Celebrity Death Pool 2017

The Game Room
401

Here is my list for next year. A fair bit of Canadian content for our sesquicentennial, but I didn’t find nearly enough for a theme:

Bryan Murray (Ottawa Senator’s GM)
Joost van der Westhuizen (South African Rugby Player)
Helen Fawkes (UK journalist)
John Mann (Spirit of the West singer)
Gord Downie (Tragically Hip singer/ Canadian legend)
Judy Martz (Former governor)
Janet Edmonds (Newfoundland actress )
Marie Fredriksson (Roxette singer)
Leah Bracknell (UK actress)
Ted Mack (Australian politician)
Stuart McLean (Canadian broadcaster/legend)
Stefan Karl (Actor – Robbie Rotten on Lazy Town)
Greg Gilbert (Delays Singer)

Alternates:
Mel Stottlemyre Sr. (Baseball legend)
Tommy Chong
Valerie Harper
Penny Marshall

Clean List:
Bryan Murray
Joost van der Westhuizen
Helen Fawkes
John Mann
Gord Downie
Judy Martz
Janet Edmonds
Marie Fredriksson
Leah Bracknell
Ted Mack
Stuart McLean
Stefan Karl
Greg Gilbert

402

FINAL list:

Joost van der Westhuizen (b. 2/20/71)
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (b. 7/28/71)
Johnathan Szeles (b. 9/9/58)
Fernando Ricksen (dutch soccer star) (b. 7/27/76)
John “TotalBiscuit” Bain (b. 7/8/84)
Jeff Lowe (b. 9/13/50)
Gord Downie (b. 2/6/64)
Shannen Doherty (b. 4/12/71)
Michael Schumacher (b. 1/3/69)
Turki al-Binali (b. 9/3/84)
Abu As’ad al-Iraqi ("the new Emir of Tal Afar," per al-Baghdadi, age 40)
Angelo Bissessarsingh, historian, age 34
Leah Bracknell, actress

Alternate:
Danny Delport (South African/Rhodesian rugby star) age 64

Clean list:

Joost van der Westhuizen
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
Johnathan Szeles
Fernando Ricksen
John Bain
Jeff Lowe
Gord Downie
Shannen Doherty
Michael Schumacher
Turki al-Binali
Abu As’ad al-Iraqi
Angelo Bissessarsingh
Leah Bracknell
Alternate:
Danny Delport

403

One more minute. : p

404

My lists the past couple years have leaned younger (high risk, high reward!) and have been heavy on folks with some connection to Chicago. So I’ve decided to combine these into a themed list this year: Celebrities Under 55 with a Connection to Chicago. Admittedly, the connection is sometimes quite tenuous.

Clean List

Heather Mack
Chief Keef
Lil Durk
Jereme Richmond
Louis King Johnson Jr.
Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar
Jeremiah Ratliff
Giuliana Rancic
Jesse Jackson Jr.
Jose Canseco
Melodie Gliniewicz
William Perry
Joe Walsh
With Commentary. Current age (or thereabouts) in parentheses:

Heather Mack (20) – Co-perpetrator in the Bali suitcase murder case. Serving prison time in Indonesia.

Chief Keef (21) – a/k/a Keith Cozart, perpetually troubled “drill” rapper from Chicago. For a while he was popping up in the local news about monthly for yet another DUI, drug charge, shooting incident, etc.

Lil Durk (23) – a/k/a Durk Banks, another drill rapper from Chicago that seems to find annual trouble with gun charges. His manager was gunned down last year.

Jereme Richmond (24) – Native of north suburbs and former University of Illinois basketball player frequently in trouble with the law.

Louis King Johnson Jr. (29) – Chicago-based drill rapper better known as “King Louie” or “King L.” Shot in the head on Dec. 23rd.

Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar (29) – Son of drug kingpin Joaquín Guzmán. Recently kidnapped and released. Indicted in a Chicago court.

Jeremiah Ratliff (34) – Defensive lineman fired from the Chicago Bears in October after bizarre behavior and outbursts. Committed DUI a couple years ago.

Giuliana Rancic (42) – TV personality and socialite who has battled cancer on and off.

Jesse Jackson Jr. (51) – Former Congressman. Son of famed civil rights leader. Recently out of prison, filed for divorce, and battling bi-polar disorder and depression.

Jose Canseco (52) – Former baseball player. Played for White Sox for a single season.

Melodie Gliniewicz (52) – Wife of former northwest suburban cop Joe Gliniewicz (killed himself whilst trying to appear he died in line of duty), now in trouble with the law for fraud.

William “The Fridge” Perry (53)* – Former Chicago Bear.

Joe Walsh (55) – Former congressman.

405

No worries, I’d automatically use alternates.

406

Time stamp: 6:07pm EST 12/31.

Just sayin’. :wink:

407

I just realized I spelled Robert Mugabe’s name wrong.

408

Note to Idle Thoughts: my clean list – as submitted right under the deadline – is unaffected. The below edits simply update my accompanying commentary.

