Finally, and with 57 hours to spare, I’ve completed my Dead Pool 2005 roster. Fortunately for these 15 people, my predictions usually suck eggs, so they can look forward to a prosperous new year:

William Rehnquist – 10/1/24 – Supreme Court Justice
Gerald Ford – 7/14/13 – Former U. of Michigan center, part-time President of the United States
Pope John Paul – 5/18/20 – Pope
Billy Graham – 11/7/18 – Minister of stadiums nationwide
Nancy Reagan – 7/6/21 – Just Say No! (to life!)
Kirk Douglas – 12/9/16 – Actor, Michael’s dad
Manuel Noriega – 2/11/34 – Former Panamanian dictator, not a fan of loud rock music
Boris Yeltsin – 2/1/31 – Former Russian president, walking cirrhosis display
Artie Shaw – 5/23/10 – Big Band Leader, really really old guy
Paul Harvey – 9/4/18 – Radio commentator, good day!
Rosa Parks – 2/4/13 – accidental activist, president of the Andre3000 Playa-Hatin’ Fan Club
Ralph Kiner – 10/27/22 – Baseball Hall of Famer, Mets Announcer
Darryl Strawberry – 3/12/62 – Former NY Met, overdose waiting to happen
Elizabeth Taylor – 2/27/32 – Perfume saleswoman, actress
Eunice Kennedy Shriver – 7/10/21 – Special Olympics founder, and a Kennedy
Richard Pryor – – Comedian / Chevy Chase’s corporate janitor / starting pitcher for the Hackensack Bulls

Those who didn’t quite make the cut include: Stephen Hawking, Richard Pryor, Louie Anderson, Jesse Helms, Imelda Marcos, Bob Feller, James Brown, David Crosby, Norman Lear, C. Everett Koop, Jack Kevorkian, Estelle Getty, Muhammed Ali, Jim McKay, Lawrence Taylor, Dick Clark, Richard Petty, Nipsey Russell, Willie Mays, Bob Barker and Rudy Galindo.

There’s 21 good names there, so if anyone wants to bank on my poor prediction skills and make a list out of that, you’re more than welcome. SOMEONE has to profit, right?

In other dead people news, I just found out that Jerry Orbach died. While he’s most famous as Det. Lenny Briscoe on Law & Order, let me reiterate that he was just as cool when he played Charlie Pegler, manager of the Hackensack Bulls in “Brewster’s Millions”.