Leaderboard

Reet gang, eyes down - look in and all that. Masterlist below, game on and - I think - all 21 still breathing 1. Terry Lubbock (Sean) 2. Azam Khan. (Drol) 3. David Battie (Theoldlady) 4. Imelda Marcos (Bibliogryphon) 5. Dr. Georgina Morgan (gcreptile) 6. Bunny Matthews (Captain Chorizo) 7. Henry ‘Nacho’ Laun (perhaps) 8. Vic Elford (Quim Reaper) 9. MC Ren (Spade Cooley) 10. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee (Joey Russ) 11. Fortune FitzRoy, Duchess of Grafton (Yorkshire Banker) 12. Mary Quant (Toast) 13. Susie Steiner (msc) 14. David Gulpilil (Death Impends) 15. Alejandro Jodorowsky (Chilean Way) 16. Martti Ahtisaari (arghton) 17. Philipp Mickenbecke (Banana) 18. Donald Zec (Yvonne) 19. Jack Arends (Grim up North) 20. Jimmy Greaves (Great Uncle Bulgaria) 21. Abdulaziz Bouteflika (Maryportfuncity)

On the other hand, I'd like to thank India for being such great hosts for this edition of the cup.

Twenty three entries in. I have put up the master scoreboard. This is four players up on game 3 but we have lost @Grim Up North @The Old Crem and @Dying Probably There were five entries over the weekend so I am just going to go through these before I put the picks up. Once the picks are up you have two weeks to check for any errors (hoping not on this one) but the game is on from now so remember to flag up those obscure baseball players, Olympians and Pulitzer prize winners when they go

Actress Arlene Golonka (Mayberry RFD) has apparently passed away. https://extratv.com/2021/05/31/mayberry-r-f-d-actress-arlene-golonka-dies-at-85/

UK Cabinet Ministers 1. Kenneth Baker mn 2. Margaret Beckett gf, ch, yb 3. Tony Blair ar 4. Peter Brooke ph, af 5. Gordon Brown cw 6. Kenneth Clarke gf, ro 7. Nick Clegg ch 8. Charlie Falconer cw 9. Norman Fowler yw, ro 10. John Gummer ti 11. Harriet Harmen da 12. Roy Hattersley bg, ol, ch, gr, mc, ph, ba, ro 13. Michael Heseltine gf, da 14. Douglas Hurd bg, yw, cc, gb, di, mn, to, bp, ch, mc, sp, ro 15. Derry Irvine ti, gr 16. Margaret Jay cc 17. Boris Johnson gf 18. Michael Jopling to, gr, ba, af 19. Ruth Kelly yb 20. Tom King gf 21. Nigel Lawson bg, ar, cc, gb, di, gr, mc, sp, af 22. John MacGregor ar, gb 23. James Mackay yw, cw, gb, to, bp, ba, sp, af 24. John Major ar 25. Patrick McLoughlin yb 26. John Morris bg, ol, di, bp, gr, mc, ph, ba, sp 27. John Nott ti, ol, ph, yb 28. David Owen ti, ol 29. Michael Portillo ch 30. John Prescott cw, to, sp 31. John Reid yb 32. Bill Rodgers bg, yw, ol, di, bp, mc, ph, af 33. Janet Royall da 34. Grey Ruthven to 35. Gillian Shepard cw 36. Chris Smith da 37. Jack Straw da 38. Norman Tebbit yw, di, mn, bp, ba, ro 39. John Wakeham cc, ti, gb, mn 40. David Young cc, mn 41. George Young ar

