gcreptile

That's a monster of a master list...

If I had to guess, I'd say my omission of Mark Farren has the risk to disappoint me the most. But I wanted to keep my main team free from gambles. Could have put him in my other team though... As far as I know. Farren's cancer wasn't stage IV, but grade IV, meaning highly aggressive. It tends to return again and again. But as far as I know, it has not spread. Diski, ah well... like Clive James, she's dying for years now. And for example, Martin Crowe said that the 2015 World Cup final might have been the last game he ever watches. That didn't turn out to be true, so we know that his illness is progressing slower than he himself thinks. And now we know that it's moving slower than statistics say. I believe Diski is similarly dying slower than statistics and she herself think. And Christmas being only one week away from 2017 doesn't make her a lock, in my very personal opinion.

Ah sorry, my condolences... I received a phone call from my father today that my step-grandmother died before christmas. There wasn't a lot of connection left after my grandfather died, and my step-relatives shielded him and then her off from the rest of the family. They also gave my grandfather the pitiest little funeral available and sucked every Euro out of him. We knew of her death more or less by accident. Hard to feel sorry after the past years.

Hehe, true. She talked about remission though, and that she's now more likely to die from lung damage than from cancer. Physically, I guess she can live under these circumstances for quite a while. And she's too young for her lungs to give up or something like that. But maybe the pain will drive her crazy, and make her do something fatal.

The last one to leave my main team was Mark Farren. The very final picture of the year showed to me that there is actually some improvement going on. That said, the cancer will most likely return, and they cannot take out his whole brain to keep him alive. But I think it's going to happen 2017. Karel Gott, huge star in Germany as well, is in recovery, for now. Not as promising as it initially seemed. One mysterious case was that of Sydney Swans official Frank Burton, who supposedly had weeks to live after being diagnosed with a rare strain of Creutzfeld-Jacob syndrome. It made the Guardian for some reason. But then, there were no updates on it for half a year. And since I got burned with Bob Ellis in Shaun's Deadpool I decided that this guy was too "untrustworthy". Also, during the year, I had the "idée fixe" to pick French New Wave photographer Raymond Cauchetier, simply because of age and uniqueness. But then better picks came up. Jenny Diski will hang on I think.

With heartfelt thanks to YoungWillz, A B Bardhan died today: http://english.manoramaonline.com/news/just-in/cpi-leader-bardhan-dies-hospital-new-delhi.html Edit: This does feel a little like Shaun's trial run to me, though, where I, after entering myself, had a quick hit with similarly hospitalised Indian Suvra Mukherjee.

Lol, now I imagine her yelling at the screen "Just say no! Just say no!"

First!!!!

I believe Havelange is a lock because the frequency of his lung problems is increasing. But I still couldn't pick him according to my "20 dead nonagenarians is a winning strategy" theorem because he turns 100 this year. Graham is a near-lock, if I had to guess the truth behind his son's statements. Wouk is certainly a lazy pick. Zsa Zsa not a lock either. Douglas, I'd say is a 2/3rds possibility, based on the fact that they are selling their assets. Reminds me of Maureen O'hara. But Douglas looks better than O'Hara at the Oscars. Reagan, I think, is also a lock. I am disappointed she wasn't a hit for me in 2015. She used to be so active on TV and in the conservative movement, but that has all gone now, except for that one photo OP at Ronald's grave, where they didn't even show her face. I had expected Vera Lynn to die as well, after a photo showed her very frail. But then, they announced some fundraiser for the Vera Lynn foundation or something like that, with her involvement in March or April this year. So she recovered and is now on another up-and-down cycle. I didn't pick Castro for any team at all. At the moment, he's literally just an old guy. I mean, he looks like Christopher Lee in his late 80s, so may well have 2-3 more years. And the cuban health sector is very good. LaMotta shouldn't be alive according to his bio, yet he's still seen in public, at movie promotions, photos with fans. Could die tomorrow, but more likely won't. I have no idea about DeHavilland, I only have a feeling that she's in decline and won't see 2017. I think Perez De Cuellar will die. Kissinger won't, Bush Sr. probably won't. Prince Philip won't. Peter Sallis will.... I don't know... I'm seeing 12-13 hits.

What exactly is wrong with Sinead O'Connor? Everyone seems to be mentioning her name around here at the moment Crazy and suicidal. I see her as too much of an attention-seeker to actually kill herself. People who are serious about suicide tend to do it without any fanfare. (I've probably seen her off by saying that now.) Yes 100%. She posted it on facebook, she wanted to be found.

