# 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:** 35
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/681 "2014-01-15T03:26:23Z")
> [@Randy\_Seltzer](#): > > 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. You know, when someone says “I know nobody likes…but” it’s kind of a red flag that the person speaking is fully aware they are saying something unpleasant. I’ll put this in the open, since that is where you have brought it now. You were the only player, in several PM’s, who challenged other player’s choices. i agreed with some of them and some players had to make changes. You sound sore because I didn’t give in on \*\*all \*\*of your challenges. Look, we are here to have a good time, as is agreed, and it is a game and games have rules. But it’s **still** just a game and you sound as if you are taking it way too seriously. There’s no money involved, nobody is going to put “Death Pool winner” on a resume(I hope), in a hundred years, or way less, nobody is going to remember how we ranked here. Please, lighten up. ---
**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, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/682 "2014-01-15T03:34:51Z")
I _do_ have a reason to dislike Randy, and challenge his picks next year. 🙂 I am happy not to be suspicious of other 'Dopers I like. Are Ironman participants not famous athletes? Again, I don’t know squat about sports, seeing it as grown ups playing children’s games. But I digress. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/683 "2014-01-15T03:37:24Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I _do_ have a reason to dislike Randy, and challenge his picks next year. 🙂 > I am happy not to be suspicious of other 'Dopers I like. > > Are Ironman participants not famous athletes? Again, I don’t know squat about sports, seeing it as grown ups playing children’s games. > But I digress. 🙂 Thanks for the support, but the last thing we need in a thread about death is vindictiveness. Let’s not start a bloodfeud. ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/684 "2014-01-15T04:24:25Z")
[Franklin McCain](http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/10/us/greensboro-four-activist-obit/), one of the Greensboro four, dead at 28 points. No one had him (I know because the only McCain that came up when I searched this thread was John.) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/685 "2014-01-15T11:06:33Z")
> [@Randy\_Seltzer](#): > > 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. Here’s the deal about distinguishing between ‘real’ celebrities and locally well-known personalities: First of all, you’d have to _have_ a rule in order to enforce it. And for 2014, there is no rule that makes that sort of distinction. But more fundamentally, you’d have to be able to _construct_ such a rule, one that didn’t require a lot of judgment calls (none, optimally) on the part of the DeathMistress. I’m sympathetic to the idea that such a distinction would be good if it were possible to make it in a clear and easily enforceable manner. But you haven’t demonstrated that it’s possible, and I’m not sure it is. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/686 "2014-01-15T11:23:24Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Here’s the deal about distinguishing between ‘real’ celebrities and locally well-known personalities: > > First of all, you’d have to _have_ a rule in order to enforce it. And for 2014, there is no rule that makes that sort of distinction. > > But more fundamentally, you’d have to be able to _construct_ such a rule, one that didn’t require a lot of judgment calls (none, optimally) on the part of the DeathMistress. > > I’m sympathetic to the idea that such a distinction would be good if it were possible to make it in a clear and easily enforceable manner. But you haven’t demonstrated that it’s possible, and I’m not sure it is. Not a hard and fast rule, but it is my personal standard: I ask myself if the person’s death will generate a national wire service obit. Yes-celebrity; No-too bad. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/687 "2014-01-15T11:35:38Z")
I operate on the system that the Deathmistress gets to make both the rules and judgment calls in interpreting them, and as long as there’s no evidence of favoritism, caprice or blatantly ignoring them I’m fine with people picking lesser-known celebs and **Baker** deciding where to draw the line. This is supposed to be **fun** , dammit. ---
**Author:** ![Bellhorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Bellhorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bellhorn)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/688 "2014-01-15T11:38:29Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Here’s the deal about distinguishing between ‘real’ celebrities and locally well-known personalities: > > First of all, you’d have to _have_ a rule in order to enforce it. And for 2014, there is no rule that makes that sort of distinction. > > But more fundamentally, you’d have to be able to _construct_ such a rule, one that didn’t require a lot of judgment calls (none, optimally) on the part of the DeathMistress. > > … I participated in a death pool, years ago, that had the simple rule that a celebrity’s death had to be published in the NY Times (in the obituaries “feature” section, as opposed to the “death notices.”) That was agreeable, however, only because the pool was small and we were all living on the East Coast. This pool, however, has international participation, so that would be too selective. With the popularity of the internet, there are easily 10 times more “celebrities” then there were 25 years ago. However, there should be some arbitrary method, whether it’s a combination of international, published sources or that the celebrity had to be listed in some set of references. Take this year’s amalgam of celebrities from all 180 lists and come up with the smallest number of references that include 95%(?) of those selected. ---
**Author:** ![Bellhorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Bellhorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bellhorn)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/689 "2014-01-15T11:40:41Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I …and as long as there’s no evidence of favoritism, _ **caprice** _ or … No caprice! What fun is a death pool without caprice?! ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/690 "2014-01-15T11:48:27Z")
> [@Bellhorn](#): > > No caprice! What fun is a death pool without caprice?! I figure Death is capricious enough. ---
