Derby Dead Pool 2023

[Lafaucheuse 4,046]

Thanks a lot then  

[machotrouts 828]

7 hours ago, maryportfuncity said:

Good spot machotrouts 

 

J.J. Barrie - due to turn 90 in July, obitable in the UK - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._J._Barrie

 

He's been on the salvage lot periphery of the #1 Hits team for a while; I think his wife died in 2022, so I took that as the excuse I need to finally promote him.

 

I'm not the first to pick him – he appears to have previously featured on theme teams of Canadians, one-hit wonders, and "annoying people". (In his defence, I don't believe anyone could still be hearing 'No Charge' enough in the 21st century to truthfully call themselves annoyed by it. Haunted by the memory, maybe.)

[Eesti 151]

DDP Tofoa

 

1. Jonnie Irwin (Joker)
2. James Whale
3. Gianluca Vialli
4. Frank Field
5. Steve McMichael
6. Rob Burrow
7. Ady Barkan
8. George Alagiah
9. Gavin Robertson
10. Shannen Doherty
11. Linda Dolan
12. Tim Bilton
13. Shane MacGowan
14. Natalie Fornasier
15. Rolf Harris
16. Teresa Taylor (Nervosa)
17. Laura Nuttall
18. Andy Taylor
19. Johnny Ruffo
20. Stephen Darby

 

SUB: Simon Cowell
SUB: Ryuichi Sakamoto
SUB: Akebano Toro

 

Any thoughts? Any wasted picks or someone who shall be DQ-d? Any chance to finish in the top 3 again?

[Joey Russ 7,220]

Yeah, Fornasier and Nuttall are FFBI names and will be DQ’d

[Eesti 151]

7 minutes ago, Joey Russ said:

Yeah, Fornasier and Nuttall are FFBI names and will be DQ’d

 

So Cowell and Sakamoto will automatically replace them?

[Spade_Cooley 9,519]

Surprised people thought Fornasier had any chance of breaking through FFBI rules. Her journalism before diagnosis was some freelance shifts for an obscure Australian celebrity gossip blog. I tried Elena Huelva (792k Instagram followers) but that ran directly into FFBI barriers, and I wasn't that surprised.

[Death Impends 7,964]

7 minutes ago, Eesti said:

 

So Cowell and Sakamoto will automatically replace them?

 

Correct.

[Octopus of Odstock 2,194]

1 hour ago, Eesti said:

DDP Tofoa

 

1. Jonnie Irwin (Joker)
2. James Whale
3. Gianluca Vialli
4. Frank Field
5. Steve McMichael
6. Rob Burrow
7. Ady Barkan
8. George Alagiah
9. Gavin Robertson
10. Shannen Doherty
11. Linda Dolan
12. Tim Bilton
13. Shane MacGowan
14. Natalie Fornasier
15. Rolf Harris
16. Teresa Taylor (Nervosa)
17. Laura Nuttall
18. Andy Taylor
19. Johnny Ruffo
20. Stephen Darby

 

SUB: Simon Cowell
SUB: Ryuichi Sakamoto
SUB: Akebano Toro

 

Any thoughts? Any wasted picks or someone who shall be DQ-d? Any chance to finish in the top 3 again?

 

I dropped Darby as he's still mobile. Of course, he can go downhill fast, such is the cruelness of MND, but I think he'll see in 2024. The key is that Steph Houghton, his wife, is still very active. If she stops, to look after him, then the countdown goes from there.

[alt obits guy 3,371]

4 hours ago, Spade_Cooley said:

Surprised people thought Fornasier had any chance of breaking through FFBI rules. Her journalism before diagnosis was some freelance shifts for an obscure Australian celebrity gossip blog. I tried Elena Huelva (792k Instagram followers) but that ran directly into FFBI barriers, and I wasn't that surprised.

I don't believe Vicky Phelan even had an occupation, unlike Fornasier. She was strictly a cervical cancer campaigner and essentially FFBI. However, she was deemed acceptable. It's not unreasonable to believe Fornasier should qualify.

