Celebrity Hurricane Death Pool

This post was originally published back in August of 2008 in an alternate universe. It is re-published for your enjoyment.


Here we go again. After narrowly skirting the last two hurricanes, we now have three more knocking on our door step. Hurricane Hannah, is expected to slide past us here in South Florida, causing nothing more than pleasurable breezes, and an occasional shower, then slam into Georgia, or the Carolinas. Meanwhile, just east of Hannah lurks Ike.

Right now Ike is a Catagory(cat.) 4 storm and Miami is right in the center of the cone of death. It's gonna get pretty exciting around here in a couple of days. We have not yet gone def-com 4 (all hurricane coverage, all the time), but we are getting plenty of updates. Come Monday we will move to def-com 4, then the fun begins.

Every local channel, and The Weather Channel (TWC) will have their stable of brave young souls, venture out in the middle of a HURRICANE, to give us up to date coverage of just how bad it is outside. Very good ....for ratings, not so good for the cameraman, and the broadcaster. To say that these folks are putting their life in danger, is to say that playing frisbee in rush hour traffic is dangerous.

About three weeks ago when Fay came up past us, one of the local channels had a camera crew in Key West, to ..ah, get good ratings. They had a young lady broadcaster about 24, that probably didn't weigh 110 lbs. Since the camera can't record well while facing the rain, the young lady had to face a hard rain in driving 55 mph winds, while still delivering her spiel! I applaud her moxie, but the whole time I was watching I was afraid that she was going to make like Mary Poppins and fly away! No big deal really, as long as she hangs on to the microphone; then they can just reel her in like a kite.

Well, with Hannah, and Ike we'll really get a chance to really see their moxie.

I'm thinking of starting a celebrity hurricane death pool at work. Its easy, just get 5-10 people to bet $10 each. You make a board with your favorite hurricane hunters on it (one celebrity per contestant). You then draw lots, or cut cards to figure out who YOUR celebrity is. If that intrepid person gets swept away, and never seen again... you win!

What fun! What a great way to win $100!

I am personally hoping I can draft TWC head hurricane hunter Jim Cantore. He is one ballsy M.F'er. All the more likely he will win me the dough. Also, since Hannah is expected to hit a day or two before Ike, I KNOW Jim will be at both events, while the local heroes will only be attending Ike.

Go Jim go! Go Jim Go!