Fancy Store-Bought Dirt

Dead Pools vs. Rotisserie Baseball

"Hey, how'd the pope do last night?"
"1-for-4 with an RBI"
--Allyson's best one-liner ever (from January 1998 when he was visiting Cuba), at least of the ones I've heard (since the last time she updated that page, she's gotten a new job, her husband's passed the bar, she may have even moved)

Anyhow, the 2005 game is underway. Looks like none of you followed my footsteps, or at least none of you credited me as referer (couple years ago I remember a New Year's Eve party where Mike was talking animatedly about this very pool). Rosters and picks are up and of the most frequent picks, my biggest regret by far is missing the Richard Pryor gimme. (Never took Warren Zevon either - didn't feel sporting.)

My team:
Brimley, Wilford
Pope John Paul II
Rehnquist, William
Santo, Ron
Turkel, Studs
Ford, Gerald
Rooney, Andy
Parks, Rosa
Castro, Fidel
Harvey, Paul (replacement pick for Johnny Oates)
Cronkite, Walter
Graham, Billy (replacement pick for Artie Shaw)
Schmelling, Max
Johnson, Lady Bird
Van Buren, Abigail

The way dead pools run, where any contestant can take any eligible person, reminds me of a salary cap baseball league except with no salary cap. Eventually dead pool knowledge and forecasting acumen will approach fantasy sports knowledge and forecasting acumen (as soon as enough money is involved in dead pools, I suppose - no cash riding on this one, though: no entry fee and modest donated prize fund), and then what? In a baseball league run like this, 98% of entries would have Barry Bonds as their left fielder, 70% would have Alfonso Soriano at second base, and so on.

Flip it around and things get interesting. Say your dead pool has unique "ownership" of the potential dead people. With a 23-man roster and a $260 rotisserie budget, just how much is Pope John Paul II worth? Does he crack $100?

Back to real life, how on Earth am I the only player with Ron Santo? I guess there's the "Why this year rather than any other year?" hypothetical question, plus if he already died then what does he have to lose?

They say Pat Summerall's still drinking (or at least Laurence says so); he was on my 2004 list and I kinda wish I'd stuck with him.

Posted by Matt Bruce at January 4, 2005 12:06 PM