku Sproat Bugbee, Francis Crick, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Rick James, Red Adair, Gypsy Boots, Fay Wray, Julia Child, Elmer Bernstein, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Johnny Ramone, Izora Armstead, Marvin Mitchelson, Russ Meyer, Skeeter Davis, Richard Avedon, Janet Leigh, Gordon Cooper, Rodney Dangerfield, Christopher Reeve, Pierre Salinger, John Peel, Princess Alice, Howard Keel, Yasser Arafat, Ol' Dirty Bastard, John Drew Barrymore, Prince Bernhard, Johnny Oates, Reggie White, Susan Sontag, Jerry Orbach, Artie Shaw
2003
Sydney Omarr, Sid Gillman, Jean Kerr, Maurice Gibb, Richard Crenna, Al Hirschfeld, Bill Mauldin, Nell Carter, Mongo Santamaria, Ron Ziegler, Walt Rostow, Stacy Keach Sr., Johnny Longden, Johnny PayCheck, Tom Glazer, Fred Rogers, Hank Ballard, Howard Fast, Joseph Coors, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Edwin Starr, Homer Banks, Little Eva, Robert Atkins, J. Paul Getty, Earl King, Cholly Atkins, Nina Simone, Felice Bryant, Noel Redding, Dave DeBusschere, Robert Stack, June Carter Cash, Freddie Blassie, Shooby Taylor, David Brinkley, Gregory Peck, Hume Cronyn, Larry Doby, Bob Stump, Leon Uris, Lester Maddox, Denis Thatcher, Strom Thurmond, Katharine Hepburn, Buddy Hackett, Herbie Mann, Barry White, Buddy Ebsen, Benny Carter, Tex Schramm, Celia Cruz, Carol Shields, John Schlesinger, Bob Hope, Sam Phillips, Gregory Hines, Herb Brooks, Idi Amin, Wesley Willis, Bobby Bonds, Jinx Falkenburg, Charles Bronson, Warren Zevon, Leni Riefenstahl, Edward Teller, John Ritter, Johnny Cash, Sheb Wooley, Gordon Jump, George Plimpton, Robert Palmer, Donald O'Connor, Althea Gibson, Elia Kazan, Wally George, Bill Shoemaker, Jack Elam, Fred Berry, Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, Rod Roddy, Bobby Hatfield, Art Carney, Penny Singleton, Laurence Tisch, Speedy West, Arthur Conley, Don Gibson, Warren Spahn, Gertrude Ederle, Paul Simon, Otto Graham, Hope Lange
2002
Esquivel, Avery Schreiber, Dave Thomas, Cyrus Vance, Frank Shuster, Ted Demme, Carrie Hamilton, Peggy Lee, Stanley Marcus, Astrid Lindgren, Dick 'Night Train' Lane, Princess Margaret, Dave Van Ronk, Waylon Jennings, Howard K. Smith, John Thaw, Willie Thrower, Chuck Jones, Arthur Lyman, Spike Milligan, Irene Worth, Rosetta Le Noire, Herman Talmadge, Dudley Moore, Milton Berle, Billy Wilder, Speedy Keen, The Queen Mother, Layne Staley, Byron White, Robert Urich, Thor Heyerdahl, Linda Lovelace, Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes, Otis Blackwell, Joe Bonnano, Dave Berg, Stephen Jay Gould, Jerry Dunphy, Sam Snead, Lew Wasserman, Dee Dee Ramone, John Gotti, Bill Blass, Jack Buck, Darryl Kile, Ann Landers, John Entwistle, Rosemary Clooney, Pete Gray, Ray Brown, Ted Williams, John Frankenheimer, Rod Steiger, Yousuf Karsh, Alan Lomax, Leo McKern, Chaim Potok, Darrell Porter, Chick Hearn, Michael Houser, Enos Slaughter, Kyle Rote, John Roseboro, Abu Nidal, Hoyt Wilhelm, Lionel Hampton, Johnny Unitas, Kim Hunter, LaWanda Page, James Gregory, Bob Hayes, Angelo Buono, Whitney Blake, Walter Annenberg, Bruce Paltrow, Teresa Graves, Ray Conniff, Stephen Ambrose, Bashful Brother Oswald, Kam Fong, Paul Wellstone, Richard Harris, Jam Master Jay, Lonnie Donegan, Jonathan Harris, Billy Mitchell, Peg Phillips, Johnny Griffith, Abba Eban, James Coburn, Noel Regney, Dave McNally, Glenn Quinn, Roone Arledge, Zal Yanovsky, Joe Strummer, George Roy Hill