Summer Olympic Gold Medallists 1. Arne Ahman cw, bp, mc 2. Greta Andersen gr 3. Ercole Baldini cc, ph 4. Gabor Benedek yw 5. Nino Benvenuti sp 6. Amos Biwott gb 7. Vasily Borisov cw, to, gr, mc, af 8. Irene Camber ar, di, to, ba 9. Charles Coste ar, cw, bp, gr, mc, ro, af 10. Mustafa Dagistanli cc, ph 11. Ron Delany gf 12. Keshav Dutt mc, ph, ba, sp, ro 13. Yelizaveta Dementyeva cc 14. Franco de Piccoli ti 15. Herb Elliott yb 16. Dawn Fraser ol 17. Jim Hines gb 18. Mohammed Gammoudi gb 19. Tom Gayford ro 20. Mario Ghella bp 21. Salvatore Gionta gr 22. Gordy Giovanelli cw, to 23. Halina Gorecka da 24. Judy Grinham ti 25. EmamAli Habibi gr 26. Spencer Haywood ch 27. Charles Jenkins Sr. ar, cc 28. Jackie Joyner-Kerse ch 29. Kip Keino yw, gb 30. Agnes Keleti yw, cc, cw, ol, di, mn, bp, mc, ph, ba, ro, af 31. Michael Klim sp 32. Olga Korbut ch 33. Margit Korondi da 34. Raghbir Lal sp 35. Erik Lamaze af 36. Larisa Latynina ti, ol, da 37. Jean Laudet yw 38. Hans Lenk yb 39. Anita Lonsbrough yb 40. Greg Louganis mn 41. Archibald MacKinnon gf 42. Jean-Claude Magnan da 43. Väinö Markkanen ar 44. Richard McTaggart bg, ti, di, ph 45. Aleksandr Medved mn 46. Fleur Mellor bg 47. Koji Murofushi to, af 48. Akinori Nakayama ol 49. Ismail Ogan ro 50. Takashi Ono ol, mn 51. Elvira Ozolina yb 52. Mary Rand bg 53. Daniel Revenu da 54. Bob Richards di, to, ba 55. Jackie Robinson bp 56. Viktor Saneyev ch 57. Heidi Schmid gf 58. Alwin Schockemohle bg 59. Galina Shamrai yb 60. Gillian Sheen bg 61. Mariya Shubina ar 62. Charanjit Singh sp 63. Mark Spitz mn 64. William Thoresson yw, gf 65. Wyomia Tyus gb 66. Gunnar Utterberg ti 67. Osamu Watanabe ch 68. Tomasz Wojtowicz ba 69. Jan Zachara di 70. Galina Zybina gf

Pulitzer Prize Winners 1. Oded Balilty da 2. Jacqui Banaszynski da 3. Walt Bogdanich ch 4. Edna Buchanan gf, da 5. Robert Caro ti, gr 6. Donald L Coburn ar 7. Robert Coles to, bp 8. Michael Cristofer yw 9. George Crumb yw, sp 10. David Del Tredici yw, sp 11. Carl Dennis gf 12. Maureen Dowd ch 13. Jules Feiffer yb 14. Elizabeth Frank gf 15. Saul Friedlander gr 16. Carlotta Gall yb 17. Louise Gluck ti, gf, yb 18. Doris Kearns Goodwin ch, da, yb 19. Sheldon Harnick di, mc, ro, af 20. Manuela Hoelterhoff yb 21. Richard Howard mn 22. Clark Hoyt cw 23. Henry Kamm mc, af 24. Richard Kluger ol 25. David M. Kennedy ol 26. William Kennedy bg, ar, cc, gb, ol, to, bp 27. Jospeh Lelyveld sp 28. Leon Litwack to, bp, ph, ba, ro 29. David Mamet yw, mn 30. William K. Marimow cw 31. Cormac McCarthy bg, gb, gf, ch, gr, 32. David McCullough gr, ba 33. John McPhee cc 34. Steven Millauser gb 35. N. Scott Momaday ar, cc, gb 36. Siddhartha Mukerjee ch 37. Marsha Norman ar 38. Pat Oliphant ti, ph 39. Thomas Powers cw 40. E. Annie Proulx bg, ar, cc, gb 41. Richard Rhodes ol 42. Marilynne Robinson da 43. Ned Rorem ti, di, to, ph, sp, ro, af 44. Richard Russo mn 45. Stephen Savoia sp 46. Gary Snyder cc, di, mn, ba 47. Stephen Sondheim ol, di, to, gr, ro 48. James B. Steele cw 49. Vance Trimble cw, di, mc, ph, ba 50. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich ti 51. Irwin Unger bp, mc, af 52. Slava Veder af 53. Alice Walker bg, mn 54. Richard Wernick yw 55. Garry Wills ba 56. E. O. Wilson bg, bp, mc, ro 57. Charles Wright ph

