Evil Grimace

Thanks @YoungWillz! This has to be the longest time for a former pick to make The List of the Missed. A quick glance shows other possibilities, but now I'm curious to figure it out...

@MrWonderful Don't, we all have misses and regrets. As @drol wrote in obit for the Immortals thread, he was a running joke for the growing list of ailments and requests for donations. As a whole, the DL and DDP community caught on quickly - the constant 'cry wolf' basically made few pay attention. Look at the numbers for the teams that picked him in the DDP. They spiked early on after he made his debut in 2011 and coincide with his medical issues. I would have thought he had a earlier appearance than 2011 given his health, but no. And he was never picked enough to make the D40. Rarely jokered. Last made double digits in 2015.

11 May - Ranking the Picks I've had this in the back of my mind for a while. It started with the of Carter's hospice choice and the fact no one jokered him. What follows is my (subjective) thoughts on picks, with a look at the picks for overlapping picks, uniques, jokers. Number of Picks and Historical DL Hits I've taken the past 11 years of DL stats for two reasons. First, all are double digit scores. Second, with 11 data sets, a few stat tests show the average, median, mean, outliers, etc. And the Committee of 2010 isn't the same of 2023 for many reasons - experience, (de)composition, and so forth. Year Hits 2022 14 2021 12 2020 20 2019 13 2018 12 2017 17 2016 12 2015 14 2014 10 2013 13 2012 12 Average ~14 The take home message? Those of you who banked on 12 - 17 hits, I'm certain one of you will be the winner. And the current number of hits will soon make a difference. As I write, there are 5. At 7, the bonus range will begin to be applied for anyone who picked 12 hits. With a range of 12-22 hits at 17, everyone has some stage of the bonuses. The next two hits, especially if they are on your roster, will begin to separate the players before the hit bonus ranges come into play. Onto the picks themselves. The Big One # picks # jokers Rolf Harris 28 11 The most picks (tie w/Starmer-Smith), the most jokers (11/30, just over a third) - he's the bookie's favourite. The fact he's so widely picked means nearly everyone benefits, some more than others with the bookie's bonus. If he isn't a hit, those who jokered Sakamoto will probably have the winner in their ranks. Top Tier # picks # jokers Nigel Starmer-Smith 28 2 Jimmy Carter 27 0 Ryuichi Sakamoto 26 9 Henry Kissinger 25 1 Sonny Rollins 25 0 Joanne Woodward 24 2 Andy Taylor 24 0 Bob Barker 21 1 With Sakamoto already a hit (9/30 jokers), and Rolf with the lion's share (11/30), this group has the bulk of the remaining jokers (6/30, a fifth). Any hit here always helps out over 2/3rds of the players, with sparse joker distribution. It is very likely if you picked Sakamoto, you have say Carter (except gcreptile, wannamaker or Hell). Overlapping picks in the Top Tier is frequent, even the two least picked of Taylor and Barker share 16 players who picked both of them. Middle of the Road # picks # jokers Jacques Delors 18 0 Milan Kundera 16 0 Pervez Musharraf 16 0 Norman Tebbit 15 1 Harry Belafonte 13 0 Sir Bobby Charlton 13 0 Jean-Marie Le Pen 13 0 Norman Lear 13 0 Linda Nolan 13 0 Yoko Ono 12 0 Tony Bennett 11 1 Rosalynn Carter 11 0 Dennis Skinner 11 0 Stanley Baxter 10 0 Joss Ackland 10 1 Nigel Lawson 10 0 3 of the 4 remaining jokers are in this set. So far, a majority (3/5) of the hits have come from this set too. Key picks in this set will aid your score. Wheat vs Chaff # picks # jokers Pete Murray 9 0 Shane MacGowan 9 1 Robert Wagner 7 0 Burt Bacharach 7 0 Mohamed Al-Fayed 7 0 Alan Greenspan 6 0 Dick van Dyke 5 0 Mel Brooks 5 0 Imelda Marcos 5 0 Sandy Gall 4 0 Ethel Kennedy 4 0 Cleo Laine 4 0 Marianne Faithfull 3 0 Dick Cheney 2 0 Prunella Scales 2 0 Willy Nelson 2 0 Only one joker in this set. However, this is where I think the game will be won. There is so little overlap, or none in the case of Laine & Faithfull, or one player with both Wagner & Greenspan. Hits here favour few people, so making the correct call here might be the difference between a podium finish and a participation ribbon. Uniques # picks # jokers Alan Alda 1 0 Ali Khamenei 1 0 Bob Newhart 1 0 Hal Linden 1 0 Tina Turner 1 0 None are jokers and they only favour 4 players (chilean way has two uniques, Alda and Khamenei). The extra hit is less likely to penalize all players due to the high range (12 -22) of picks, but a correct call is a minimum of 2 points. Survivors (TBD) # picks # jokers Desmond Morris 0 0 Angie Dickinson 0 0 Robert Duvall 0 0 Michael Parkinson 0 0 With no picks, if they are a hit, they'll add to the total hits. Depending of if that happens and when, it could shift the players with a high number of picks into the hit bonus range.