[Salmon Mousse 473]

19 minutes ago, alt obits guy said:

I don't believe Vicky Phelan even had an occupation, unlike Fornasier. She was strictly a cervical cancer campaigner and essentially FFBI. However, she was deemed acceptable. It's not unreasonable to believe Fornasier should qualify.

 

Perhaps they're correcting a mistake.  Phelan shouldn't have been accepted.

[alt obits guy 3,371]

1 minute ago, Salmon Mousse said:

 

Perhaps they're correcting a mistake.  Phelan shouldn't have been accepted.

She was accepted over multiple years, including after they began tightening qualification. They'd ruled others who'd previously been accepted as no longer qualifying, but not her. I'm not sure I'd call it a mistake, but I can understand your diplomacy on the matter. With Fornasier attaining a (somewhat) higher threshold for qualifying, a case can be made for the committee to rethink its decision.

[Toast 16,137]

If it was up to me I wouldn't accept anyone who was only FFBI, regardless of campaigning or blogging activities. 

[Youth in Asia 1,086]

Whereas Amy Price seems to be accepted but all she has ever done other than give birth to a monstrosity is a few minutes once on loose women

[YoungWillz 21,037]

Anyone bother reading the rules before launching in at their Majesties, the DDP Committee? *doffs cap to them, they are the the arbiters and decide solely* It's up to them.

 

Phelan wasn't just a campaigner, she discovered the scandal, brought down the Government, was named in the BBC's Top 100 Women for 2018 etc. Anyway, the rules are clear here:

 

4. Have they achieved anything of note in spite of their illness? (ie did they raise shitloads for charity ala Jane Tomlinson, or now work for the BBC ala Deborah James, or got an OBE for their work ala Kate Granger, or helped topple a government ala Vicky Phelan). OK FOR NOW

 

Now, I've no doubt Fornasier is a nobody. Probably even less of a nobody, had it not been for Chris Hemsworth. Laura Nuttall once went for lunch with Peter Kay. People, come on, look at it objectively. These are exactly the kind of cases who should be ruled out.

 

If they are likely borderline, they are likely ineligible. Think - what list of even the barest achievements could you make for these people for their bio?

 

Not up to me, but hey ho. And has no-one learned from the Diane Berbarian situation?

 

You know what to do. Suck it up. And make a donation to their charity pages. Then let it go...most will accept the rulings made.

 

Much love for 2023.

[Joey Russ 7,220]

Honestly the Fornasier complaints would be liked if I had complained about a ruling against Ben Suisala because he played a few low level rugby games. She’s insignificant and unlike Phelan she hasn’t done anything to get her even close to be properly famous 

[Imelda 621]

I'm in as Mushy RIPs for a second crack now I know the rules a bit better. Finished in joint 82nd last year which I'm pretty pleased with.

 

No chance of winning as I don't spend enough time scanning for the nuggets, just a bit of fun.

 

Alagiah, George
Belafonte, Harry
Beltrao , Jacquie
Burrow, Rob
de Gaulle, Philippe
Doherty, Shannen
Field, Frank
Hemingway, Flying Officer John
Irwin, Jonnie
Jackson, Randy
Keltie, Katie
MacGowan, Shane
McGarvey, Frank
Nolan, Linda
Solow, Robert
Starmer-Smith, Nigel
Taylor, Andy
Vialli, Gianluca (J)
Whale, James
Wyatt, Oscar

[Great Uncle Bulgaria 1,282]

17 hours ago, machotrouts said:

On 02/01/2023 at 10:38, maryportfuncity said:

Good spot machotrouts 

 

J.J. Barrie - due to turn 90 in July, obitable in the UK - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._J._Barrie

 

He's been on the salvage lot periphery of the #1 Hits team for a while; I think his wife died in 2022, so I took that as the excuse I need to finally promote him.

 

I'm not the first to pick him – he appears to have previously featured on theme teams of Canadians, one-hit wonders, and "annoying people". (In his defence, I don't believe anyone could still be hearing 'No Charge' enough in the 21st century to truthfully call themselves annoyed by it. Haunted by the memory, maybe.)

