The Celebrity Death Pool 2011

The Game Room
321

“Celebrities that played in their high school bands and did not have a career in music with the instrument they played” deals with the issue of Aretha Franklin, but seems like a cop-out. Not many people end up being celebrities playing the instruments in a typical school band, but plenty could have started in band before moving into more popular music. Not every well-known musician played in their high school band, but I’m guessing a significant number did.

edit: Of course, it’s not like he went straight for low hanging fruit for the entire list, so it’s reasonable.

322

Sounds like the locals are in favor, so I will give critter42 his asterisk.

323

critter, where the heck did you hear that George Stephanopoulos played in the band? I thought I knew quite a bit about him, and I’ve never heard this! He was an altar boy in his father’s church, of course, but he worked and was on the wrestling team and played golf with his friends when he was in high school. No mention of learning any musical instrument.

324

I’m guessing from this list. I can’t find any other mention of it, either.

325

Outing yourself as a Stephanopoulos fan should be on the** Shameful Secrets **thread, shouldn’t it? I thought the BLACK SWAN was creepy! This beats it by a mile!

326

Ahem, I have by actual count 47 autographed copies of his book (so far). I used to be quite the fan, yes. Not so much since he became a talking head, for morning television, no less! What a waste of a mind and an education.

hijack[/]

327

Dick Cheney
Karl Rove
George W. Bush
George H.W. Bush
Sarah Palin
Glenn Beck
Rush Limbaugh
Senator Mitch McConnell
Rep. John Boehner
John Kasich
Chief Justice John G. Roberts
Associate Justice Antonin Scalia
George Will

Theme: People I would not shed a tear for if they left this veil of tears.

Alternates

Stan Musial
Yogi Berra

If either of the alternates passes, I would shed a tear.

328

That’s where I first saw it, but I had been trying to source where they got it from. I found reference to an interview with faculty members of his high school and him on GMA on Jan 4, 2010, but have not been able to find the video or transcript yet.

however at some point I realized I was going through way too much work for this game and let it fly any way :slight_smile:

329

I’ll give you a theme asterisk if you swap out Roberts and Scalia for a couple of prominent conservatives. Hannity and O’Reilly?

330

Roberts and Scalia aren’t prominent conservatives?

331

Swap Hannity & O’Reilly for Berra and Musial as alternates.

332

Not, to me, in the same sense as all the others. They are not actively involved in promoting the Republican party, which all the others are. The nature of their job is that they are limited to some extent in how conservative they can be.

It’s not a big deal, though. I can afford the prize money, so on any of these theme things if others disagree with me, I can be swayed.

333

Put Hannity and O’Reilly on the main list and make Roberts and Scalia your alternates

334

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia - 1924 (can’t find a date, not even on the Saudi embassy web page)
Chuck Bednarik (former Philadelphia Eagle) - May 1, 1925
Fidel Castro (I say it every year, I’m picking him until one of us goes) - August 13, 1926
Ariel Sharon - February 27, 1928
Dean Smith - February 28, 1931
Tariq Aziz (yes, I know the rule about executions) - April 28, 1936
Kim Jong Il - February 16, 1941
Michael Douglas - September 25, 1944
Abdel Baset Al-Megrahi (Lockerbie bomber) - April 1, 1952
David Lee Roth - October 10, 1955
Greg Rusedski (tennis player) - September 6, 1973
Urban Meyer (former Florida head football coach) - July 10, 1964
Miley Cyrus (the youngest person I could find who would be eligible from Jan 1) - November 23, 1992

Alternate
Dick Cheney - January 30, 1941

Plain List:

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
Chuck Bednarik
Fidel Castro
Ariel Sharon
Dean Smith
Tariq Aziz
Kim Jong Il
Michael Douglas
Abdel Baset Al-Megrahi
David Lee Roth
Greg Rusedski
Urban Meyer
Miley Cyrus

Dick Cheney

Plain List if Kim Jong Il is hyphenated

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
Chuck Bednarik
Fidel Castro
Ariel Sharon
Dean Smith
Tariq Aziz
Kim Jong-Il
Michael Douglas
Abdel Baset Al-Megrahi
David Lee Roth
Greg Rusedski
Urban Meyer
Miley Cyrus

