# The Celebrity Death Pool 2007 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** death-pool\ **Created:** [December 2, 2006, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620 "2006-12-02T22:07:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 22
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/421 "2007-01-01T05:27:17Z")
I’m going to make a last minute substituion of Tammy Faye Messner for Mary Kate olsen. My final list is: 1 Fidel Castro 2 Ariel Sharon 3 Chuck Berry 4 Billy Graham 5 Ruth Graham 6 Tammy Faye Messner 7 Jalal Talabani, president of Iraq 8 Bob Newhart 9 Senator Ted Stevens 10 Senator Robert Byrd 11 Yegor Gaidar, former Russian prime minister 12 Indonesian dictator Suharto 13 Kirk Douglas ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/422 "2007-01-01T05:53:34Z")
[QUOTE=NurseCarmen] hrrmmm. Good point. But she also had national media attention. [/QUOTE] Is this Jeff guy famous for being ill? I mean is he famous at all? ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/423 "2007-01-01T05:54:21Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Lance Murdoch] You probably have suffered enough on this issue, but people like Dieghi were the reason the political prisoner rule was put into effect. The rule stems from the Iraq war when it became possible to simply put together a list of hostages and wait for the points to come rolling in. The wording of the rule could probably be a bit better. If that Jeff Tonn guy dies he will likely be the least famous person to ever score points in this game. My kids are off to bed so it’s time to finalize my list! [/QUOTE] And that’s a perfectly valid point about the political prisoner thing. However, the militants don’t represent the Nigerian government (in fact, the government is usually the one to foot the ransom) and Dieghi isn’t being held hostage because MEND considers his political views dangerous (at least, common sense tells me that an Italian oil worker probably has negligle views, if any, about MEND’s agenda). Ergo, not a political prisoner but an unfortunate participant (that’s also in dire need of medical attention, which is why I picked him over the other three hostages) in what boils down to a struggle over money. As for Jeff Tonn, having a disease that (so far) can’t be identified by medical professionals is newsworthy in and of itself. I wouldn’t have put him on my list if it hadn’t been a debilitating disease. Add the fact that he has his own web site it should be pretty easy to check if he passes away. If there are rules I don’t know about IRT death pool selections and these two or others are ruled out, then my alternates will simply take their spot on my list. Fair enough? ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/424 "2007-01-01T05:55:06Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Lance Murdoch] Is this Jeff guy famous for being ill? I mean is he famous at all? [/QUOTE] Not from what I can tell. That is my complaint. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/425 "2007-01-01T05:59:11Z")
> [@](#): > > As for Jeff Tonn, having a disease that (so far) can’t be identified by medical professionals is newsworthy in and of itself. I disagree, both that having an unidentified disease is a newsworthy occurrence and that Jeff Tonn qualifies as a celebrity, but I have no cites to back up the former and I don’t make the rules so good luck with the latter. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/426 "2007-01-01T06:00:57Z")
All hands, prepare for Time Jump… ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/427 "2007-01-01T06:01:21Z")
My list, which I just put together from basically nothing (I have almost no special inside information): 1. Raúl Castro Ruz (Cuban politician, born 3-JUN-1931) 2. William J. Clinton (former US President, born 19-AUG-1946) 3. Michael Jackson (US musician, born 29-AUG-1958) 4. Macaulay Culkin (US actor, born 26-AUG-1980) 5. Margaret Thatcher (former British Prime Minister, born 13-OCT-1925) 6. Chuck Strahl (Canadian politician, born 25-FEB-1957) 7. Tom Glavine (US baseball player, born 25-MAR-1966) 8. Mahmoud Abbas (Palestinian President, born 26-MAR-1935) 9. Jean Lapointe (Canadian actor and politician, born 6-DEC-1935) 10. HM Elizabeth II (Queen of many places, born 21-APR-1926) 11. Don Cherry (Canadian commentator, born 5-FEB-1934) 12. Janine Sutto (Canadian actress, born 20-APR-1921) 13. Rona Ambrose (Canadian politician, born 15-MAR-1969) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/428 "2007-01-01T06:02:07Z")
and We’re Off ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/429 "2007-01-01T06:02:23Z")
I hope I’m not too late… My browser timed out on me while I was trying to post my list. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/430 "2007-01-01T06:08:15Z")
[QUOTE=severus] I hope I’m not too late… My browser timed out on me while I was trying to post my list. [/QUOTE] I’ll testify to a slow dope server if it’s any help. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/431 "2007-01-01T06:36:18Z")
