Still hoping to score a few more points this year, but going ahead and posting my 2008 list (subject to revision):
THE HOLDOVERS
Oral Roberts – This is my fifth year of Celebrity Death Pool participation, and I’ve pickied Oral each time. Since I have a personal rule to only go for folks who are worth at least ten points each, this is his last appearance on my list regardless of whether God finally calls him home by the end of 2008.
Bob Feller – Made the Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot, but now faces his final round of eligibility as far as the Sternvogel standard is concerned.
Art Donovan – Another of my charter selections. I can’t believe the clock hasn’t run out on him yet.
Jack Kevorkian – Apparently “Dr. Death” believes in fighting for his own life, but he’s got to lose the battle eventually.
Louis Farrakhan – Will this ex-calypso performer finally belt out his swan song?
Pete Seeger – Since he sang Turn, Turn, Turn, he knows that there’s “a time to die” and (for his fans) “a time to mourn”.
Norodom Sihanouk – One of those guys who’s apparently able to carry out his death throes for years, but I just know that the year I drop him will be the year he ascends to a celestial throne.
Abdelaziz Bouteflika – Perhaps he’s licked stomach cancer (if he indeed ever had the disease), but I figure Algeria needs some representation in this thread.
Fidel Castro – El Jefe may indeed already be dead, but I’m figuring that George W. Bush will be the U.S. president who finally “outlasts” the Cuban leader (albeit by as little as a month).
AND NOW, THE NEWCOMERS
After the deaths of 2007 selections Robert Anton Wilson, Art Buchwald, Jerry Falwell, and Joey Bishop, here are my draft picks:
Mort Walker – The creator of Beetle Bailey will join such recently-deceased cartooning colleagues as Brant Parker and Johnny Hart.
Ralph Kiner – Feller’s teammate for one year will join (or precede) “Rapid Robert” in the “Field of Dreams”.
Kay Yow – Veteran coach of the North Carolina State Wolfpack Women has been battling breast cancer.
Earl Scruggs – Just a hunch that he’ll be pickin’ on Heaven’s front porch ere long.
PLAINTEXT ALPHABETIZED LIST
Abdelaziz Bouteflika
Fidel Castro
Art Donovan
Louis Farrakhan
Bob Feller
Jack Kevorkian
Ralph Kiner
Oral Roberts
Earl Scruggs
Pete Seeger
Norodom Sihanouk
Mort Walker
Kay Yow
