Current News can be found on the Main Page.

Richard Pryor is dead at the age of 65. 18 people had our 7th-most picked celeb this year: Joan Jenkins, Kelly Keegan, Wally Bates and Shannon Paul all get their 4th hit.

Tim Shaffer, Shawn Martin, Bonnie Candlewyck, Mary Ann McSorley, Greg Tomasetti and Paul Slaght-2 see their 3rd.

Natalie Liccketto, Kristen Peters, Sarah Jane Wallace, Kathy Rice, Ron Dresmann, Jackie Liccketto and Marty Eschman get hit #2.

Finally, Efrain Viscarolasaga gets his first career hit after 2 games, leaving only 4 people in Club Nada. With this, our 29th hit, we have set a new record for percentage of scoring players - 95% have at least 1 hit.

In addition, Senator Eugene McCarthy has died at 89, but he's a Deathlotto-only hit, as he hasn't been picked since 2004.

Congrats, everyone!

Actress Wendie Jo Sperber is dead at 43, with 3 lists seeing a hit, including ROOKIE Joe Biasi who maintains his strangle-hold on the top spot with this, his SEVENTH HIT. Joe becomes the first person in the history of the KDP to get 7 hits.

In addition, Bob Razem's main list as well as his Hollywood Heartbreaks List both included Sperber, with a 6th hit and 3rd hit, respectively. Bob becomes the 3rd person this year, and only the 5th person ever, to get 6 hits. His main list moves up to 2nd place from 3rd, while his Hollywood Heartbreaks list leaps from 49th to 10th.

Congrats, Joe and Bob!

P.S. Look for your 2006 invitations sometime within the next week!

DeathLotto:
ALL: Natalie Tyler-2
REF: Bob Razem
VET: Rich Place

Soccer superstar George Best is dead at 59, giving Kevin Byrnes's List #2 it's 2nd solo and 4th hit of the game. Kevin's list jumps from 12th to 5th place.

In addition, I learned that one of our 2004 picks, Max Fisher, died in March of this year. He was a deathlotto-only hit, so it doesn't affect the standings. But what concerns me is that Fisher rated 26.7% fame on the Am I Famous site, while Best got only 15.4%. Best is currently the top news item on CNN, and I had a very hard time confirming Fisher's death. I'm starting to question the efficacy of the AmIFamous system. And before anybody starts spouting off about "well... 27% is obviously not famous in any event...", please take the time to check out the rating of other celebrities - you might find that someone you've always felt to be really famous is lowly rated, while there are many highly-rated people that you've never heard of. If you'd never gotten around to voting, please feel free to do so.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off the mall - I heard that there might be a sale there.

Congrats, Kevin!

DeathLotto (Best):
ALL: Bob Razem-4
REF: Bob Razem
VET: Sheila Place


DeathLotto (Fisher):
ALL: Brad Hope
REF: Mike Spinney
VET: Sarah Jane Wallace

New York Giants owner and former Postmaster General Robert Tisch has died at the age of 79. With this, our 26th hit, this has officially become our most-active game to date. Three lists included Tisch: 2004 champ Bob Razem gets his 5th hit, and maintains his position at 3rd place.

Kevin Byrnes sees his 4th hit raise him from 8th to 4th, and Bob Razem's Pigskin Passings List gets hit #3, moving from 35th to 14th place.

For those interested in such things, Tisch was rated as Famous by 35.7% of the voters in the AmIFamous site. Check the results page to see how well the other celebs have fared.

Congrats, Bob & Kevin!

DeathLotto:
ALL: Natalie Tyler-5
REF: Rich Place
VET: Rich Place

Management guru Peter Drucker is dead at 95, promoting Bill Hillegas to 27th place.This is Bill's third hit, and his second solo.

In addition, Charlie Daley had Drucker as his alternate pick.

This is our 25th hit of the game - we are now tied with last year!

Congrats, Bill!

DeathLotto:
ALL: Annie Keim-2
REF: Rich Place
VET: Marge Sing

Former Tonight Show bandleader Skitch Henderson is dead at 87, giving Natalie Tyler's Music to My Ears List her second hit and second solo. Natalie's #4 list moves from 70th up to 41st place.