[QUOTE=NurseCarmen] I’ll testify to a slow dope server if it’s any help. [/QUOTE] Well, actually what happened is that as soon as I hit “Preview Post”, I was brought to a page telling me to log in again. I remembered that [thread=400338]this was discussed very recently[/thread], and that is basically meant that my post was lost, but I hadn’t thought of it before trying to post because 1) I was using my girlfriend’s computer running IE instead of my computer running Firefox and 2) also for this reason, I hadn’t chosen the “Remember me” option, which seems to be what causes the problem. So it was the first time this ever happened to me. Fortunately, I still had another tab with all the Wikipedia pages with my selections in the history stack. So I was able to rewrite it pretty quickly, but I lost time rewriting my selections’ job and birthdate and I posted one minute late. Anyway, it’s no big deal. I don’t expect my selections to give me many points (actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if _none_ of them died this year, and in any case, some of them I _don’t_ want to see die yet), so if the fact that I posted one minute late is a problem, we’ll just keep them as unofficial selections. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/432 "2007-01-01T07:30:19Z")
Now that the betting windows have closed, it is time to look over the lists. Who has the best? The Worst? I see many newbies going for the high-point young self-destructive types. That line of betting does not win. Look at Keith Richards. I regret having Mohammed Ali on my list, being as I missed Ariel Sharron. A simple lack of research on my part. Sharron is a “giveme.” In fact, I bet we could (together) come up with a list of dead ringers, so to speak. 1. Ariel Sharron 2. Tammy Fae Bakker (I respect her more now than before) 3. Kirk Douglas 4. Art Buchwald 5. Ronnie Biggs 6. Jerry Lewis (probably) Anyone else a sure thing? ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/433 "2007-01-01T07:44:53Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] Now that the betting windows have closed, it is time to look over the lists. Who has the best? The Worst? I see many newbies going for the high-point young self-destructive types. That line of betting does not win. Look at Keith Richards. I regret having Mohammed Ali on my list, being as I missed Ariel Sharron. A simple lack of research on my part. Sharron is a “giveme.” In fact, I bet we could (together) come up with a list of dead ringers, so to speak. 1. Ariel Sharron 2. Tammy Fae Bakker (I respect her more now than before) 3. Kirk Douglas 4. Art Buchwald 5. Ronnie Biggs 6. Jerry Lewis (probably) Anyone else a sure thing? [/QUOTE] Fidel. If they admit it… ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/434 "2007-01-01T13:08:48Z")
I’d venture to say most of us would cut **severus** a little slack here. I mean, who amongst us has not experienced the Dope’s infamous sloooooooow as moooollllllaaaaassssseeeeessss server before? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/435 "2007-01-01T13:23:26Z")
Anybody got **Darrent Williams**? American footballer shot dead. That would be very creepy. ---
**Author:** ![zelie\_zelerton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/59ef9b/32.png) [@zelie\_zelerton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zelie_zelerton)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/436 "2007-01-01T13:47:48Z")
FWIW I’d second that. It’s not his fault the hamsters were too busy getting pissed on sesame seed wine to process his post correctly. ---
**Author:** ![zelie\_zelerton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/59ef9b/32.png) [@zelie\_zelerton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zelie_zelerton)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/437 "2007-01-01T13:49:10Z")
[QUOTE=swampbear] I’d venture to say most of us would cut **severus** a little slack here. I mean, who amongst us has not experienced the Dope’s infamous sloooooooow as moooollllllaaaaassssseeeeessss server before? [/QUOTE] Sheesh you’d think I’d have remembered to tick the box last time… ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/438 "2007-01-01T14:16:48Z")
And as for all the rules, well folks, it _is_ just a game, not a matter of life and …, uh, ummm, back to whatever you were doing! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/439 "2007-01-01T14:55:37Z")
[QUOTE=Zog\_10] Shamelessly stolen from Rachm Qoch [/QUOTE] What fun is that? ---
**Author:** ![Tazmanian\_Devil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@Tazmanian\_Devil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tazmanian_Devil)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/440 "2007-01-01T17:19:28Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] Anybody got **Darrent Williams**? American footballer shot dead. That would be very creepy. [/QUOTE] [Link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darrent_Williams) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620.md?page=21) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620.md?page=23)