Derby Dead Pool 2023

[Gooseberry Crumble 5,337]

21 hours ago, gcreptile said:

It's somewhat funny how the players are taking away the unique picks from each other, in a way that you can't rely on them at all, unless they're extremely late news or extremely risky.

Going for unique picks is ...probably... overrated, but it does come with bragging rights.

For me Unique picks are never about  winning. I have zero chance of being a contender in terms of winning the DDP  so any enthusiasm and fun is redirected into Unique picks were I feel I can achieve several goals or objectives.  Keeping the game interesting and fun for me. Helping a little in making the pool interesting  and enjoyable for others, adding the spice of variety,  the taste of eccentricity  and exploring the boundaries for my own satisfaction of my niche or favourite areas of interest.  Rembering one thing leads to another and then a link by association to something else until I have explored and rembered things that have took me somewhere  I hadn't planned on.

I also like to think in a round about odd way I am giving some people who might be overlooked the compliment of acknowledgement- in particular people whose roles are important but underappreciated

 

Just my incomplete thoughts in favour of the joys of chasing juicy Unique picks- remember anticipation,  the chasing, the fun of just doing regardless of reward is half the thrill with so many things in life !

I always enjoy beating or besting my own personal record  but will not be devastated if I don't. 

[Salmon Mousse 473]

35 minutes ago, gcreptile said:

It's somewhat funny how the players are taking away the unique picks from each other, in a way that you can't rely on them at all, unless they're extremely late news or extremely risky.

Going for unique picks is ...probably... overrated, but it does come with bragging rights.

 

I imagine it's probably easier to get uniques by picking random olds, these days

[Spade_Cooley 9,515]

There's only been six unique hits for top 10 teams in the past three years. Mary Fairhurst, Sonia Kinsella and Pete Felton were all big gambles on getting QOs (and in Felton's case it took around 10 months for one to finally show up). Maggie Griffin was known to be ill but at 99 people probably didn't consider her a viable hit points-wise, Traci Braxton's illness was very, very off-the-radar and Alan Melinek... well, I dunno. He was famous enough and discussed on here. Fortune favours the bold I suppose.

[Banana 859]

45 minutes ago, Spade_Cooley said:

There's only been six unique hits for top 10 teams in the past three years. Mary Fairhurst, Sonia Kinsella and Pete Felton were all big gambles on getting QOs (and in Felton's case it took around 10 months for one to finally show up). Maggie Griffin was known to be ill but at 99 people probably didn't consider her a viable hit points-wise, Traci Braxton's illness was very, very off-the-radar and Alan Melinek... well, I dunno. He was famous enough and discussed on here. Fortune favours the bold I suppose.

 

In fairness, Alan Melinek's pancreatic cancer was known only to be stage 1 but at his age that shouldnt have mattered and there was the prolonged obit worthiness

[diana rots 24]

49 minutes ago, Spade_Cooley said:

There's only been six unique hits for top 10 teams in the past three years. Mary Fairhurst, Sonia Kinsella and Pete Felton were all big gambles on getting QOs (and in Felton's case it took around 10 months for one to finally show up). Maggie Griffin was known to be ill but at 99 people probably didn't consider her a viable hit points-wise, Traci Braxton's illness was very, very off-the-radar and Alan Melinek... well, I dunno. He was famous enough and discussed on here. Fortune favours the bold I suppose.

 

Perhaps this beggars the question, should unique picks get more points than they currently do?

 

Discuss 

 

 

[Pedro67 232]

I really like the Unique part of the game. Haven’t had the time this year to enjoy trying to find new ones, so don’t think I’ll be improving on hitting at least one for 8 out of 9 years I’ve had the Catacomb team in the DDP. Also perversely satisfying when others jump on your uniques the following year. Not expecting Mike Sadler will be this year after he was consulting on the SAS TV series, and someone will jump on Doyle Brunson and Derrick Morgan at some stage.

[Dr_T 254]

Happy New Year and good luck to all participants, both those who did the picking and all of those who were picked.

 

The game is a whole less interesting if you don't try for one or two uniques. Otherwise it's all about picking the 20 Drop Forty most likely to die. I think I'll have a couple of uniques this year. Most likely is former Australian cricket captain, Bob Simpson. I picked Micky Stewart again who was unique for me last year but may have been picked by others this year. I think Alwyn Hughes was unique for me last year as well but I'll be amazed if she is this year.