Congratulations, Natalie!

DeathLotto:
ALL: Bob Razem
REF: Rich Place
VET: Marge Sing

Baseball Hall of Famer Al Lopez is dead at age 97, and 2 players picked him. Annie Keim's Dead Men Walking 1 List gets it's fourth hit, jumping from 26th to 6th place, while Bob Razem's Baseball Burials List moves out of Club Nada with it's first hit of the year.

This was our 23rd hit of the year - we're 2 shy of tying last year's record. We're also at a record-tying 94% of the players with a hit.

Congrats, Annie and Bob!

DeathLotto:
ALL: Kharen Zeunert
REF: Rich Place
VET: Bob Razem

Rosa Parks is dead at the age of 92, breaking our 35 day dryspell. 13 players picked her, including Brad Hope, who becomes the second player this year to get 6 hits. Brad holds his spot at #2.

Mike Spinney and Toe Tag see their fourth hits.

Kevin Byrnes's List #2, Wally Bates, Cathryn Innacola, Gene Kaufman, Shannon Paul, Nolan Eschman and Joe Lupo all get hit #3.

Matt Edwards, Mary Ann McSorley and Rich Holland get a second hit.

Paul Slaght chose her as his wildcard pick.

Congrats, all!

DeathLotto:
ALL: Jackie Liccketto
REF: Joe Lupo
VET: Kristen Peters

Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal is dead at 96, and 2 players picked him. Both Nolan Eschman and Sandy Downey get their second hit, and move up to 40th and 45th place.

I know that Cathryn is kicking herself over this one - she's picked him 3 times in the past.

DeathLotto:
ALL: Tim Shaffer
REF: Rich Holland
VET: Shawn Martin

Bob Denver has died at 70, and nobody had picked him this year. Once again, Carol Ann Daley was the only person to have picked 'Lil Buddy - but in 2004.

I used to really love Gilligan's Island as a kid - it was right up there with Land of the Lost as one of my favorite shows. (Hmmm... just realized that both shows are about lost people...)
Anyway - does anybody remember the Gilligan's Planet cartoon that came out after the original show was cancelled? After they were rescued, Gilligan and the Skipper took jobs as janitors at NASA (or something), and somehow ended up in outer space. I remember one episode where they landed on a planet, and somehow got onto an island, and Gilligan makes this observation:

First, we were stuck on an island, then we were stuck on a planet, now we're stuck on an island on a planet!

See???? THAT is why I'm INSANE!!! I've got stupid crap like that STUCK in my head!!!



DeathLotto:
ALL: Shawn Martin
REF: Natalie Tyler
VET: Shannon Paul

Chief Justice William Rehnquist is dead at the age of 80. and 25 people had him. Maintaining his lead, rookie (!!!) Joe Biasi becomes only the third player in the history of the game to get 6 hits.

Brad Hope stays in second place, getting 5 hits for the first time in his career.

Bob Razem also holds his spot at #3, and earns his 4th hit for the second time.

Charlie Daley, Kevin Byrnes, Joan Jenkins, Janet Daley, Terri Kaufman, Kharen Zeunert, Kelly Keegan, Cynthia Eschman, Mike Spinney, Scott Scheidel Wally Bates all get served their third hit.

Chuck Daley, Natalie Tyler's Loss Leaders List, Cathryn Innacola, Mark Benfield, Tim Shaffer, Gene Kaufman, Sheila Place, Bob Razem's Political Pitfalls List and Chris Hugosson see their second habeus corpus...

Finally, Carol Ann Roke and rookie Zapp Brannigan finally make it to the board with their first hit of the year.

Right now, it's 1:00 a.m. I've been working on all night on a really cool project that you'll be able to read about on my project blog tomorrow. Anyway, I'm dead tired and having a real hard time thinking of witty lawyer stuff, so I'll just leave you with this old chestnut:

What do you call a thousand lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?
A good start!

Sorry... I'm going to bed now.

