msc

Phew! Deserved honour for a great man, I think we can all agree.

Btw, Basset's family say he died yesterday, but the SMH obit for Wilson yesterday said he died "earlier this week". imo as its Thursday, Wilson probably died first.

Nonsense. Sri Sri cannot die, only the actors who play Sri Sri.

Well done, AO Guy!

It'll happen right after secularism, the announcement of the Republic, and the cancellation of Dr Who...

Paul Flynn missed tonights vote, with ITK folk saying he is very badly ill now. imo if he had to miss this vote, we're talking gravely...

Ok, it's the annual pundits forecast on the DDP. As usual, it will be wrong on winner, top ten, etc, but it's 2 for 2 on picking dark horses - even if Joey let the side down late on. Last year, Willz asked why it wasn't based on EVERY DDP team, so fuck it, it is. All 500 of them. Here's the 90 worth chatting about after that... Which produces from 500 down to 90... a list of 15 "teams to watch" for the title. The points is a rough estimate based on likelihood of various popular picks (ie Trintignant, Fairlie, etc), but a ball park, not exact. Also the (plus) are names to watch for dying if this particular team is going to do better than projected. 1. TJS – c 156 (plus 3 uniques and Nugroho) 2. Heading Nowhere c. 138 (plus Rister/Johnson/Conway…) 3. Bleaching the Bottom of the Barrel c. 130 (plus P-orridge) 4. Pity da Foolz c. 130 (plus Vervoort?) 5. Droller Coaser c. 130 (plus Smullen, Heine, Hadlee) 6. Day in the Death c 129 (plus Capon, Samu) 7. Love Boat c. 128 (plus Smith/Volcker/Nugroho/Woodcock) 8. Living End c. 126 (plus Hoyle) 9. To Kill a Gabor Sister c. 120 (+ Rister/Lewis/Freehan) 10. Misers c. 120 11. Beatles are Dying in Wrong Order c 118 (plus James/Robinson/Frates?) 12. Poochie c.114 13. GUN Fishing c. 112 (plus Rister/Johnson) 14. Cancel My Appointments c. 110 (plus Howard) 15. 12 Lords… c 105 (plus Phelan, Weir, Turnbull, Alagiah) Note - I think other teams have higher "floors" (ie likely ballpark for lowest points tally, keeping in mind folk always outlive the best DDP prognosi...) but Willz's 20 has better potential for growth on top of that number. Imo, of course. Now that I have successfully jinxed DI for the 5th year running.... Dark horses this year? Clorox. I guess Chorizo too, but he already was 2nd...

Well, Rachael Bland did similar last January and it really helped her...

Very astute/impressive (however you want to call it) pick by LFN. Probably more impressive for Channing, what with it being her CV, mind you.

Yeah, you should hear the swearing from DI, s'like 2 hours into a Billy Connolly gag.

Thoroughly Deaded Muzzy!

Translation: yer thinking of Ken for the Cup? Never mind Smith, if we get by the next 5 years without an Airey Neave situation I'll be impressed...

Dream me was never this busy in other folks dreams when I was dating! ^ credit for the above goes to Mrs msc!

tbf my gran is a big fan of David Essex.

You were a Quarterfinalist. Pretty sure thats a Round 2 bye, short of unexpected last minute surges. Aye, but with a losing score both times that'd take you through in most of the other ties.

Keep her going. By tomorrow lunch time it'll be her deal or "£39 billion to every voter and see how they like being in the Labour top rate of tax..."

News... He won the 2013 DDP. He won the 2014 DDP. He won the 2015 DDP. He won the 2016 DDP. He hosts the 2018 and 2019 DDPs. He also won the 2012 Deathrace. And now... he's coming for the Cup. Yep, Spade's in!

Yes, though usually folk can judge their chances accurately by then!

Yeah 45 as it stands... Round 1 - All bar 19, 13 ties - Feb Round 2 - 19 plus 13 - march Round 3 - last 16 - April Round 4 - Quarters - May Round 5 - Semis - June Round 6-Final, 3rd place playoff - July Oooh, wonder if I should put a Msc's Birthday Bonus for any hits in the final on July 6th!

