Start Tallying Those Dead Pools

I know a lot of people who are in dead pools, where they predict the deaths of famous people. And I'm sure many of them were pleased this weekend, when three fairly famous people, Don Knotts, Darren McGavin, and Dennis Weaver, all died. People in dead pools love weekends like this, because it means they're getting that much closer to everyone whom they could put on their list being dead. I personally think dead pools are a good thing, because they make you aware of people you thought were dead, but actually weren't, until they died just then. (And, yes, at this moment in time, perpetual dead pool favorite Abe Vigoda is still alive.)

So, for those of you keeping track, dead so far this year are the above three, Curt Gowdy, Peter Benchley, Franklin Cover (the white dude on The Jeffersons), Al Lewis, Betty Friedan, Moira Shearer, Coretta Scott King, Wendy Wasserstein, Chris Penn, Tony Franciosa, Wilson Pickett, Shelly Winters, and Lou Rawls. There have been other minor celebrities as well, but you're lying if you said you picked them. (I bet you didn't even know who the Emir of Kuwait was. Well, he's dead.)

Mark up your scorecards, and hopefully, the rest of the year will be as eventful as this weekend was. I can't wait.