Ghoul Pool Chapter 13: Filing for (Moral) Bankruptcy

Let's face it, fellow ghouls: in these modern times when there's infamy earned through the suffering of others, be it disasters of celebrity, social or on a national stage, we sell our souls one pick at a time.

Introducing Chapter 13 of the Big Soccer Ghoul Pool: Filing for (Moral) Bankruptcy.

We'll play by the same rules as this year, which are detailed below. You can send me your lists, or post them here as long as you get them in by midnight Eastern on the 31st. I'll count submissions until the 15th of January, but each day late will earn you an additional day penalty, so if you send it in on the 15th, your list won't become active until after the 30th. And everyone knows how fertile a month January can be.

Someone test PM'ing me here on BigSoccer. I may not be getting them since the site redesign. Would like to find out before everyone cries foul.

If there are any late ideas for spicing up the game with some rules changes, feel free to post them here for discussion. We'll come to a consensus after Xmas if anything seems intriguing.

Best of luck,

Jay!

Official Game Rules:

Each contestant will enter a list of TEN (10) celebrities that they believe will die in 2012. These celebs will be ranked 1-10*, with the first ranking being a multiplier of 10 (10th place earns a multiplier of 1). Points are determined by subtracting your celeb's age (at death) by 100 and then multiplying that by their rank's multiplier.

Once again, we are playing with the Magic Bullet. Designate one of your potential victims with your Magic Bullet, and you double your score on that pick.

Celebrities on a contestant's list must die during the year of 2013 Eastern Time Zone of the United States. No editing of lists may take place once the game begins on Jan. 1, 2013 12:00 a.m. ET. Contestants may alter their list in any way up until the start of the contest.

I will accept new lists up until the 15th of January, with a day's penalty for each day late, however I will not accept any changes to lists submitted by December 31st. So if some geezer announces he only has days to live, everyone can't go changing their lists.

*****************

FAQ:

1. I know a bunch of guys on death row in Texas. Can I submit their names?
Maybe -- names have to be considered famous by the BigSoccer Fame Committee.

1a. Who's on the Committee?
Well, um, just don't go off and pick random death row inmates or your senile great-great-uncle, OK? At the very least every name on your list should get an AP or BBC (or equivalent) obituary for what they did while they were living. If we see someone totally obscure, we'll ask about it before the game begins (see: the Abraham Cherrix rule).

2. I work in a hospice in Beverly Hills. Is it moral to list names of people for whom I clean bedpans every day?
It's not only moral, it's necessary. Research and information is key. Inside information is even better.

3. How about a list of centenarians?
You can do that, but remember, the number of points you receive is inversely related to the person's age. So anyone aged 100 or more earns you nothing. Or negative points.

4. Who should I pick?
You tell us. If you're reading this you are on the internet, the most important invention in the history of dead pools. Google, Yahoo, and Bing are all powerful tools; look up the latest news on various celebrities and see how they're doing. In addition, I strongly suggest you check out the following:

http://www.stiffs.com -- The Lee Atwater Celebrity Dead Pool, used to be the mother of all dead pools, died and has undergone a rebirth Worth checking the site out. Plenty of suggestion still exist if you do a bit of searching.
http://www.casketsonparade.org -- The Caskets On Parade dead pool. May not be around after 2012.
http://www.dpsinfo.com/dps/ (formerly http://www.deadpeople.info) -- the Dead People Server. Make sure your entries are not dead yet!
http://www.derbydeadpool.co.uk -- Free but well-attended dead pool with a British emphasis. Loads of old MPs listed.
http://www.deadoraliveinfo.com/ -- Dead or Alive. Has a very extensive list which can be sorted by area, age (young or old), sex, etc.
http://deadpool.rotten.com/ -- A good place for pickings for people interested in the Ghoul Pool
http://www.flymetothetomb.com/ - The Old Blue Eyes Memorial Celebrity Death Watch. Just found this recently, but has some good suggestions.

5. Don't you have any shame? You're preying on the old and feeble.
Death is a natural part of life, and it's not like we are actually hoping for (or assisting) people to die. This is a game of prognostication and research, not a promotion of human mortality.

6. What do I win?
A spot in the BigSoccer GhoulPool Hall Of Fame, and a year's worth of incessant gloating during the 2013 pool. That's it - no cost to enter, no monetary reward to achieve. It's all for the glory of winning here.

7. Let's say I pick someone now who dies before 12/31/12. Can I repick?
Yes, you can either select an alternate now, or PM me asking for another pick. No need to wait until 12/31 to get your entries in.

8. What happens of the death is declared to have been before the year began even though I did my research and scoured the internet and called everybody I know in the CIA?
Then you are SOL. That poor bastard died before the year began. I just hope it wasn't your number one pick.