MLB World Series Champion Players 1. Sal Bando ch 2. Rod Barajas gf 3. George Brett mn 4. Orlando Cepeda ph 5. Dave Concepcion ch 6. Roger Craig bg, cc, ti, ba 7. Bud Daley to 8. Don Demeter yw 9. Carl Erskine bg, ar, di, to, bp, mc, sp 10. Roy Face gb, sp, yb, af 11. Bill Freehan di, gr, ba, af 12. Billy Gardner cw, gb, bp, mc,ph 13. Dick Groat ti, gf, ph 14. Dick Hall gf 15. Larry Haney ol 16. Bud Harrelson gr 17. Dick Hughes yb 18. Billy Hunter bp 19. Reggie Jackson ol, mn 20. Julien Javier yb 21. Sandy Koufax yw, mn 22. Tony Kubek ar 23. Vern Law cc 24. Hector Lopez to, da 25. Felix Mantilla yw, cc 26. Willie Mays yw, cc, cw, ti di, mn, ro 27. Ken McMullen ar 28. Robert Oldis bg, yb 29. Joe Pignatano to, ph 30. Horacio Pina da 31. Lou Piniella sp 32. Boog Powell ch 33. Jeff Reardon da 34. Bobby Richardson ti, ol, ch, yb 35. Brooks Robinson mn 36. Eddie Robinson gb, di, to, bp, mc, ba, sp, ro, af 37. Bob Robertson ar 38. Pete Rose gr 39. Dick Ruthven gf 40. Manny Sanguillen ar, da 41. Art Schallock cw, bp, gr, mc, af 42. Bobby Shantz yw, cc, gb, di, mc, sp 43. Curt Simmons ph, ba, ro 44. Darryl Strawberry ol 45. Gene Tenace ol 46. Ralph Terry cw 47. Dick Tracewski gf, da 48. Bob Uecker bg, ti 49. Bill Virdon ro 50. David West gr, ba, af 51. Bill White bg 52. Maury Wills ch 53. Al Worthington cw, gb, ro

Star Trek Actors 1. John Aniston ro 2. Lou Antonio cc 3. Barbara Babcock da, gr 4. Robert Brown bp 5. Joan Collins bg, ti 6. Ron Canada gf 7. John Copage sp 8. Ronny Cox ti, ch 9. William Daniels gr 10. James Darren ar 11. Paul Dooley mn, gr, yb 12. Fionnula Flanagan yb 13. Louise Fletcher to 14. Michael Forrest bp 15. David Frankham mc, ba, sp 16. Teri Garr di 17. Laurel Goodwin ar 18. Joel Grey mn 19. Estelle Harris gr 20. Bob Herron cc, bp, mc 21. Marianna Hill ch 22. Elizabeth Hoffman mc, af 23. Rex Holman sp 24. Marsha Hunt di, mc, ph, ro, af 25. Walter Koenig bg, yw, cw, ol 26. Nancy Kovack da 27. Joanne Linville gf, bp, ch, ph 28. Christopher Lloyd bg, yw 29. Laurence Luckenbill yw, ol, to, yb 30. Lev Mailer cc 31. Miko Mayama gf, da, yb 32. Lee Meriwether gf 33. Joanna Miles ti 34. Kenneth Mitchell ba 35. Diana Muldaur gb 36. Julie Newmar mn, ph 37. Nichelle Nichols bg, yw, ar, cc, cw, ti, gb, ol, di, mn, to, ch, ph, ba, sp 38. Natalia Nogolich gb 39. Valora Noland da 40. William O’Connell ba 41. Alan Oppenheimer af 42. Eddie Paskey cw, ol 43. Nehemiah Persoff di, gf, mc, ro, af 44. Ethan Phillips ch 45. Andrew Prine gr 46. Ray Reinhardt af 47. Andrew Robinson ar 48. Deep Roy sp 49. William Shatner yw, cw, gb, ol, da, ro 50. Dwight Schultz gb 51. James Sikking to 52. William Smithers cc, di, bp 53. Paul Sorvino ti 54. Dean Stockwell to, ph 55. Carel Struycken ar 56. David Soul bg 57. George Takei cw 58. Constance Towers mn, yb 59. Tom Troupe ba 60. Anthony Zerbe ro

Tasmanian born actor John Gregg has died: https://tvtonight.com.au/2021/06/vale-john-gregg.html Another Country Practice alumnus, in possibly everything Australian TV related. However, some of us are only really interested in his role as Lycett in The Ark In Space for Dr Who.

