Spade_Cooley

Good to see that the remaining marquee names of British journalism still employ the practice of "banging out". One of the more visceral thrills in a modern-day newsroom, equalled only by TMZ reporting an A-lister's death.

Arthur Smith looked like shit on the University Challenge Xmas special, fwiw.

Christ, I've sent emails twice and they've still not all gone through? ffs. I have no idea mate, I sent emails on the.... 9th and 23rd? I didn't get an email myself on the 9th, but I did in the 23rd batch. We've moved over to a new server and shit, but the bounce emails I've had don't include yours.... The first batch was sent as all 600 email addies at once. The second batch was in groups of about 75 at a time. I've never sent massed emails like this from what is effectively a personal account (I've done it at work using specialised software, but that's different). So yeah, apologies, if you haven't received one that means other people probably haven't. Whoever takes over the game next year, we may have to invest in a licence for a mass-emailer, MailChimp or something. I'll check if there's one that Ionos (the new website hosts) have but I doubt it.

The one thing I will miss next year when msc is gamerunner is the little "ooooh.... that's a good pick" face you pull when seeing some entries. Research flexes are stepping up across the board.

Just started a Google Doc called "DDP Comeback Longlist". If DQSP was a gunslinger, there'd be a lot of dead copycats...

Phoneposting so no link, but Sigi Schmid died on Xmas Day

For those who've been trying to DM me, I've deleted some old messages so they should get through now.

Final update of 2018. Unsurprisingly not as in-depth as usual.

Can't believe Benni Benassi would post this in such an incorrect place.

"Compassionate leave" for Romelu Lukaku?

Don't forget the Motor City.

Some banal trivia about the 2018 DDP: All 366 days of the year were represented in the birthdays of this year's picks. The most popular birthday was December 7th (17 picks, including hit Oliver Dragojevic). Least popular birthdays, with one celeb a piece, were November 16th (Frank Bruno) and January 25th (Robinho). The three most-picked jokers (Bracknell, Vervoort, Douglas) have all made it to December 25th at least. John McCain was the only person selected by more than 10 teams as a joker to die (so far). Jessica Falkholt was the most popular joker pick who didn't make the Drop 40.

I will accept this team via posting in the thread, but that's the only one. Entries should be made to ddp@derbydeadpool.co.uk

Also, at this festive time, an occasional reminder that the original singer of "I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas", Gayla Peevey, is still alive.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-6527757/Shahroudi-powerful-Iran-cleric-dies.html

Stanko Poklepović dead at 80. Former Croatian national team coach and four-time manager of Hadjuk Split, where he both won the first Croatian league title after independence and, when returning to the club in 2015, was the oldest known boss of a top-flight football team.

From the early DDP entries, I think I can guess exactly who Roey means by Sinead-esque figure. Without giving the game up, would I be right in saying American, male, although technically "famous" for a few years wouldn't have popped up on the wider radars of most people who don't obsessively watch US TV until the past 12 months?

Fans of YouTube holes may well be aware of GARY GLITTER'S ROCK N ROLL JUKEBOX, the definitive collection of videos on and about the big man himself. A personal favourite is the clip from the opening of his restaurant:

Glitter's latest comeback, at a prison karaoke night, doesn't go that well.

Wayne Mardle missing the darts today with an illness. Fingers crossed, hey?

Stunningly never picked on the DDP before.

Welp, time to email a bunch of people and ask for their replacement captains.

Must be. I'm a big fan of how the Schappells, similar to the Kray twins, consist of one person with about 50 gimmicks (transgendered country musician, gay Barbra Windsor banger) and another one who is a boring as ditchwater.

Gonna throw a name out there I'm toying with: how about "The Queen of Burlesque", Tempest Storm? 90 years old, don't really have any recent recent health information (she was well enough to travel to Las Vegas in March, but there's no photos). However she invented redheads with big tits, and has thus had a major influence on my life.

I know exactly what the latter issue was, it was just me being lazy in updating the backend. The former god knows, will look at it this weekend.