Mad Men Dead Pool Draft

Will dropped out, so I decided to five deep in the draft for the Mad Men Game with the following results:

Players	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5
Wendy	Roger Sterling	Duck Phillips	Fred Rumsen	Greg Harris	Gail Holloway
Noah	Jim Cutler	Lou Avery	Jim Hobart	Mona Sterling	Bob Benson
Rob	Henry Francis	Michael Ginsberg	Pete Campbell	Harry Crane	Margaret Sterling*
Chip	Don Draper	Ted Chaough	Bobby Draper	Megan Draper	Sal Romano

* Rob picked Sterling's daughter, not his wife, but got the name wrong so I have corrected above and below.

Wendy's first choice is a good one--as all but Rob had Roger in their top three.  Her love of dogs might explain Duck as her choice in the second round.  The pick who slipped further than expected was her fourth round pick--anytime you can bet on a rapist who is currently in an unpopular war to die, you have to do it.  He would have been my second pick, but I have often been wrong on these things.  Matt Weiner is not aiming to service the fan demands or else Greggie would have bit it by now.

Everyone but Noah got their first pick, but Noah can take some solace in getting this next four choices and lucking out (in my view) with a terrific fifth pick.  Bob Benson is the sleeper in this game, and I already have money in Vegas on him biting it as the odds were 23-1.   Except for that last pick, Noah's strategy seemed to be betting on the old guys to bite it.  Jim Hobart was a sneaky pick, as a side character who runs McCann Erickson, he could die at any time....


Rob made an excellent choice with his first pick, as what can happen in Betty's storyline besides becoming a widow?  Hmmm.  Rob did seem to focus his choices then on the dysfunctional folks--Ginsberg is already certifiable, Pete is also a rapist, and Harry shows has poor judgment except in his rare Cassandra moments.  Margaret Sterling is a sneaky good choice since she is prone to joining cults.  Vegas has set the odds on her appearing at all in the next seven episodes at 7 to 1.  His next pick would have been Glen Bishop, and I think that would have been a better choice given Matthew Weiner's willingness to engage in nepotism.

Finally, Chip really does not like the Draper family: Don, Bobby and Megan?  Don is a sound bet.  The time frame is too late for Megan to fall victim a la Sharon Tate to the Manson folks, but LA is a dangerous  place.  Ted?  He might crash his plane.  Sal?  Unlikely to be seen again.

I still am in need of a tiebreaker.  Hmmm.  Ok, in what year will the show's last moments take place?

How does Vegas view the odds here?  Wendy is the favorite at 3-1 due to the combo of Roger, the dogkiller and Joan's ex.  Noah is almost a co-favorite at 7-2 as his line up of old plus Benson seems most promising.  Rob's odds are 12-1 since he may get lucky with one character, but more than that?  Unlikely.  And Chip actually is not that far behind--one good car crash and he can take the entire game.

I will try to post updates along the way, but I will be out of the country on April 19th.  Good luck to all!