Sunday Night Fever

Like the proverbial buses, you wait for one celebrity death to come along and then a few arrive all at once.

On Thursday the news broke that singer Donna Summer had died of cancer, with the Daily Mail gleefully adding a ridiculous subtext involving the inhalation of 9/11 toxic particles.  No points gained by the death poolers though.

However Sunday was the big one.  Having been mailing/texting me "Lockerbie Bomber" updates since last year's competition, Alex can finally lay claim to his oddly unique selection of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi who had been hanging on for a while.

In fact, Alex has managed to shoot to the top of the table having bagged a double death this weekend, with one of the 2012 favourites also dropping off the radar.  Bee Gee co-founder Robin Gibb will be Stayin' Alive no more, and has contributed points to four members and helped to shake up the leaderboard after a period of inactivity.

Is this the way to Amarillo

This is what you get for overanalysing.  Last year I had poker player "Amarillo Slim" Preston on my list but decided he wasn't worthy of a Top 10 listing this time around.

However he finally folded his hand (boom boom) at the end of April so will be one that got away for me.  There are probably a few of you wondering if he was actually famous enough for this competition so here's his Guardian obituary for the curious.

All the more frustrating as this is a ridiculously quiet year so far.  Surely Maggie Thatcher and that Bee Gees guy can't last much longer?!

There's all to play for still as no one is really that far ahead.  There are 13 paid up members so we'll be playing Top 2 places, with £90 for 1st and £40 for 2nd.

Good luck!

Waiting to Exhale

There are a good number of addicts within our lists this year, but only the one person had Whitney Houston.  Congrats to Claire for bagging a near maximum 10 pointer for the 48 year old, as well as notching 5 bonus points for having her as a unique selection.

In typical US style they will probably now spend weeks fighting over the cause of death so we'll leave the "unnatural causes" award pending, although I'm assuming a body ravaged with years of drugs and alcohol abuse was gonna give up the ghost eventually without much extra help.  I don't think a bodyguard would have helped anyway.

This raises a point I argued about with one of our members at the start of the year though - does a long-term junkie dying of their final hit count as "unnatural causes" for an overdose?  I didn't award the points to Amy Winehouse last year as felt that someone like that it was more about the long term damage taking it's toll rather than a one off - like an alcoholic dying of liver failure.  The straw that broke the camels back if you will.

Obviously if someone like David Beckham or David Cameron suddenly keeled over having eaten a bottle of sleeping pills then that would be a slam dunk.

Let me know what you think.

Death Pool 2012

Alrighty then, it's that time of year again when we get into the holiday spirit and start thinking about who we think will cark it during the next 12 months.

If you check the links on the left you will find the updated rules for 2012.  They haven't changed much cos I'm lazy and there were no complaints last time around.

You can also see the 2011 results sheet that might give you a few pointers on your selections for next year.  Remember though that originality gets you 5 bonus points, and with a larger field expected this time around they could make all the difference so it may pay to do your research.

As I pointed out last year, this means I could gain an advantage if you start firing your lists across to me straight away, and so I will email my list to myself by the end of the weekend should anyone be suspicious enough to want proof of my personal ethics.  Therefore you have some time to ponder before sending through selections during next week.

Remember to get them in by midnight on the 31st though!

Good luck.