Here’s my list for 2016, based mainly on my 2015 list with some “lessons learnt” and, of course, hits removed:
Clean version:
Nico Rosberg
Jacques Chirac
Charlie Sheen
Yuri Cordeiro
Walter Scheel
Helmut Kohl
Ross Perot
Diego Maradona
James Watson
Joseph Ratzinger
Hosni Mubarak
Lloyd Blankfein
Muhammad Ali
Annotated version:
Nico Rosberg, German Formula 1 racer
Jacques Chirac, former President of France
Charlie Sheen, American actor
Yuri Cordeiro, Brazilian wingsuit pilot
Walter Scheel, former Chancellor of Germany
Helmut Kohl, ditto
Ross Perot, American businessman and former presidential candidate
Diego Maradona, former Argentinian football player
James Watson, American biologost and Nobel Prize laureate
Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Emeritus
Hosni Mubarak, former President of Egypt
Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs
Muhammad Ali, former American boxer
And for alternates: Stephen Hawking, British phycisist; Silvio Berlusconi, former Prime Minister of Italy
There’s an idea for a theme, a list composed of the world’s top wing suit pilots. There were five reported fatalities this year, up from three in each of the the two previous years. Those guys are nucking futz.
And BASE jumpers, wingsuit flyers, whatever you want to call them - they’re young - all in their 20s and 30s. With a themed list of these guys, two deaths would get you into the top 10, most years.
Muhammad Ali
George HW Bush
Fats Domino
Joey Feek
Valerie Harper
Mike Ilitch
Clive James
Mary Tyler Moore
Ryan O’Neal
David Prowse
Leon Redbone
Mel Stottlemyre
John Szeles
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Artie Lange
Gavin MacLeod
Jerry Lewis
Fidel Castro
Aretha Franklin
Ed Asner
David Soul
Joanne Woodward
Sparky Lyle
Bob Barker
Nancy Reagan
Kirk Douglas
Y’all, I almost **forgot **about the Death Pool. That would have been a major crisis. Since I remembered in time, here goes:
Jean Auel
Pope Benedict XVI
Tom Brokaw
George H.W. Bush
Jimmy Carter
Fidel Castro
Joey Feek
Jared Fogle
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Valerie Harper
Loretta Lynn
Prince Philip
Nancy Reagan
Alternates:
Tina Turner
Queen Elizabeth II
Donald Trump
As of the time I’m typing we have 471 celebrities picked, 368 of which are unique.
The following is a bandwagon list:
Joey Feek 28
George H. W. Bush 21
Valerie Harper 20
Jimmy Carter 18
Fidel Castro 15
Nancy Reagan 12
Charlie Sheen 11
Glen Campbell 11
Kirk Douglas 11
Lindsay Lohan 11
Muhammad Ali 11
Bashar al-Assad 10
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi 9
Burt Reynolds 9
Tommy Chong 9
Which time zone do we go by? Hypothetically speaking, say when the ball drops at midnight, and 2 minutes later we hear that Hugh Hefner dies, does it depend on where he was when he died? California time is 3 hours earlier than Eastern. So in California, it’s still 12/31/15 for another couple of hours.
On John Szeles, you might want to specify that you mean “The Amazing Jonathan.” I believe the lovely Baker has said to include their professional name/stage name, to help with record keeping and list recognition.
Yep, that’s it. It’s also the time zone I reside in, that makes things easier.
I oversee the Death Pool of another, smaller board, and up until this year, when I took that one over, it was on Pacific Time. But the person with the scythe makes the rules, so I changed it to Central. i also play on a third board, and the person running that one is in England, so they’re on Greenwich Mean Time, six hours ahead of us.
I had been wondering about that as well. Since dates of death are almost always published, but times of death frequently aren’t, that could present problems if someone died on January 1 in New Zealand (but may have died while it was still December 31 in Chicago) or died on December 31 in Hawaii (but may have died when it was already January 1 in Chicago).
I’ll try my Beatles-themed list from a few years back. Why not?
Paul McCartney
Ringo Starr
George Martin
Yoko Ono
Julian Lennon
Pete Best
Sean Lennon
Olivia Harrison
Dhani Harrison
Jane Asher
Patti Boyd Harrison
Zak Starkey
Stella McCartney
I was asking about the current rule. Wouldn’t the rule from two years ago still be in effect? As far as I can tell, there has been no change in the rule since then.
Continuing my annual theme of people who refuse to die (although to be strictly accurate, Liza has moved up to replace the late Robert Loggia):
Dana Carvey
Fidel Castro
Michael Douglas
Richard Dreyfuss
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Judith Krantz
Gina Lollobrigida
John McLaughlin
Gerald McRaney
Frankie Muniz
John Paul Stevens
Brian Wilson
Liza Minnelli
Note that John McLaughlin is the host of The McLaughlin Group, and Brian Wilson is the Beach Boy.
Well since no one on my list for 2015 left us except an alternate ( Medowlark Lemon), I’ll keep it for 2016.
Charlie Watts
Bart Starr
Jimmy Carter
George H W Bush
Joe Namath
Don Shula
Bob Uecker
Doc Severinsen
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Doris Day
Cloris Leachman
Betty White
Bob Newhart
Carol Burnett