msc

One pick I suspect would have been popular has jumped the gun. Welwyn Hatfield Mayor Lynne Sparks died last week. Which I discovered yesterday looking up a team to lock into place. Was going to be my Sir Creep tribute pick and all. Alas, the team is now entirely predictable.

DOCTOR: Ah, these could be useful. You know, the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. (Leela turns slowly and raises the weapon.) DOCTOR: They don't alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit their views, which can be uncomfortable (He spots Leela's blank face in a mirror.) DOCTOR: If you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering.

Weird given they covered her release too, but hell, any QO is gold.

Convinced there was a police types thread here? Can't find it. Anyhow, John Orr, Strathclyde Police's top cop chap in the 90s and Killie chairman, dead at 72.

I know who Simply Red are, but I had to Google fondue sets (assumed it was sushi or something!) and Soda Streams. Chippy run by this old guy near Glasgow Uni about 10-15 years ago. Used to sell the usual but also had some of them (like chips and cheese) on the menu on the wall in French as well as English. French ones were triple the price. Same portion size too. Apparently he made a pretty penny off uni folk and typical West Enders. One of the Glasgow geniuses, that.

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who's my favourite newspaper of them all? Well, until they do something idiotic of course. It's the Mirror after all... Nevin QO.

That explains The Knack song.

Well, that's me put in my place!

Bingo. Black Widow death probably means charon is in Round 2, unless he starts making Jewish jokes and gets banned. Word of advice, gonnae naw? Or get the team in first at least, priorities and all that. (Notes for Sir Creep and others that bit might go over the heads of - look at last years thread and see how Maryport got to Round 2...) Oh, and Rover is Over like...err...Rover. He leads Spade 6-3. Now, a unique hit from Spade could still win this tie, but well, there you have it. 1. Charon (Unrepentant) vs Maryportfuncity (Inter Youngboys FC) 6-0 2. Pedro (Trottingbum Hotsores) vs The Dead Cow 3-13 3. Young Willz (Glasgow Ron Weasley Ed Sheeran Slash Fanfiction Thistle Wanderers United) vs The Engineer 0-0 4. Grim Up North (Going Going GUN) vs Yorkshire Banker 6-3 5. Msc vs Wormfarmer 3-0 6. Spade Cooley (Great Railway Journeys with Hughie Gallacher and Robert Enke) vs Roverandout 3-6 7. Joey Russ vs Garn (Video Assistant Reaper) 7-0 8. Bibliogryphon (Bye Bye Biblio) vs Phantom of the Midway (AKA Rad Guy) 0-6 9. Sean (Shaun of the Dead’s Magical Funeral Parlour) vs Fixed Business (Business Fixed) 9-0 10. Gcreptile (The eaten tide pods) vs John Key 7-3 11. Deathray (First In, First Out and Never Invited to an Orgy Again) vs Sir Creep (The Month-to-Month Tenants) 0-0 12. Captain Chorizo vs Book (Never Heard of Soccer) 3-0

Well, I picked her and the Indy has just noticed. Shall be out most of next hour, so if any QO show up, that'd be nice.

Really, Spade nailed it a year ago, when he said (and I paraphrase here): the Drop 40 bonus isn't going to change the top of the table, it'll just be an added bonus for your casual player. As they'd change 1 (arguably) from 7 DDP winners, I'd agree. In fact, I'd say the same of all the bonuses. They're just a nice extra to have, but they're not going to change anything that matters, really. Now all this waffling on about unique bonuses, it is coming from your average DDPer, or the folk on here who try to play to win things? Because it looks so far like it's coming from the latter, and thus can be safely ignored? (Apart from bringing back the local BBC obits of course, but that's a different thing entirely...)