Update 25 April Fifth hit: Harry Belafonte Another middle of the road pick, with a total of 13 punters for Belafonte. Total hits: 13 Teams with hit:13 Punters: theoldlady, The Daredevil, Dying Probably, chilean way, wannamaker, LizLemon, tracy, DoorSlammer, Book, The Old Crem, Annami, Hell, diego Teams with joker:0 Punters: N/A Third hit bonus: diego, theoldlady, wannamaker, Annami, the Daredevil Fifth (consecutive) hit: DoorSlammer An impressive roll call for DoorSlammer with five hits in a row! And a warm welcome for chilean way who is on the board with a first hit. With no jokers, a rather pedestrian hit. However, as the hits add up, now five punters (diego, theoldlady, wannamaker, Annami, the Daredevil) all add +2 for the direct hit and the Third hit bonus. diego widens the lead.... Updated Score Belafonte Third Hit Bonus diego -10 1 1 Great Uncle Bulgaria -13 gcreptile -13 Joey Russ -14 Joltin Joe -14 Book -14 1 Grimgrass -15 Bibliogryphon -15 LizLemon -15 1 Summer in Transylvania -16 theoldlady -16 1 1 wannamaker -16 1 1 YoungWillz -17 Sean -17 DoorSlammer -17 1 Newjack -18 Funeralopolis -18 tracy -19 1 Annami -19 1 1 The Duke of Deadinburgh -20 Etushispushingupdaisies -20 TQR -20 Torva Messor -20 Hell -20 1 Dying Probably -20 1 ThereWillBeDeaths7 -21 The Daredevil -21 1 1 WinterCake -23 chilean way -23 1 The Old Crem -23 1

Update 4 April Fourth hit: Nigel Lawson A middle of the road pick, with a total of 10 punters who had Lawson. Total hits: 10 Teams with hit:10 Punters: gcreptile, Dying Probably, ThereWillBeDeaths7, YoungWillz, TQR, Summer in Transylvania, DoorSlammer, Bibliogryphon, Torva Messor, Sean Teams with joker:0 Punters: N/A Third hit bonus: gcreptile, Dying Probably, Bibliogryphon Fourth (consecutive) hit: Summer in Translyvania, DoorSlammer With no jokers, a rather pedestrian hit. gcreptile, Dying Probably and Bibliogryphon all add +2 for the direct hit and the Third hit bonus. diego maintains a narrow lead.... Updated Score Lawson Third Hit Bonus diego -12 Great Uncle Bulgaria -13 gcreptile -13 1 1 Joey Russ -14 Joltin Joe -14 Grimgrass -15 Book -15 Bibliogryphon -15 1 1 LizLemon -16 Summer in Transylvania -16 1 YoungWillz -17 1 Sean -17 1 theoldlady -18 wannamaker -18 Newjack -18 Funeralopolis -18 DoorSlammer -18 1 tracy -20 The Duke of Deadinburgh -20 Etushispushingupdaisies -20 TQR -20 1 Torva Messor -20 1 Annami -21 Hell -21 ThereWillBeDeaths7 -21 1 Dying Probably -21 1 1 WinterCake -23 The Daredevil -23 chilean way -24 The Old Crem -24

Update 3 April Third hit: Ryuichi Sakamoto A total of 26 punters had Sakamoto. He was the 4th most popular pick and had 9 of 30 jokers (30%). Note that 20 jokers (67% of total) are shared between two picks, Sakamoto (9) and Harris (11), so this is the biggest hit so far in terms of points shake up on the scores. Total hits: 26 Teams with hit:17 Punters: the old lady, the Daredevil, Dying Probably, wannamaker, LizLemon, Etushispushingupdaisies, YoungWillz, TQR, DoorSlammer, Bibliogryphon, Newjack, Grimgrass, Torva Messor, The Old Crem, Sean, Annami, Hell Teams with joker:9 Punters: Joltin Joe, gcreptile, ThereWillBeDeaths7, Funeralopolis, Joey Russ, Summer in Transylvania, Great Uncle Bulgaria, Book, diego Third (consecutive) hit: LizLemon, Summer in Translyvania, DoorSlammer, Book, Hell Major changes in scoring now. Those who hit their joker have +4 (removal of the -2 penalty, +2 for the hit) and the five punters above also get the +1 bonus for their 3rd hit. The 17 punters with a hit get the standard +1. diego has a narrow lead, but has some security as 7 of the top 10 have all just hit their joker! Updated Score Sakamoto Joker Hit Third Hit Bonus diego -12 4 Great Uncle Bulgaria -13 4 Joey Russ -14 4 Joltin Joe -14 4 Grimgrass -15 1 gcreptile -15 4 Book -15 4 1 LizLemon -16 1 1 Bibliogryphon -17 1 Summer in Transylvania -17 4 1 YoungWillz -18 1 Sean -18 1 theoldlady -18 1 wannamaker -18 1 Newjack -18 1 Funeralopolis -18 4 DoorSlammer -19 1 1 tracy -20 The Duke of Deadinburgh -20 Etushispushingupdaisies -20 1 TQR -21 1 Torva Messor -21 1 Annami -21 1 Hell -21 1 1 ThereWillBeDeaths7 -22 4 WinterCake -23 The Daredevil -23 1 Dying Probably -23 1 chilean way -24 The Old Crem -24 1 The update for Nigel Lawson is in the works, just need to check the scores, regarding number of hits, etc. but at least there are no jokers.

C@nn@bis and Ric Flair sounds like a winning combination. Did you go?

And is a hit for two DDP teams, QO below: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2023/03/12/bill-tidy-cartoonist-who-won-cult-following-cloggies-fosdyke/ @TheKeysOfMarinus -I believe he's a hit for one of your teams

I know Ian McCulloch from the '80 video nasty 'Zombi' (aka 'Zombi 2') by Lucio Fulci. It is also the origin of the shark vs zombie memes. During lockdown I started watching 'Survivors' but I didn't finish it. Can't recall why...

Three teams, three QOs: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/mar/09/chaim-topol-dead-fiddler-on-the-roof-actor-dies-death-aged-87 https://news.sky.com/story/fiddler-on-the-roof-actor-chaim-topol-dies-aged-87-12829215 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11838639/Chaim-Topol-Israeli-actor-known-Fiddlers-Tevye-dies.html

Rob Burrow receives ‘Points of Light’ award from Rishi Sunak: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-64876195 A minute long video that shows his condition and current state.

For those who enjoy form spotting and fancy a bit of gambling too, next Friday is your night! Exclusive Evening with Harry Redknapp He's 76, but little in terms of health issues. In 2017 he had a benign tumour removed from his bladder.

