Pope watch

With the major league baseball season still days away, waiting for people to die seems to have become a surrogate national pastime. First Teri Schiavo and now the Pope.

The Italian news media reported earlier today that the Pope had died and American news organizations piled on without getting verification. Yahoo! and Fox News jumped the gun and reported the pontiff's death. I'm sure there were others. Bloggers like The Anchoress are "live blogging" the death of the Pope. I'm not really sure what it means to live blog the Pope's demise but it's morbid whatever it is. Is it really so important to report it the second John Paul II draws his last?

If the Pope's passing is indeed soon I hope it's peaceful and painless for him. And I hope there are no other prominent figures to die anytime soon. It's just become too weird.