Some sloppy copying-and-pasting from last year’s list introduced errors into my comments. These are hopefully fixed below…
Heather Mack (20)* – Co-perpetrator in the Bali suitcase murder case. Serving prison time in Indonesia. From a Chicago suburb.

Chief Keef (21)* – a/k/a Keith Cozart, perpetually troubled “drill” rapper from Chicago. For a while he was popping up in the local news about monthly for yet another DUI, drug charge, shooting incident, etc.

Lil Durk (24)* – a/k/a Durk Banks, another drill rapper from Chicago that seems to find annual trouble with gun charges. His manager was gunned down in 2015.

Jereme Richmond (24) – Former University of Illinois basketball player frequently in trouble with the law. Native of north suburbs.

Louis King Johnson Jr. (29)* – Chicago-based drill rapper better known as “King Louie” or “King L.” Shot in the head in December 2015.

Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar (29) – Son of drug kingpin Joaquín Guzmán. Recently kidnapped and released. Indicted in a Chicago court (though still roaming Mexico).

Jeremiah Ratliff (35)* – Defensive lineman fired from the Chicago Bears in October 2015 after bizarre behavior and outbursts. Committed DUI a couple years ago.

Giuliana Rancic (42) – TV personality who has battled cancer on and off. Lives in Chicago.

Jesse Jackson Jr. (51) – Son of famed civil rights leader. Former Chicago Congressman. Recently out of prison after serving time for campaign fraud. Filed for divorce a few weeks ago. Has been battling bi-polar disorder and depression for several years.

Jose Canseco (52) – Former baseball player with penchant for risky behavior. Played for the White Sox in his final MLB season.

Melodie Gliniewicz (52) – Widow of Joe Gliniewicz, a cop from the far northwest suburbs who committed suicide (but staged things to appear as if he was killed in the line duty) to cover up fraud. Melodie is in trouble for her involvement in the scheme.

William “The Fridge” Perry (54)* – Former Chicago Bear.

Joe Walsh (55) – Former congressman representing northern suburbs. Seems to be coming unhinged.
*Rolled over from last year’s list

409

For those scoring at home I think a few of us picked Stef Karl Stefansson. To clear up confusion, because of Icelandic naming conventions he is alternatively listed as Stefan Karl. Both are valid and it’s the same guy.

I had hoped to get a unique with that one. With the number of times I had to sit through Lazytown with my daughter I should get extra points.

410

Here’s the expanded version of my already submitted list, with Suisala removed. I’ve included birth dates (in YMD format) where possible:

1 Shauna Hoare Age 22 killer of Becky Watts. Murder of Becky Watts - Wikipedia
2 Tara Palmer Tomkinson 1971/12/23 Tara Palmer-Tomkinson - Wikipedia
3 John Bain 1984/07/08 TotalBiscuit - Wikipedia
4 Joost van der Westhuizen 1971/02/20 Joost van der Westhuizen - Wikipedia
5 Ruth Bader Ginsburg 1933/03/15 Ruth Bader Ginsburg - Wikipedia
6 Kim Jong-Un 1984/01/08 Kim Jong Un - Wikipedia
7 Shaun Greatbatch 1969/07/13 Shaun Greatbatch - Wikipedia
8 Jamie MacDonald 1990/11/19 JudoInside - Jamie MacDonald Judoka, http://www.thelastthingiexpected.com/
9 Paul Gascoigne 1967/05/27 Paul Gascoigne - Wikipedia
10 Ronnie Campbell 1943/08/14 Ronnie Campbell - Wikipedia
11 Nick Boles 1965/11/02 Nick Boles - Wikipedia
12 Angelo Bissessarsingh 1982/09/?? Journalist & historian
13 Brian Binley 1942/04/01 Brian Binley - Wikipedia

14 John Szeles The Amazing Jonathan 1958/09/09 http://www.amazingj.com/
15 Ali Carter 1979/07/25 Ali Carter - Wikipedia

411

Who is Steve Christy?

412

Did anyone have William Christopher? Whoops, he was the last of 2016, not the first of 2017.

413

NFL kicker Steve Christie?

414

Good lord was I drunk when I posted this? Thanks Little Nemo for fixing it up for me. LOL damn.

415

I had him as an alt for 2017. I should get something for missing by mere hours.

416

You get exactly what you would have scored if he was an alternate.

417

Still no reported deaths yet? Well, that’s good. 2017 is off to a good start.

418

Toronto Film Fest Founder and Producer Bill Marshall Dies at 77

419

Hey Idle Thoughts, maybe it’s time to remove the [Deadline in a Few Hours] from the thread title?

420

Got started early this year, and completed the 2017 Death Pool Scorekeeper, which automatically tracks scores, ranks, total picks, and unique picks, requiring you to only put in a celeb’s age at death.

If anyone would like a copy of the off-line Scorekeeper, PM me an email address. It requires having Microsoft Excel on your computer. Working on a Google Sheets version, but not there yet.