MrWonderful

NFL Hall Of Famer Chris Doleman has finally succumbed to brain cancer at the age of 58. Was my #1 play for the year. RIP. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001099609/article/hall-of-fame-de-chris-doleman-dies-at-age-of-58

I'm a die-hard Laker fan, and I'm completely devastated. What he meant to the Los Angeles area can't really be properly measured. I've been crying off and on since the news broke. This one really, really stings hard, and to know that his 13-year-old daughter also died is just so cruel. An unimaginable tragedy. It's now been confirmed that 9 people were on board and all have died. Come to think of it, he's a global icon, forget just L.A. Coverage of this is on every local channel, every sports channel, and every cable news channel. This is major news.

For 86, yeah, I'd say so. Not sure if she's acted in anything since, but her guest-starring turn on American Horror Story Apocalypse was fun to watch, too.

Where are these reports?!?! He would be my first hit on the team I just drafted!

Had my annual draft with my 3 buddies last night. Each guy has a 16-person roster. This is what I ended up with: Daniel arap Moi, Mikhail Gorbachev (Foreign) Larry King, Nichelle Nichols (Movies/TV) Little Richard, Eddie Van Halen (Music) Chris Doleman, Jerry Sloan (Sports) Howard Finkel, Superstar Billy Graham (Wrestling) Aaron Carter, Matthew Perry (50-and-under) Gale Sayers, Hugh Downs, John Lewis, Fay Vincent (Flex Spots) I lost last year despite hitting on by far the youngest death (Beth Chapman). May the force be with me!

Found this on YouTube. Not that I expect anyone to actually watch this in its entirety, but he certainly appeared to be mentally sharp in September of last year, just 4 months ago. Do you think he looks visibly worse in the pic from a few days ago, as compared to this appearance in September? I actually think he looks thinner back in September.

Former New Orleans Saints American football player Steve Gleason has been awarded the Congressional Gold medal by the U.S. Congress, just the 164th instance of this in Congress' 243-year history. I know there's a theory that someone's time could be drawing near if they get awards and certain recognition. I've seen this in Olivia Newton-John threads, as she was given Australia's highest civilian honor in August of last year and was just made a Dame, right? Any chance that Gleason is a strong pick for this year?

He attended an L.A. Lakers home game last Tuesday, which has become an extremely rare occurrence in recent years. (He very famously used to regularly attend Laker home games for many years.) I came across a photo in an article about this, and while he does look a bit more overweight than some may remember, he doesn't look close to sickly, and I would argue that he looks better than the vast majority of 82-year-olds. I don't think he's close to being Deathlist-y just yet.

As I've said, I think he's a very good pick. I think he's more likely to die than RBG this year. Maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part.

Yeah, I've moved him way up on my Music list, now sandwiched between David Crosby and Loretta Lynn.

Oh yeah, of course he did. Just forgot to mark him down as DEAD in my notes. Oops.

Starting to regret that I didn't list George Shultz on my Top 50. Oldest living former member of a U.S. Cabinet, was famously Reagan's Secretary of State, and is 99.

Yeah, I had him down in my notes as well, and he's probably as good of a bet as many of the ones I listed. Also was thinking of Harley Race and Jake The Snake Roberts.

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.