So for the last several months, I’ve been watching people get al upset at “2016 having killed yet another celebrity!” Towards the end of the year, I started joking that it was “really going to suck, when people started realizing that celebrities are going to die in 2017 too.” There’s lot of questions as to whether or not “more celebrities are dying now” or not… in fact, I saw @jasoncrease/was-2016-especially-dangerous-for-celebrities-79d79b9fae02#.qi17ew3lq" target="_blank">a really interesting article the other day that tried to decide the truth of this with stats. I have lots of thoughts as to whether or not more celebrities are actually dying. Short form is that I think “sort of but not really.” I think there are more but I think that’s mostly because there are more celebrities to die. We’re into the point where babyboomers are going to start dropping off more and more. Plus, the baby boomers came of age during the televsion age. It’s just way easier to be a celebrity for people who were celebritying about  after 1950-1960 or so than it was for people earlier in the century (and just wait until internet celebrities get old enough to start dying). Plus, being a celebrity in the 1980s basically meant you got to do REALLY A LOT of cocaine… and if you didn’t you were celebritying wrong. My point is, get used to this kids… because this is the new normal.

And since I started thinking about that, I posted this tweet the other day:

Hmmm… You think 2016 was bad? If I started a 2017 cash celebrity death pool, who would be morbid enough to play?

— Mav (@chrismaverick) January 4, 2017

See, here’s the thing. First of all, I’m not really as freaked out about celebrity death as other people. A great man once said “What is death, but another part of life? Usually the last part.” That great man was George Carlin and I loved him. He’s also fucking dead. I also happen to love fantasy sports. So I figured. What the hell. Let me see if there’s anyone else out there morbid enough to want to make a friendly wager on it.

And of course, a lot of you people are just as fucking crazy as I am. And so….

Introducing Mav’s Really Depressing Celebrity Dead Pool – 2017!

People have suggested using one of the public websites that are set up to manage this. But those seem to take dues and really, this is something that it would be easy enough to run ourselves. Especially for a small group. And then rather than send the entry fee to some random website. We can just use it for prize money. So here’s how it works:

1. The Game will officially start at the stroke of midnight on 2/1/17 Eastern Time. It’s my pool so it uses my cut off time zone. Deal with it.
2. Pick ten celebrities and post them in the comments below. I’m pretty open to the idea of what a celebrity is. Basically, a famous person who is not currently on death row (being in jail is fine…. but it feels kind of unfair to pick someone who’s scheduled death date you already know). All picks must be made before 11:59:59pm on 1/31/17 Eastern Time.
3. Once you have made your picks paypal me $10 (mav@elseworld.com) with a note saying that it is your entry fee for the dead pool. PayPal your money by 11:59:59pm on 1/31/17 Eastern Time.
4. Once I have your comment with your picks AND your money, you are officially in the pool.
5. All celebrities picked MUST be alive as of midnight in the start of the game. If your celebrity dies before the game starts, you can replace him or her by responding to your own comment before the start of the game.
6. If there’s any disputes on someone “counting as a celebrity” the official members of the pool will vote on them on. I really can’t see this being a problem. But whatever.
7. There will be three prizes: First death, Last death and Most points.
8. First Death will be the first celebrity from the pool to die AFTER the start of the game. Whoever picks this will get 10% of the prize pool, whatever it is. (if multiple people pick this person, they’ll split the prize)
9. Last Death will be the very last celebrity from the pool to die before the stroke of midnight that begins 2018. Whoever picks this will get 15% of the prize pool. (again, multiple people pick this person, they’ll split the prize).
10. The rest of the pool will be awarded to whoever has the most points. Points for a celebrity death are awarded by subtracting their age at death from 100. If by some miracle there’s a tie here, again the pool will be split.

That’s it. The end. I’ll paypal the first death winner(s) whenever it happens. The rest of the winnings will be awarded when the game is over on 1/1/18.

So, who’s still in? Make your picks below.

PS: And if you’re not interested in Death Pools (or even if you are) and instead (or in addition) would like to play in my really fun fantasy movie league game, sign up here: https://fantasymovieleague.com/group/5257?statType=season