# Celebrity Death Pool 2016 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** death-pool\ **Created:** [December 1, 2015, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2016/739098 "2015-12-01T05:57:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 48
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2016/739098/942 "2016-03-05T20:56:22Z")
Yeah, it’s not that big a deal here. I was just pointing out that Baker’s way is the way it’s usually done for contests and competitions. My Death Pool standings are usually so far back that it doesn’t make much difference to me whether you say I’m in 60th place or 48th place. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2016/739098/943 "2016-03-05T21:06:07Z")
**IT** can do it anyway he chooses. I do it the way I do because that’s how it was done before me. If IT is doing the work he gets to make the rules! What I always wanted to do was simply not count the entries of people who make their lists with numbers or commentary, and then neglected to change it, even after being asked to. I always did end up including those people in the game but I frowned as I did so. ---
**Author:** ![CAMJAY77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5fc32e/32.png) [@CAMJAY77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CAMJAY77)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2016/739098/944 "2016-03-05T21:09:39Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > I understand that, but my logic is this and you really can’t argue against it: > > Let’s say there is a contest that has scores and five people get 30,000 points, which is the highest anyone gets who is in the contest. So they all are tied for first. They got the highest score of anyone else. So obviously you can’t say to one person “You got 30,000 points, you win” and say to another “You got 30,000 points, you don’t win” (unless the rule is “whoever gets to 30,000 points _ **first** _”, but that’s not the case in the death pool so let’s say it’s not the case in this example either). > But I realize nobody is debating that in here… where the disagreement seems to come from is what we’d say to the person who got, say, 28,932 points. > > Now most of you seem like you’d say that person got 4th place…but yes or no, **IS 28,932 NOT THE _SECOND_-HIGHEST SCORE ANYONE got**? It is. It’s the second highest/second place score, behind 30,000…so, in my mind, any person (be it one person or more than one) who got 28,932 got the second highest score…thus SECOND place. > > So, put into a scoreboard, it would be like this: > > Mark 30,000 \<----Highest score > Jay 30,000 > Tim 30,000 > Helen 30,000 > Peter 30,000 > Mary 28,932 \<-------Second highest score > Tommy 27,655 \<--------Third highest score > Jean 27,655 > Steve 27,655 > Elaine 27,012 \<-------- Fourth highest score > > Or, put more simple, a list of scores, with doubles taken out: > > 30,000 \<–first place score > 28,932 \<–second place score > 27,655 \<–third place score > 27,012 \<–fourth place score > > Going with looking at it that way, I’d say 27,012 was fourth place with the fourth highest score, taking home the fourth place prize (if there is one) and the three people in third place should either all get a third place prize of their very own or split it. > > And the three tied for first either all get the first prize or split the prize or a new sudden death quickie tie-breaker round should happen to decide the winner out of those three. > > That’s all just me, though…I realize it’s done differently in other venues, but if I’m running this, I’m going to keep score like I’m used to. Of course, if Baker or someone else wants to not use me as host next year for this reasoning, that’s fine too, I don’t mind. 😛 I’d understand… > …but really, I think it’s a small enough thing to where it really shouldn’t matter much anyway, haha. > > That’s right. > > Anyway, sorry for the hijack, I will stop talking about it beyond this post. Not right. First highest score : 30,000 Second highest score: 30,000 Third highest score: 30,000 Fourth highest score: 28,932 ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2016/739098/945 "2016-03-05T21:47:44Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > Aubrey McClendon dead in car accident. > Thunder part owner Aubrey McClendon died Wednesday morning in a one-car crash, according to Oklahoma City police. > > There was “no indication McClendon tried to stop his car from wrecking,” police said, according to Graham Lee Brewer of The Oklahoman. > > McClendon, 56, was indicted Tuesday on conspiracy charges. He is alleged of conspiring to suppress oil and gas prices while serving as CEO of Chesapeake Energy, the company that owns the naming rights to the Thunder’s arena. > [Aubrey McClendon: Thunder part-owner killed in one-car crash - Sports Illustrated](http://www.si.com/nba/2016/03/02/aubrey-mcclendon-thunder-owner-killed-car-crash) Don’t know how we’ll ever know, but I suspect he fell asleep at the wheel, perhaps after being up all night dealing with the fallout of the indictment. I knew a guy once who was a part-time small plane pilot for a courier company. He had another job during the day and often looked tired. One night he fell asleep at the wheel and crashed at high speed into the back of an 18-wheeler stopped to make a left turn. The police told his family that he likely fell asleep at the wheel, and that when people do that they tend to stretch out, which often results in their flooring the gas pedal and plowing into something at high speed. A friend who specializes in sleep medicine she said the first thing she thought of when seeing the aftermath of the crash was that he’d fallen asleep at the wheel. I also know someone who works in Chesapeake’s headquarters and in no way did McClendon seem like the kind of guy who would bail by committing suicide. Not only would it be devastating to his family and employees (he was apparently a much beloved boss), but he was a super-smart, highly competitive guy used to dealing with complex and difficult problems. Plus he had the best of lawyers and half a billion in net worth at his command with which to fight the charges. McClendon was also a huge booster of Oklahoma City itself and spend a great deal of time and money working to build it into a fun and exciting place to live. He was a booster of the Boy Scouts and he gave generously to numerous charities, invested in numerous restaurants and shopping centers and thousands of acres of land for future development, and was one of the owners and promoters of the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team. Plus the new company that he was building after being forced out at Chesapeake was well on its way, having a achieved $5 billion in equity after only one year in business. All in all, I’m just not buying that with all of that success, and with all of the interesting things that he had going on, he just up and decided to drive into a wall one day after being indicted on charges that he may very well have beaten. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2016/739098/946 "2016-03-05T22:37:51Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > Going with looking at it that way, I’d say 27,012 was fourth place with the fourth highest score, taking home the fourth place prize (if there is one) and the three people in third place should either all get a third place prize of their very own or split it. This statement can be used to prove how misguided this way of looking at scores can be. Let’s say there’s a contest, and five people tie for third, but one person is alone in “fourth” place (ugh, it was painful to type that). The first place prize is $3,000, second place is $2,000, third place is $1,000 and the fourth place prize is $500. So, according to you, the two scenarios would be: 1. Give all of the third place finishers $1,000. That means that instead of the $6,500 they planned to distribute, the organizers of the contest/game/race/whatever have to pay out $10,500. Not gonna happen. 2. Divide up the third place prize, while giving the “4th place” finisher $500. Now the third place finishers have each won $200 while beating someone who wins 2 1/2 times their prize. I’d be hard-pressed to think of a less fair situation. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2016/739098/947 "2016-03-05T23:37:08Z")
I’m genuinely sorry to hear of Pat Conroy’s passing. His books have been so amazing. > [@Stephe96](#): > > If [Conroy’s] final words weren’t “Lowenstein…Lowenstein,” then he missed a chance to make an awesome exit from this world. Tru dat! > [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > Now most of you seem like you’d say that person got 4th place…but yes or no, **IS 28,932 NOT THE _SECOND_-HIGHEST SCORE ANYONE got**? It is. It IS, no question. The problem is, the person with 28,932 is not the second-highest scorer. That person is behind three others, therefore the fourth-highest scor **er**. And we’re ranking _people in order of their numbers_, not ranking _the numbers themselves_. Right now, we wouldn’t say, “ **359** is the leading _score_,”\* we would say “ **CAMJAY77** is the leading _player_, with 359 points.” ETA: \*Well, we _could_, but we aren’t interested in the number 359 in and of itself; it isn’t even a particularly interesting number. We’re only interested in it because it tells us where one player stands in relation to the field (way the heck out in front). ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2016/739098/948 "2016-03-06T00:06:05Z")
nm. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2016/739098/949 "2016-03-06T00:15:19Z")
