Miguel Sanchez

Bulldog from Frasier is in The Silence of the Lambs.

I'm sure there was a gif of bailiffs taking the bike out of the trophy room.

Ah shit, I forgot Eurotrash.

Thanks for pointing this out. I'm not fully sure he's talking English.

Been a while (about 15 years) since I watched darts. Is it always this fast?

Men were men back in they days

Good spot on Ben Cull. The Mail and the Sun both say 23, everywhere else says 24. I'll go with Wikipedia and Transfermarkt and change that one.

With that it's time for me to finish the thread and thank everyone for playing again. Since I took over the Dead Pool I've only ever wanted to keep it going, to have as many people as possible playing and to do justice to all of the people who've died each year. The thread length has increased year on on year since 2019, so I think we're doing alright. Well done on your 2023. If you're a Zero Pointer, better luck in 2024. Thanks again, everyone. I'm going to leave the last words to the pick who ultimately decided the year... OH GOD, OH MAN

I think that's everything. A massive congratulations to long-time player @Aim Here for his maiden Dead Pool win. His total score is much lower than usual, but the standings overall were much closer for pretty much the whole year. It was exciting stuff right up until the end, and I'm sure we all hope we can experience the level of tension he must have been feeling over the past three weeks.

Week 52 and a Half update Happy year of dying, everyone. Time for some housekeeping. I believe every death has been accounted for, and we have a few clarifications to make: @Curmudgeon picked meteorologist and inventor of the Heimlich manoeuvre, Frank Field. There was no qualifying obituary, so he doesn't get any points. @Priti priti priti Patel picked acupuncturist and stepfather of Tupac, Mutulu Shakur. There was no qualifying obituary, so he doesn't get any points. @stanton picked New Zealand rugby man Roy Roper. There was no qualifying obituary, so he doesn't get any points. @Suspect Device picked saxophonist Lester Sterling. There was no qualifying obituary, so he doesn't get any points. @sparky88 picked former Southampton youth player Ben Cull who died of cancer aged 23: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12525719/England-football-youth-star-Ben-Cull-dies-aged-just-23-loses-brave-cancer-battle-weeks-proposing-girlfriend.html He died at 23 so he's worth 102 Base Points. A Solo Shot takes that to 152 points. @HK Hibee picked businessman Charlie Munger: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67562529 He died at 99 so he's worth 26 Base Points. A Solo Shot takes that to 76 points. I'm also officially giving up hope for one of my team dying in the last days of 2023, and officially awarding the Last Gasp bonus to @Aim Here for Ryan O'Neal on the 8th of December. As a result, the final standings look like this: 1. Aim Here 458 2. psv_killie 436 3. cdhafc1874 422 4. sparky88 415 5. JustOneCornetto 405 6. Arbroathlegend36-0 402 7. gkneil 369 8. Desp 324 9. Karpaty Lviv 300 10. Ned Nederlander 299 11. Miguel Sanchez 297 12. Michael W, Scorge 295 14. Mark Connolly, peasy23 288 16. throbber 287 17. Bert Raccoon 282 18. chomp my root 271 19. Arabdownunder 267 20. microdave 265 21. ThomCat 264 22. weirdcal 263 23. qos_75 260 24. Chris Partlow 254 25. HK Hibee 249 26. The_Craig 247 27. sophia 246 28. LoonsYouthTeam 245 29. lolls, The Naitch 240 31. Christophe, kilMARKnock 237 33. The DA 235 34. Frosty 233 35. Indale Winton 232 36. Ludo*1 227 37. buddiepaul, HI HAT 226 39. Billy Jean King 225 40. ICTJohnboy 220 41. amnarab, TxRover 219 43. pub car king 217 44. thistledo 215 45. mozam76 200 46. alta-pete 199 47. djchapsticks, Enigma 197 49. DG.Roma 193 50. Bully Wee Villa 192 51. Arch Stanton 186 52. Donathan, sleazy, Sweaty Morph 179 55. Melanius Mullarkay, Shotgun 170 57. Savage Henry 169 58. dee_62, statts1976uk 167 60. D.V.T. 166 61. Fuctifano 164 62. ParsJake 160 63. willie adie 159 64. Oystercatcher 157 65. HTG 154 66. BillyAnchor, paulathame 153 68. German Jag 148 69. dagane 147 70. get_the_subbies_on 138 71. blackislekillie 134 72. pawpar 126 73. nessies long lost ghost 124 74. Priti priti priti Patel 122 75. atfccfc, btb, Ray Patterson 121 78. Moomintroll 118 79. doulikefish, stanton, tamthebam, The Master 111 83. Dunning1874 105 84. DeeTillEhDeh 101 85. ayrunitedfw, Lofarl, San Starko 99 88. weemac 97 89. lichtgilphead 96 90. Lex 93 91. mizfit, Suspect Device 92 93. 101 90 94. The Hologram 87 95. El Guapo 85 96. Jimmy Baker, senorsoupe 71 98. choirbairn 70 199. superwell87 69 100. mathematics 62 101. Bazz891, expatowner, invergowrie arab, Les Cabbage 60 105. superbigal 58 106. Empty It 48 107. Duszek, Oceanlineayr, Salvo Montalbano, Shipa 39 111. 10menwent2mow, parxyz, scottsdad 32 114. Derry Alli 31 115. HibsFan, PWL 29 117. ZERO POINTERS - @Bold Rover, @Curmudgeon, @Eednud, @gingette, @Helpma, @Polarbear, @Raven, @Richey Edwards, @rowsdower, @Sergeant Wilson, @shivute, @thisal The spreadsheet is also updated, and is only awaiting its final confirmation from our winner: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RxCIfczRUmrRrW79tUQ0vJ5KaHZpYENsTKmDqW4X3W4/edit?usp=sharing