[alt obits guy 3,371]

Back for another year as Fade to Black.  Here is my 2023 team:

 

1. Johnny Ruffo (Joker)

2. George Alagiah

3. Ronnie Atkins

4. Criscilla Anderson (SUB for Benedict XVI)

5. Carolyn Bryant Donham

6. Frank Field

7. Tim Lobinger  (SUB for Natalie Fornasier - DQed pick)

8. Rolf Harris

9. Jonnie Irwin

10. Tim Keller

11. Kate Keltie

12. Steve McMichael

13. Ryan Minor

14. Daniel N. Paul

15. Andy Taylor (SUB for Pele)

16. Ryuchi Sakamoto

17. Christina Strutt (Didn't make the starting line, no sub picks left.)

18. Teresa Taylor

19. Gianluca Vialli

20. James Whale

 

 

 

[maryportfuncity 10,639]

6 hours ago, Sly Ronnie said:

I think Stokes may have already snuffed it:

 

https://www.spieltimes.com/news/what-was-scientist-mark-stokes-final-tweet-cause-of-death/#.Y7G_mu-nydM

 

 

Aye, just posted on Deathrace, looks that way and he's on An Fear Beag's Deathrace team (well in the lead, Stokes would put him one death short of victory). I'm thinking he's definitely a goner and that - for reasons explained on the Deathrace thread - he'll go down as a DNS and be replaced by subs. 

[maryportfuncity 10,639]

2 hours ago, Spade_Cooley said:

There's only been six unique hits for top 10 teams in the past three years. Mary Fairhurst, Sonia Kinsella and Pete Felton were all big gambles on getting QOs (and in Felton's case it took around 10 months for one to finally show up). Maggie Griffin was known to be ill but at 99 people probably didn't consider her a viable hit points-wise, Traci Braxton's illness was very, very off-the-radar and Alan Melinek... well, I dunno. He was famous enough and discussed on here. Fortune favours the bold I suppose.

 

 

Not top ten, though I think I'm 15th for 2022. Tbh my last unique hits amazed me, because I thought someone would have joined me in picking them. Head of ISIS last year copping it in a drone strike also brought other bonus points. Also thought someone else would pick the clearly ill and definitely obitable man about shameless psychedelia Larry Wallis in 2019. For the record I've got the current head of ISIS - like the Tories they had three leaders in 2022, unlike the Tories two leaders died "fighting" one way or another - I don't think he'll be a unique pick.

[Windsor 2,233]

My offerings. 

 

Team Name: Windsor the Troll

Jonnie Irwin (Joker)

Frank McGarvey (Died 01/01/2023)

Frank Field 

Earl of Elgin 

King Constantine II 

Frank McDougall

Pervez Musharraf 

Rhod Gilbert (Replaced Benedict XVI)

Jimmy Carter

James Whale

Gianluca Vialli

George Allagia 

Sir Bobby Charlton 

Rob Burrow

Nigel Starmer-Smith

James Martin (Scottish Actor)

Mohammed Al-Fayed

Andy Taylor (Duran Duran)

Ted Kaszynski 

Rolf Harris 

 

 

Theme Team: Windsor’s OBE: 

Rob Burrow MBE (Joker)

Sir Bobby Charlton CBE

George Allagia OBE

Michael York OBE

Denis Law OBE

Ray Reardon OBE

Henry Sandon MBE 

Una McLean MBE

Douglas Hurd CBE 

Richard Wilson OBE

Dame Sheila Handcock DBE 

Dame Judi Dench DBE 

Prunella Scales CBE

John Williams KBE

Dame Maggie Smith DBE

Timothy West CBE

Alan Greenspan KBE

Sandy Gall CBE

Jacob Rothschild GBE

Julie Goodyear MBE

 

 

[tracy 2,392]

25 minutes ago, maryportfuncity said:

I'm thinking he's definitely a goner and that - for reasons explained on the Deathrace thread - he'll go down as a DNS and be replaced by subs.

 

Why? He was liking posts well after that awful article says he "died", including one as recently as yesterday. And I highly doubt the "dear friend" in the article even knew him, or was intending to kill him off. He's a Georgetown University employee whose Facebook appears to largely be viral Internet posts with his commentary.

[Grim News 16]

picks for Equatic Doom 2.0

Dick Van Dyke (joker and also old age pick)

Bob Cousy (teammate of Bill Russell one of my two hits of 2022) 

James Earl Jones (Mufasa and Darth Vader)

Vladimir Putin (Russian dictator) 

Jack Nicholson (dying former Hollywood great)

Ted Turner (see also Rupert M)

Rupert Murdoch (evil media mogul) 

Jane Fonda (diagnosed with breast cancer)

Mel Brooks (one of my old age picks)

Neil Diamond (also a shockingly bad actor "coming to America" from the jazz singer anyone?) 

