MrWonderful

Yep. Thanks for the suggestions, SC. Taking into account who I think I can get through, I think this is my Wrestling order: Howard Finkel, Superstar Billy Graham, Kamala, Jackie Stallone, Abdullah The Butcher, Samu, Ric Flair, Scott Hall/Razor Ramon, Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff, Jerry Lawler, and Lex Luger.

Those 2 were at the top of my list. The way the draft works is that we draw the order for the first category, which the person that gets #1 gets to choose (gets to choose the first category). The next category has everyone move up a spot, and so on (so #1 in the first category picks 4th in the following one). Trebek would fall under Entertainment and TV for us, and Doleman in Sports. There are 4 of us that participate in this draft. I suppose that means I have a 50/50 chance at either Doleman or Trebek. We have ample flex spots, so you can basically pick anyone from any category if you're thinking about the best choices for virtual locks for 2020. Our only rules are that we can't take anybody aged 100 or older (it's OK if they turn 100 later in the year), and that 2 of the other 3 guys have to have heard of the person. Us being sports fans and Americans, I'm strongly considering names that are less-obvious in the UK like Fay Vincent and Jerry Sloan, but also names like Bob Gibson and Gale Sayers. We also have a wrestling category and the biggest names I'm considering there are Howard Finkel, Superstar Billy Graham, Jackie Stallone, Kamala, and Samu. Other names I feel good about in general are both Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, Little Richard, Daniel arap Moi, and Larry King. If you think you have a fairly obvious name that I've missed that feels like more of a shoo-in than these names, I'm all ears.

OK, so I have my 2020 Draft with my buddies tomorrow, and I wanted to take the temperature of the room. Who do you think is more likely to die in 2020: Chris Doleman or Alex Trebek? Doleman would net more points, since he's younger, and he's had a glioblastoma since January 2018. Typical survival rate is 12-18 months, and about 30% survive for more than 24 months. (He had the surgery on Jan. 25, 2018, so he's already quite close to the 70% that don't make it past 24 months.) If he made it to 2021, that would mean 36 months. On the other hand, is it more likely that Trebek survives for 21-22 months, since he was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer in March 2019?

Tulsi is a joke, and it's going to be either Biden or Sanders. And yes, there's a very good chance Trump wins again. The U.S. has jumped the shark. Perhaps the UK has, too.

I really like this pick by the committee. Playing the heart transplant odds!

Tina Turner was an insta-drop.

It's still 2019 in California for almost 6 and a half hours, so I wanted to get this on the record, somewhere. Here is my Top 50 List for 2020, so read 'em and weep... 1) Chris Doleman 2) Alex Trebek 3) Daniel arap Moi 4) Jimmy Carter 5) Rosalynn Carter 6) Larry King 7) Nichelle Nichols 8) Vera Lynn 9) Bob Dole 10) Little Richard 11) Jerry Sloan 12) Bob Gibson 13) Olivia de Havilland 14) Kirk Douglas 15) Roberta McCain 16) Javier Perez de Cuellar 17) Mikhail Gorbachev 18) Pierre Cardin 19) Barbara Walters 20) Ryan O'Neal 21) Betty White 22) Bob Barker 23) Emperor Akihito 24) Gale Sayers 25) Alan Greenspan 26) Dick Cheney 27) Fay Vincent 28) Ruth Bader Ginsburg 29) Jackie Stallone 30) Alberto Fujimori 31) Willie Nelson 32) Leon Spinks 33) Yoko Ono 34) Honor Blackman 35) Howard Finkel 36) Samu 37) Superstar Billy Graham 38) David Crosby 39) Desmond Tutu 40) Loretta Lynn 41) Alberto Fujimori 42) Don Shula 43) Kenny Rogers 44) Sidney Poitier 45) Olivia Newton-John 46) Cloris Leachman 47) Harry Reid 48) John Lewis 49) Teri Garr 50) Prince Philip

Yeah, I see that does appear to be the case. On second thought, fire him up for the 2020 Deathlist. (And I take no pleasure in saying that, but hey, we're all here for a reason!)

He's a good candidate, yes, but I do agree with his statement that it seems like people are living longer (or maybe you just have to be rich?) with new treatments. Harry Reid is still alive, for example, although I don't know if he was at stage IV when he was diagnosed. I could see Lewis making 2021.