I am shocked that there was a QO for Paul Berg (died 15th February). I didn't see this one (thanks @Ulitzer95!) but he got many others: New York Times 21st February - the standard for Nobel laureates, especially if American LA Times 22nd February Washington Post 18th February and from various scientific associations: Royal Society of Chemistry 22nd February American Chemical Society 22nd February Given his accomplishments, it is heartening to see this many recognizing his work. What usually happens is that their former university acknowledges them (as Stanford did) and the Nobel Prize Foundation confirms. Having been to Asilomar Beach (the namesake of the conferences he founded) and been in the field of synthetic biology, it is without a doubt that his work does make him the godfather of genetic engineering.

Zandra Rhodes donates decades of archive material to De Montfort University Leicester: https://www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/news/2023/february/legendary-designer-zandra-rhodes-to-donate-decades-of-archive-material-to-dmu.aspx She was also awarded an honourary degree from De Montfort University Leicester: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/zandra-rhodes-de-montfort-university-dame-london-princess-b1060684.html She looks good for someone diagnosed with bile duct cancer in mid-2020 (articles in July 2021 give the diagnosis as ' just over a year ago') during the first coronavirus lockdown. As I couldn't find any information on her in December, I dropped her in the DDP. The picture* makes me think it could be the right call, but she's coming up on three years since the diagnosis. She had chemotheraphy, but resection (resection = surgical removal) of the cancer gives the best outcomes - which I can't determine if she had. This matters, as the five year survival rate is zero for non-recected cases. Additionally, I can't determine what chemotheraphy agent was used, which would give some indication of the severity/progression. *Note the whites of her eyes - they are not jaundiced, which is a good sign

Her condition, Graves' disease, a thyroid disease, causes the eye bulging (exophthalmos). It is a key diagnostic feature of the disease. It is likely she has or will have other eye problems.

With the recent news on Jimmy Carter, I thought I'd look at the numbers and see what could lie ahead - and saw that no one picked him as their joker! But it could be good news for four punters: LizLemon, Summer in Translyvania, DoorSlammer, Book - who would all get a third hit and resulting bonus point. It also occured to me that the full picks and jokers distribution had not been shared. It is below and will be added to the Stats section. Pink = unique pick and Green = (potential) Designated Survivor # picks # jokers Dick van Dyke 5 0 Henry Kissinger 25 1 Bob Barker 21 1 Alan Greenspan 6 0 Nigel Starmer-Smith 28 2 Jimmy Carter 27 0 Tony Bennett 11 1 Dick Cheney 2 0 Harry Belafonte 13 0 Mel Brooks 5 0 Jacques Delors 18 0 Sir Bobby Charlton 13 0 Robert Wagner 7 0 Norman Tebbit 15 1 Rosalynn Carter 11 0 Sandy Gall 4 0 Joanne Woodward 24 2 Ethel Kennedy 4 0 Desmond Morris 0 0 Stanley Baxter 10 0 Joss Ackland 10 1 Jean-Marie Le Pen 13 0 Milan Kundera 16 0 Cleo Laine 4 0 Alan Alda 1 0 Prunella Scales 2 0 Yoko Ono 12 0 Norman Lear 13 0 Burt Bacharach 7 0 Marianne Faithfull 3 0 Angie Dickinson 0 0 Robert Duvall 0 0 Imelda Marcos 5 0 Pervez Musharraf 16 0 Ali Khamenei 1 0 Pete Murray 9 0 Bob Newhart 1 0 Rolf Harris 28 11 Ryuichi Sakamoto 26 9 Willy Nelson 2 0 Dennis Skinner 11 0 Nigel Lawson 10 0 Michael Parkinson 0 0 Sonny Rollins 25 0 Mohamed Al-Fayed 7 0 Hal Linden 1 0 Linda Nolan 13 0 Tina Turner 1 0 Andy Taylor 24 0 Shane MacGowan 9 1 Totals 519 30

Note the 'velcro ring' on his finger. This is a treatment for trigger finger: https://www.orfit.com/blog/orthoses-for-trigger-finger/ It short, the likely cause is arthritis. As he's almost 90, it shouldn't come as a surprise.

