Hall of Fame: Samir Mehta
2013 inductee
This article was written in February 2017, when Samir was originally inducted to the Hall of Fame, at a time when there was only one inductee per year. In February 2020, his year of induction was retroactively changed to 2013, his first year of eligibility.
Some of the qualities that help players achieve big scores in Celebrity Goo Game—competitiveness, ambition, ruthlessness—are self-centered, but that doesn't mean that someone can't rise to the ranks of the game's best players without being generous and conscientious, too. Case in point: The 2017 inductee to the Hall of Fame, Samir Mehta, has distinguished himself across Funeratic with his decency (arguing various positions with compassion toward society's least fortunate), charitableness (spending hours on the phone giving advice about the law and life), integrity (sticking to his moral code in the face of changing times and attitudes), and good taste (seeking out each year's best films and spreading the word about them). Funeratic is lucky to have many honorable members, but Samir has proven himself foremost among them, to the benefit of everyone he enobles with his influence.
That impulse to be his best possible self extends to his scoring in Celebrity Goo Game, naturally. Since he was introduced to the game by friend and fellow player Steve Dunn less than a decade ago, Samir has racked up a lifetime score exceeding a whopping 2380 solves, putting him fifth on the all-time Lifetime Scores list and in the top 2% of all players by score. He once solved 80 goos consecutively, just short of an entire round's worth. Solving so many goos over the years has made it easier to achieve some sweet victories: Samir first won the game in March 2012 by beating nineteen opponents, and become champion again in August 2015 and a third time in May 2016. Only six players, all of them Hall of Famers, have won the game more times than he has, and he's committed to climbing ever higher on that list. He is unquestionably one of the game's very best players in history.
And like some of the game's top players, Samir has also dabbled in creating his own goos, simultaneously stumping and delighting his fellow players. But his taste in "celebrities" deviates from the usual actors and athletes in favor of the humanitarian: Feminist Olympe de Gouges, integrationist Ida B. Wells, philanthropist Edwina Mountbatten, committed pacifist Dietrich Bonhoeffer, circumstantial pacifist Stanislav Petrov, and others, including victims of injustice like Nikolau Yezhov and Homer Plessy. Even the artists that he has turned into goos tend to be highbrow, like drummer Neil Peart and director Shane Carruth. Samir has proven himself to be a man of class and character, and he deserves to be celebrated on the site that he has visited daily for ten years. So here's to Samir Mehta, an excellent Celebrity Goo Game player and an even better human being.
Samir's comments: Thank you to everyone, most of all Scott, who have made this a fun and fantastic place to hang out. I have enjoyed interacting with all of you for several years and hope to continue to do so for many more.
