CanadianChris

Never hurts to have the greatest of all-time at any position, even if it is the kicker: Morten Andersen, K 7x Pro Bowl selection ('85, '86, '87, '88, '90, '92, '95) 5x All-Pro ('85, '86, '87, '92, '95) 1980s All-Decade Team 1990s All-Decade Team NFL all-time leading scorer New Orleans Saints all-time leading scorer Atlanta Falcons all-time leading scorer

I do think it's a valid point that you make. I'll try and think about it for next year's contest -- maybe have everyone's entry in by Christmas and have an appeal process in the final week of the year. I doubt anything would be solved by having three people looking over the selections instead of one. Like I said, fame is incredibly subjective, and the line between famous and obscure is different for everyone. I would rather err on the side of inclusion, because I don't want a lot of people to get annoyed by having less famous selections rejected. One more example: Don Wittman died recently. He was eligible, but it's very unlikely many people on this board would have heard of him, as he was a Canadian sportscaster. And yes, I would've accepted Art Fry.

She died recently, and it was the first thing that popped into my head.

Their last win came the night they reaired the DDP/Goldberg title match from Halloween Havoc 98, due to problems with the PPV feed. Hey, I'm sensing a trend!

All right, I'm going to nip this in the bud right now. The whole point of the game is to try and find famous people who'll die in the next year (I used the word celebrities, but any famous people are fine -- Jesse Helms was famous, but wasn't exactly a celebrity). Famous, of course, is an extremely subjective word. Famous will mean different things to people in different countries, who work in different fields, and with different interests. For example, everyone on this board would know about the passing of Jake "The Snake" Roberts, while most people off the street wouldn't have a clue who he is. A lot of people equate being well-known with being visible, which isn't the case. People aren't famous just for appearing in People magazine or on television on a regular basis. Since I started running the contest, my criteria for determining whether or not someone is eligible for the contest is simple -- if a person is noteworthy enough to have an obituary run in a major outlet (NY Times, LA Times, Guardian, CNN, BBC, etc.), or possibly a semi-major outlet, then he/she is in. The only exceptions are people famous for being related to someone famous (Bil Keane, author of The Family Circus, is eligible; Thelma Keane, Bil's wife and the inspiration for the strip, was not). If I have a question about someone, I usually do a Google search and see what comes up. I'll also look at other death pools and see who people have been choosing for the last couple of years; if a person shows up on one of those, I'll allow it. As for Marvin's picks...I don't know about any of you, but Randy Pausch's death was pretty well-covered everywhere I saw. He was a best-selling author and had a huge viral following. Al Copeland did the exact same thing Dave Thomas did -- found a national fast-food chain -- and isn't any less "famous" just because he didn't star in his company's commercials. JR Simplot was included on the Forbes list many times -- is he any less "famous" than someone like Warren Buffett? No, just less visible. Finally, someone who takes this silly little thing seriously and does research is going to have an advantage over someone who just picks 20 names off the top of their head. That's why Leena won last year, and that's why Marvin's winning this year. They didn't do anything wrong besides actually trying to find people who would die. Had anyone here besides Leena heard of Jane Tomlinson last year? Probably not, but she was well-known enough that someone could have, and Leena picked her and profited. If people want to just pick the first 20 people that come to mind, that's fine, but just know that the chances of winning that way aren't as good. That's pretty much what I've done the past two contests, and I've been shut out for the past 19 months.

Round 18: Newhart

Bid whist was on TV?

Like I said, I was out all day Sunday, so I didn't have a chance to look at my roster, and I never bothered to look at it Saturday. I looked at the message when I accepted the trade that it would be reflected in Wednesday's roster, forgetting that it would go through earlier if it was processed by the commish. It's totally my fault, I just wanted to randomly vent.

This. It certainly represented everything WCW was about, didn't it?

It was 2004. WWE doesn't want you to remember.

Expos/Team That Shall Not Be Named: C Michael Barrett (Russell Martin was originally drafted by the Expos, but went to college instead) 1B Cliff Floyd 2B Jose Vidro SS Brandon Phillips 3B Geoff Blum LF Milton Bradley CF Grady Sizemore RF Jason Bay SP Randy Johnson SP Cliff Lee SP Javier Vazquez SP John Patterson SP Darrell Rasner RP Chad Cordero That's not terrible. They really let a lot of guys get away, though.

In the same vein: High Stakes Poker

Dodgers select Jack Aker.

Oh motherfucking bloody hell, Yahoo told me the trade would be fully processed on Wednesday, so now I've got an empty SS spot and Vlad Guerrero sitting on the bench. And I was away all day yesterday so I couldn't even check to make sure. Thanks a whole fucking lot, Yahoo. Any way we could change it next year so that rosters don't lock until the first pitch is thrown on Monday?

The Fugitive (1993) The Naked Gun (1988) No time to explain either of these, other than they're both favourites of mine. Even OJ couldn't ruin The Naked Gun for me.

Damn, that was MY next pick. I'll go with: Family Ties

I figured out that it was the MR814v1. I updated the firmware and saw an immediate improvement in my internet speed on this computer. This, unfortunately, is a no-go. In v2 and v3, you can disable the firewall, but in v1, it's built into the wireless system and can't be disabled. Tried that. I keep getting either a 32002 error or a 32004 error. The connection test works perfectly, but I can't download the damn update. I'd prefer not to, but it's not looking like I have much alternative if I want to use this Wii Card I bought before I figured out if I could connect the Wii to the internet. My understanding is that if you cannot disable the SPI Firewall, you are completely fucked. Update: My internet connection on our laptops was getting steadily worse, so I decided to junk the router. I went with a D-Link Rangebooster G, and was immediately able to download the Wii Update and get going on the Wii Shop Channel. Thank goodness.

My lineup: SS Kid Elberfeld CF Bobby Murcer RF Paul O'Neill LF Babe Ruth C Bill Dickey 2B Tony Lazzeri DH Don Baylor 3B Frank Baker 1B Nick Etten Bench: Johnny Blanchard, Jerry Mumphrey, Randy Velarde Rotation: Andy Pettitte Jimmy Key David Cone Bob Shawkey Chien-Ming Wang Bullpen: Rich Gossage (closer), Mike Stanton, Lindy McDaniel Manager: Ralph Houk

Yeah, I think we can all start thinking about next year. Updated standings - July 26, 2008 (changes in red) 405 - Marvinisalunatic 110 - Toshiaki Koala 85 - Darthtiki 65 - Vern Gagne 45 - Czech 40 - NYU 20 - Beast, Cuban Linx, hardcoreicon, KOAB, treble, vivalaultra

Dodgers round out their roster with utility man Randy Velarde, (sorry, Al), and select manager Ralph Houk. I'll do my lineup on the weekend, once I get my new router installed.

Al sent me his pick...a bit slow on the basepaths, IMO, but takes up a lot of room in the field: Snuffleupagus, IF Oh wait...sorry, misread that: Snuffy Stirnweiss, IF

Wow, I'd forgotten how bad a playoff choker I was. Best record in the conference two years running, 0-2 in the playoffs those years.

Mmmm, fresh meat.

Given that Selig's buddy, the guy who was supposedly the frontrunner, just got dropped from the next round of bidding for his bid being too low, I'd say Cubes has a pretty good chance now.

My dad and I went to a practice round for the 2002 Open at Angus Glen. We helped Richard Zokol find his ball on one hole.