# Celebrity Death Pool 2014 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** death-pool\ **Created:** [December 1, 2013, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193 "2013-12-01T06:00:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 34
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/661 "2014-01-13T15:47:58Z")
> [@](#): > > He had no outstanding achievements that I’m aware of, he wasn’t an actor, hadn’t held a job, hadn’t rescued someone from peril, been elected to public office, etc, etc. and so forth. Wouldn’t that rule out the Kardashians? BAZINGA!!! ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/662 "2014-01-13T15:54:36Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > It’s **Rachm Qoch** , and his last post was a couple of days ago, so he’s still on the boards. He quit playing Death Pool, as I recall, to give the rest of the players a chance. I think he played 2009 with a themed list that he clearly didn’t expect to win, or something. I wish he would still play. It was good spooky fun to read his list on the first day of the year and know that those people were _doomed_. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/663 "2014-01-13T17:22:44Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I know of very few celebrities. I am uninterested in sports, rap music and modern actors. I watch two or three TV shows. Limiting myself to people I already knew of would be quite limiting. Ok, use a reasonable person standard. If that person is searchable on the internet but the only mentions are in the East Bumfuq Patch, not a celebrity. If they are mentioned multiple times in Entertainment Weekly then they are. I’m sure you could find a dying actor who has one minor IMDB mention but I wouldn’t call that a celebrity. ---
**Author:** ![Bellhorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Bellhorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bellhorn)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/664 "2014-01-13T17:42:44Z")
Would Frank Marth, longtime character actor, be eligible… he just passed away at 91. [http://www.contactmusic.com/story/actor-frank-marth-dies\_4022713](http://www.contactmusic.com/story/actor-frank-marth-dies_4022713) You’d know his face, but only a few of us would be able to put a name to the face. He acted in TV for over 40 years. [http://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=11195](http://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=11195) He was one (of the 100+) names I’d considered, but it’s more fun to include names that everyone knows. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/665 "2014-01-13T19:08:29Z")
> [@Bellhorn](#): > > Would Frank Marth, longtime character actor, be eligible… he just passed away at 91. > > [http://www.contactmusic.com/story/actor-frank-marth-dies\_4022713](http://www.contactmusic.com/story/actor-frank-marth-dies_4022713) > > You’d know his face, but only a few of us would be able to put a name to the face. He acted in TV for over 40 years. [http://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=11195](http://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=11195) > > He was one (of the 100+) names I’d considered, but it’s more fun to include names that everyone knows. Maybe, but if it weren’t for the Death Pool, I’d have no idea who Michael Schumacher, Sam Simon, Wilko Johnson, Frankie Muniz, and Ryan Buell are - and they’re all in the top 25 most chosen celebs. Or take **CAMJAY77** ’s list: > [@](#): > > Valerie Harper - actress > Clive James - author, critic, poet > Wilko Johnson - singer, guitarist, songwriter > Alby Schultz - Australian politician > Dan Peters - University of Akron Director of Basketball Operations > Kate Crawford - Founder & President of Project Sweet Peas > Sally Farmiloe - Actress > Sam Simon - television director, producer, writer > Mario Oriani-Ambrosini - lawyer, politician, South Africa Parliament member > Jay Lake - sci-fi and fantasy writer > Darren Daulton - former Major League Baseball player > Daisy Berkowitz - musician, guitarist > Katherine Crowe - singer, author I know who Valerie Harper and Darren Daulton are, and I know of Katherine Crowe because she was on CAMJAY’s 2013 list. I found out about a few of the others while doing my Death Pool research in December, and the rest (Alby Schultz, Dan Peters, Kate Crawford, Sally Farmiloe, Mario Oriani-Ambrosini, Jay Lake) are in ‘who the hell are they’ territory, at least for me. (Maybe I’m just revealing the extent of my own ignorance with some of these, but what the hey.) There are two ways to go with a list like this: you can admire it as a product of some topnotch Death Pool research, or you can say it’s mostly composed of local or minor celebs who shouldn’t be on anyone’s list. I’m in the former camp, myself. (Actually, there’s a third thing you can say, and I’m just the man to say it: what the hell is Project Sweet Pea, and _dammit, you’ve got that godawful Tommy Roe song going through my head, damn you! Make it stop!!!_) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/666 "2014-01-13T19:14:47Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I know of Katherine Crowe because she was on CAMJAY’s 2013 list. If they can’t be a candidate just because they are ill, then knowing about them through someone’s death list doesn’t count either. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/667 "2014-01-13T21:53:38Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > There are two ways to go with a list like this: you can admire it as a product of some topnotch Death Pool research, or you can say it’s mostly composed of local or minor celebs who shouldn’t be on anyone’s list. > > I’m in the former camp, myself. And I’m in the later. I can’t see any way you can define a minor functionary in a small colleges sports department as a celebrity. Sure he has a two line entry on Wikipedia. But I understand that no one wants to get bogged down in the definition of celebrity. It just seems like a really cheap way to get points so I won’t do it myself. I’ve looked at a lot of other death pools and none of the others would allow entries like that. ETA: I’m glad I didn’t notice the Sweet Pea thing or it might have driven me out of this pool. Hell she’s listed fourth on their own website which I have never heard of. But I’ll stop now. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/668 "2014-01-13T22:01:15Z")
I don’t see why any sports person is a celebrity. Boring as hell, watching grown men play a children’s game. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/669 "2014-01-13T22:28:08Z")
> [@Bellhorn](#): > > I played in a death pool, years ago, where the winner picked up close to the maximum points by picking for his pool both of a pair of siamese twins, co-joined at the brain. It was determined that neither could survive without surgery, although it was highly doubtful that both would survive the separation procedure. > > The next year, we had the “NO UNDER-18” rule. Here it was Hunter Kelly. Jim Kelly was the quarterback of the Buffalo Bills and he was a legitimate celebrity for picking (despite what carnivorousplant might think). But somebody picked his five-year-old son Hunter who was terminally ill. I was still running the pool at that point and I decided that picking a terminally ill five year old was going too far even for me. So I changed the rules. Ironically, Hunter Kelly lived out that year and the person chosen to replace him after I disqualified him was Layne Staley, who died that year. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/670 "2014-01-13T23:40:01Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Here it was Hunter Kelly. Jim Kelly was the quarterback of the Buffalo Bills and he was a legitimate celebrity for picking (despite what carnivorousplant might think). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/671 "2014-01-14T00:29:59Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I don’t see why any sports person is a celebrity. > Boring as hell, watching grown men play a children’s game. 🙂 And I don’t understand why actors are celebrities; they’re just grown people playing make believe. Boring as hell, it is. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/672 "2014-01-14T00:40:11Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > And I don’t understand why actors are celebrities; they’re just grown people playing make believe. Boring as hell, it is. _Sports are real people doing fake things; movies are fake people doing real things_ ~ Jon Carroll If there weren’t something just a little bit fake about all of these celebrities, it would be a lot harder to play them in a Death Pool. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/673 "2014-01-14T00:55:29Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > And I don’t understand why actors are celebrities; they’re just grown people playing make believe. Boring as hell, it is. Good point, well taken. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kitten\_Mitten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b782af/32.png) [@Kitten\_Mitten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kitten_Mitten)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/674 "2014-01-14T03:30:45Z")
> [@computergeek](#): > > The above list shows 144 still living, some pretty surprisingly still alive like Magic Johnson and Stephen Hawking. Pardon me?! Why are you surprised that Magic Johnson is still living? The man is incredibly rich and can afford the very finest medicine available. He only has the virus which never developed past that. ---