Congrats, all!

DeathLotto:
ALL: Madison Kaufman
REF: Carol Ann Daley
VET: Bob Razem

Barbara Bel Geddes died on August 8 at the age of 82. She was only picked one time in the history of the game - Carol Ann Daley had her in 2002, so she's another DeathLotto-only hit.

DeathLotto:
ALL: Carol Ann Daley
REF: Cynthia Eschman
VET: Brad Hope

Saudi King Fahd is dead at the age of 82, giving Grady Harmon his third hit and first solo of the game. Grady leaps from 30th to 5th place.

And not to rub it in his face or anything, but this is the second hit that Bob Razem dropped from last year's list.

Congrats, Grady!

DeathLotto:
ALL: Matt Santom
REF: Joan Jenkins
VET: Madison Kaufman

James Doohan is dead at the age of 85. 11 players beamed up Scotty one last time, including our current leader, Joe Biasi, who scores his 5th hit of the game.

Brad Hope gets his fourth hit, moving up from 6th to 2nd place.

Last year's champ Bob Razem and Paul Slaght earned their third hit, with Bob taking the #3 spot (up from 10th), and Paul taking a healthy leap from 25th to 6th.

Kevin Byrnes, Kelly Keegan, Cynthia Eschman, Todd `n Tyler, Mike Spinney, and Bob Razem's Hollywood Heartbreaks List all see a second hit.

Finally, Annie Keim's Dead Men Walking 2 List makes the board for the first time with her first hit.

Congrats, All!

DeathLotto:
ALL: Terri Kaufman
REF: Rich Place
VET: Bob Razem

General William Westmoreland is dead at 91, and 2 players had him - Toe Tag gets his third hit, moving up to 4th place, while rookie Don Goddard makes the board with his first hit.

Congrats, Toe Tag & Don!

DeathLotto:
ALL: Cathryn Innacola
REF: Mike Spinney
VET: Marty Eschman

Former British Prime Minister Edward Heath is dead at the age of 89. Bob Razem was the only person in the history of the game to have picked him. Unfortunately, that was last year. Nobody picked him this year - he's a DeathLotto-only hit.

DeathLotto:
ALL: Jen Gardula
REF: Natalie Tyler
VET: Terri Kaufman

NFL Hall of Fame Coach Hank Stram is dead at 82, and 2 players had him. Joe Biasi extends his lead to 4 hits, while Bob Razem's Pigskin Passings List moves from 31st to 16th place with his 2nd hit.

Congratulations, Joe & Bob!

DeathLotto:
ALL: Candy York
REF: Mike Spinney
VET: Sarah Jane Wallace


Also, as of this writing, I'd sent the update for Vandross almost 3 1/2 hours ago, yet I still don't see it on yahoo's group page. It wouldn't surprise me if THIS one takes as long also. I have a feeling that these emails might be getting delayed because they are HTML-based with links.

Luther Vandross died on July 1st at the age of 54 and 3 people picked him. Jen Gardula gets her second hit, leaping from 34th to 7th place. Bob Razem's Muffled Musicians List makes the board for the first time, jumping up to 29th, while rookie Lisa Hagedorn gets her first hit of the game, moving out of Club Nada and sliding up to 30th.

In addition, Scott Scheidel chose him as his alternate pick.

Congrats, all!

DeathLotto:
ALL: Kristen Peters
REF: Carol Ann Daley
VET: Cynthia Eschman

Ok, I'm back from Florida, tanned and with all of my internal organs present and accounted for. Now I see that there has been much crying and gnashing of teeth while I was gone. And in the process, everyone has overlooked the MOST IMPORTANT event of the last week. I called 2 hits before I left. Check your emails. Go ahead, I'll wait....

And how many did we get?

2

Ok, one was for a previous years' hit, and the other was for somebody causing a lot of posthumous not-famous grief.

hmmm... I have a lot to say about all of that, but first, let's pay the bills...

Belated congrats to Annie Keim's Dead Men Walking 1 List for her solo pick of Leon Askin. Annie has jumped from 20th to 3rd place with this, her 3rd hit of the game and her first solo.

