weatherman90

I thought I would let the DL community know that I, weatherman90, am set to meet Barry Manilow himself next year. We purchased the "platinum package" at the Las Vegas Hilton which to my surprise includes a chat/autograph session with Mr. Manilow. I will be sure to post photos and/or any other stories from my trip when I get back (it is still "Somewhere Down the Road", but I had to let all of you know about this exciting news.) Maybe I should have him autograph the DL logo?

Story Here's a link to a story on Billy Graham in which he discusses his declining health. He rarely grants interviews - and did this one by email. The article is from Minneapolis, Minnesota's Star Tribune - he gave the interview only because he has a deep appreciation of Minnesota since he was the Bible college president there. Apparently it was done by email because his health was so bad, and his wife is now bedridden. Maybe his last interview? He talks as if he doesn't have long.

Here's mine Weatherman90 Theme Team - All picks born in 1918 APA = 89.0 * 1. Bobby Doerr, 89 * 2. Kurt Waldheim, 89 * 3. Mike Wallace, 89 * 4. Eddy Arnold, 89 * 5. Griffin Bell, 89 * 6. Joseph Wiseman, 89 * 7. Billy Graham, 89 * 8. Betty Ford, 89 * 9. Nelson Mandela, 89 * 10. Baby Peggy, 89 The APA was very difficult to calculate in this case.

How does that merit points? Nobody has died or anything. In fact it has very little to do with anything. I probably should read these rules before entering into deadpools. I thought the bonuses were only applicable per death. You are right, Windsor. These are only the hypothetical bonuses that the teams will receive if and when their first pick dies. I should have stated more clearly. The list wasn't meant to be the scoreboard or anything.

A member, 'Golden Oldie', supposedly turns 76 today. If true, would this be our oldest member?

Saw Clapton a couple nights ago - what a great concert. I think it will be a long time until we can call him "Motionlesshand"

What a way to start of the new pool - Laurie Baker, architect, is now dead at 90. I turned on my computer, started up my browser, and there was the deaths in 07 page with a familiar name. Laurie was the unique pick of OMG. I wish we had a time of death available on this one - it was probably within a few hours of the pool's start. Anyway, a congratulations to OMG - you now lead the scoreboard at 7 points (6 for age, 1 for unique). Dr. H - I actually made an error in yours. You will receive 3 bonus points - because all of your picks are unique. With the new rule, you don't qualify for the theme team bonus since several other teams also happened to have all unique picks. So the updated list: Arbeit Macht Frei: Cell Block H - 6 points (theme, unique) Born in Belgium, Dead in 2007 - 6 points (theme, unique) Double D Denotes Death - 6 points (theme, unique) Handrejka - 5 points (theme) Weatherman90 - 5 points (theme) Dr. Hackenslash - 3 points (unique)

That's some good money wasting right there.

To sort up any future confusion, here is the list of the theme team and unique pick bonuses that each team will receive: Arbeit Macht Frei: Cell Block H - 6 points (theme, unique) Born in Belgium, Dead in 2007 - 6 points (theme, unique) Double D Denotes Death - 6 points (theme, unique) Dr. Hackenslash - 5 points (theme) Handrejka - 5 points (theme) Weatherman90 - 5 points (theme) Everyone else, of course, still receives the 1 pt bonus for every dead unique pick.

Very mixed indeed - we have 151 unique picks out of 179 total, that's 84%. The theme teams really brought out some very unique and interesting picks. Back to the subject of the new 100% unique pick bonus. 4 people are eligible for the bonus of 3 pts: Arbeit Macht Frei: Cell Block H, Born in Belgium, Dead in 2007?, Double D Denotes Death, and YOU, Dr. Hackenslash. However, since all 4 teams are also receiving the theme team bonus, the unique pick bonus will only add an additional point, so all said teams will receive 6 pts. The bonus will be rewarded if and when one of your picks dies. With this new rule, no one will receive a theme team bonus just for making a team in which the theme is that the picks are all unique picks. Does that make sense?

