Death By Numbers 2024

[Banana 859]

IN:

Sven-Goran Eriksson

Rupert Keegan

Jane McAlevey

Linda Tirado

Johnnie Walker

 

OUT:

Steve Gaines

Sudarshan Maharaj

Ida Reams

Richard Scolyer

Nicole Weider

[An Fear Beag 1,535]

OUT

Bridgette Wilson Sampras

Eric Idle

Janey Godley

Mark Steele

Rhod Gilbert

 

IN

Georg Koch

Jane McAlevey

Linda Tirado

Rupert Keegan

Sven Goran Eriksson

[Pedro67 232]

Out

Brazil, Wyman, Lazerenko, Gilbert, Housego. 

In

Joan Bakewell

Johnny Walker

sven G Ericsson

Noam Chomsky

Jmmy Carter. 

 

Sorry its it’s a bit late

 

 

[ladyfiona 2,585]

Got a hit with Vic Seixas.

[The Immortal 634]

Well this is an unexpected surprise. Back to back hits for me with Bengt I. Samuelsson (unique pretty sure) and Jane McAlevey (huge replacement name).

[Torva Messor 279]

On 28/06/2024 at 12:38, Torva Messor said:

My 2024 Death By Numbers  Midyear Replacement List

 

IN:
Noam Chomsky
Shelley Duvall
Sven-Göran Eriksson
Jane McAlevey
Johnnie Walker (BBC Radio 2 DJ)

 

OUT:
Imelda Marcos
Sam Neill
Bob Newhart
Edna O'Brien
Stu Phillips

 

 

Shelley Duvall shuffled off this mortal cOyl while the DeathList was in stasis.

[The Immortal 634]

As did Joe Engle, a hit for me.

[Torva Messor 279]

Although Ruth Westheimer was kept in my 'IN' pile, she saw herself out, as an increment for my DBN 2024 hit count.

[YoungWillz 21,046]

Shannen Doherty a hit for me here: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/shannen-doherty-dead-charmed-90210-cancer-b2579529.html

 

I'm probably not alone.

[Torva Messor 279]

Unusually destructive week for my list, in which Death did not stop at three.

[gcreptile 10,972]

Okay.... well I hope I got it right with all the replacements, all the Sven-Göran Erikssons and Johnnie Walkers and Jane McAleveys.

Speaking of which.... McAlevey is dead and gets a rare Morningstar Online obit, we love to see them. The American labour activist hung on just long enough to be a popular replacement pick, thus keeping me from getting a nice differential hit. An interesting effect this year that I don't lose that much terrain with the replacement picks because I had some of the names before.

Other names for this update are quite the heavy hitters. First of all, Shannen Doherty. She seemed the most notable face of the Beverly Hills 90210 crew to me. But I never watched the show and have to rely on the memories of my sister's youth magazines there. Later, she got another hit role in "Charmed" which wasn't quite the same phenomenon but still quite popular. Afterwards, her career stalled, as she suffered a severe case of "aging in Hollywood". In the final years, the cancer of course didn't help, but she seemed to be doing alright, and didn't have that long final painful period that other long-time breast cancer sufferers have - at least she didn't show it! Here's another breast cancer case where the ominous spreading to the bones announced the final year.

Let's move on to Ruth Westheimer. The trained sniper was catapulted into world-wide fame in the early 80s when she first got the chance to have her own radio show, and then even a TV show in which she gave relationship advice as she had previously done for decades in her own sex therapy practice. It was still a time when people were afraid to ask, and when there wasn't more info than you could possibly want on the internet. TorvaMessor receives a unique hit, well done!

Vic Seixas is a unique hit for Lady Fiona, also congratulations there! He was a winner of two grand slam titles and the no. 1 US player for quite some time. He was one of VERY few top sportspeople to make the full century.

Joe Engle is a hit for tracy and the Immortal. He was a trained pilot and astronaut, first flying experimental airplanes to altitudes that count as "space", and then as part of the first Space Shuttle flights.

Then Shelley Duvall, a hit for a couple of teams. Somewhat unfairly, she'll be remembered mostly for being the wife of a bonkers Jack Nicholson in Kubrick's Shining. The same year she starred in the Popeye movie, and then a few months later in Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits. Afterwards, the big movie roles somewhat dried up. And there were always rumours of some mental instability - sort of a presumed Kubrick effect, who wanted her to be actually scared instead of just acting that way. Somehow one knew that she wouldn't quite make average life expectancy, and it was diabetes that killed her.

Now, Jim Inhofe. The Senator from Oklahoma is a unique hit for tracy. He had been retired for two years, but probably could have had the seat until he died, because it was a very safe republican seat in Oklahoma. He was one of the cases where you wondered whether he's dumbing it down for his audience, or whether he is actually a little simple. I assume it's the former, but you can't quite tell. He once brought a snowball into the Senate and thus demonstrated the difference between weather and climate. Apparently, certain jobs require a bit of grandstanding and acting for the base.

 

And also, there was one hit I saw that I had previously forgotten, Queens Park Rangers legend Stan Bowles. The indisputable star of his team had suffered from Alzheimer's for many years and already died back in February. Maybe I mentioned him but forgot to allocate the points? Toast, Book and Sean get some late points.

 

Predictably, I lose the lead after the substitutions, and it's Cpt. Chorizo and his always well-balanced selection of advanced cancer sufferers who takes the lead with the death of Shannen Doherty:

 

Rank	Team	Score
1	Cpt. Chorizo	1164
2	gcreptile	1104
2	Banana	1104
4	wannamaker	988
5	RadGuy	975
6	Book	959
6	Funeralopolis	959
8	msc	938
9	Perhaps	875
10	Salmon Mousse	837
11	Summer in Transilvania	818
12	Buffalo Phil	778
13	Toast	746
14	Mr. Wonderful	698
15	The Immortal	677
16	The Unknown Man	636
16	An Fear Beag	636
18	Torva Messor	623
19	MariNisia	604
19	tracy	604
21	Baby Blue	583
22	Death Impends	582
23	Pedro67	571
24	Predictor	559
25	DeathBecomesThem	540
26	Liz Lemon	538
27	Thatcher	525
28	Etushipushingupdaisies	524
29	ThereWillBeDeaths7	516
30	The old lady	515
31	Imelda	511
32	John Key	485
33	The Old Crem	479
34	Cpt. Hemlock	469
34	Sean	469
36	Lady Fiona	466
37	Caleb H	453
38	TQR	430
39	Diego	429
40	Yorkshire Banker	404
41	Bibliogryphon	398
42	Charles De Gaulle	394
43	Wormfarmer	387
44	Annami	359
45	The Daredevil	355
46	Young Willz	292
47	Great Uncle Bulgaria	197
48	arghton	180
49	Hell	160
50	chileanway	158
51	Sod's Law	100
52	Gooseberry Crumble	31

 

 

[Wormfarmer 427]

NFL great Jim Otto died on May 19, leaving an inheritance of 38 points to Wormfarmer.

[YoungWillz 21,046]

Bob Newhart for me and I suspect others here. https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/29328446/elf-big-bang-theory-actor-bob-newhart-dead/

[theoldlady 2,301]

Ray Reardon is a hit for me and I suspect for others as well.

[Summer in Transylvania 2,187]

On 30/06/2024 at 18:24, Summer in Transylvania said:

Out:

 

Ismail Haniyeh

Well, this is going well. 

[Gooseberry Crumble 5,345]

When rather If  scientist Leonard Hayflick gets a qualifying obituary  he will be a 'hit' for me in this pool.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Hayflick

[Torva Messor 279]

Two from my OUT pile bit the dust last month, glad an entry on the remaining list breaks that vexing trend

Gena Rowlands with QO from the Daily Heil (I am sure the better-reputation UK sources will come in hours from now, I am impatient), like time, passes on:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-13744829/Gena-Rowlands-dead-94-Notebook-Alzheimers.html

[MariNisia 4,198]

On 05/08/2024 at 07:10, Gooseberry Crumble said:

When rather If  scientist Leonard Hayflick gets a qualifying obituary  he will be a 'hit' for me in this pool.

 

Leonard Hayflick gets a New York Times obit:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/17/science/leonard-hayflick-dead.html

 

Congratulations, @Gooseberry Crumble. I'm really happy for you, friend. 

[gcreptile 10,972]

Weekend time, update time!

We'll work our way back, as usual and start with today's giant name Alain Delon. The iconic french actor of the 60s and 70s had been known to be in declining health. He seemed most vocal about it himself, which probably scared people away from picking him, but Thatcher actually gets a unique hit!

Wayne Eddy was a replacement pick in this,  but he needs a QO, so no points yet.

So next we go to Peter Marshall. He was mostly known for his lucky strike in getting the Hollywood Squares hosting job, first as a temporary replacement, then for another 15 years. But he as also occasionally in TV roles and a variety of ..variety programs. Hell and The Unknown Man score.

Peter Procter, a British lover of speed competitions would be a unique hit for Summer In Transylvania, but he also needs an obit first. I am more confident though that he'll get something eventually.

Gena Rowlands is a hit for three players. The highly decorated actress established a stellar reputation through her appearances in the Independent movie scene of the 60s to 70s, elevating her previous TV career so much that she still got roles far into advanced age, most notably in The Notebook. Her very advanced dementia had been announced just recently.

Then we have a couple of curious misses (Mitzi McCall, Chi Chi Rodriguez, etc..) and the next hit seems to be Minnesota hockey coach Mike Sertich. I guess he was regarded highly enough as a coach that he got the Daily Mail obit, and not jsut the yahoo one. He was coach of the year a couple of times for a regional hockey association. So maybe a slightly bigger name than Pete Wilk. 4 players score.

As mentioned above, Gooseberry Crumble finally gets another typical unique hit of his with Leonard Hayflick. The US scientist was an expert on human aging and wrote several popular books about it, while also advancing the science. He condemned the typical (and commercial) anti-aging medicine though, probably because he saw a couple of biological limits that can't be circumvented.

We see a couple more misses (Ismail Haniyeh, Craig Shakespeare,  Michael Sinelnikoff), so let's then catch up with the names mentioned in this thread.

Big thanks to Wormfarmer for mentioned Jim Otto, a Hall of Fame football player whose biggest achievement seems to have been to endure injury after injury. He also won the 60s version of the Superbowl once and frequently made all star rosters. The name slipped through amid the tons of American Football players who are too many and die too often to always catch them all.

King of the hits in this update is Bob Newhart. A huge TV star with an incredibly long career, loved until high age and active on Xitter while already being considered in deadpooling because of his haggard looks. Commonly thought of being the trigger for an avalanche of DeathList hits, we have to conclude now that it hasn't happened. Tons of players score here with him.

Finally Ray Reardon is a hit for TQR and The Old Lady. Snooker seems to have roughly one superstar per decade, curiously much like the Tour De France, where the 90s go to Miguel Indurain, the 70s go to Eddy Merckx, the 60s to Jacques Anquetil, etc... So Ray Reardon was the Snooker champ of the 70s, before Steve Davis was the winner of the 80s, and Stephen Hendry in the 90s. Reardon won 6 world championships and was nicknamed Dracula for his dark looks. He later coached another dominant champion of the sport, Ronnie O'Sullivan.

 

Any more hits (I really should do more than one update per month...)? Ah yes, Ysanne Churchman. A gigantic career as a voice actress on radio, most notably on The Archers. Her career kind of lasted 80 years, but that's counting a few child roles and the later legacy roles. She's a unique hit for Predictor.

Next up is Yvonne Furneaux, a unique hit for The Daredevil. Like Gena Rowlands she was another classy actress in classy movies, a favorite of independent directors. Apparently she chose her french name after being born with a more ordinary British name. It gave her some continental artistic credibility, but also closed off more regular and lucrative British roles. Still,her career could have been worse...

 

Well, I hope this is it, if not, do tell.

The scoreboard is free from giant upheavals, as the hits were pretty spread out amongst the player, and usually of advanced age and lower score:

 

Rank	Team	Score
1	Cpt. Chorizo	1164
2	gcreptile	1151
2	Banana	1151
4	wannamaker	988
5	RadGuy	975
6	Book	959
6	Funeralopolis	959
8	msc	938
9	Perhaps	904
10	Salmon Mousse	884
11	Summer in Transilvania	847
12	Buffalo Phil	778
13	Toast	746
14	Mr. Wonderful	727
15	The Immortal	711
16	The Unknown Man	692
17	An Fear Beag	683
18	Torva Messor	653
19	MariNisia	604
19	tracy	604
21	Thatcher	589
22	Predictor	584
23	Baby Blue	583
24	Death Impends	582
25	Pedro67	571
26	Liz Lemon	568
27	The old lady	547
28	DeathBecomesThem	540
29	Etushipushingupdaisies	524
30	ThereWillBeDeaths7	516
31	Imelda	511
32	John Key	485
33	The Old Crem	479
34	Cpt. Hemlock	469
34	Sean	469
36	Lady Fiona	466
37	Wormfarmer	463
38	TQR	462
39	Caleb H	453
40	Diego	429
41	The Daredevil	412
42	Yorkshire Banker	404
43	Bibliogryphon	398
44	Charles De Gaulle	394
45	Annami	359
46	Young Willz	321
47	arghton	221
48	Hell	215
49	Great Uncle Bulgaria	197
50	chileanway	187
51	Sod's Law	100
52	Gooseberry Crumble	59

 

Edit: Just checking a few names, looks like arghton has a name waiting for an obit, but Abdul Taib bin Mahmud, a malaysian politician, already died in February and will not receive an obit.

Edit2: Well, actually, there was at least one missing hit, Bengt Samuellson, the Swedish medicla scientist and Nobel Prize winner of 1982. He received the Telegraph obit two months after his death and gives The Immortal a unique hit. And a day later, the New York Times also gave him an update. Curious how they seem to be connected in such a way.

Edit3: Also... well, turns out that Michael Hardie Boys, a pick by John Key, already died in Dec. 2023, barely before the deadline. Well, he still gets replaced. Sub is Robert Wagner.

Edit4: Arghton DOES have a more promising person waiting for an obit, former sheikh of Kuwait Salem Ali-Ali al -Sabah (or something). We'll wait and see....

Edit5: Arghton even has another hit! Already back in January, Taiwanese democracy activist Shih Ming Teh died. I seem to recall that there were health news before. The New York Times mentions a liver tumour. Well, he was frequently imprisoned during his life but Taiwan eventually developed into a more healthier democracy, maybe also because of him.

[Gooseberry Crumble 5,345]

13 hours ago, MariNisia said:

 

Leonard Hayflick gets a New York Times obit:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/17/science/leonard-hayflick-dead.html

 

Congratulations, @Gooseberry Crumble. I'm really happy for you, friend. 

Thank you very much! Much appreciated 

[ladyfiona 2,585]

I had Wayne Eddy. Just waiting for an obit.

[gcreptile 10,972]

"Real" Wayne Eddy obit, but doesn't translate to yahoo:

https://kymnradio.net/2024/08/19/wayne-t-eddy-legendary-voice-of-kymn-radio-passes-away-at-83/

[ladyfiona 2,585]

Like with most people here who replaced him halfway through the game. I have Sven-Göran Eriksson as a hit.

[MrWonderful 481]

On 26/08/2024 at 05:27, ladyfiona said:

Like with most people here who replaced him halfway through the game. I have Sven-Göran Eriksson as a hit.

Same.  And yes, I'm sure many will score here.  

[gcreptile 10,972]

Maybe it is time for an update....

...first the Arghton chapter:

Arghton likes to pick somewhat obscure foreign people, and sometimes, they do obit! I missed two more obits that I am only seeing now - continuing my streak of misses that began with Shih Ming Teh.

First of all, it's malaysian politician Abdul Taib Mahmud - a malaysian politician who obited because Malaysia is very well-covered by Yahoo. He was a chief minister of the province of Sawarak for over 30 years and died already back in February. He died of colon cancer, which was made public in 2023, so this was actually a pretty well-calculated pick in spite of the obscurity.

Arghton also scores with Beverly LaHaye. The conservative christian activist was the founder of the "Concerned Women of America" and was part of Ronald Reagan's conservative backlash crew. I should have checked for her, because she is someone I can see being picked here, but I forgot that as well, she died in April.

Third name, George Rhoden, jamaican olympian and two-time gold medal winner at the Helsinki Olympic games. Now he hasn't yet received a qualifying obit, as far as I can tell. But some late ones are still trickling in, so you never know if Yahoo decides to still carry one.

Next arghton name, Gudrun Ure. Supergran, even though she was a favourite among us, was only picked once in this game. She also died way back in May and I missed it. Once again, here I also have no excuse why I didn't note her death before.

Now that's three, maybe four more hits for arghton who increases his score quite a bit.

 

Then let's turn to the big replacement hits, Paul Harrell and especially Sven-Göran Eriksson - actually, scratch that, Paul Harrell wasn't even picked! Sven-Göran Eriksson however was, by pretty much everyone who submitted substitutions - except for me! He would have been my third replacement, but alas.... We pretty much knew that reaching 2025 was an almost impossible task for Eriksson whose pancreatic cancer fight was well-covered.. Eriksson was a real title collector all across Europa, and won the UEFA Cup with Göteborg and the Cup winner's Cup with Lazio. He also coached the English national team and won pretty much all the games except for those that really mattered. In the end, another "golden generation" failed to win a trophy and Eriksson had to go. 

 

More hits:

Wormfarmer scores a unique hit with Scott Thorson. Liberace's driver and lover had been fighting throat cancer and deadpoolers for a decade. Well, he DID have cancer, so all the deadpoolers weren't wrong, just a little early - and the ways some names gain traction, and others don't, continue to be quite mysterious...

A bunch of players score with Christoph Daum. The german coach (he wasn't really a top level player) was one of the most prominent names of the german football landscapes. He was in an eternal rivalry with Uli Hoeneß who even managed to keep Daum from getting the national coaching job by insinuating that Daum regularly uses cocaine. Daum then submitted the notorious hair sample which he expected to be negative, but it was positive. He couldn't get the job anymore because he couldn't fill the exemplary function as the nation's coach anymore.... After that, his active career was basically over, but at that time his (cocaine fueled?) intensity had given him a legendary reputation, not just in the Rhineland area, but also in Turkey where he coached Besiktas and turned into a national hero. His lung cancer fight went up and down, though some of the up's might have been his own wishful thinking. It does seem like his death was slightly sudden, though the usual timeline would not have carried him into 2026 anyway.

 

This seems to be it, nobody picked Ron Yeats, or Sergio Mendes, etc... Arghton gets a well-deserved score boost while I lose some ground because of Eriksson. Not only did I not have Eriksson, but Christoph Daum was a hit for exactly those player just below me. 

 

Rank	Team	Score
1	Cpt. Chorizo	1212
2	Banana	1199
3	gcreptile	1151
4	Book	1060
5	wannamaker	1036
6	RadGuy	1028
7	msc	991
8	Funeralopolis	959
9	Perhaps	952
10	Summer in Transilvania	895
11	Salmon Mousse	884
12	Buffalo Phil	826
13	Toast	794
14	Mr. Wonderful	775
15	The Immortal	759
16	Torva Messor	754
17	An Fear Beag	731
18	The Unknown Man	692
19	Baby Blue	636
20	Pedro67	619
21	Liz Lemon	616
22	MariNisia	604
22	tracy	604
24	The old lady	595
25	Thatcher	589
26	Predictor	584
27	Death Impends	582
28	Etushipushingupdaisies	577
29	DeathBecomesThem	540
30	Wormfarmer	522
31	Cpt. Hemlock	517
32	ThereWillBeDeaths7	516
33	Lady Fiona	514
34	Imelda	511
35	Caleb H	506
36	John Key	485
37	The Old Crem	479
38	Sean	469
39	TQR	462
40	Diego	429
41	The Daredevil	412
42	Yorkshire Banker	404
43	Bibliogryphon	398
44	Charles De Gaulle	394
45	Annami	359
46	Young Willz	321
47	arghton	312
48	Great Uncle Bulgaria	245
49	Hell	215
50	chileanway	187
51	Sod's Law	100
52	Gooseberry Crumble	59