Why not have tiebreakers decided by the celebrities on each player’s “alternative” back-up list? ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2016/739098/950 "2016-03-06T00:23:10Z")
That wouldn’t break every tie, as many alternates survive the year. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2016/739098/951 "2016-03-06T00:45:15Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I’m still have no points.☹ I don’t think I’ve _ever_ scored a point. You are keeping score just fine. Ignore the noise. EDIT: Best tie breaker would be whoever picked first. All entries are time/date stamped. ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2016/739098/952 "2016-03-06T12:09:28Z")
**Idle Thoughts** , you just can’t change tradition and not expect to ruffle feathers. **Baker** did it the way **amarone** did it, who did it the way **a35362** did it, who copied whoever came before. AFAIC, you have yet to show **GOOD** reason to change the placement listing other than you like it your way. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2016/739098/953 "2016-03-06T16:46:32Z")
Nancy Reagan just said dead at 6 points. > **[Nancy Reagan -- Dead at 94](https://www.tmz.com/2016/03/06/nancy-reagan-dead/)** > > Nancy Reagan has died ... TMZ has learned from a close family member. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2016/739098/954 "2016-03-06T16:58:50Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Nancy Reagan just said dead at 6 points. > > [Nancy Reagan -- Dead at 94](http://www.tmz.com/2016/03/06/nancy-reagan-dead/) Someone must have had her. I did not. I have Fidel Castro, who continues to mock me with his living. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2016/739098/955 "2016-03-06T17:04:23Z")
She was an alternate for me, dagnabbit. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2016/739098/956 "2016-03-06T17:05:53Z")
> [@anyrose](#): > > **Idle Thoughts** , you just can’t change tradition and not expect to ruffle feathers. **Baker** did it the way **amarone** did it, who did it the way **a35362** did it, who copied whoever came before. > AFAIC, you have yet to show **GOOD** reason to change the placement listing other than you like it your way. It makes no sense to me. I don’t see the sense behind it, which I’ve tried to explain twice now, in long posts. I refuse to hijack this thread (personally) any further with it, however if you want to start another topic about it in another forum, I will talk about it in there. Many people have continued, telling me how wrong I apparently am, but I disagree, and I really don’t think this is something a person can be “right” or “wrong” about. The way I do it works too and I’ve seen it done before many times. Sorry if it bothers people to the point of not being able to play, but it’s how I’m going to do it if I’m running it. It’s how I run any game or contest that I run that has a scoreboard. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2016/739098/957 "2016-03-06T17:16:22Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Someone must have had her. I did not. I have Fidel Castro, who continues to mock me with his living. I did, surprisingly. I think this is one of the few years I’ve ever had two people on my list actually die relatively early in the year. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2016/739098/958 "2016-03-06T17:17:57Z")
I had Nancy Reagan too. Moving on up the leaderboard… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2016/739098/959 "2016-03-06T18:13:53Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Nancy Reagan just said dead at 6 points. > > [Nancy Reagan -- Dead at 94](http://www.tmz.com/2016/03/06/nancy-reagan-dead/) Good Riddance. Her and her f_cking [little gun.](https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1291&dat=19801211&id=zggyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=K40DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6927,2177078&hl=en) Here is hopinhg she spends eternitnity in Hell, being butt f_cked by three legged mules, dressed in sequence and dripping in horse sh\*t. (Gee, have I made my feelings known?) ---
**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:** [March 6, 2016, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2016/739098/960 "2016-03-06T18:28:29Z")
That’s what I like about you. Class, right down the line. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2016/739098/961 "2016-03-06T18:46:43Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > That’s what I like about you. Class, right down the line. Why thank you Jack Batty. That is a real compliment!!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2016/739098.md?page=47) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2016/739098.md?page=49)