Update 9 February Second hit: Burt Bacharach Teams with hit:7 Teams with joker:0 Punters: LizLemon, gcreptile, The Duke of Deadinburgh, Book, DoorSlammer, Summer in Transylvania, Hell Second (consecutive) hit: LizLemon, Summer in Translyvania, DoorSlammer, Book, Hell Bacharach was picked by just under a quarter (7) of punters. I'm impressed that 5 of 7 now have their second consecutive hit, one hit shy of the 1 per 3 hit bonus. Random Bacharach fact: His second marriage was to Angie Dickinson, also at 2023 pick. Updated Score Bacharach Grimgrass -16 diego -16 Great Uncle Bulgaria -17 Joey Russ -18 Joltin Joe -18 Bibliogryphon -18 LizLemon -18 1 YoungWillz -19 Sean -19 theoldlady -19 wannamaker -19 Newjack -19 gcreptile -19 1 tracy -20 The Duke of Deadinburgh -20 1 Book -20 1 Etushispushingupdaisies -21 DoorSlammer -21 1 TQR -22 Torva Messor -22 Funeralopolis -22 Annami -22 Summer in Transylvania -22 1 WinterCake -23 Hell -23 1 chilean way -24 The Daredevil -24 Dying Probably -24 The Old Crem -25 ThereWillBeDeaths7 -26

Update 6 February First hit: Pervez Musharraf Teams with hit:16 Teams with joker:0 Punters: diego, Joltin Joe, Bibliogryphon, theoldlady, wannamaker, LizLemon, Newjack, tracy, Book, Funeralopolis, DoorSlammer, Annami, Summer in Transylvania, The Daredevil, Dying Probably, Hell Updated Score Musharraf Grimgrass -16 diego -16 1 Great Uncle Bulgaria -17 Joey Russ -18 Joltin Joe -18 1 Bibliogryphon -18 1 YoungWillz -19 Sean -19 theoldlady -19 1 wannamaker -19 1 LizLemon -19 1 Newjack -19 1 gcreptile -20 tracy -20 1 Etushispushingupdaisies -21 The Duke of Deadinburgh -21 Book -21 1 TQR -22 Torva Messor -22 Funeralopolis -22 1 DoorSlammer -22 1 Annami -22 1 WinterCake -23 Summer in Transylvania -23 1 chilean way -24 The Daredevil -24 1 Dying Probably -24 1 Hell -24 1 The Old Crem -25 ThereWillBeDeaths7 -26

Recently watched 'You People', which has Hal Linden in a brief cameo role in the opening scenes, with many other Jewish actors and comedians. I recognized him and was surprised to see him. The movie was released last month and two things stand out. Linden is clearly sticking to his 'what's retirement?' plan by acting in recent films. IMBD has one upcoming role listed too. However, it appears he's aged. Yes, he's 91 and yes it is a film, but he looked frail and every bit his age.