Alrighty, it is late but better than never. Here is the semifinal Masterlist: Mick Bates - msc Carl Bean - Reptile, Banana*, Spade* Buddhadeb Bhattacharya - msc, Reptile Kat Bjelland - Spade Bob Dole - msc Orlando Drummond - msc Gershon Edelstein - Spade David Gulpilil - Reptile Sasha Johnson - msc Azam Khan - msc, Reptile, Spade Rick Laird - msc, Banana Henry Nacho Laun - Banana, Spade Terry Lubbock - msc, Reptile*, Banana, Spade Jayanta Mahapatra - Banana, Spade Bunny Matthews - msc, Reptile, Banana, Spade Philipp Mickenbecker - Reptile, Banana David O’Connell - Spade Chhang Song - Banana Susie Steiner - msc, Reptile, Banana Stan Swamy - Reptile, Banana, Spade Ujwal Thapa - msc*, Reptile, Banana Mufti Faizul Waheed - Reptile Rick Wiles - Spade

OK - I'm in with a whole hour to spare! Best of luck everyone. I can be fairly sure that I won't be winning this one with unique picks as I have more or less just picked the oldest people in each category. Hopefully one in each category might do the trick again this time round. Out of curiosity, has anyone actually calculated how many actors have appeared in a Star Trek episode? It must run into thousands! I just confined my self to whichever one Patrick Stewart is in (?Next Generation) because that alone had hundreds of names. Did anyone go through all of the series? Thanks Biblio for hosting the game, and apologies again for the late entry.

It's very possible. But... I think about Ágnes Keleti and Willie Mays, too.

French comedian and comedy author Romain Bouteille has died at 84 https://www.google.fr/amp/s/amp.ouest-france.fr/culture/arts/theatre/romain-bouteille-qui-avait-fonde-le-cafe-de-la-gare-avec-coluche-est-mort-a158995e-c2ae-11eb-bf56-c2206490d599

I am actually fairly certain that noone has picked Octagenarian Patrick Stewart!

For my sins, I looked at The Next Generation, Deep Space 9, Voyager and the films. Even then, I only looked at people on IMDB that had a picture of themselves, and only catalogued those born from 1962 and before (I didn't even look at them in great detail after that). I also took a handful of names from some Original Series research I did previously, mainly just those aged 90-odd and above. Anyway, after all that, I have just over 600 names listed, and that's nowhere near exhaustive, and I didn't even look at Enterprise, Discovery, Picard or the 70s Animated Series. It'll be upwards of 1,500 at least I'd imagine, and that's just the one's that are still alive! What I did find is that there's a number of actors they called again and again, either within the same show or across different iterations. Plenty of people appeared in all three 90s series (Next Gen, DS9 and Voyager) in various guest roles.