Okay - the lists are now up. Obviously, I can no longer accept any late entries. Everyone should check out the new page (although the layout remains the same). There is a minor surprise new rule - if any team has all 10/10 unique picks, they will get a one-time bonus of 3 points upon the death of their first pick. I'm not sure how many this applies to yet, since I have not yet determined the unique picks. I will do so during the next hour. Also, the theme team bonus is now 5 points. I promise it will stay at that

Good question... you will just have to wait and see. I'm beginning to update the page from top to bottom now - I will also archive the current pool for nostalgia's sake, and a link to the archived pool will be located at the bottom of the page.

Ok, well in that case, 25 teams seems to be the final number. Welcome aboard to WDP 2007-2008! May it be a very deadly year for all of us. Also, a congratulations to our WDP 2006-2007 winner, Canadian Paul! :party: :party: :party: CP finished out with a whopping 38 points, achieving a 50% success rate with 5/10 hits. Second place goes to Slave to the Grave, who also managed 5 hits, but a slightly lower 37 points. The third place winner is none other than RMHED, who managed 5 hits as well, and racked up 32 points. Thanks to all teams, and here's to an even better 2007-2008 pool. Stay tuned for the unveiling of the new list of teams in a few hours, and good luck to all competitors in the new pool now upon us.

I haven't received yours yet, CO, you must truly be waiting for the last minute Now 3 minutes until the changeover - got to get ready to congratulate CP. Don't worry though, I will still accept late entries if you say 'please'.

You are correct, Captain Oates. I now have 23 entries and the clock is ticking. I will of course take some late entries for the forgetful (since I am one of them).

I've received 20 teams so far - we need 15 more teams to hit 35 - it might still be possible. Keep registering

And he's out - we're now down to 34. Since 18 vets have already died as of now, we should have approximately -20 veterans left by the end of the year.

Very bad list indeed - all survive except poor Al - that's what he gets for lying about his age.

Abe Coleman, believed to be the oldest professional wrestler at the time, is dead aged 101. Coleman's nicknames included Hebrew Hercules and Jewish Tarzan. An interesting man I'm sure.

Just in time indeed! I imagine all of the vets on the page will get an article at some point.

I know I brought Sid up at one point or another... ahhh... here it is: Sid I don't think that Sid has looked that great in the last 5-6 years or so. He certainly hasn't aged gracefully - I don't know if he's in bad health though - some people just look like hell.

Here's an image of the walking skeleton:

Concerning the theme teams, I have decided to leave the bonus as is - since I thought about it more, and Windsor agrees, that 8 is a bit too much. (I just can't make up my mind, can I?). DDT - On behalf of your early submission, you will be awarded the "Early Submitter" awards (what a clever name), and you will be the winner in any sort of tie that you find yourself into even if the team you are tied with has a lower APA. This applies to any tie - not just 1st. I will give out several of these awards as I did last year. Handrejka - Sorry for the confusion, I did get your submission - I'm pretty sure that all the PM submissions went through without a glitch. The concern was that some of the emails might have gotten trapped in a spam filter or the like.

...but does a paragraph in the discussion page count as a 'valid article on the English Wikipedia'? Lloyd appears to be one of the surviving vets without an article on Wikipedia unfortunately. However, any of the other vets with articles - there 17 with articles - would qualify. A theme team of 10 ww1 vets probably would be a good idea considering that they are dropping at such a rapid rate this year.

I was considering raising the theme team reward to 8 points, as I had thought about it more, but I figured the change would upset some. If the consensus is to raise the reward, I will do so. Grobler & Windsor - multiple teams are not allowed I'm afraid - I think I put it somewhere in the rules - at least I think I did . As for the unique theme concept of Dr. Hackenslash - I will allow it as long as you are the only team to have 10/10 unique picks - so far you are. One last thing - I've sent replies back to every entry received by mail. If you didn't get a reply, that means that I didn't get it for some reason, and it should be re-sent.