2001
Ray Walston, Les Brown, William Hewlett, Gregory Corso, Tommie Agee, Al McGuire, Dale Evans, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Abraham Beame, William Masters, Balthus, Eddie Mathews, Dale Earnhardt, Stanley Kramer, Bill Rigney, Harold Stassen, Glenn Hughes, Morton Downey Jr., Ann Sothern, Papa John Phillips, Norma Macmillan, William Hanna, Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth, Brother Theodore, Willie Stargell, Harry Secombe, Joey Ramone, Happy Hairston, Billy Higgins, Boozoo Chavis, Cliff Hillegass, Douglas Adams, Perry Como, Simon Raven, Top Jimmy, Jason Miller, Whitman Mayo, Victor Kiam, Arlene Francis, Hank Ketcham, Imogene Coca, Anthony Quinn, John Hartford, Timothy McVeigh, John Lee Hooker, Carroll O'Connor, Tove Jansson, Jack Lemmon, Mortimer Adler, Chet Atkins, Mordecai Richler, Ernie K-Doe, Fred Neil, Katharine Graham, Mimi Farina, Gunther Gebel-Williams, Frances Horwich, Eudora Welty, Ron Townson, Christopher Hewett, Lorenzo Music, Maureen Reagan, Lou Boudreau, Earl Anthony, Betty Everett, Jane Greer, Aaliyah, Christiaan Barnard, Troy Donahue, Pauline Kael, Hank The Angry Drunken Dwarf, Justin Wilson, Dorothy McGuire, Fred De Cordova, Samuel Z. Arkoff, Isaac Stern, Lani O'Grady, Mike Mansfield, Emilie Schindler, Herblock, Herbert Ross, Ken Kesey, Mary Kay Ash, O.C. Smith, Bo Belinsky, John Knowles, George Harrison, Rufus Thomas, Stuart Adamson, Foster Brooks, Dick Schaap, Lance Loud, Harvey Martin, Nigel Hawthorne, Eileen Heckart, Julia Phillips
2000
Elmo Zumwalt, Nat Adderley, Tom Fears, Don Martin, Bob Crosby, Bob Lemon, Bobby Phills, Hedy Lamarr, Jean MacArthur, Don Budge, Carl Albert, Big Pun, Doug Henning, Sid Abel, Derrick Thomas, Jim Varney, Roger Vadim, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Tom Landry, Oliver, Charles Schulz, Ofra Haza, Stanley Matthews, Charles Gray, Mack Robinson, Durward Kirby, Alex Comfort, Ian Dury, Claire Trevor, Larry Linville, Edward Gorey, David Merrick, Vicki Sue Robinson, Steve Reeves, John O'Connor, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Bill 'The Fox' Foster, Paul Bartel, Malik Sealy, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Barbara Cartland, John Gielgud, Mark Hughes, Maurice Richard, Tex Beneke, Bob Casey, Johnnie Taylor, Tito Puente, Hafez Assad, Robert Trent Jones Sr., Empress Nagako, Nancy Marchand, Vittorio Gassman, Walter Matthau, Cub Koda, Meredith MacRae, Leslie Glass, Alec Guinness, Loretta Young, Tomata du Plenty, John Holahan, Jack Nitzsche, Paula Yates, Aurelio Rodriguez, Richard Mulligan, Pierre Trudeau, Reggie Kray, Benjamin Orr, Richard Farnsworth, David Dukes, Gus Hall, Vincent Canby, Mel Carnahan, Julie London, Gwen Verdon, Steve Allen, Ring Lardner Jr., Jimmie Davis, Joe C., Emil Zatopek, Lou Groza, Gwendolyn Brooks, Henck Arron, Werner Klemperer, 'Pops' Staples, John Lindsay, Rob Buck, Victor Borge, Billy Barty, Jason Robards, Alan Cranston
<DISCLAIMER>
I believe this "game" is just as tasteless as many of you probably do. I simply wrote it because I was reminded of it by something I read in the chatterbox.
</DISCLAIMER>
References
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