Since this dude got in a car accident this year in his late 90's where his car flipped and he literally hardly had a scratch on him--aren't your bones supposed to be like pretzels when you are over 90 years old?--I've been confident that he's going to cruise well past 100. It's like he's unbreakable.

As a huge LA Kings fan, I totally remember him.

Not what I was expecting but that was a fun watch, thanks.

As someone who has won on a trivia game show on U.S. television and as someone who loves the Academy Awards and trivia relating to that, I can honestly tell you all that I have never heard of this person, and she's won two Oscars for Best Actress. Not just one, but two! She just totally slipped through the cracks, for some reason. I went through the list of multiple Best Actress Oscar winners (there are 14), and the only other one I had never heard of was Luise Rainer. Since Rainer won her awards in 1936 and 1937, I suppose that's understandable. But strange that I never encountered reading anything in print or seeing/hearing anything in the media that would've put her existence into my memory.

Sorry for the terrible job with the cut and paste by me. Adrian Wojnarowski added that Stern collapsed at the Brasserie 8.5 Restaurant in Manhattan today and was rushed to the hospital for the emergency surgery.

Former NBA Commissioner David Stern has suffered a brain hemorrhage and underwent emergency surgery. Tim Bontemps @TimBontemps The NBA just released a statement saying David Stern has "suffered a sudden brain hemorrhage earlier today for which he underwent emergency surgery. Our thoughts and prayers are with David and his family.” 7:20 PM · Dec 12, 2019·Twitter Web App

So much to mention, but you can't find the words...

'Til the time had run out. Seriously, this sucks. They were big when I was growing up in the early 90's. RIP.

Yeah, feels like he is circling the drain now.

Some names I'm looking at, leaving out what I consider to be some of the very obvious ones... American sports/wrestling figures Bob Gibson (pancreatic cancer as of July 2019) Jerry Sloan (advanced dementia/Parkinson's) Fay Vincent (former MLB commissioner wrote in July 2019 op-ed that he's dying of leukemia) Mark Gastineau (diagnosed with dementia/Parkinson's/Alzheimer's in 2016, stage 3 colon cancer battle in '19) Superstar Billy Graham Lux Luger Samu Howard Finkel Gale Sayers Chris Doleman (would be going on 24 months with a glioblastoma if he makes it to Jan. 2020) Mike Ditka Don Shula William "The Refrigerator" Perry Bobby Bowden Jim Brown Steve Gleason Bob Cousy John Madden Music/Movies/TV/Entertainers Teri Garr (thinks her MS symptoms may have started as early as 1982) Ryan O'Neal (substance abuse and erratic behavior for virtually his entire adult life, cancer battle in recent years) Jackie Stallone Honor Blackman Norm MacDonald David Crosby Meat Loaf Politics/Royalty/Clergy Dick Cheney (nearing the end of his heart transplant doctor's estimate for how long he could survive) Alan Greenspan Harry Reid (didn't think he would make 2020; should be a near-lock for 2020 lists if he does make it that far) Alberto Fujimori King Juan Carlos of Spain Daniel arap Moi Pope Benedict Miscellaneous Sheldon Adelson

He's also coming up on having lived for 7 years and 7 months with a heart transplant.

Just saw this on CNN, but U.S. House Rep. Elijah Cummings has died at the age of 68. Apparently he died in the early morning hours at Johns Hopkins Hospital of what is being described as a "long-standing illness." I'm sure more info will come out in the coming hours, but he had surgery in May of 2017 to repair his aortic valve.

Didn't know that. Thanks for the clarification.

Hall of Fame manager Whitey Herzog, 87, suffered a minor stroke at his charity golf tournament today. He's said to be recovering and "doing well." Still, at 87, you never know. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2019/09/17/whitey-herzog-hall-fame-cardinals-royals-manager-suffers-stroke/2357761001/

I went with Dole, too.

I just looked at the websites for ESPN, si.com (Sports Illustrated), and Fox Sports, went to their horse racing pages, and there is no mention of Romero's passing. Dude was a Hall of Famer in his sport. Really pathetic coverage by the sports media here in the U.S., not that this surprises me.