Ok, so here's how the teams stand after a season: Rover and Out 1. Dean Smith (Aston Villa) - after last season's bare survival (thanks to *that* Sheffield United non-goal), I expected more struggles this time around but another big spending spree has seen an improvement (Martinez has been a predictably inspired signing). Will the progress continue into 21/22? 2. Sabri Lamouchi (Nottingham Forest) 3. Phillip Cocu (Derby County) 4. Joey Barton (Fleetwood Town) 5. Paul Warne (Rotherham United) - another change of league for Rotherham and a visibly devastated Warne refused to make a kneejerk decision on his future after the last match. Is he up for another promotion campaign or is it time to step back? 6. Marcelo Bielsa (Leeds United) - I felt the temperamental Argentine may self combust in a difficult first season back in the Premier League, but Leeds have been surprisingly successful with their inconsistent performances, ending up in the top half. They seem to be prime candidates for Second Season Syndrome, though and I have a feeling Bielsa is set for a surprise exit at any point (he never signs for more than a season...) 7. Slaven Bilic (West Brom) 8. Lee Bowyer (Charlton Athletic) 9. Grant McCann (Hull City) - hated by Hull fans, a bad start to 20/21 was surely curtains for McCann, but it didn't come! Coasted to promotion back to the Championship at the first attempt, now can he keep them there and show he's made progress at this level? If this season's anything like his last time in the Championship, I can't see Hull giving him long. 10. Daniel Farke (Norwich City) - fancied Norwich to struggle a bit back in the Championship and that Farke would make an exit but another side that bounced straight back, so similar questions to McCann, can he keep them up? And if not, do Norwich pull the trigger this time to try and save themselves? 11. Hayden Mullins (Watford) 12. Carlos Corberan (Huddersfield Town) - felt like this was a classic "Number 2 steps up only to fail" scenario, but, incredibly at Christmas Huddersfield gave Corberan an extended contract to the end of 23/24 when they sat 12th. They finished 20th, 6 points clear of the drop zone and were absolutely woeful against my team Blackburn, losing 5-2 in our second-to-last home game of the season. Maybe next season it will click, otherwise, that's a big pay out. 13. Garry Monk (Sheffield Wednesday) 14. Neil Warnock (Middlesbrough) - been trying to remember why I put him in, as he's unlikely to quit and unlikely to struggle. Perhaps I assumed he would get bored and walk away. Might still happen, and I'm not sure he'll get 'Boro promoted. 15. Russ Wilcox (Scunthorpe United) 16. Mark Kennedy (Macclesfield Town) 17. Paul Lambert (Ipswich Town) 18. Sean Dyche (Burnley) - assumed he'd quit due to the uncertainty last summer, or that he'd be poached by someone else but, unsurprisingly, nobody fancied him. There's talk of him going to Palace, maybe he'll get investment from the new Burnley owners and stop around, but he's been there forever and something needs to change at some point soon. 19. Eddie Howe (Bournemouth) 20. Stuart McCall (Bradford City) Great Uncle Bulgaria 1 Eddie Howe (Bournemouth) 2 Dean Smith (Aston Villa) - see Rover and Out 3 Hayden Mullins (Watford) 4 Daniel Farke (Norwich) - see Rover and Out 5 Tony Mowbray (Blackburn Rovers) - my team. Not the success we were hoping for this season, and the fans are getting restless but the owners have faith in Mowbray and accept the difficulties of the Covid season. But if there's not significant improvement next season, I suspect his time may be up. 6 Paul Warne (Rotherham) - see Rover and Out 7 Paul Cook (Wigan) DNS 8 Lee Bowyer (Charlton Athletic) 9 Paul Lambert (Ipswich Town) 10 John Askey (Port Vale) 11 Darrell Clarke (Walsall) 12 Grant McCann (Hull City) - see Rover and Out 13 Ryan Lowe (Plymouth Argyle) - perhaps GUB expected them to struggle back in League One, but Lowe kept the Pilgrims up and has signed a new contract until 2024, so unless they get into difficulty, I suspect he'll be staying a while longer. 14 Steve Bruce (Newcastle United) - I'm sure this was expected to be a success at some point. The fans hate him and they flirted with relegation until March, but an astonishing end saw them finish 12th, miles clear of a woeful bottom 3. With fans back next season, will they do well enough to keep the mob at bay? Joe Willock is surely a key part of that equation. 15 Philippe Cocu (Derby County) 16 Mark Molesley (Weymouth) 17 Paul Doswell (Havant and Waterlooville) - I must profess I know very little about the non-league game. A risky pick given the possibility that Covid would curtail the season again (which it did), when they were mid-table with multiple games in hand (they'd only played 14 to some teams' 19). 18 Bradley Quinton (Welling) 19 Hakan Heyrettin (Maidstone) - similar story to Havant & W. Maidstone had only played 13 games and sat 2 places further down the Conference South when the season was cancelled. 20 Danny Bloor (Eastbourne) - Eastbourne were going well, 3rd in the Conference South at shutdown, having played all 19 games. Did GUB think he might get poached by someone bigger? It's not happened yet... 21 Roy Hodgson (Crystal Palace) Buffalo Phil 1. Daniel Farke - see Rover and Out 2. Steve Bruce - see Great Uncle Bulgaria 3. Gerhard Struber 4. Tony Mowbray - see Great Uncle Bulgaria 5. Phillip Cocu 6. Grant McCann - see Rover and Out 7. Sabri Lamouchi 8. Alex Neil 9. Mark Warburton - has been under some pressure at QPR but ridden out the criticism and finished 9th. If the board expect a play off push next season, will failure to achieve that see his end, or are their ambitions less lofty than that? 10. Mark Bowen 11. Slaven Bilic 12. Pep Guardiola - this seemed speculative in all honesty! Did Phil think that he'd had enough? That seemed a possibility after a poor start to the season, but they responded as you'd expect, won 2 trophies, including regaining their Premier League crown and lost to Chelsea in the FA Cup semis and the Champions League final. Will