Ok, for newcomers and nostalgists, I present The Deathlist Cup... the story so far. Deathlist Cup 2017 Round 1 1. Young Willz 0-4 Captain Chorizo 2. Maryportfuncity 2-8 Morbid Kid Maryportfuncity wins by DQ. 3. Grim Up North 8-4 Joey Russ 4. Deathray 2-8 Heef 5. Chopped Liver 2-9 Garn 6. Shaun of the Dead 2-4 RadGuy 7. Charon 2-9 The Dead Cow 8. Switch 4-2 Rockhopperpenguin 9. Pedro67 7-2 Jiroemon Kimura 10. msc 4-7 gcreptile This Round was surprisingly controversial. Toast had avoided the Cup, predicting a whole host of nasty FFBI picks and proved to be 100% accurate with coma victims and other non-entities gaining points (Norma Cook – who?), and creating the FFBI Ban now in place. Chopped Liver predicted success, got gubbed, and flounced off the forum. The Kid got banned off the forum for a month at an inappropriate time (3 days before Round 2) and was unable to get a team in in time, leaving Maryport to sneak into Round 2. Elsewhere Joey and Grim trade insults for a month before that game was decided on the death of Sir Gerald Kaufman late on, whilst Willz’s sterling defence against the 2016 DDP runnersup was ended by the death of actress Sara Coward. There was a bit of a to do when The Dead Cow’s pick, da Silva, was brain dead, but she was dead dead soon enough. Forum newcomer Heef showed promise. The first hit in Cup history was confirmed at 1.40am on the 1st February 2017 – Bernie Portenski – and provided point for Reptile and Heef. Yer host did level later that day with the demise of Desmond Carrington, but was soon outgunned by one of the forums better researchers and his pick of Trinidadian historian Angelo Bissessarsingh. Yes, that explains that running reference… Oh, and DDT had mutant sheep to deal with, thus instantly being a far more interesting character than some of the actual hits… Round 2 1. RadGuy 1-0 Bibliogryphon 2. The Dead Cow 8-9 Death Impends 3. Heef 4-3 Garn 4. Maryportfuncity 0-3 Spade Cooley 5. Captain Chorizo 1-1 Grim Up North, Grim Up North won on penalties 6. Switch 0-2 DDT 7. Deadsox 0-0 Pedro67, Deadsox won on penalties 8. Roverandout 2-8 gcreptile Biblio was later to say losing to a FFBI pick was like Rad diving for a penalty! Lisa Magill, for the record. DDT and Spade were, perhaps unfairly, expected to cruise through, but both did just enough and no more, both advancing through the death of Tania Dalton. Deadsox and Pedro deadlocked, with Deadsox advancing on penalties, with no sign of what was to come. Rover bounced into Round 2 on a BYE and swiftly bounced back out again by Reptile (who went ahead less than 30 minutes into the month!). Also, Heef contained to show promise by easing out well respected DDP regular Garn (that’s top 20 regular Poochie…), another match Dalton proved crucial in deciding. The headlines came from a hard fought clash between forum assassin Death Impends, and young up and comer Dead Cow. “Hoping to avoid a massacre” said the Cow pre-game, and he did, only to lose in heartbreaking circumstances. Both scored early with Tania Dalton (2-2), journalist May Johnson (4-4) and Cardinal Vlk (6-6). Then, on the 26th March, comic book artist Oliver Nome died, and Cow took the lead 8-6. He missed the unique point as Reptile (miles ahead and looking forward to a Quarterfinal with the winner of this tie) also had him.That proved crucial as football coach Ken Sparks died on the 29th and that unique point was the difference between the two, with DI winning 9-8. Quarterfinals 1. DDT 3-1 RadGuy 2. gcreptile 2-16 Death Impends 3. Spade Cooley 2-4 Deadsox 4. Grim Up North 6-6 Heef, Heef advances on "away goals". Heef took out another victim, Grim, in a high scoring game, with horse racing Tony Kaye providing the crucial assist. Rad momentarily had the shock on with a FFBI pick, before DDT won with Bishop Perham. DDT v Spade came up as a provisional Semifinal, but deadsox had other ideas. Spade took the lead with SF academic Michael Levy, before deadsox levelled with Emma Morano, before winning with Sasha Lakovic. Elsewhere, the only shock in DI v Reptile was how one sided it was, with DI gaining hits off a spree killer, academic Levy, John Vennari, Tom Modrak, Barry Marshall-Everitt, Lucky Ackhand and a priest. Semifinals 1. DDT 0-2 Deadsox 2. Death Impends 11-8 Heef Deadsox followed up his Spade shocker, by beating deadpoolings own GOAT, via a FFBI pick. Meanwhile, it was the end of the road for Heef in another exciting tie. Bishop Niederauer gave DI a 3-0 lead, before Vicki Letele made it 3-3. (Originally 3-2, but Heef made a compelling case with evidence for her not being a FFB case.) Then Earl Sinks died to make it 6-3 DI, before Dina Merrill made it 6-6 again. All this time we were awaiting a LOTL obit, but Earl Hagman’s death made it crucially 9-6 DI, with Kiwi Heef beaten by a New Zealand pick! Noriega provided points for both teams late in the month. Final 1. Deadsox 5-2 Death Impends Deadsox had been tough opposition, and this looked set to come down to 1 pick. And it did, only it was Julia Perez, whom Deadsox had. And so, Deadsox won the 1st DL Cup, beating Spade, DDT and DI in consecutive rounds to do so. 2018 Deathlist Cup Round One 1. Charon vs Maryportfuncity 6-0 2. Pedro vs The Dead Cow 3-13 3. Young Willz vs The Engineer 0-0 *Willz won 3-2 on pens 4. Grim Up North vs Yorkshire Banker 6-3 5. Msc vs Wormfarmer 3-0 6. Spade Cooley vs Roverandout 3-9 7. Joey Russ vs Garn 7-0 8. Bibliogryphon vs Phantom of the Midway (AKA Rad Guy) 0-6 9. Sean vs Fixed Business 9-0 10. Gcreptile vs John Key 7-3 11. Deathray vs Sir Creep 0-3 12. Captain Chorizo vs Book 3-3 The first DL Cup hit of 2018 was rapper Mowzey Radio with Joey scoring early and easing comfortably past Garn. Johnnie Lindsay was enough for Reptile. Barys Kits death put Yorkshire Banker and Pedro into somewhat shock leads, before Grim and Cow pulled back. Liam Miller produced leads for charon and Rad. Author Bill Crider’s death was the diference between Wormfarmer and yours truly, and also produced the age difference decider for Chorizo. Spade took the lead with Prince Henrik, only for Morgan Tsvangirai to nod in the instant equaliser, and Catherine Nevin gave Rover the lead, before Billy Graham sealed the deal on the biggest Cup shock to date. That also took Sir Creep into the 2nd Round. Willz won a best of 5 coin toss. Round 2 Death Impends vs Heef 9-10 Gcreptile vs Sir Creep 6-14 Joey Russ vs Grim Up North 6-6 Phantom of the Midway vs The Dead Cow 10-13 Sean vs Charon 0-0 Roverandout vs DDT 0-6 Captain Chorizo vs Young Willz 0-4 msc vs Deadsox 6-7 Marieke Vervoort was on every single fucking team. And lived. Vanessa Lafaye died too early, and that, and dropping Bernie De Koven provided killer blows for myself. I was facing the holder, however, who scored with Carlo Ripa di Meana. Rover’s chances of a second upset came to nowt via author Emma Hannigan, whereas Willz told everyone he stood no chance against Chorizo, only for Ken Dodd to have his say. Joey and Grim proved difficult to separate again. Sir Creep d. Reptile. Sir Creep went 4-0 up early on. Both had Emma Hannigan (7-3). Sir Creep then sealed the deal with his own personal hero Tom Benson. DI and Heef both had Goodwin (3-3), and Emma Hannigan (6-6). A man called Ed wound up being recinded from DI’s tally and Warren Grant died, so we had a disallowed goal and then Heef went 10-6 up. Rad and Cow both had Goodwin (3-3), and Emma Hannigan (6-6), before football coach Shaun Bailey produced the killer blow for Dead Cow. Well, until Tony Kleese levelled it (10-10), before Bishop Lafoya DID seal it for the Cow. Controversy everywhere. Multiple picks died in February, QOs were questioned, and the host quit… only to do a Roz Doyle and return and pretend nothing had happened. “Tripping off his tits” said one Highlander, probably close to the mark… Quarterfinal 1. The Dead Cow vs Sean 9-0 2. Heef vs DDT 6-9 3. Deadsox (reigning champ) vs YWillz 9-3 4. Sir Creep vs Joey Russ 9-3 Cow took an early lead via Ray Wilkins and never looked back. Willz run ended against the holders, deadsox advancing on Ernie Thacker and, both having Mitzi Shore. Meanwhile Sir Creep continued to impress, easing past Joey. Joey took the lead with Wilkins, before Sir Creep levelled with Ernie Thacker, and took the lead with Bishop Foley. Heef put up a good challenge against DDT, coming up short. Both had Wilkins and Fergie McCormack, but DDT had Foley and Heef didn’t. Nabi Tajima sealed the deal against Willz and Joey. Semis Dead Cow v Sir Creep 4-7 DDT v Deadsox 7-0 Larry Hunter’s early death put Cow into a 4-0 lead. Once again Sir Creep suffered to a late breaking health issue he missed on one of his 40 hour rig jobs. David Goodall brought it back to 4-3, before the great Ted Dabney died late on, sending Sir Creep into the final at his first attempt. Elsewhere, Morgan Job and David Goodall meant that deadsox’s reign was ended by the great deadpooler DDT. 3rd place Dead Cow v Deadsox 7-3 Jon Hiseman proved crucial. Both sides had Matt Cappotelli. Final DDT v Sir Creep 11-3 It was the old guard vs the new. Ignore for narrative purposes that Sir Creep is actually older. Ralph Santolla provided DDT with the 4-0 lead, and Fu Da Ren made it the quick 8-0. “You live by assisted suicide you die by assisted suicide” said the wise Sir. Both teams had Cappotelli, and that was that. Sir Creep did well, but found the old master too tough in the final. DDT won the 2018 Cup! So in 2019… Cup upsets, but from who? Joey v Grim part 3? Heef v DI part 3? Who will be the Sir Creep of 2019? And indeed, will Sir Creep do a DI and reveal a brand new Curse of the Runner Up? This and more in the coming months!