9. What is the Abraham Cherrix Rule?
Mr. Cherrix was a teenager that had Hodgkin’s Disease. He elected to stop treatment with the support of his parents. They were subsequently taken to court under child neglect laws, at which time Mr. Cherrix became a small time news celebrity. Thus, he was not a celebrity for anything other than wanting to stop his cancer treatment. That does not fit the rules of being a celebrity. Just because you hear of somebody dying does not mean they are a celebrity. So don’t go pick patients of the Jack Kevorkian Memorial Rest Home and Assisted Suicide Palace.

So go at it, and best of luck to everyone in 2013!

* - if you do not put your picks in order, they will be ordered how they are in the PM, and the Magic Bullet will apply to your top pick.

Past Winners
2011 - YankHibee (3 hits for 1542 points. The Magic Bullet doubling the 40 year old Andy Whitfield's passing)
2010 - Matt in the Hat (3 hits for 816 points)
2009 - Norsk Troll (I think: 4 hits for 1080 points)
2008 – JayRockers! (2 hits for 612 points)
2007 - Obie (5 hits for 884 points)
2006 - Bob Morocco (6 hits for 1,290 points)
2005 - Oakland Co United (4 hits for 1,012 points)
2004 – ggayle (5 hits for 861 points)
2003 – soccernutter (3 hits for 868 points)
2002 – Obie (unknown – lost in the second big crash of 2002)
2001 – Amerifolklegend (unknown)

Picks from the past
GhoulPool 4.0 (the 2004 season)
GhoulPool 5.0 (the 2005 season) - includes hits
GhoulPool 6.0 (the 2006 season)
GhoulPool 7.0 (the 2007 season)
GhoulPool 8.0 (the 2008 season)
GhoulPool 9.0 (the 2009 season, I think babytiger moved into 2nd with 50 more points than given in the last update)
GhoulPool 10.0 (the 2010 season)
GhoulPool 11.0 (the 2011 season, first game with the Magic Bullet)
GhoulPool 12.0 (the 2012 season-currently active]

I can't send you a pm

Posting so I don't forget to make a list.

It won't let me "start a conversation" with you Jay.

I started a thread in Customer Service under Technical problems and bugs. Feel free to add the conversation missing to that. I counldn't send a PM either.

It may be in Jay's privacy settings. Unless I am the only one being blocked from seeing his profile!

It's me, let me fiddle with the settings.

Thx,

Jay!

It's not you, it's me?

I'm good now. Got a PM already.

Thx,

Jay!

Submitted

SH*T! I for got all about this!

I'll get it in today, hopefully before the drinking begins...

Submitted but forgot to mark a MB.
Just make my #4 the bullet.

In. Here's to not being last again!

Thanks for running the pool Jay!

I'm going with the World Leader Roundup this year:

Bashar al-Assad Sept 1965
Hugo Chavez July 1954 *
Hosni Mubarak May 1928
Bhumibol Adulyadej Dec 1927
Fidel Castro Aug 1926
Elizabeth II Apr 1926
Maggie Thatcher Oct 1925
Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Aug 1924
George HW Bush June 1924
Prince Phillip June 1921
Alt. Hillary Clinton Oct 1947

Good luck and Happy New Year!

Thx,

Jay!

I did the same

1 Luis Fernando Sanchez Arellano (Tijuana cartel) *magic bullet
2 Saif Gaddafi
3 Stephen Hawking
4Lance Armstrong
5 Fergie Frederiksen
6 Kirk Cameron
7 Courtney Love
8 Hector Beltran Leyva
9 El Chapo Guzman
10 Jerry Sandusky

#1 William "The Fridge" Perry (MAGIC BULLET!!)
#2 George HW Bush
#3 Keith Richards
#4 Justin Bieber
#5 Penny Marshall
#6 Hosni Mubarak
#7 Fidel Castro
#8 Bernie Madoff
#9 Charlie Sheen
#10 Dick Cheney

Here's to improving from last year, no place to go but up!

how many players do we have this year?

1. Hugo Chavez- MG
2. Hosni Mubarak
3. George HW Bush
4. Aretha Franklin
5. Micheal Douglass
6. Scott Hall
7. Steven Adler
8. Ariel Sharon
9. Bobby Heenan
10. Seth Morrison

-CrewDust

1. stephen hawking-70
2. gazza-45
3, maggie thatcher-87
4,kevin smith-42 MB
5,lindesy lohan-26
6.wilfred benitez-54
7.chyna-41
8.steven segal=60
9.charlie sheen-47
10. john goodman-60

Not a very original list - mostly retreads of old picks with a couple replacements

2013 Ghoul Pool Candidates

1) Dick Cheney* - magic bullet
2) Keith Richard
3) Pedro Ramos (NY Yankees)
4) Ed Koch
5) George HW Bush
6) Fidel Castro
7) Ariel Sharon
8) Roger Ebert
9) Margaret Thatcher
10) Don Meyer