**Author:** ![computergeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@computergeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/computergeek)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/675 "2014-01-14T04:06:52Z")
> [@Kitten\_Mitten](#): > > Pardon me?! Why are you surprised that Magic Johnson is still living? The man is incredibly rich and can afford the very finest medicine available. He only has the virus which never developed past that. At the time, AIDS was a pretty damn scary disease and everyone assumed that anyone who had it (or even just the virus) was going to die, and pretty soon, no matter how much money they had. I’m just glad he made it out of that scary period before the really good medications showed up. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/676 "2014-01-14T04:26:11Z")
> [@computergeek](#): > > At the time, AIDS was a pretty damn scary disease and everyone assumed that anyone who had it (or even just the virus) was going to die, and pretty soon, no matter how much money they had. I’m just glad he made it out of that scary period before the really good medications showed up. I wonder what his meds and treatments cost on a monthly basis. Must be ridiculously expensive. ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/677 "2014-01-14T16:35:09Z")
Working on an update of the Scorekeeper I made last year ([ref/link](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15891554&postcount=539)) This is essentially an Excel file that allows you to type in the age of death of a Celeb, and it automatically scores, updates, and ranks the players. PM me if you are interested in receiving a copy of the spreadsheet via e-mail, and I will send out a copy once the working version has been checked for bugs and such. ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/678 "2014-01-15T02:27:17Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Maybe, but if it weren’t for the Death Pool, I’d have no idea who Michael Schumacher, Sam Simon, Wilko Johnson, Frankie Muniz, and Ryan Buell are - and they’re all in the top 25 most chosen celebs. Or take **CAMJAY77** ’s list: > > I know who Valerie Harper and Darren Daulton are, and I know of Katherine Crowe because she was on CAMJAY’s 2013 list. I found out about a few of the others while doing my Death Pool research in December, and the rest (Alby Schultz, Dan Peters, Kate Crawford, Sally Farmiloe, Mario Oriani-Ambrosini, Jay Lake) are in ‘who the hell are they’ territory, at least for me. (Maybe I’m just revealing the extent of my own ignorance with some of these, but what the hey.) > > There are two ways to go with a list like this: you can admire it as a product of some topnotch Death Pool research, or you can say it’s mostly composed of local or minor celebs who shouldn’t be on anyone’s list. > > I’m in the former camp, myself. > > (Actually, there’s a third thing you can say, and I’m just the man to say it: what the hell is Project Sweet Pea, and _dammit, you’ve got that godawful Tommy Roe song going through my head, damn you! Make it stop!!!_) You’re not alone. I think it goes against the spirit of the game to pick “celebrities” who can only be EXTREMELY charitably described as minor local celebrities. For example, people who got extremely sick and started a tiny local charity to host one event, put out a “press release,” and did nothing else. Or people who own a bait shop in a small town, and the small town paper writes a single article noting that they’re closing the shop due to health concerns. In fact, before the cutoff, I PM’ed **Baker** with concerns about some specific picks along these lines and am still waiting to hear back. I know nobody likes Mr. Tattle-tale Snitchy-face, but if rules aren’t enforced, they might as well not exist. And a game without rules is no fun. Except for Calvinball. ---
**Author:** ![CAMJAY77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5fc32e/32.png) [@CAMJAY77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CAMJAY77)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/679 "2014-01-15T03:13:38Z")
I emailed Chief Baker about Kate Crawford in December and she said she was fine to pick. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/680 "2014-01-15T03:25:56Z")
> [@Randy\_Seltzer](#): > > In fact, before the cutoff, I PM’ed **Baker** with concerns about some specific picks along these lines and am still waiting to hear back. > > I know nobody likes Mr. Tattle-tale Snitchy-face, but if rules aren’t enforced, they might as well not exist. And a game without rules is no fun. Except for Calvinball. > [@Baker](#): > > We have no rule about what constitutes “celebrity,” because it makes our heads hurt to think about this. HOWEVER, if you DO have a question about whether or not someone’s choice qualifies, please, I’d prefer a PM about it to start off with, rather than thrashing it out in public and possibly causing resentment. Remember, it’s only a game! Do I have a reason to dislike you? 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193.md?page=33) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193.md?page=35)