I totally thought he would have been a better choice than Stalin for ruler/leader of Russia from 20th century, but oh well, good value here.

aaaah gorby!!!!

100% agree

Lathum seems to have left. I have picks from him, though.

And Lathum closes out the halfway mark of the draft with:

7.12 - Mao Zedung, Leader/Ruler, China, 20th

And he starts the 2nd half with:

8.1 - Roger Bannister, Athlete, United Kingdom, 20th

Dammit. Another one I was about to snag. (Mao)

the chairman! *whack*

I had Qin Shi Huang on my short list of rulers/leaders, so it blocks me there

He was taken already

He is taken by me earlier.

several rounds ago

taken by noop!

lol

That explains my good fortune missed it. No worries.

Noop already got Pele.

OK changed it above to Statue of Liberty
.

God, I don't have a freakin' CLUE who to pick at this point.

got a couple Ideas

Me too!

My problem is, I need a post-20th for one of two categories, and I'm drawing total blanks.

Make one up!

I understand that, as I see the best in several categories being pre 20th century myself

8.3 - Wayne Gretzky, Athlete, Canada, Post 20th century

The Great One, maybe the greatest athlete ever in a team spot

Solid choice

i'm torn between 2 options for my pick...

I passed on a couple other picks in other categories as I felt they were more likely to fall with so few athletes taken and american only being able to be used once. Hopefully they are still there for me next round.

one of my choices!

I was thinking along those same lines.,, so
8.4 Diego Maradona-Athlete-Argentina-20th century

there was actually another Canadian sports figure I was thinking of too, the problem was he wasn't technically an athlete. But Iwanted to go with James Naismith as a Canadian

aaargh it's me now and i'm torn

Maradona is solid too

Ben Johnson?

hahaha

8.5 Martin Luther, Religious Leader, Germany, Pre-20th Century

He changed the course of Western Civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation (and in turn the Catholic Counter Reformation that made the modern church what it is today).

I think that's a really good choice this late

Thinking.

Well thanks Mr. Abe!

8.6 Yasser Arafat, Diplomat, Egypt, 20th

Certainly a polarizing figuring in recent history, and not without his thorns, but a skillful diplomatic leader and tactician nonetheless, and successfully negotiated a peace with Israel after eons of fighting, winning him the Nobel Peace Price.

nice one CW. no more polarizing than hitler or stalin

I REALLY don't even like picking him, 'cause, well, he's an ass, but he was a conniving, manipulative ass who knew how to move political pieces around.

no but that was funny. iwas thinking James Naismith.

That's disputed. And calling it Myanmar with the pick I was making seemed wrong. I probably should have left it as Burma/Myanmar, but I didn't want to confuse people who didn't know they were the same palce.

I almost picked him as my Civil Rights person. Very good pick.

oh ok. I did not realize it was disputed. It was still a fantastic pick regardless.

:D

Shoot I totally forgot about him. Wow great value this late.

I didn't forget him, but I was tapped out on Germans.

Is it my turn?

Yup

8.7 Rodrigo "El Cid" Diaz de Vivar - Military Chief - Spain - Pre-20th Century

The national hero of Spain and one of the greatest commanders in world history. Made legendary in The Song of the Cid, his brilliant tactical strategies proved instrumental in the Reconquista, including the liberation of Valencia, which he then ruled de facto independently.