BIG SIX LEWIS DEEP-SIXED
John Lewis was the last of the great civil rights leaders of the 1960s who worked with Martin Luther King to push non-violent disobedience. As a student, Lewis became one of the Big Six civil rights leaders who led the March on Washington in 1963. He lead the 1965 march for voting rights in Selma, and got a permanent scar from an Alabama trooper cracking his skull open. He was the last living speaker to the crowds on the day of Martin Luther King’s I Have A Dream speech. He worked on VISTA, the anti-poverty plan, under Jimmy Carter, before becoming elected to Georgia’s 5th district in the House of Representatives in 1986. He held this position until his death from pancreatic cancer.Within the Democrat Party he became a House deputy whip, and he was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his role in the civil rights movement.
It December 29th last year that Lewis announced he had Stage IV pancreatic cancer, and it speaks to his fame and acclaim, and DDP players love of a gift horse, that even with that little time left in the game he exploded into the Drop 40. Had the news been announced even a week earlier, he might have been far higher up. But 51 teams did pick him, with a special note to Satan’s Hootenanny, who got joker points. Many regular contenders picked up points on the American icon, including Bleaching the Bottom of the Barrel, Dead Ends, Finnbarr, Going Underground and Wormer. Current champions Thomas Jefferson Survives scored, as did former multiple time winners The Living End and David Quantick’s Showbiz Pals. And there was a change in the lead at the top, as Day in the Death have ended (for now) To Kill a Gabor Sister’s long reign at top. Indeed, with 7 teams at the top separated by 10 points, and some guy called Pan Breed just below that, this is remarkably tight this far into the third quarter of the year. The contenders include fellow Cmme member The Love Boat (I feel a Father Ted raffle gag coming on here…), reigning champs TJS ominously roaring into view, dark horse contenders Banana, and ever dangerous Heading Nowhere. And I Will Not Die, Its the World That Will End, who is a relative newcomer to the top of the table discussions.
Banana’s Peel Slippers were aided by a second hit in 48 hours. Ruth Morrissey proved that heaven knows she’s miserable now, by dying aged 39. A less famous Vicky Phelan, Morrissey won millions in damages over her missed cervical cancer checks. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but we don’t want to paint a vulgar picture, this brief notice shall suffice. It makes Phelan the last of the gang to die too. Oh well, pretty girls make graves, and we’ll move to the stats before that joke isn’t funny anymore.
Being truthful, Morrissey falls right on the line of good taste or bad taste. And the DDP pick is too. Ahem. Whilst her slight fame might have let her pass through yet, there may be news on a few new DDP rules in the near future, so watch this space…
John Lewis
21 February 1940 – 17 July 2020
51 teams