Anne Bancroft also died while I was on vacation, but she was a DeathLotto-only hit, as she wasn't picked this year.

DeathLotto: (Leon Askin)
ALL: Charlie Daley
REF: Jackie Liccketto
VET: Charlie Daley


DeathLotto: (Anne Bancroft)
ALL: Shawn Martin
REF: Natalie Tyler
VET: Shannon Paul

Former NBA powerhouse George Mikan is dead at 80, giving Bob Razem's Dunker's Demise List it's first hit. Bob's list moves from 70th to 53rd.

Congrats, Bob!

DeathLotto:
ALL: Bob Razem-2
REF: Bob Razem
VET: Mike Spinney

One more note - I'm leaving for Florida tonight, and I'll be away from computers and the internet until I return next Friday. I'm expecting 2 hits while I'm on vacation. Any takers?

Eddie Albert is dead at 99, and 11 people picked him. Three players got their third hit: Candy York moves up to 2nd place from 7th. Beth Birchall takes the #3 spot, up from 13th, and Brad Hope jumps from 16th to 4th. This is the first year that Candy and Beth have gotten 3 hits.

6 players scored their second: Scott Scheidel, Paul Slaght-2, Greg Tomasetti, Paul Slaght, Joe Lupo and Bill Hillegas. We now have 26 players with 2 or more hits.

And making the board for the first time this year are Marty Eschman and Bob Razem's Hollywood Heartbreaks List.

In addition, Albert was Toe Tag's alternate pick.

Congrats, everyone!

DeathLotto:
ALL: Cynthia Eschman
REF: Paul Slaght
VET: Greg Tomasetti

Thurl Ravenscroft, the voice of Tony The Tiger and many other cartoons died yesterday at the age of 91. Grady Harmon picked him... last year. Unfortunately, he didn't put him on this year's list. Nobody else did, either, so we've got another DeathLotto-only hit.

Meanwhile, our Dryspell continues.

DeathLotto:
ALL: Candy York
REF: Mike Spinney
VET: Sarah Jane Wallace

Sir John Mills is dead at 97, giving us our 11th hit of the game. Three people picked him:

Brad Hope gets his second hit of the game, moving up to 16th place from 27th.

Sandy Downey scores her first hit of the year, moving out of Club Nada up to 62nd.

And finally, rookie Natalie Tyler's That's Entertainment List makes the board for the first time, sliding into 63rd. This was the last of Natalie's 5 lists to get a hit!

Congrats, all!

DeathLotto:
ALL: Don Goddard
REF: Chris Hugosson
VET: Matt Santom

Cuban Salsa master Juan Pablo Torres died yesterday at the age of 59, giving us our 4th solo of the game. He was on Kevin Byrnes's #2 List , moving him up from 57th to 3rd place.

The world now enters a 9 day period of mourning during which we shall have to eat our nachos and tacos dry.

Oh wait... just re-read the obit. Sorry, wrong Salsa.

The world now enters a 9 day period of mourning during which we shall have to dance only waltzes and breakdancing.

Ok, what did you expect???? Coming off of the Pope/Rainier action you KNOW that we've got to have a couple of "who-the-hell????"-type hits.

Congrats, Kevin!

DeathLotto:
ALL: Bob Razem-4
REF: Bob Razem
VET: Sheila Place

Prince Rainier III is dead at the age of 81, and 6 players picked him.

Rookie Joe Biasi becomes the first player this year to get 3 hits as he moves up from second place to take the lead.

Scoring their second hit: Natalie Tyler's Pontiffs, Princes, Politicians List, which moves from 22nd up to 7th place; Janet Daley, moving up to 9th from 39th; Beth Birchall slides into 12th from 47th, and Bonnie Candlewyck is right behind her at 13th, up from 56th.

Kevin Byrnes's List #2 List records it's first hit, moving out of Club Nada into 57th place.

And finally, Bob Razem's Political Pitfalls List included the Prince as the Alternate pick.

Congrats, everyone!