 

I'm the guilty one here. The problem with a 'list of annoying slebs' team was that people like Alison Hammond, Scarlett Moffatt, Su Pollard etc were not going to die. Having compiled a list of 18 annoying people I bulked it out with a couple of old people who had produced irritating records a few decades previously, one of whom was our Mr Barrie, in the hope that I might get at least one hit. As it was, neither they, or indeed any of the others on my wishlist, died and I abandoned the theme as a stupid idea last year. 

'No Charge' is still a really annoying record though.

[The Old Crem 3,583]

13 hours ago, Octopus of Odstock said:

 

I dropped Darby as he's still mobile. Of course, he can go downhill fast, such is the cruelness of MND, but I think he'll see in 2024. The key is that Steph Houghton, his wife, is still very active. If she stops, to look after him, then the countdown goes from there.

I’m not sure she will. It seems like she continues to play when she could retire to have a distraction from his health and something else to focus on. 

[Grim Up North 3,725]

GUN Fishing for this year - had a bit more time but finished up just settling for the familiar names - seemed to be enough of them this year without delving too deep.

 

Feel like 12 - 15 are likely to die this year with Keltie, Doherty, Godley, Peiper and Bilton all a bit more unpredictable.

 

I noticed Spade and others have gone with the certainty of Vialli over the fraction of doubt over Irwin ('probably my last Christmas' is not the same as dead in 6 months) and I agonised over the same decision but landed down on Irwin's side in the end -we'll see.

 

Jonnie Irwin JOKER

Gianluca Vialli

Princess Bajrakitiyabha

Janey Godley

James Whale

Rob Burrow

George Alagiah

Michael Tilson Thomas

Rolf Harris

Ryuichi Sakamoto

Johnny Ruffo

Kate Keltie

Shannen Doherty

Allan Peiper

Steve Mongo McMichael

Frank Field

Frank McGarvey

(Wildlife) Simon Cowell

Randy Jackson (1956)

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (died and subbed in with Tim Bilton)

RESERVES

Tim Bilton (In Play)

Nigel Starmer Smith

Mutulu Shakur

[dimreaper 697]

Deleted. Question already answered yesterday.

[YoungWillz 21,037]

8 minutes ago, dimreaper said:

Around what day can we expect the Derby Dead Pool for 2023 page to be updated? I understand there's a lot of work that goes into updating it between listing all the teams and celebrities.

This has been answered:

 

20 hours ago, Lafaucheuse said:

when will the derby site be updated ? 

 

20 hours ago, Death Impends said:

 

Typically around the middle of the month. Before that the committee has to work on entering rudimentary data on new celebs/teams, reviewing FFBIs, etc.

 

[msc 18,439]

From behind the magician's door, from an ex-host:

 

Each year there's circa 8000 picks (this is every team, so uniques to Drop 40 names), of which about 3000 are different people, and of those around 1 in 3 at least tend to be unique picks. 

 

Of that number, around 800-1200 tend to be new to the database. Every single one of those names need updated manually with DOB, where they fit in the database (actor/politician/etc) and other little bits that help the game engine run. And it's not all porn stars needing looked into, there's WEP teams too. 

 

Before that, every team needs double checked for picks who are dead, picks misspelt, picks which don't seem to actually exist, picks which are actually pet dogs, picks which fail FFBI tests, picks people really ought to have read the previous years List of the Lost for, etc etc etc. Which is again, manual.

 

Once all those names are checked and their details added, then the pre-work by the Grim Character (now played by Banana) means each one should link from death noted to person to team, like magic. 

 

Removing several other time consuming steps for brevity, the bit where it all uploads to the website can cause issues too. In 2020, the entire website just crashed. Obviously I was in no position to work out what went wrong. Grim was perplexed. Outside help needed was the consensus of all (and apparently had been used by multiple hosts in the past)...

 

Except for Reptile. Who deduced the issue was in a long list of html code. 4000 lines of it in fact. The way to solve this, he said, was to sit down with a beer and go through every single line of code to find the faulty one. 

 

Almost all of us would have gone fuck that and cancelled the entire DDP.

 

Reptile had that beer and went through those 4000 lines of code, found the fault, fixed it manually and saved the entire Derby Dead Pool for everyone. And still doesn't get near enough praise for that imo.

