We always find it interesting to look at which celebrities were the "big picks" for the year. We also like to see where Death Watchers are from and how many of 'em botched up their lists. Sure it takes hours to tally all this nonsense up. So what? Each and every minute we spend doing it, we get to drink beer. Let 'er rip.....

A total of 152 Death Watchers are playing this year. That's one more player than we had last year. Death Watchers from 30 states in the U.S. are playing as are Death Watchers from 3 other countries. We also have 1 player from Washington D.C. (not quite a state). The states represented and the number of Death Watchers from each are: CA(13), CO(3), FL(7), GA (1), ID(1), IL(7), IN(9), KY(1), LA(5), MA(5), MD(2), ME(2), MI(2), MN(6), MO(5), NC(3), NE (3), NJ(15), NY(10), OH(6), OR(4), PA(3), SC (1), TN(2), TX(7), VA(5), VT(1), WA(1), WI(6) and WV(4). The countries represented and the number of Death Watchers from each are: Australia(2), Canada(3), and United Kingdom(4). Then, of course, we've got the one (1) from Washington D.C. "Wait Guys!" you say, "That only adds up to 150 Death Watchers." Right you are! We've got otwo (2) Death Watchers playing from U.S. military sites/vessels. We'd tell you where these fine folks are located but then we'd have to kill you. Uh, maybe we'll tell ya anyway....later.

Since 152 lists were entered into the 2010 Old Blue Eyes Memorial Celebrity Death Watch, we should have 1976 total picks entered. However, we considered 42 people picked to be ineligible as Celebrities. Those 42 people occupied a total of 57 places across 38 lists. This reduced the total number of picks to 1919 and will undoubtedly piss off either the complete set or some subset of those 38 Death Watchers. It's not like we didn't warn you guys. Heck, two (2) eliminated picks, Ernie Harwell and Seth Binzer, were deemed ***Not A Celebrity*** last year and have been posted as such on the web page all of 2009!!!! Still, some of you entered them.

Then, of course, we had two (2) players who entered lists that were short 1 pick reducing the pick count to 1917. One player picked someone who was already dead (Gene Barry) further reducing the the count to 1916 picks.

If you're wondering how the donations worked out. GREAT! We are really grateful to those of you who donated. For the first time ever, we may actually cover all of our hard costs for the Death Watch (prizes, PO Box, domain name, and some printer ink!). Thank you, thank you, thank you! Speaking of donations, 49 Death Watchers (32.2%) donated this year. The other 67.8% of you ought to be ashamed. If you folks had donated, we could increase the prize money next go around.

"So Guys, what the Sam Hill does all this crap really mean?" Great question little camper! It means you should open a beer (or two), pour it (them) slowly into a glass (or a big glass if you opened two), sit back and read this....

There are a total of 152 lists with a total of 1916 total valid picks entered. 402 different celebrities make up the 1916 picks. Of the 402 celebrities picked to buy the farm, 191 (47.5%) were on only one list (the Tad Szulcs), 51 (12.7%) were on only two lists (the double whammies), 59 (14.7%) were on three or four lists (the mortage a trois) and the remaining 101 (25.1%) were on five or more lists.

Some of you who are still sober may wonder how we came to our ***Not A Celebrity*** conclusions. Get a load of this.... In the fall of last year we posted 832 famous people we said were celebrities (just click on Frank's picture on the main page to find this list - now updated). If you picked from this list, you were in like Flynn. No troubles. However, we got 148 other "famous" people entered that we had to review. Of the 148, we immediately accepted 46 (as their status as a Celebrity was obvious). That left us with 102 "famous" people to discuss. After a lengthly conference call and a crap load of google searches (and a few cigarettes, a couple of beers, a domicile relocation, and some other things) we agreed that 55 of the 102 were Celebrities and 42 were ***Not A Celebrity***. Five (5) names remained for which we were split in our opinion; one Guy said yes, the other no. Interestingly, we were split on the splits too. One guy took the NO on two (2) names and the YES on three (3) names. The other Guy did the reverse. For these five split decisions names, we gave you folks a break and let them slide. We counted all five as Celebrities.

One more thing about ***Not A Celebrity*** entries....we WILL NOT entertain arguments, requests, pleadings, gripes, whines, or any other similar annoyance regarding which picks we allowed and which picks we didn't. You pay yer money (we hope) you take yer chances.

THE END!!

Oh. Right. The most picked statistics. Sorry. Here goes (keep drinking)....

The number one pick this year was Kirk Douglas. Spartacus was on 64 (42.1%) lists. The number two pick on the worm food menu is none other than that cracker, Billy Graham. 59 (38.8%) lists think Billy is on his last crusade. Once again, workers of the world may unite, but our number three pick, Fidel Castro, has nothing to lose but his pulse. The cigar chomping pinko appears on 57 (37.5%) lists.

As for the rest of the potential coffin stuffing... Well, the complete breakdown of celebrities and how many players picked 'em is presented below for your viewing pleasure and intellectual (heh) edification. You may want to open another beer (or four).