Contest: Round 1 is Open (Get Writing)!

Before I unveil the bracket and the results of the voting, I want to give a heartfelt "thank you" to everyone - both participants, readers, and voters!  We had 184 voters cast a total of 295 individual votes!  Not bad for a round in which the only thing up for grabs was seeding!  Here are the final vote results for Round 0:

As you can see, Carlos Salgado ended round 0 with the highest vote total (25), though part of that may have been a result of so many competitors dropping out of Group C.  No matter, a win is a win and Carlos Salgado has claimed the one bye (we have a total of 31 participants).  As such, Carlos will not need to write an entry for this round (though he certainly may should he choose to).

Here is the contest bracket in all its glory!  The image might be hard to read - so I created a live bracket over at Challonge (see it here).

And now, here are your writing prompts.  Please note, each card will have two groups of people writing about it - but each person is only competing against one person in this (and all future) rounds!  The same rules apply as before - write your entry which should somehow relate to the card prompt and then post a link to your blog entry on THIS POST.  You have until Thursday, August 9 at 9:00 PM EST to get your submissions in.  That should provide everyone with plenty of time.  At that point, I will once again gather up everyone's entries and create a voting page.  Highest vote totals out of each pairing will move on to the next round.

For the first (real) round of competition, I thought it would be a good idea to begin with some "easy" cards - that is, cards that should provide a lot of writing material.  What better set to turn to than the Upper Deck Collector's Choice sets of the late 90s?

Round 1 pairings and card assignments:
Make sure you write about the card ABOVE your name!

Card 1:

1.  Carlos Salgado
vs.
(Bye)

16.  Richard Nebe Jr.
vs.
17.  Scott Sawyer

Card 2:

8.  Dan
vs.
25.  Mark

9.  dkwilson
vs.
24.  Eric L.

Card 3:

4.  Wilson
vs.
29.  Tom

13.  30 Years of Cardboard
vs.
20.  unclemoe

Card 4:

5.  BA Benny
vs.
28.  Baseball Dad

12.  opoohwan
vs.
21.  Josh D.

Card 5:

2.  Play at the Plate
vs.
31.  superduperman99

15.  dhoff
vs.
18.  arpsmith

Card 6:

7.  Alfredo Ortega
vs.
26.  Matt Pederson

10.  gcrl
vs.
23.  Robert

Card 7:

3.  dayf
vs.
30.  High-Five Man

14.  madding
vs.
19.  Kyle4KC

Card 8:

6.  Spankee
vs.
27.  PAB

11.  Jason
vs.
22.  Kirk Jacobson

Good luck to all the competitors - and remember, keep it fun (and civil) please!  Now get writing, and don't forget to leave a link to your post on this blog entry!  I can't wait to see what you all come up with, there are some super pairings in Round 1 - it should be a fun, spirited competition!