**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 15, 2014, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/691 "2014-01-15T13:18:21Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I _do_ have a reason to dislike Randy, and challenge his picks next year. 🙂 > I am happy not to be suspicious of other 'Dopers I like. > > Are Ironman participants not famous athletes? Again, I don’t know squat about sports, seeing it as grown ups playing children’s games. > But I digress. 🙂 That’s like asking if everyone who runs in the NYC marathon is famous. Of course not. There are only a handful that are fighting for the win. Those top athletes I wouldn’t object to being included even though I won’t recognize their names. I just looked it up, there were over 2,000 participants in the iron man world championship in Hawaii. I can’t really complain because I didn’t have time to really read the thread before the deadline and I didn’t check on others picks. If I did I may have had some problems and asked Baker about a few picks. But I can’t lie and say I won’t be slightly annoyed when the probable winner will have a list full if people who are barely known to their own family. I have my own standard and won’t deviate from it but I understand that others don’t have to. There is no rule being broken. But I wouldn’t complain if Baker was more strict. ---
**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, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/692 "2014-01-15T14:49:03Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > There are only a handful that are fighting for the win. What the heck are the others doing there? 🙂 I could not find a wikipedia article that was created before she was ill. Perhaps that would be an acceptable criteria. ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/693 "2014-01-15T14:59:05Z")
> [@Bellhorn](#): > > No caprice! What fun is a death pool without caprice?! I suppose that depends if it’s the [classic model](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Chevrolet_Caprice_Classic_1985.jpg) or not ---
**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 15, 2014, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/694 "2014-01-15T15:17:55Z")
> [@Bellhorn](#): > > I participated in a death pool, years ago, that had the simple rule that a celebrity’s death had to be published in the NY Times (in the obituaries “feature” section, as opposed to the “death notices.”) That was agreeable, however, only because the pool was small and we were all living on the East Coast. This pool, however, has international participation, so that would be too selective. With the popularity of the internet, there are easily 10 times more “celebrities” then there were 25 years ago. > > However, there should be some arbitrary method, whether it’s a combination of international, published sources or that the celebrity had to be listed in some set of references. Take this year’s amalgam of celebrities from all 180 lists and come up with the smallest number of references that include 95%(?) of those selected. My unofficial rule has been if you’re famous enough to have a Wikipedia article, that’s generally good enough for me. But I’ve been flexible; I picked Katherine Crowe last year despite her not having a Wikipedia article. ---
**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 15, 2014, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/695 "2014-01-15T15:23:11Z")
Given that this is not a money game, 99% of us are unknown to one another, and it is for fun, my general philosophy over the last few years has been: 1. There is no objective, definitive gold standard for what constitutes a “celebrity” 2. If the person is a celebrity to you, then list them 3. If some obscure celebrity dies that you listed and I didn’t: good for you, sucks for me 4. If some obscure celebrity dies that I listed and you didn’t: good for me, sucks for you 5. In the end, we’re all going to die some day, and perhaps having won the Death Pool will give someone the chance to list us on their pool (assuming we had cancelled our membership prior to the year of death, otherwise we would be in violation of Rule #3) That said, let the dying begin… phungi needs some points. ---
**Author:** ![Bellhorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Bellhorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bellhorn)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/696 "2014-01-15T15:29:43Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > My unofficial rule has been if you’re famous enough to have a Wikipedia article, that’s generally good enough for me. But I’ve been flexible; I picked Katherine Crowe last year despite her not having a Wikipedia article. Wiki is fine, although I guess a real ruthless dead pool competitor could create Wiki entries for the terminally ill. But what the hey, let them do it. I mean the prize money for winning this thing is well under $25,000, right? 🙂 ---
**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, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/697 "2014-01-15T15:37:32Z")
> [@Bellhorn](#): > > Wiki is fine, although I guess a real ruthless dead pool competitor could create Wiki entries for the terminally ill. I thought of that just after I posted. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/698 "2014-01-15T15:54:50Z")
> [@anyrose](#): > > I suppose that depends if it’s the [classic model](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Chevrolet_Caprice_Classic_1985.jpg) or not I was thinking more [this model](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caprice_Bourret), but you’re unlikely to get any points any time soon unless she drowns filming that diving show. ---
**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 15, 2014, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/699 "2014-01-15T16:35:36Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I was thinking more [this model](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caprice_Bourret), but you’re unlikely to get any points any time soon unless she drowns filming that diving show. Interesting username/link content combination ---
**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, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193/700 "2014-01-15T16:52:40Z")
> [@phungi](#): > > phungi needs some points. Points is, after all, points. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193.md?page=34) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2014/675193.md?page=36)