Round 1: Battle of the Blogs

Okay, guys. Nominations have been closed for Battle of the Blogs. When I had this idea, or I should have said "stole this idea," I figured I would have 16 entrants (I think there were 57). That was my hope, at least. I just asked my blogroll and those who competed in an Internet competition. That's it. And the funny thing is that there were relatively few who were nominated from those blogs.

The rules:
1. Vote for one of the two blogs in each bracket. Choose the better blog, your favorite blog, or your friend's blog. Makes no difference to me. You can only vote once, and once your vote is cast, you cannot "change votes." I have no idea what to do if there is a tie. You can vote for one pairing or all of them. I would hope that you would not be how I was when I was a younger voter – I would vote for a bunch of candidates just because I could. I say this is the test mentality – don't leave any "answers" blank. I would prefer you not randomly vote but cannot prevent anyone from doing so.

2. The winners of each game will enter the second round, similar to the NCAA Basketball Tournament format.

3. You can blog about why you should win, ask others to do so, whatever. For those who would like, there is some code below that point to the different brackets.

Eastern Bracket
<a href="http://dsmoya31410.blogspot.com/2007/02/round-1-eastern-bracket.html">Eastern Bracket</a>

Western Bracket
<a href="http://dsmoya31410.blogspot.com/2007/02/round-1-western-bracket.html">Western Bracket</a>

Northern Bracket
<a href=" http://dsmoya31410.blogspot.com/2007/02/round-1-northern-bracket.html">Northern Bracket</a>

Southern Bracket
<a href="http://dsmoya31410.blogspot.com/2007/02/round-1-southern-bracket.html">Southern Bracket</a>

I wanted to include more code, but frankly, with all of the other stuff I have done for this competition, I was just too tired.

4. If I have made any errors on your blog description, send email to bloggerbattle(at)gmail.com or respond to this message and I will fix this ASAP.
5. I have come up with a preliminary picture for this contest. Sorry, I am a words person, not an artist. And if someone else would want to create something, I would be very appreciative.

Update: Shephard Alley did a new picture for this Battle of the Blogs, in hopes, no doubt of garnering favor with me and luring me away from my hubbie, or more importantly, obtaining favor with other voters. Of course he failed, but I am going to use his picture. Thanks!

6. I have not included any blogs that are of an adult nature. Many drop the F-bomb, but none would be considered an adult site. Similarly, I did not include any commercial sites (sites that primarily sell things). Actually, someone with what appeared to be a very professionally-done adult site wrote me a very kind note.

A couple of thoughts:

1. I randomly made the brackets. That being said, I had to adjust a bit (two byes were in the same game, thus a "bye" would have made it into round two. Other than that, I let fate decide the pairings. I know some of the pairings may be a bit unfair, but I did not do this on purpose. If you have ever watched the NCAA tournament, sometimes the selection committee pits two really good teams in round one, so in a way, this randomness is okay.

2. This is a competition but the intent is for you to be exposed to new blogs. I know my circle of blogging buddies is fairly small (see my blogroll). And bloggers quit all the time, and I have not replaced anyone in a while. Hopefully I will find a new gem or two. I suggest you do the same.

3. There are no prizes for this – just a momentary increase in traffic to your blog, I suppose.

4. I am placing this on my blog quickly, so if I have made anything unclear, let me know. This is a lot more work that I suspected. And I may update this post with things I forgot.

Good luck to all of the competitors!