Heef

Yeah, so with my team, that's a total of three thus far.

Rover and Garn with the 2 points for McGuinness. Didn't expect that at all. I reckon Garn has the more likely chance of significant hits before the end of the month now in our tie.

Who is this Lisa Magill anyway? Surely a one-pointer, not a two pointer?

Long interview with the Meads family here. Sounds like he's doing well in the circumstances. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11816620

The right call as far as I'm concerned. I've only picked 1 of these out of 22 players.

Wellington, NZ has had a less shit alternative to this Melburnian plan. In Wellington, the standard "Green Man" silhouette is being slowly replaced with famous Kiwis - such as Kate Sheppard or Carmen, with the particular Kiwi being used in culturally relevant places (e.g. Kate Sheppard near Parliament, Carmen on Cuba Street). It's been quite popular.

Kurt Seddon passed away a couple of days ago, for the record. http://deaths.manawatustandard.co.nz/obituaries/manawatu-standard-nz/obituary.aspx?n=kurt-seddon-broom&pid=184394374&fhid=12759

Surely that's faux-rage?

What can I say? Local media is very good at making news out of anything. Mainly as not much in the way of news actually happens here. Anyway, much like you it's great to put an early one past the opposition goalie. Striking almost as the whistle was blown. Good to see the lads putting in the hard yards in a match situation and not just leaving it all on the training field.

Had a busy couple of weeks with work, so haven't put much thought into this, but msc should now have my team. With ~12 hours left, I don't want to count my chickens, but surely a 6 point lead is enough?

My team's ready to go, but I'll be sending it tomorrow night as I'm having an internal debate between two potential candidates.

63 Test veteran for Australia, Dan Vickerman has died at 37. No suspicious circumstances... Not good: http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/international/89576220/former-wallabies-star-forward-dan-vickerman-dies-aged-37

No age for the fulla. Had a bit of a controversial career at times, but had health problems since about 2010, I think. Bit of a Lomu-esque illness perhaps, but not as high profile. EDIT: Any chance of renaming this thread? Wasn't exactly obvious to me that this was the rugby union thread.

I've always thought the Wikipedia test a useful one to tell if someone's really famous or not. Basically, if they had a Wikipedia page in existence prior to their becoming ill, then they're probably famous for something other than being ill. Someone like Mark Sims doesn't have one. I see Bernie Portenski now has one, but actually she didn't until she died (the edit history shows it was created on the 2nd February this year). Really, even if she'd had a QO (which she didn't - world famous in NZ and all that) then she really wasn't that famous. Errol Christie on the other hand, his Wikipedia page was set up in 2007, which pre-dates his illness being public knowledge. Gord Downie, 2004 etc. etc. Many problems with Wikipedia though. Certainly more likely to find English-language records on there, but most of the really famous people from more obscure countries would probably still have an entry.

Updated list. Strikethroughs are common to both teams in my fixture. We've definitely come out of the blocks early doors and looked to pressure the opposition and other clichés. 1. Bernie Portenski (former NZ olympic runner) 2. Leah Bracknell 3. Gord Downie 4. Sara Coward (the Archers actress) 5. Joost van der Westhuizen 6. Steve Sumner 7. Clive James 8. George HW Bush 9. Dina Merrill 10. Ivan Klasnic 11. Mithun Chakraborty

No, it's just I forgot to indicate that you were a theme team on my database! Easy to fix for the next update... Now, that's what I call service! Cheers!

Does my Politics XX not count as a theme team? Does there need to be a more specific theme. Don't mind either way, just will try and make it a more narrow theme of politicians associated with dictatorships next year (about 90% of the way there already, I think)

Who was the particular goal scorer in this instance? (Carrington?)

Straight in there. Shame not to get a unique hit for Bernie. Had no idea that she'd have picked up coverage anywhere other than New Zealand.

A few double-ups that cancel out for us there. 1. Bernie Portenski (former NZ olympic runner) 2. Leah Bracknell 3. Gord Downie 4. Sara Coward (the Archers actress) 5. Joost van der Westhuizen 6. Steve Sumner 7. Clive James 8. George HW Bush 9. Dina Merrill 10. Ivan Klasnic 11. Mithun Chakraborty Sub 1: John R Reid (cricketer) Sub 2: Ron Elvidge

Teamsheet has been submitted. We'll see how it goes, but I doubt I'll be this season's Lincoln City.

I loved John Hurt the actor. One of my favourite actors of all time - such a wonderful voice. For me, the quintessential Hurt will always be Hazel in Watership Down. That first, Kane from Alien second, perhaps, but definitely Hazel first. Any film was made better by his presence - no better summary can be given for any actor, really.

Heef, what applies for rule #5 if both parents are celebrities with their own Wikipedia pages but they belong to different age groups? Do you score points from the older or younger parent? You score the points for the player you selected. You need to decide which parent you're better off picking. Most of the time, if the ages are equal - probably the celebrity mother. For elder statesmen who seem to still enjoy having babies around the place (e.g. Mick Jagger) then you might want to pick the celebrity father, but it will be your named pick that scores the points.

Has anyone seen In Order of Disappearance? It's supposedly a thriller, but I found it to be a very, very black comedy and quite funny in a kind of In Bruges style. But I'm left wondering if I just have an unusual sense of humour.

What's the team sheet deadline? I'm try and finish mine off tonight.