DeathLotto:
ALL: Joe Lupo
REF: Mike Spinney
VET: Marty Eschman

Pope John Paul II was by far the most-picked celeb, and he was picked a whopping 56 times this year alone; 70% of the entries included him. A lot of people have been waiting a long time for this day to arrive. It might actually be easier here to list all of those that DIDN'T pick him.

We finally have some people getting a second hit! 14 players, in fact, are now on the express train to hell:

• Charlie Daley, who takes over the #1 spot
• Joe Biasi
• Bob Razem
• Joan Jenkins
• Rich Place
• Candy York
• Terri Kaufman
• Kharen Zeunert
• Shawn Martin
• Toe Tag
• Shannon Paul
• Annie Keim's Dead Men Walking 1 List
• Grady Harmon
• Elizabeth Anderson

22 returning players made it to the board for the first time this year:

• Wally Bates
• Beth Birchall
• Janet Daley
• John Downey
• Cynthia Eschman
• Marty Eschman
• Nolan Eschman
• Grady Harmon
• Brad Hope
• Cathryn Innacola
• Gene Kaufman
• Jackie Liccketto
• Joe Lupo
• Mary Ann McSorley
• Kristen Peters
• Sheila Place
• Kathy Rice
• Matt Santom
• Marge Sing
• Mike Spinney
• Greg Tomasetti
• Sarah Jane Wallace.

And last but certainly not least, 21 rookies had their DP cherries poped:

• Mark Benfield
• Bonnie Candlewyck
• Chuck Daley
• Ron Dresmann
• Matt Edwards
• Jen Gardula
• Rich Holland
• Chris Hugosson
• Richard Jenkins
• Kelly Keegan
• Natalie Liccketto
• Bob Lyhus
• Russ McDonald
• Bob Razem's Political Pitfalls List
• Scott Scheidel
• Tim Shaffer
• Paul Slaght
• Paul Slaght-2
• Todd `n Tyler
• Natalie Tyler's Pontiffs, Princes, Politicians List
• Natalie Tyler's Loss Leaders List

And to you 24 people that DIDN'T pick him... please don't get hurt kicking yourselves, ok?

DeathLotto:
ALL:Tim Shaffer
REF: Rich Holland
VET: Shawn Martin

Glenn Davis, winner of the Heisman Trophy in 1946, is dead at the age of 80. And to be honest, I'm not exactly sure how to count this. You see, 1 player had him on 2 lists. So it's SORT OF a solo, because only 1 player had him. And yet it's NOT, because he was on 2 lists. Oy vey my head! Anyway, last year's champ Bob Razem had him on both his main list as well as his Pigskin Passings List. This was Bob's first hit for either list, and he moves up to 4th and 5th place. (And in case you're wondering - Bob doesn't get credit for a solo.)

This was our 7th hit of the game. We now have 21 entries with a single hit, of which 3 are Bob's.

And YES, I realize that Davis is, at best, borderline famous. Gotta balance out the Carson-level fame SOMEHOW!

In addition, yesterday Teresa Wright died. I made an entry on the site, but didn't send an email announcement, as nobody had picked her this year. She was our first DeathLotto-only hit.

DeathLotto: (Glenn Davis):
ALL: Natalie Tyler-2
REF: Bob Razem (3rd DL/REF hit)
VET: Rich Place (2nd DL/VET hit)


DeathLotto: (Teresa Wright):
ALL: Richard Jenkins
REF: Mike Spinney (2nd DL/REF hit)
VET: Marty Eschman (2nd DL/VET hit)

I can't believe it took this long for this to happen - a DeathLotto-only hit. Teresa Wright was picked only one time in the history of KDP; last year Brad Smith included her on his list. Brad didn't return this year. I wonder if he would've picked her again?

Since this is a DeathLotto-only hit, I won't be sending an announcement out on the mailing list.



DeathLotto:
ALL: Richard Jenkins
REF: Mike Spinney (2nd DL/REF hit)
VET: Marty Eschman (2nd DL/VET hit)

What a day - 2 solos by 2 rookies. Sandra Dee is dead at 63, and only Joe Biasi picked her. In addition, John Raitt died at 88. He was included on Natalie Tyler's Music to My Ears List.