First of all, many thanks to @Death Impends @gcreptile @Banana for the hard work in getting this year's DDP up and running. And to @Grim Up North for stepping up - I hear retirement is boring too. My two teams are in order and I'm looking forward to not winning again. I keep my expectations low. Onto the heart of the matter... DDP Substitutions Like many punters, I watched in December for any hints and whispers (and managed to miss Jeanette Lee's updates...). The month saw Whale, Vialli, Pele and Benny all have hospitalizations - and two not make the 2023 starting line. I entered my team ~17:15 GMT 30 December which had Benny on it. So my first sub was called up: Subs Shannen Doherty - called up Frankie Valli Barbara Walters died 30 December (I did not know at time of submission) As well, 2023 had a 1st Jan hit with Frank McGarvey and Vialli soon on the 6th. There have been two recent 1st Jan hits of D40 picks - 2022 Gary Burgess and 2021 Floyd Little. With this said, I would say that an increase in the numbers of subs is acceptable, provided it doesn't cause more work for the Cmme. If increased to say 4 or 5 in total, that's only one or two extra lines on the Excel sheet that may not be used. The Cmme would know more the number of shorthanded teams with less than 20 too. The Cmme also knows the efforts of subbing in picks, so ultimately it is their call. D40 vs Unique Points In my main team, I was shocked to see that I have 18 (!!) D40 picks. Yes, I knew of few would be there (Whale, Vialli, Carter, Barker, Harris, etc.) but others I did not expect. So I have the potential of 54 extra points for doing nothing but following the crowd. Currently at D40 is +3 points and a Unique is +4 points. My proposal is to give a 2 point differential: D40 remains at +3 but Unique increases to +5 or D40 decreases to +2 and Unique remains at +4. My preference is for 2/4 as it reduces the reward of being part of the herd and justifies the research into that Unique hit. It does not inflate scores either. So that my thoughts on those subjects. I'll let the Cmme ruminate on them and I'm curious to hear what others have to add on these subjects (my thanks to @drunkasaskunk for starting these discussions).

Update 20 January Here is the Joker Distribution (now on Stats post too): Henry Kissinger 1 Bob Barker 1 Nigel Starmer-Smith 2 Tony Bennett 1 Norman Tebbit 1 Joanne Woodward 2 Joss Ackland 1 Rolf Harris 11 Ryuichi Sakamoto 9 Shane MacGowan 1 30 And here are the baseline points for all runners. The following penalties are in place: incorrectly predicted (-1 for each 'hit') + (-2 out by 5 on total hits; applies to all runners at this point) + (-2 for having joker incorrect; applies to all runners at this point) = current score. For example, @Grimgrass is at -16. Calculated = -1 * 12 hits + (-2) + (-2) = -12-2-2 = -16 Here's the starting ranks. Grimgrass -16 Great Uncle Bulgaria -17 diego -17 Joey Russ -18 Joltin Joe -19 YoungWillz -19 Bibliogryphon -19 Sean -19 theoldlady -20 gcreptile -20 wannamaker -20 LizLemon -20 Newjack -20 Etushispushingupdaisies -21 tracy -21 The Duke of Deadinburgh -21 TQR -22 Book -22 Torva Messor -22 Funeralopolis -23 DoorSlammer -23 WinterCake -23 Annami -23 chilean way -24 Summer in Transylvania -24 The Daredevil -25 Dying Probably -25 The Old Crem -25 Hell -25 ThereWillBeDeaths7 -26 Grab some popcorn and get comfortable, only 345 days to go!

Hello @WEP, here are my picks for the 23/24 season. Physics: Carlo Rubbia Chemistry: Ryoji Noyori Medicine: Bengt Samuelsson Literature: Bob Dylan Peace: Mohamed ElBaradei Economics: Robert B. Wilson

Alright, the tables have been populated and here's the first update on statistics for DL CL 23! I'll post these to the Stats section as well. Any comments or questions, let's hear them. ------- Number of entries: 30 Average number of picks: ~17 Range of picks: 12 to 22 Number of players with joker: 30 Top 5 picks: Nigel Starmer-Smith (28), Rolf Harris (28), Jimmy Carter (27), Ryuichi Sakamoto (26), Sonny Rollins (25) Bookies favourite: Rolf Harris with 28 picks, jokered 11 times (Host decision based on number of jokers; Nigel Starmer-Smith with 28 picks, jokered twice) Unique picks: Alan Alda (Chilean way), Ali Khamenei (Chilean way), Bob Newhart (Bibliogryphon), Hal Linden (WinterCake), Tina Turner (The Old Crem) Not Selected: Desmond Morris, Angie Dickinson, Robert Duvall, Michael Parkinson Designated survivor(s): TBD

Deadline has passed - with a nice round number of 30 runners. Time for some data entry! I'll update as soon as possible.