Updike’s death blindsides dead pool players

The Stiffs.com dead pool received 753 entries for 2009 and not one of them predicted that 76-year-old Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Updike would meet his maker this year.
Players of the Web’s most prominent dead pool contest tend to go for the easy targets – celebrities and public figures known to be in ill health, based on news reports. You don’t see many young celebs who live reckless or dangerous lifestyles on the list, except for troubled singer Amy Winehouse who ranks No. 52.

The top 10 on this year’s dead pool list, with their number of entries, are:

1. Ted Kennedy (353)


2. Patrick Swayze (332)


3. Claude Levi-Strauss (231)


4. Fidel Castro (225)


5. Chemical Ali (222)


6. Billy Graham (197)


7. Ariel Sharon (167)


8. Eunice Kennedy Shriver (158)


9. Robert Novak (158)


10. Zsa Zsa Gabor (152)

Stiffs.com is known for its snarky one-liners about the deceased. Here’s how the site sums up some of this year’s deaths: Patrick McGoohan (“Number Deep 6”), Ricardo Montalban (“Boss...? Boss...?”) and John Updike (“Rabbit make space”).

(Photo by Reuters. See link above.)