he stay until he makes City Champions of Europe or is it next season or bust for Pep? 13. Paul Warne - see Rover and Out 14. Joey Barton 15. Michael Duff - well this was a turnup for the books! Little Cheltenham only went and won League Two! Seems unlikely they'll sack him next season, unless it's a horror show. 16. Richie Wellens 17. Dean Smith - see Rover and Out 18. Darren Ferguson - Take 3 in the Peterborough hot seat and once more he's got them promoted back to the Championship. Can he keep them there and, if not, will he be leaving once more to await his 4th stint in the job? 19. Lee Bowyer 20. David Artell - presumably Phil tipped Crewe to struggle in League 1, but they did well, finishing 12th, 8 points off the play offs and a whopping 19 clear of the drop zone. Anything similar will surely see him safe for now. msc 1 Roy Hodgson - Palace 2. Dean Smith - Villa - see Rover and Out 3. Ralph Hassenhuttl - Southampton - this seems perfectly feasible after a poor end to this season and a second 9-0 thrashing in 2 seasons. Seems like a good bloke and a decent manager but they need more consistency and to put all the pieces together to be more successful. If they start badly, I can see him getting the boot. 4. Pep Guardiola - Man City - see Buffalo Phil 5. Frank Lampard - Chelsea 6. Eddie Howe - Bournemouth 7. Gerhard Struber - Barnsley 8. Sabri Lamouchi - N Forest 9. Daniel Farke - Norwich - see Rover and Out 10. Russell Martin - MK Dons - barely survived last season but much improved this season, probably against msc's expectations. Only 9 points away from the League One play offs. A promotion push next season? Or, if they struggle, could it be curtains this time? 11. Grant McCann - Hull - see Rover and Out 12. Paul Lambert - Ipswich 13. Lee Bowyer - Charlton 14. Chris Beech - Carlisle - finished 7 points adrift of the League Two play offs, much improved from last season. Perhaps msc was expecting another relegation fight? Or perhaps that he'd end up somewhere else? He said in January he had no interest in jumping ship. 15. Michael Duff - Cheltenham - see Buffalo Phil 16. Steven Gerrard - Rangers - was this wishful thinking (I should know your allegiance msc, but it's passed me by!). A first SPL title in a decade and he's the new messiah. He'll only go for something bigger (does that mean waiting 'til Klopp goes?) 17. James McPake - Dundee - my knowledge of Scottish football isn't much better than my knowledge of non-league to be honest. But I know they beat Kilmarnock to get promoted to the SPL so he's in the good books at the moment. Seems like he's had some off-field issues from a few headlines on Google? Is that why he was expected to go? 18. Brian Reid - Albion Rovers - no idea. Looks like they were in trouble at Christmas but finished 7th out of 10 and well clear of relegation. Same again next season? 19. Ian McCall - Partick fn Thistle - more wishful thinking? Promoted as champions of Scottish League One and McCall is claiming they need to push for promotion from the Championship next season! Would a relegation battle see him out the door? 20. Steve Bruce - Newcastle - see Great Uncle Bulgaria Miracle Aligner 1. Eddie Howe (Bournemouth) 2. Sean Dyche (Burnley) - see Rover and Out 3. Paul Warne (Rotherham) - see Rover and Out 4. John Coleman (Accrington) - a club legend. Can't see him being sacked until he's ready to retire. Took Accrington to just 7 points shy of the League One play offs on one of the smallest budgets in the league. They could even make a promotion push next season! 5. Daniel Farke (Norwich) - see Rover and Out 6. Grant McCann (Hull) - see Rover and Out 7. Nathan Jones (Luton) - the second coming has gone pretty well. Barely survived on his return last season, but top half finish this time. Continued stability will mean he's fine, I can even see him potentially surviving a relegation, and as for being poached - he's already tried that once and it didn't work out, would he risk it again? 8. Graham Potter (Brighton) - much admired for the job he's doing and Brighton know they've got a good one. Could he be an outside pick for the Spurs job or another Premier League role if it became available (maybe Southampton?) Needs to get Brighton scoring more of the chances they create though if they're going to be more comfortable in the Premier League. 9. Steve Bruce (Newcastle) - see Great Uncle Bulgaria 10. Roy Hodgson (Crystal Palace) 11. Gary Rowett (Millwall) - not as close to the play offs as last season but still backed by the club and ambitious. Birmingham haven't been as close to promotion since they sacked him. 12. Carlo Ancelotti (Everton) - will the early season optimism that petered out have dented his interest in the challenge? Or will it make him more determined to see the project through? Would Everton really sack a manager of Ancelotti's standing even if they're still in mid-table next season? Seems more likely it will be him walking away or a mutual decision, but not before the end of next season I'd suspect. 13. David Moyes (West Ham) - well who would have expected it? Back to his Everton best and has taken a floundering West Ham team into Europe. Looks secure for the foreseeable. 14. Neil Warnock (Middlesbrough) - see Rover and Out 15. Neil Harris (Cardiff) 16. Russell Martin (MK Dons) - see msc 17. Gary Monk (Sheffield Wednesday) 18. Chris Wilder (Sheffield United) 19. Frank Lampard (Chelsea) 20. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Man United) - an improved league finish, a first cup final, but a defeat to a side that had never won a trophy before and some of the fans have had enough. How much longer can Solskjaer claim to be rebuilding and improving? Do they need to challenge for the title next season or would a cup be enough? Any other thoughts or opinions more than welcome, especially by those who know more than me about some of the more obscure picks. Definitely some surprises as to who's gone and who's still in post but I think it really is still up for grabs. There's a few of mine I'm not certain are going any time soon...