Joe leaps into 3rd place, while Natalie's #4 list moves up to 12th.

We now have an astounding 19 people with one hit! Who will score their second hit first???

DeathLotto: (Sandra Dee)
ALL: Bob Razem-3
REF: Bob Razem
VET: Mike Spinney

DeathLotto: (John Raitt)
ALL: Bob Razem
REF: Rich Place
VET: Marge Sing

Bob Razem takes the lead in the Referrer's DeathLotto.

Arthur Miller is dead at the age of 89, giving rookie Natalie Tyler her first hit and the game's first solo of the year. Natalie moves into 10th place.

Marty Eschman is kicking himself hard after carrying Miller for the previous 2 games.

Congrats, Natalie!

DeathLotto:
ALL: Annie Keim
REF: Jackie Liccketto
VET: Charlie Daley

German Boxing legend Max Schmeling died on Wednesday at the age of 99. (It was only announced this morning.) Our third hit of the game was picked by 7 players, all of whom are scoring for the first time this year.

Prodigal KDP champ Shannon Paul just makes it into the Top 10, while Toe Tag, Annie Keim's Dead Men Walking 1 List, and Bob Razem's Ailing Athletes List all now share 11th.

Elizabeth Anderson, Grady Harmon and Bill Hillegas move into 14th, 15th and 16th, respectively.

Congrats, all!

DeathLotto:
ALL: Cathryn Innacola
REF: Mike Spinney
VET: Marty Eschman

New!!! DeathLotto Standings!

Johnny Carson is dead at 79, and 7 people picked him: Joan Jenkins and Rich Place move into a 2-way tie for 3rd place. (Rich has picked Carson for 3 consecutive years; this was his 17th career hit - he is now tied with Cathryn for most career hits.)

Candy York takes 5th while Terri Kaufman and Shawn Martin share the #6 spot.

Kharen Zeunert moves into 8th, and rookie Clark Spencer claims 9th.

This was the first hit of the game for all 7 players.

Congratulations, all!

DeathLotto:
ALL: Sheila Place
REF: John Downey
VET: Bill Hillegas

DeathLotto standings coming "soon"...

Former McDonalds CEO Charlie Bell is dead at 44, giving First Blood honors to Kevin Byrnes and Charlie Daley. Kevin slips into the lead, with Charlie in 2nd, only 2 tie-breaker points behind him. This was our second earliest hit.

Congratulations, Kevin and Charlie!

Well, the big day has finally arrived - the 2005 edition of Kaufman's Dead Pool is now fully available for your viewing pleasure! If you have not sent me your list yet - well, I'm afraid that you're just too late - No more lists will be accepted.

The question that everyone is DYING to know is: HOW MANY???. The answer:

80 !!!!!!

Wow! Even I am astounded. I want to thank everyone who worked so hard getting new recruits, as well as those who put in multiple lists.

Some players of note: Back-to-back KDP Champion Shannon Paul returns to the game after a 3 year hiatus, while another former player, Efrain Viscarolasaga, returns after a 4 year break. Todd `n Tyler is a radio show in Omaha, and not much is known about the mysterious Toe Tag. My 6 year-old daughter Madison is playing a randomly-drawn list for the 5th year in a row, while 3 year-old Nolan Eschman returns for his 3rd year.

This year brought the multiple lists out of the woodwork, requiring me to really kick the Necromatic a bit in order to get it to look right. I'm not really sure that I'm still too happy with the end result; we'll see how it goes this year. Basically, the issue I struggled with was that to this point, while the game has always allowed multiple lists, the additional lists were really treated, both behind the scenes, as well as publicly, as separate players. For instance: Mike Spinney's Grim Reaper lists. You'll see in the Rules page. I've given it a good over-haul to bring it up to speed with the current game. In particular, notice that the fame definition has been changed slightly - most notably by de-emphasizing the reliance on the AP.

In addition, I've decided that we'll split the 2005 pot 75/15/10 among the top 3 finishers.