Neil Sedaka (see Neil Diamond)

Paul Anka (see Neil Diamond)

Frankie Valli (singer for the four seasons and also sang the theme to grease)

William Shatner (Captain Kirk and a bad singer)

Clint Eastwood (Hollywood great)

Bobby Vinton (former teen idol)

Bill Medley (surviving half of righteous Brothers also a successful solo artist) 

Julie Andrews (famous actress)

Michael Caine (British icon actor)

Edited January 2, 2023 by Grim News

[machotrouts 828]

These are my three theme teams for 2023.

 

#1 Hits

 

My regular theme team of people who've had a record peak at #1 in the UK Singles Chart (either solo or as part of a group). 8th year in the DDP.

Last year's position on the team is given in brackets, where applicable.

 

1. (12)	Rolf Harris
2. (new)	Andy Taylor (Duran Duran)
3. (new)	Anita Pointer (USA for Africa)
4. (4)	Jane Morgan
5. (6)	Tony Bennett
6. (7)	Bobby Charlton (England World Cup Squad '70)
7. (16)	Ian Bairnson (Pilot)
8. (re)	Trevor Oakes (Showaddywaddy)
9. (10)	David Graham (Peter Kay's Animated All Star Band)
10. (9)	David Crosby (The Byrds)
11. (13)	Harry Belafonte
12. (re)	Lena Martell
13. (new)	James Dunn (The Stylistics)
14. (re)	Dave Edmunds
15. (new)	J.J. Barrie
16. (8)	Chris Farlowe
17. (re)	Chris Rea (Band Aid II)
18. (new)	Marilyn (Band Aid)
19. (new)	Randy Jackson (The Jacksons) (yes, I know he's not *that* Randy Jackson)
20. (new)	Young Thug

 

...and Anita Pointer hasn't made the starting line, so my top sub (who was my boldest drop) is...

 

21. (5)

Willie Nelson (USA for Africa)

 

This team had four hits in 2022: Gary Brooker (1), Tom Parker (2), Olivia Newton-John (11), and Jerry Lee Lewis (19). Survivors dropped from the team are: John Gorman (3), Willie Nelson (5), Len 'Chip' Hawkes (14), Billy J. Kramer (15), Ernest Ranglin (17), Frankie Valli (18), and Ray Stevens (20).

 

 

Unpersons

 

My regular theme team of Big Brother housemates (including Celebrity Big Brother and other spin-offs). 8th year in the DDP.

Last year's position on the team is given in brackets, where applicable.

 

1. (2)	James Whale
2. (1)	Linda Nolan
3. (new)	Andrew Tate
4. (new)	Chris Ellison
5. (5)	Julie Goodyear
6. (7)	Ron Atkinson
7. (9)	Gary Busey
8. (8)	Amanda Barrie
9. (11)	Germaine Greer
10. (10)	Dirk Benedict
11. (re)	Paddy Doherty
12. (re)	Danniella Westbrook
13. (new)	Jenna Jameson
14. (new)	Farrah Abraham
15. (re)	Stephen Bear
16. (re)	Marco Pierre White Jr.
17. (re)	Kim Woodburn
18. (new)	Angie Bowie
19. (new)	Michael Madsen
20. (20)	Lauren Harries

 

This team had one hit in 2022: Kirstie Alley (16). Survivors dropped from the team are: Becki Seddiki (3), Adele Roberts (4), Ken Morley (6), Christopher Biggins (12), Carol McGiffin (13), Winston McKenzie (14), Daniel Baldwin (15), Sally Morgan (17), Renee Graziano (18), and Katie Waissel (19).

 

 

Special:RandomInCategory/Living_people

   

My regular theme team in which I open 4000 random Wikipedia articles in the category 'Living people', and then whittle them down to the 20 who I believe are most likely to be hits this year. 3rd year in the DDP.

Names are presented as they are in their Wikipedia article titles, bracketed segments included; nevertheless, given the broad range of claims to fame and relative obscurity of the picks, I've included an extra column to clarify what they're known for.

