Biker Dead Pool Upsets Newspaper Readers

A newspaper in South Dakota is taking flak from some readers for leading its front page yesterday with a story about a family and their friends who annually wager on how many bikers will die during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. The “Rapid City Journal” reported that a dozen people put $5 each into the “dead pool.” The group has been doing so for seven years, and the pot this year was $60.

Reporter Meredith Collas explained, “A short time before the rally starts, the group gathers, and each pulls a number randomly out of a hat, and whoever is closest to the number of dead bikers wins the pool.” She quotes pool participant Carol Landrum as saying, “…we know they are going to die, it’s a fact of life.”

Reaction to the story on the newspaper’s website and Facebook page was quick in coming. Readers called it “wrong on so many levels,” “stupidity at its finest,” “disgusting,” “the definition of bad taste and deplorable journalism,” “completely idiotic” and simply “crap.”

The state police reported that there were four fatalities this year.

Having participated for years in a celebrity dead pool with friends, I have to acknowledge that I find nothing odd or wrong with the pool. All that’s required to enjoy such a morbid endeavor is a wonderfully warped sense of humor, with an emphasis on sense of humor.

Was the story worthy of placement atop page one of the newspaper. Maybe not, but it sure got people talking.