Me neither. I think last year the whole thing with not being able to get past 14 hits despite waiting nearly 2 months for a death was partly karma for not including Sir Nicholas Winton on the list. I would have had him at #1 on the 2015 list with Zsa Zsa second. Lee Yuan Kew should also definitely have been on last year's list. This year? There are some good picks on this year's list, but also some major omissions and some iffy picks as well. Some of these "iffy picks" are new blood, further down the list, and some of them I don't actually know that much about. So I agree with you. I don't see this year's list as being as good as last year's, but who knows, time will tell! Yes, they missed huge chances last year. Though I mostly have King Abdullah on my mind. Lee Kuan Yew right at second place of missed chances. They were both already going down in December 2014. And the list got a fluke with John Nash, so the necessary luck was there. I think this year's list still has good potential. Still too many very old people waiting for death. Joao Havelange is a lock this year, in my opinion. Zsa Zsa however might have another year, simply because I think it's now obvious that she inherited her mother's longevity genes. And her mother lived to 101 (or 102?).

Though, of course, we only notice when he's in bad health, not when he's fine. I think he's got a couple of years left. He's not that bad as a pick though, if they aim to introduce him and then build him up over the next 2-3 years.

Was Jake Bailey the one undiscussed name you considered your joker at one point? The one you talked about in the Derby Dead Pool Thread? That was my guess back then. And I think you made the right decision. His cancer is aggressive, but can also be beaten by even more aggressive measures. He's definitely no joker. Edit: Not that I have any right to give you suggesstions, but I just like solving riddles of the "I know someone nobody has discussed before..." variety.

Good inclusion from the "new blood" perspective. I have him in a team because I thought he might be one to die simply by age.

I don't know, he's like a placeholder so that the committee fulfills the rule the replace 25 people each year. I think Eddie Large would have been a better pick.

Alright, here are mine: The Love Boat 1. Joey Feek (joker) 2. Peter Esterhazy 3. Pierre Boulez 4. Vera Caslavska 5. Rowena Kincaid 6. Paul Cox 7. Ronald Mulkearns (a unique? time doesn't have him. Edit: No, DDT has him. I already realized we think too much alike, see: Gary Haggarty.) 8. Linda Horan 9. Bonnie Brown 10. Kris Travis 11. Geoffrey Robinson 12. Yoshiro Nakamatsu 13. Andrew Yeaman 14. Martin Crowe 15. Jackie Storrar 16. Errol Christie 17. René Angelil 18. G. Monty Brinson 19. Michel Delpech 20. Gary Haggarty The B-Team 1. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (joker) 2. Henri Richard 3. Roh Tae-Woo 4. Goran Hadzic 5. Sandy McDonald 6. Betty Cuthbert 7. Jim McLean 8. Thomas Libous 9. Sumner Redstone 10. Phil Gartside 11. Ross Hannaford 12. Stan Mikita 13. Fast Eddie Fryer 14. Nikolaus Harnoncourt 15. Louise Plowright 16. Terri Roberts 17. Mother Angelica 18. Eric Lubbock 19. Brian Shivers 20. Edwin Drummond Shameless (terminal illness fame theme team) 1. Sarah Jones (joker) 2. Tom Bradshaw 3. Mark Nurthen 4. Jordan Lotter 5. Helen Hutchinson 6. Kristin Hallenga 7. Craig Lyons 8. Jake Bailey 9. Margaret Lowbridge 10. Kelly Morris 11. Debbie Blackhurst 12. Lisa Brown 13. Jack Wells 14. Connie Johnson 15. Sarah Swindells 16. Charlotte Eades 17. Andy Haworth 18. Steven Monks 19. Angela Sykes 20. Kate Granger Funny how I ended up with 2 australian bishops (could have chosen Pell as well), two UK club owners (could have chosen Kenwright as well), two canadian hockey players, two Irish criminals, two conductors, two major olympic champions... Edit: Oh, and I'm obviously setting myself up for a scenario in which the combined hits of my teams make me a winner, but each single team doesn't. I say, bring it on!

Congratulations Cpt. Chorizo!

Lord Carrington

Some good new choices, some dramatic omissions, conventional nr. 1, but I don't have a better idea. Ok effort, could have been better.

I don't have my list with me at the moment, but the person that was closest to being picked, but eventually wasn't, for any of my teams, was Dynamite Kid. I also decided against picking Sharon Jones and Johan Cruyff for the DDP. Also, I pushed benefit fraud John Larder to Shaun's deadpool at the last minute.

Congratulations to the winners, especially Spade. A truly impressive feat, even if he got a little lucky. But you've still got to get to a position where luck makes a difference first. I would have liked to see Death Impends win, for diversity. But it wssn't meant to be. I did like Spade's riskier choices though.

There was no other person I shifted more often from team to team than him. I think he's getting very frail and he's slowly retreating from public. I say, he definitely won't see 2018...but he's not a lock this year.

Gunther von Hagens. My partner just recently "donated" his body to their project. Von Hagens himself didn't sign the contract, in fact, his field (?) was left empty and only his assistant signed.

In October he said that some new drug gives him a 50% chance of living for another year, so apparently, the chance to see 2017 is lower than 50%. So it's a big miss, I can't understand the omission.

^^ Yeah, complicated question. I have no idea...