 

1.	Karl Bushby	Adventurer trying to walk an unbroken path around the world; planning to swim the Caspian Sea in 2023
2.	Micheline Bernardini	First ever bikini model in 1946
3.	Blueface	American rapper
4.	Simon Townsend	Australian TV presenter (Simon Townsend's Wonder World)
5.	Joe Scarborough (artist)	Sheffield painter
6.	Bill Rasmussen	ESPN founder
7.	Arthur Fry	Inventor of the Post-It note
8.	Sonja de Lennart	Inventor of capri pants
9.	Sidney J. Furie	Film director (The Ipcress File, Iron Eagle, Superman IV)
10.	Frank Bruno	Boxer
11.	Valentine Strasser	Ousted leader of Sierra Leone
12.	Stephen Trombley	British-American author, filmmaker, songwriter
13.	Melker Schörling	Swedish billionaire
14.	Ron Medich	Australian businessman, in prison for ordering a contract murder
15.	Ghairat Baheer	Afghan politician, CIA torture victim
16.	Johnny Rodz	Pro wrestler
17.	Mike Nussbaum	Really old actor
18.	Muthoni Likimani	Kenyan author
19.	Benjamin Blech	American rabbi
20.	Jesse Horn	American author and illustrator

 

This team had one hit in 2022: James Roose-Evans (8). Given the nature of the team, all 19 survivors have been dropped for this year.

[ethnic cleansing 26]

A Trophy For Atrophy

 1. Johnnie Irwin

 2. George Alagiah

 3. Tim Bilton

 4. Gianluca Vialli

 5. Steve McMichael

 6. Shane MacGowan

 7. Frank Field

 8. Joe Kinnear

 9. Linda Nolan

10. Nigel Starter- Smith

11. James Whale

12. Jeremiah Green

13. Tony Bennett

14. Shannen Doherty

15. Rolf Harris

16. Ryuichi Sakamoto

17. Michael Tilson Thomas

18. Sonny Rollins

19. David J. Linden

20. David Hockney

 

  SUBS Katie Keltie , Ruth Buzzi

[Grim News 16]

Am I the only one who would have picked Neil Diamond?

[CaptainChorizo 1,977]

https://www.derbydeadpool.co.uk/deadpool2018/teams.html#DDPTeammost17

 

The rapper Gangsta Boo was picked backed in 2018,either another Jan 1 hit or the first list of the missed name of 2023

[Youth in Asia 1,086]

Is she any relation to Betty Boo?

[maryportfuncity 10,639]

Good spot machotrouts 

 

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

[The Old Crem 3,580]

12 hours ago, Windsor said:

My offerings. 

 

Team Name: Windsor the Troll

Jonnie Irwin (Joker)

Frank McGarvey (Died 01/01/2023)

Frank Field 

Earl of Elgin 

King Constantine II 

Frank McDougall

Pervez Musharraf 

Rhod Gilbert (Replaced Benedict XVI)

Jimmy Carter

James Whale

Gianluca Vialli

George Allagia 

Sir Bobby Charlton 

Rob Burrow

Nigel Starmer-Smith

James Martin (Scottish Actor)

Mohammed Al-Fayed

Andy Taylor (Duran Duran)

Ted Kaszynski 

Rolf Harris 

 

 

Theme Team: Windsor’s OBE: 

Rob Burrow MBE (Joker)

Sir Bobby Charlton CBE

George Allagia OBE

Michael York OBE

Denis Law OBE

Ray Reardon OBE

Henry Sandon MBE 

Una McLean MBE

Douglas Hurd CBE 

Richard Wilson OBE

Dame Sheila Handcock DBE 

Dame Judi Dench DBE 

Prunella Scales CBE

John Williams KBE

Dame Maggie Smith DBE

Timothy West CBE

Alan Greenspan KBE

Sandy Gall CBE

Jacob Rothschild GBE

Julie Goodyear MBE

 

 

I think your honours team will beat my dames team (Which shares all three dames.)

[Spade_Cooley 9,515]

Is Micheline Bernardini definitely still alive? Feel like we've had this conversation before...

[alt obits guy 3,371]

On 01/01/2023 at 07:25, Death Impends said:

^ FWIW Natalie Fornasier has been DQed by the committee for not having sufficient social media following. So the first sub for any Fornasier pickers would be going in.

Well that certainly sucks considering the type of coverage Fornasier is receiving (national English & Australian media). So my third & final sub comes into play, unless somebody convinces the committee otherwise.

[Lafaucheuse 4,043]

when will the derby site be updated ? 

[Joey Russ 7,220]

1 minute ago, Lafaucheuse said:

when will the derby site be updated ? 

Usually about two weeks from the new years or so

[Death Impends 7,953]

1 minute ago, Lafaucheuse said:

when will the derby site be updated ? 

 

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.