It’s time once again for the sickest thread on the board – the Celebrity Death Pool 2003!
The Rules:
You pick 13 celebrities whom you predict will die within the calendar year 2003. If any of your celebrities dies, you score 100 points minus their age at death. Whoever has the most points at the end of the year wins the undying admiration of the SDMB. 
New rule: All picks must be date-stamped no later than 12-31-2002. (Please don’t wait until the very last minute to post your submissions.) I will post an alphabetical master list soon after the New Year and keep a hard copy for reference. If we have another board failure…well, we’ll take a vote on what to do. I mean, it couldn’t happen twice, could it? Ha ha ha ha! sigh
To be valid, picks must not be a) already dead; b) fictional characters; c) non-human; d) under age 18 at death; e) a registered member of the SDMB.
Your picks must specify a name: listing “any of the guys in N*Sync” as a pick will be ignored.
Persons under sentence of death will be valid for scoring points only if they die by means other than official execution.
Any poster who kills or otherwise contributes to the death of any celebrity mentioned in this thread will be disqualified. It’s just a game, people. The only exceptions to this rule would be deaths caused by those posters serving as members of the police or armed forces of any country, in the line of duty. So, yes, people like Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden would be valid picks in that context.
Editing your choices: be careful! You can make changes to your list before the end of the year, but it has to be clear which names are your final choices. If any of your picks dies before the end of the year, you may submit another pick by 12-31-2002. If you do not submit another name, I will submit the rest. You can have no more than 13 picks. If you pick more than 13 (or if any of your picks is otherwise invalid); I may ask for clarification; otherwise I will submit the first 13 names on your list.
Since “celebrity” is loosely defined, when in dispute, the posters of the SDMB will rule on celebrity status by a date to be determined soon after the pick’s death. My guess is that if major news media outlets report your death, you’re a celebrity for our purposes.
Remember, it’s easy to come up with a list of really old celebrities, but you could pick a lot of low-scoring older people and still not win. Many posters prefer to pick people who are known to be ill, self-destructive, or just really unlucky.
Additional awards:
The “Quantity Not Quality” Award: to be awarded to the poster or posters who pick the greatest number of celebrities who died, regardless of their actual point value.
The “Inside Track With the Grim Reaper” Award: to be awarded to the poster or posters who pick a celebrity that no one else picked.
The “Opening Kickoff” Award: to be awarded to the poster or posters who pick the first listed celebrity to die in 2003.
The “Final Hours” Award: to be awarded to the poster or posters who pick the last listed celebrity to die in 2003.
My thanks to Little Nemo who created this perennial thread and its rules, which I am essentially copying.
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