The current BYE line is at 18th place - Engineer. Although it is de facto at 20th due to 2 MIA 2018 players, so currently Deathray and Wormfarmer also have Byes into Round 2. 1. DDT 2. Sir Creep 3. Dead cow 4. Deadsox 5. Heef 6. Joey Russ 7. Y Willz 8. Sean (yet to confirm entry) 9. Grim Up North 10. Charon 11. Death Impends 12. msc 13. Rad 14. Chorizo 15. Rover (yet to confirm entry) 16. Gcreptile 17. Book 18. Engineer State of Play All 2018 participants got an invite to take part. Felt a bit rude to go asking newcomers before doing so. Of the 28 competitors in the 2018 Cup, all bar 4 have announced their entry into the 2019 Cup. They are: Roverandout - Doesn't appear to be around much anymore. Garn - Ditto. Sean - Not around much either lately by looks of it. Spade (who obviously is rather busy, and got a cursory invite solely because it would have been hideously rude not to...) So, who do we have so far? Previous Winners deadsox, DDT Previous Finalists Death Impends, Sir Creep Other 2018 Players msc, Gcreptile, Joey Russ, Young Willz, Book, Grim Up North, Deathray, Rad, Bibliogryphon, John Key, Maryport, charon, Fixed Business, Engineer, Heef, Captain Chorizo, Pedro, Wormfarmer, The Dead Cow, Yorkshire Banker Returnees from 2017 The Mad Hatter 2019 Newcomers nantonian2013, The Old Lady, Clorox, Boudicca, The Old Crem, Skinny Kiltrunner, Alt Obits Guy, markb4, Torva Messor, Squonk, The Quim Reaper, BuffaloPhil, Banana, Time, The Unknown Man, Gooseberry Crumble, Dr T, Joe Moneypenny, Exu, Master Tech, Great Uncle Bulgaria Spots remain open till midnight on Saturday. The draws for Round 1 and Round 2 will be up soon after. Although I suspect 99% of you are in now (at least), entries are open until then for anyone who still wants to join in all the fun. 1

