Here we go. Brian B showed us the way in 2009, scratching off 8 names from his list and taking home $180, the biggest pot in the history of the RedReporter bereavement pools. But this year's pool looks to be even bigger. 

It's 20 picks, $10 per player and the winner takes the total pot minus $30. (Second place takes $20, third $10.) Actually, here are the rules, so you can be clear of exactly what's going on. (Open in WORDPAD for correct formatting. Otherwise it will look quite wonky.) The contest runs from February 1 through December 31. Anyone who's interested, e-mail me (Rick) at renewkir@gmail.com with your picks, and I'll tell you an address to send your $10 check.

So that everyone knows it's fair and I'm not giving myself an advantage of looking at everyone's picks, I've finished my list and sent it to an e-mail address to be announced later, so that you can look at the timestamp later.

A quick note on one of the rules. To score on your picks, the celebrity's obit must appear on cnn.com or espn.com. I picked those Web sites specifically because they generally only run obits of properly famous people and don't have an obit quota, as opposed to places such as NYTimes.com and Time.com. When you're making your lists, keep that in mind. If one of your entries dies and the obit shows up on Time.com but not cnn.com, you're out of luck.

Also, Osama bin Laden is not a legal pick, due to the ambiguity of his whereabouts and timeframe of his possible death. Don't pick him. Also don't pick anyone on death row anywhere, such as Chemical Ali.

Here's a list of the folks who have expressed interest so far:

boobs
boobs' mom
boobs' coworker steve
boobs' coworker brian
boobs' coworker jim
crolfer
brian b
brian b's wife
tHan
redinwrigleyville
joshuaR
madville
bk
justin
justin's friend engelbert
ctnyc
bengalred
johnU
highlifeman
caleb
nlt-andrew
joe nolan's glasses
PeteyHendrix
nycredsfan
Fat Vegas Alan
johnU's co-worker Esmerelda

And here's a list of the folks who played last year but haven't yet expressed an interest in continuing:

Red Menace
Cesar Hernandez
3fast
Brendan
JoshuaR's wife
Seattle Slim

For these folks, please let me know if you plan to play. Of course, everyone is welcome. Anyone not listed here who wants to play, you're in (provided you're 18 years of age.)

So let's get started. E-mail me if you want in, and we'll go from there.