Such stats need a comedy pay off... 2011 Drop 40 – kim jong il, taylor, hitchens, seve, betty ford, peter falk (has Alzheimer’s) 1. DDT – 110 2. Nearest challenge – 83 2/3 1. DDT – 111 2. Nearest challenge – 85 2/4 1. DDT – 114 2. Nearest challenger - 87 By removing the 13th bonus and replacing it with the suggested Drop 40 bonuses, we can see how the new system could reduce DDT's 2011 winning margin down to a mere 27 points.

2013 Drop 40 – Mandela, thatcher, Chavez, biggs, winner, Bernie Nolan, cecil, wing, bonnie franklin, kimura, cliburn 1. DQSP – 115 2. Styx - 109 3. OoO – 107 4. TJS – 106 5. DDT - 103 2/3 1. DQSP – 119 2. Styx – 117 3. TJS - 113 4. ooO - 112 5. DDT -108 2 and 4 1. DQSP – 121 2. Styx – 117 3. TJS - 114 4. OoO – 112 5. DDT - 109

I think 2015 would have seen DDT crowned champion on a 4 point unique bonus, on the 99 points a piece for you both and the average age second tiebreaker coming into force, but that's within margin of error on a quick calculation too. (58.4 to 60.5). No change in 2014. Checking 2013....

Here is 2016 then: 2016 drop 40 scorers – zsa zsa, crowe, ali, castro, feek, nancy Reagan, granger, rama, marks, ford, angelil, aherne, havlange Table 1/3 1. DQSP – 160 2. Chorizo – 156 3. DDT - 153 4. TJS 150 5. Pan Breed – 146 Table 2/3 1. Dqsp – 165 2. Chorizo – 162 3. DDT – 158 4. TJS – 155 5. Pan Breed 153 Table 2/4 1. DQSP – 165 2. Chorizo – 163 3. DDT – 159 4. TJS – 156 5. Pan Breed 153 No change whatsoever in the top 5 at all.

Many people call them dads here, though there are many regional varieties.

Fate worse than death. He's turned into Sting!

Here's an obit for Fort William FC founding chairman Colin Neilson as mentioned above, then.

Err, don't think Toastie was referring a person...

Nah, wrong, Cat, Dead Again was Derek Jacobi.

Dunno. Last freeze, I phoned up my Aunt (oldest living relative) to see how she was coping. 90 now. Her response? "Freezer's stocked up, enough tins of food to last a fortnight, and I've got the heating on full blast.." Smarter than most of us, imo.

Watching the BAFTAs last night, Ridley Scott seemed in good form for a man aged 81. Future Deathlist candidate for certain, but didn't look like someone who will be warranting our attention on age alone for a while yet.

Just give my tactics away aloud to Deadsox, on the offchance I reach Round 2. Speaking of which, you can send in teams for Round 2 as of...... NOW! As usual, deadline is midnight on the 28th Feb/1st March crossover. Scottish/GMT time, which is 5 years ahead of New York, and a bit behind Germany, and considerably behind Heef Time Zone. For those new, if you are losing heavily, well sorry - better luck next year? If you are in a close tie, or drawing, you might wish to send in a Round 2 team anyhow. Imagine you won a penalty shootout, and then hadn't put a team in? I'd expect lots of mocking, tbh. My team has been sent to YWillz already (on the off chance I actually reach Round2, of course), so no one can accuse me of nicking their secret picks I don't know about yet. Team entirely picked off my own shortlist, bar one pick who someone on here kept going on about not lasting much longer in threads here, at which point I thought "Hey, thanks for the tip!"

I thought you were doubting they'd avoid relegation! Which they wont. Reminds me of a time Motherwell took on Rangers in the Cup, gave it a big go beyond their usual that year, and only lost 4-3. Next week, got gubbed in a relegation decider 3-0 by the mighty Jags themselves. Of course, Motherwell avoided relegation because Scottish football is corrupt Falkirk's ground didn't meet new made up requirements that year, but that's another story...

Whilst stumbling over his words a bit, James Ivory looked fairly good for someone who will be 90 this summer.