Indeed, Maryport, many of the Deathracers are gearing up for the DL Cup, where they all hope to avoid being killed by Sir Creep!

Apart from Grim's doubler and ZZL (who appears to have flounced over that reality dance woman), the only top 20 side from 2018 not to have Ricksen is the Sicilians. Only forum regulars without appear to be Lardy, Willz (surprisingly), Deathray, and Going Underground. So yeah, biggest forum consensus for "they're fucked" since Martin Crowe in 2016, or maybe Etta James.

The end is near. In Airdrie...

1. Aldrin, Buzz 2. Ali, Fatima 3. Andretti, John 4. Anoa'i, Samu 5. Athill, Diana 6. Atkins, Ronald 7. Barker, Bob 8. Beck, Aaron 9. Bendre, Sonali 10. Benedict XVI, Pope Emeritus 11. Blanco, Kathleen WILDCARD 12. Bracknell, Leah 13. Brown, June 14. Cameron, Earl 15. Chamorro, Violeta 16. Chapman, Beth 17. Clegg, Johnny WILDCARD 18. Conway, Noel 19. Conway, Tim 20. Dole, Bob 21. Douglas, Kirk 22. Drewitt-Barlow, Tony 23. Fairlie, Andrew WILDCARD 24. Fiano, Julian 25. Frankland, William 26. Frates, Pete 27. Gascoine, Jill 28. Greaves, Jimmy 29. Hawke, Bob 30. Hunt, Pauline 31. James, Deborah 32. Johnson, Dewayne "Lee" 33. Jones, Terry 34. Kerslake, Lee WILDCARD 35. Kissinger, Henry 36. Lynn, Vera 37. McCririck, John 38. McGahan, Andrew 39. Moss, Stirling 40. Newton-John, Olivia 41. Parrikar, Manohar 42. Phelan, Vicky 43. P-Orridge, Genesis 44. Previn, Andre 45. Purwo Nugroho, Sutopo 46. Ricksen, Fernando 47. Stiles, Nobby 48. Trintignant, Jean-Louis WILDCARD 49. Wells, Lisa 50. Willesee, Mike Subs 51. Doddie Weir 52. Leslie Philips 53. Clive James 54. Alain Delon 55. Barbara Walters