R.I.P. Abe Vigoda (1921-2016)

January 2016 has been quite a month when it comes to celebrity deaths.  Greats like David Bowie, Alan Rickman, and Glenn Frey among many others have left us and ventured into the life after this one.

It was, however, a quiet month for both James & John.  We were starting to wonder if any of their Tomb Bowl picks would be within this month's list of the departed.

Today, brought the first shift in Tomb Bowl XIII, as longtime actor of stage, television and screen Abe Vigoda passed away this morning at the age of 94.  Mr. Vigoda was on James' list as his "Ironic Death" stipulation.  Reports are that he died in his sleep at home and not involved in a fishing accident, so James is only up 1 - 0.  We're only 26 days into 2016, and devoted followers of the Tomb Bowl know that anything can happen between now and when the ball drops on December 31st.

For more on the life of Abe Vigoda, please visit his obituary in the New York Times.

[Edit: This  was re-posted to keep all Tomb Bowl passings in chronological order.]

R.I.P. Christopher Lee (1922 - 2015)

Tomb Bowl XII only saw one celebrity death take place, when British actor Christopher Lee, best known as "The Man With The Golden Gun", Count Dracula, Count Dooku in "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones," and Sarumon from the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, died on June 7th at the age of 93.

The passing gave John his first point of the year.  While Lee was John's "Ironic Death" Stipulation, he did not die due to impalement, so John only led 1 - 0.   Little did anyone know that Lee's passing was all John needed to secure a long-awaited victory.

Read more about the long and full life of Christopher Lee here.

What You Missed Between Posts

As mentioned, it was a busy 18 months between Tomb Bowl posts.

To be fair to our Tomb Bowl fans, here's what you missed:

Tomb Bowl XI - 2014

• No other celebrity deaths took place on either James or John's lists following the last post on June 24, 2014. When 2014 came to a close, James continued his Tomb Bowl Tombstone reign with a 3-1 victory. 

Tomb Bowl XII - 2015

• James & John were able to make their picks in Brooklyn for the last time for a while as James accepted a job in New Orleans and his family moved in early 2015. 
• 93-year-old actor Abe Vigoda, 98-year-old actress Olivia de Havilland, and 20-year-old pop singer Justin Bieber were new additions to 6-time champion James' list. 92-year-old actor Christopher Lee was John's lone addition to his list, trusting that he had a solid enough roster to break his half-decade drought. 
• James & John agreed to add a new stipulation to the Tomb Bowl beginning this year - the "Ironic Death" stipulation. What's that, you may ask? Well, say one of us had George Washington and a cherry tree fell on him or Thomas Edison got electrocuted, that's an "Ironic Death." 
• It was a quiet year for Tomb Bowl XII, but...

..."The Streak" was broken!  John edged out James 1-0 for his first Tomb Bowl Win in six years & his first time holding the Tomb Bowl Tombstone! (More information on Christopher Lee, the lone death in Tomb Bowl XII in an upcoming post.)

Major Updates

After 18 months off (June 2014 - December 2015 was a busy period for me), Tomb Bowl XI was completed & Tomb Bowls XII & XIII are now up!

More info on the Tomb Bowl coming soon...