Thanks to several very long days with our handy TRS 80 (look it up), we are able to present to you, dear Death Watcher, a breakdown of some of the more interesting statistics for the 2017 Old Blue Eyes Memorial Celebrity Death Watch. Go ahead and grab a six pack and some popcorn. The fun is just starting...

A total of 148 Death Watchers are playing this year. That's up 11.3% from last year's count of 133 participants.

Death Watchers from 33 states in the U.S. are playing as are Death Watchers from the District of Columbia and three other countries. The states represented and the number of Death Watchers from each are: AL(1), CA(12), CO(9), DC(1), FL(8), GA(2), HI(1), IL(3), IN(10), KS(1), LA(7), MA(3), MD(2), ME(2), MI(2), MN(1), MO(5), MS(1), NC(1), NE(5), NH(1), NJ(13), NY(9), OH(5), OR(3) PA(7), SD(1), TN(4), TX(6), VA(4), VT(1), WA(3), WI(3) and WV(3). The countries represented and the number of Death Watchers from each are: Australia(2), Canada(5), and England(1).

Thirteen Alternates were exercise this year. We have Zsa Zsa Gabor, John Glenn, and Debbie Reynolds to thank for that. In fact, there were three lists where the Alternate was exercised and a second pick died before the new game. Furthermore, one of those three lists had a third pick die before the new game. As per the rules, these lists will play short for the year. Bet these Death Watchers will wait a little longer before submitting their lists next year.

148 lists should result in 1924 total picks entered (Really! Try it on YOUR TRS 80!). However, several factors reduced the total pick count. Have some popcorn, open another beer and read on, you'll find out all about it.

As mentioned above, three lists experienced post-Alternate pick deaths before the new game started. That resulted in the loss of four (4) pick positions. Additionally, one list was submitted with only 12 picks and one list was submitted with only 11 picks. That reduced the pick count by three (3). So, according to the TRS 80, we're down to 1917 picks.

But wait, someone always picks a dead person, right? Yup. One list had one (1) pick that was already dead, one list had two (2) picks that were already dead and one list had (better take a swig of beer for this one) seven (7) picks that were already dead. Sheesh, how did that happen? That brings the pick count down to 1907.

Here's the part everybody loves to hate...82 new names were entered as picks this year. That's down 17% from the 99 new picks entered last year. For the first time since Elizabeth Edwards, we removed the ***Not a Celebrity*** status from for a pick. We did this as we believe the pick now has sufficient name recognition based on his dastardly acts. That pick is Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.

Of the 82 new names entered, 71 (86.6%) were deemed to be celebrities. If you've been looking at your TRS 80, you've figured out that 11 new names were deemed ***Not a Celebrity***. These 11 names occupied 11 pick positions across 10 lists. That means the loss of 11 more pick positions, making our active pick total 1896.

A quick comment here. Two of the picks that were eliminated, Y.A. Tittle and Nehemiah Persoff, had been posted on the website for all of 2016 as ***Not a Celebrity***. Why? Because we knocked them off lists last year also.

To see who got deemed ***Not a Celebrity*** Go to the NOT CELEBRITIES portion of our website. To see our entire existing database or people who are celebrities, click on Frank Sinatra's image on the home page for the OBE or just click HERE. Oh, and please don't forget the Ronnie Hawkins Requirement which clearly prohibits a player from "belly-aching, whining, snivelling, wincing, guffawing, or donning of faux expressions of shock" about their pick(s) being deemed ***Not a Celebrity***.

Oh? What's that? Donations? Sure we have some statistics on donations too. 75 players (50.6%) donated to the OBE this year. Last year 68 players donated. This year, about 50% of our players presumed the other 50% would support them. Sounds like the current tax structure in the U.S.! It's not too late to rectify this situation. We take donations all year long via mail and PayPal. If you mail a donation after January 10, please let us know via email so we're sure to check the PO Box (which we don't do very often after the Death Watch is under way).

Lot's of information so far, right? It's enough to make your head hurt. Maybe you ought to open up another beer. Go ahead, we'll wait.....Pop. Sip. Sip. Gulp. Ah! Okay, now let's get back to things.

We're at 1896 active picks across 148 lists. Those 1896 active picks are comprised of 415 different celebrities (26 more than last year!). Of the 415 celebrities picked to keel over, 216 (52.0%) were on only one list (the Tad Szulcs), 79 (19.0%) were on only two lists (the double whammmies), 37 (9.0%) were on three or four lists (the mortage a trois) and the remaining 83 (20.0%) were on five or more lists.

The number one pick this year has been a top five pick since 2005! That pick is Kirk Douglas. Mr. Douglas appears on a whopping 99 (66.9%) lists. Billy Graham took the number two spot, appearing on 81 (54.7%) lists. The number three most frequent pick was Olivia de Havilland with her name appearing on 73 (49.3%) lists.

A complete breakdown of celebrities and how many players picked 'em is presented below for your reading pleasure. It's definitely time for another beer.