Paul Bearer predicting it, presumably in cahoots.

Clint Eastwood is 91 today. Looks like the committee was right about him back in 1999:

Oh, terrific. All my recent googling of old baseball players means I'm now getting updates via Google on my phone for the current MLB scores...

Okay, the Ideas and Possibilities/Dead of 2021 thread Siamese twins have been separated to the best of my ability, though the I&P OP remains in the Deaths thread as I cannot separate that one. Now I need a raise...

His (ex) wife was asked to comment on their recent divorce and why she divorced him. She replied "two words, micro and soft".

SCOREBOARD 1. Bibliogryphon* bg 1/0/1/1/0 2. YoungWillz * yw 1/1/1/0/0 3. Arghton ** ar 2/0/0/1/0 4. Captain Chorizo** cc 3/0/0/2/0 5. Chilean Way* cw 2/1/1/1/0 6. Time * * ti 2/0/0/1/0 7. Great Uncle Bulgaria gb 1/1/0/0/0 8. The Old Lady ol 2/0/1/0/0 9. Death Impends di 3/2/2/0/0 10. Guy From Future gf 2/0/0/0/0 11. MariNisia* mn 1/0/1/0/0 12. Toast * * to 3/3/2/0/1 13. Buffalo Phil** bp 3/1/3/2/0 14. Captain Hemlock** ch 2/1/0/1/0 15. Death by Arsenic* da 1/1/0/1/0 16. gcreptile** gr 2/2/2/0/0 17. msc mc 3/1/3/2/0 18. Perhaps ph 4/1/2/2/0 19. Banana* ba 1/3/3/2/0 20. Spade Cooley* sp 1/1/1/2/0 21. Rover & Out *** ro 3/2/3/2/0 22. Yorkshire Banker yb 0/0/0/0/0 23. An Fear Baeg af 2/3/1/0/0

Four-time Pro Bowl offensive center and guard Courtney Hall, who played in the NFL from 1989 to 1996 for the San Diego Chargers died at 52 years: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/texas-sports-nation/texans/article/Courtney-Hall-former-Chargers-Rice-football-16142165.php He was captain of the Chargers during their first ever Super Bowl appearance in 1995.

Mengele says thanks, he was beginning to wonder if anyone still appreciated him!