Lost! Good lord.

How long should I keep Aim Here sweating?

I can quote most of Chewin the Fat verbatim. Impeccable.

I think someone had her last year. Or the year before.

I would also be very interested in finding out if any one ever refused to take part.

Icing is effectively to stop time-wasting/teams defending by getting the puck and just launching it up the ice. If a player shoots the puck up ice from their own half without anybody on their team touching it, and without anybody on the other team being able to touch it, and it goes past the goal line at the other end, a player on the other team can 'touch up' (used to be literally touching the puck, changed to just getting to level with the faceoff dot a few years ago for safety reasons) and force a faceoff back in the defensive zone of the team that iced it. The team that iced the puck can't change players, which is another reason they try not to do it. Teams don't get called for icing if they're on the penalty kill. Alternatively, Snoop has you covered:

"A battalion of sad looking XL bullies walk on a sheet of ice hanging over the houses of parliament while globs of spunk drip off a rainbow overhead"

Red Dwarf almost made my list. The first 6 series are outstanding from start to finish. Lasts longer than any other kind of milk, dog's milk. Why's that? No bugger'll drink it.

Final count in: 126 entries.

After making me watch that you have made an enemy for life.

If you're in the UK you should be fine with NHL TV, just know that it's the absolute worst level of customer service imaginable if something goes wrong.

Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon are the best two players in the league, that's all you need to know. I don't even know if I can tell someone how to appreciate hockey, it's just been there for me for 20+ years so I'm mostly used to everything by now. When I had NHL 2001 I played it endlessly so playing the game is the best way to get familiar with the rules and players/teams. New Jersey have some good forwards right now but don't have a goalie and seem to be underperforming this year relative to last, so at the absolute minimum you can watch a young-ish team that's trying to improve. Over the past decade or so there's been a massive proliferation of "advanced stats" into the NHL at a management and fan level. If you think the sort of virgins on twitter who go on about xG are bad, it's infinitely worse in hockey. I don't have any interest in it because I just watch my team and watch it to be entertained, but the classics of goals/assists/points/ice time are the standard barometers of who the best/most important players are. I'm sure there are other forums/platforms online like this that would be good for getting into as well.