 

My point isn't needed for most of you, who were always very understanding of the behind the scenes stuff - and hell, TMIB's meltdown over it showed it was far too much for one person nowadays. But just in case people think "where's the update?" there's shitloads to do, among three people, and one tiny little bit going wrong and it's hours of work to fix it, on top of the actual real life jobs that no one could fuck off to focus on the DDP for a bit! 

 

It's exceptionally time consuming, frustrating, and prone to errors, and if it does go up before the 20th, in line with the last few years, then it's due to insane levels of hard work by DI, Banana and Reptile. (And if it doesn't, you know, bare with them?) As someone who has been there and done that, I salute them!

[The Old Crem 3,583]

3 minutes ago, msc said:

From behind the magician's door, from an ex-host:

 

Each year there's circa 8000 picks (this is every team, so uniques to Drop 40 names), of which about 3000 are different people, and of those around 1 in 3 at least tend to be unique picks. 

 

Of that number, around 800-1200 tend to be new to the database. Every single one of those names need updated manually with DOB, where they fit in the database (actor/politician/etc) and other little bits that help the game engine run. And it's not all porn stars needing looked into, there's WEP teams too. 

 

Before that, every team needs double checked for picks who are dead, picks misspelt, picks which don't seem to actually exist, picks which are actually pet dogs, picks which fail FFBI tests, picks people really ought to have read the previous years List of the Lost for, etc etc etc. Which is again, manual.

 

Once all those names are checked and their details added, then the pre-work by the Grim Character (now played by Banana) means each one should link from death noted to person to team, like magic. 

 

Removing several other time consuming steps for brevity, the bit where it all uploads to the website can cause issues too. In 2020, the entire website just crashed. Obviously I was in no position to work out what went wrong. Grim was perplexed. Outside help needed was the consensus of all (and apparently had been used by multiple hosts in the past)...

 

Except for Reptile. Who deduced the issue was in a long list of html code. 4000 lines of it in fact. The way to solve this, he said, was to sit down with a beer and go through every single line of code to find the faulty one. 

 

Almost all of us would have gone fuck that and cancelled the entire DDP.

 

Reptile had that beer and went through those 4000 lines of code, found the fault, fixed it manually and saved the entire Derby Dead Pool for everyone. And still doesn't get near enough praise for that imo.

 

My point isn't needed for most of you, who were always very understanding of the behind the scenes stuff - and hell, TMIB's meltdown over it showed it was far too much for one person nowadays. But just in case people think "where's the update?" there's shitloads to do, among three people, and one tiny little bit going wrong and it's hours of work to fix it, on top of the actual real life jobs that no one could fuck off to focus on the DDP for a bit! 

 

It's exceptionally time consuming, frustrating, and prone to errors, and if it does go up before the 20th, in line with the last few years, then it's due to insane levels of hard work by DI, Banana and Reptile. (And if it doesn't, you know, bare with them?) As someone who has been there and done that, I salute them!

I think rather than rushing they should announce a date - Say 31st January or 1st February and launch it then. We can then all build up to a set date for it’s launch, 

 

[YoungWillz 21,037]

10 minutes ago, msc said:

From behind the magician's door

Why not just send it to the magician? 

 

From the words of the recently deceased Kelly Monteith:

 

You go to the doctor and you sit in the waiting room. And you wait, and you wait, and you wait, and you wait.

 

Which is why they call me a patient.

[Grim Up North 3,725]

1 minute ago, The Old Crem said:

I think rather than rushing they should announce a date - Say 31st January or 1st February and launch it then. We can then all build up to a set date for it’s launch, 

 

 

As former banana  I nearly wrote msc's message but mine would have been a bit more ranty. Thank you msc.

 

As regards the suggestion above everyone, including the game runner's who are also competitors, want the site to be up and running as soon as possible because it's exciting to see what's happening,. Also things like the D40 link in to other pools like the Inverse.

 

To go a little bit ranty the site would go up earlier if everyone used the spreadsheet but for those that can't that they actually spent 10 minutes checking the spelling of  the names they have submitted by googling them. This would save banana having to check the spellings that are wrong on all the teams - and there are a lot of names submitted wrongly spelt.