Dick Cheney

Plain List if you just want King Abdullah

King Abdullah
Chuck Bednarik
Fidel Castro
Ariel Sharon
Dean Smith
Tariq Aziz
Kim Jong Il
Michael Douglas
Abdel Baset Al-Megrahi
David Lee Roth
Greg Rusedski
Urban Meyer
Miley Cyrus

Dick Cheney

and finally, plain list if KJI is hyphenated and you don’t want Saudi Arabia

King Abdullah
Chuck Bednarik
Fidel Castro
Ariel Sharon
Dean Smith
Tariq Aziz
Kim Jong-Il
Michael Douglas
Abdel Baset Al-Megrahi
David Lee Roth
Greg Rusedski
Urban Meyer
Miley Cyrus

Dick Cheney

335

Roberts is pretty much a bag man for the Republican party, a pure political hack without any real experience as jurist.

Scalia is not only solid GOP, he has his own “Christian” agenda that he feels he can use as a weapon, being chosen by God and all.

Together are more conservative and more political than is seemly for Supreme Court Justices, but then this is the worst Supreme Court the country has had since the Dred Scott decision in 1857 – a year the GOP would love to return the US to.

336

Ladies and Gentlemen, in front of you is the Scary Door. :D:dubious::smack:

337

Verne Gagne
Superstar Billy Graham
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Jimmy Carter
Meat Loaf
Keith Richards
Joe Paterno
Betty White
Andy Griffith
Ian McKellen
George H. W. Bush
Tina Turner
Jesse Jackson

Alternates:

Mike Ditka
Vince Young
Kobe Bryant

338

No thanks. :slight_smile:

339

Ok screw it, I am punting my list and going with a theme. I will attempt to go with all unique people. I am quite certain these are not actually unique as I haven’t really read the other entries. This is not likely to be the most successful of entries, it does replace my earlier list however:

James Best
Richard ‘Dick’ Winters
Tracy Morgan
Wes Bentley
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Maxon Crumb
David Rainey
Joseph Kony
Hector Murguia Lardizabal
Travis Pastrana
Ralph Friedgen
Wilford Brimley
Marcus Vick

Alternates:

Evi Quaid
Ted Kaczynski
Jean Bertrand Aristide

With comments:

James Best (Roscoe P. Coltrane from the Dukes of Hazzard. One of those people I was just surprised to find still alive)

Richard ‘Dick’ Winters (I would happily lose every death pool if he keeps going, but I was watching Band of Brothers again today and he is still with us)

Tracy Morgan (A kidney transplant and diabetes is a pretty bad combo, that and he is the least funny thing about 30 Rock may well doom him)

Wes Bentley (Drug issues since American Beauty have kept him out of the spotlight)

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Being a grandmotherly democratically elected leader in a country like Liberia can’t be a recipe for a long life)

Maxon Crumb (Wacko brother of R. Crumb, lives in a hotel and may or may not suffer from epilepsy)

David Rainey (Puck from the Real World - I was not at all shocked to hear he was seriously injured in a DUI accident earlier this year)

Joseph Kony (Leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, if only Dick Winters was a young man he might be able to take care of this)

Hector Murguia Lardizabal (Chief official in Ciudad Juarez, I might do just as well picking names out of the Mexican phone book in Juarez)

Travis Pastrana (X games guy, he will probably die at 95 from a goiter, but if he does go it should be in some spectacular manner)

Ralph Friedgen (Hefty ex-University of Maryland coach. Fired after a good season. A return to the Little Debbies must be tempting)

Wilford Brimley (He will always be on my list until he is gone. Diabeetus is a killer.)

Marcus Vick (The dumbest of the Vicks and that is saying something)

Alternates:

Evi Quaid (Wackjob wife of wackjob Randy Quaid)
Ted Kaczynski (Life may not be worth living unless you have an audience for your manifestos)
Jean Bertrand Aristide (Exiled president of Haiti living in South Africa)

340

Thanks for all the work producing different formats. I want to remind you of this rule: