I go back and forth on this...sometimes I think it's just a fun way of dealing with death, but sometimes I think it goes too far...

ever participated in one of these?

I've lost the past two years. Always fun.

death is a part of life. the last part.

What is this exactly? I'm not familiar.

I think that you put money in a pool and pick some celebrity who you think might croak in a given year.

Odds are made based on potential croak-ability. right?

It's only OK if you actually kill the celebrity.

Also, its one of those wacky-FM-morning-drive-host kinda things, right?

Though, gambling is gambling. Who takes bets on shit like this?

There's a whole host of aging rockers you gotta think would croak soon, that's why this came up in my mind. How could you not pick Keith in every pool every year from now until he finally dies in 2066?

You need to watch Dirty Harry: The Dead Pool if for no other reason than Jim Carrey's performance as the drugged-out rockstar.

I think they're just good fun but, like someone else said, don't go killing the celebraties.

Going too far if you're related to John Spencer, but EXTREMELY good fun if you had him in your pool!

1996 MVP, Survey Says:

....and the cameo by guns n roses.

i didnt know such a thing existed

Nick Cave was voted most likely to die like 5 yhears in a row in the late eighties and showed all those fuckers whaat he;s made of...guts n; heroin.

Top-notch drunken posten, good chap.

As to who to throw in the pool, then under the bus, and, lastly, to set on fire, in '06 (and assuming they don't pull a fast one and die in the next two-plus weeks):

Muhammad Ali (John Paul II, Pryor, Reagan - gone; The Greatest is on borrowed time, now)

Gerald Ford (not yet the longest-surviving President, but he might not make that milestone)

Pete Doherty (does he have the wherewithal of Keef? Prolly not...)

Kurt Vonnegut (looking ragged...)

Margaret Thatcher (she'll finally get her chance, and'll be fucking Ronald [Reagan] in heaven)

Ayad Allawi... or, insert any prominent domestic leader of the Iraqi transition/government (lead-pipe cinch!)

Joyce Carol Oates (would I lie to you?)

Corazon Aquino (by-gone world leader - it's been fifteen (?) years since she left office, and (much) less reviled than Maggie... two or three of these die every year)

Carlos Fuentes (see Vonnegut, Oates)

Courtney Love (see Doherty)


Notable Omissions: Keef, Fidel, Tom Wolfe, Nelson Mandela, Dianne Feinstein, Jane Fonda, Keith Flint (from Prodigy), Ben Roethlisberger, Dick Cheney, Steven Adler (from Guns n' Roses)

You know who else looks horrid? Richard Dreyfus. I saw him somewhere not long ago, on something on tv, and good god has time been bad to him.

Would you like to join an Obner Death-pool? We could have Haq plug it between "Gallery" and "Charts"...

I could put it on my resume.

- Recipient, Graduate Assistantship position
- Winner, Obner 2005 Death Pool

Again this isnt really my specialty but Ford may not make it till Christmas so I'd put him at the top.

Good call on some of the others.....I think I'd add Dylan into that mix as well.

Also anybody involved in the Sadaam trial. Dead. Meat.

I think that Iraq should offer a plethora of points, yes.

Also, can't believe I forgot Dylan.

And, the sports world. Maybe Bill Russell, Willie Mays, Carl Yastrzemski, Fran Tarkenton, Merlin Olsen (or any of the four monsters from that Rams d-line in the 60s), Lawrence Taylor (borrowed. time.)... Maradona.

Good call on Mays, Yaz, and those animals from the Rams. I've seen/heard Fran lately (hes an ATL guy) and I think he's ok----Namath might be a better call for ex-QB's----I can see him having one of those Mickey Mantle moments where he goes real real quick because his liver just gives up.


Where do animals like Strawberry, Doc Gooden, or Kevin Mitchell rank in these things?

Can't say for Dr. K and Mitchell, but Strawberry might be the sporting analog to Keef - unkillable. Dude's survived colon cancer (not quite as bad as liver or pancreatic, but a bastard all the same), cocaine, alcohol, the Mets... I think he'll be 'round for a bit.

Meanwhile, for qb's, I think that Namath will hold on, but Elway might die from blood-loss after biting down on his tongue with those fence pickets he calls teeth.

Surviving cancer puts the Straw ahead of Maradona, as to who is more Keefish.

How are David Crosby and Papa John Phillips still alive, new livers' notwithstanding?

I thought Papa John had died, after running through TWO livers.