Contest Time! Place Your Bets

You're a smart person. You know how to read the blogs, browse the internet... maybe enter in a few passwords. You probably watch the occasional athletic contest and you may even have some opinions about said events. Here's your chance to express some of those opinions, and possibly even win free cards!

That's right, folks, it's the Second Annual Cards on Cards College Bowl Pick 'em Contest presented by Yahoo and General Mills Nacho Cheese Flavored Bugles. Okay, fine, no one is actually sponsoring this contest, but we will be using the Yahoo platform for scoring and regulation.

Before we get to the rules, here are the prizes. Yes, these are supposed to be enticing and jaw-dropping. Basically, once you are finished reading this you will never question your ability to predict the future of amateur football athletes again. Contest winners will have the option of choosing prize packs from several categories. The 1st Place winner will get to choose two prize packs. The 2nd Place winner will have the next crack at choosing one prize, while the person who has the lowest score will be assigned an allotment of unclaimed prizes. Depending upon the number of entries, additional prizes may be awarded (such as a 3rd Place winner.) Here are the prize packs available in no particular order:

• A 660-ct. box of cards selected primarily from a particularly prolific era. The winner will dictate a favorite team(s), player(s) or other to-be-determined wishlist for this prize.
• Lot of early '90s junk wax era unopened basketball card packs. Look for rookie cards of future Hall of Famer Gary Payton and future Hall of Procreation-er Shawn Kemp.
• Lot of late '80s/early '90s junk wax era unopened baseball card packs. Look for rookie cards of pre-"enhancement" Sammy Sosa. Okay, actually, a Sammy Sosa rookie card is guaranteed.
• A "grab bag" of memorabilia and certified autographed cards - 5 total. None of these are likely to be players you or any of your friends would consider collecting, but, hey... they're good conversation pieces, right?
• A blaster or cheap ($20 or less) box of packs to be completely determined by the winner. This is probably the most desirable prize, unless you are someone who is looking for a personal touch.
• The Stephen Strasburg Experience: 4 cards pulled from 2010 Topps Update Series packs. This includes the bewildering and uncalled for #661 card as well as three inserts. How did Walter Johnson get dragged into this? I have no idea.

Okay, okay... settle down now. I see that these prizes are pretty great. There may even be more potential prizes entered into the mix. Feel free to make suggestions. In the meantime, here are the rules:

• Participants must sign up through the official Yahoo link. Unfortunately, this means that you must have a Yahoo account. I am only doing this because I am lazy, not because I want you to sign up with Yahoo who gives me $27 every time someone reads one of my blog posts.
• Promote this contest! No, that doesn't mean you need to "follow" my blog, nor does it mean that you'll gain any competitive advantage by posting about this contest. I just want to see a lot of people participate, and will be willing to award more prizes if there are more participants. 16 people joined the Yahoo group last year - let's increase that total! Put a subliminal message on your blog post. Send a mass email. Casually tell your co-workers in the break room while discussing Brett Favre's latest injury. The possibilities are endless!
• Points are scored according to the Confidence System. This basically means that while you are predicting which team wins which bowl game, you will also be responsible for ranking how confident you are in each pick. For example, if you are insane enough to think that Washington will beat Nebraska and are willing to bet your street cred on it, you will want to assign that matchup a higher confidence rating (30, perhaps) than you would with your misguided "Alabama will totally stomp Michigan State because the SEC is *AWESOME*" pick.
• Email me your contest information after you sign up. You can't assume that I will automatically recognize your clever Yahoo Pick Set name, nor will I necessarily disbelieve your "friend" who claims your prize after everything is said and done because he swears he's CowboysFan4Ever and is the "most right" about his "sweet picks".

Okay, so... you've read all that? Here's how you join:

Join it!

If that doesn't work, check this out:

Group ID: 28242

Password: quackquackquack

DEADLINE: There's a hard deadline of Saturday, September December 18th at 11:00 AM PST. That's the start time of the first bowl game. To ensure that the last place "winner" does not actually attempt to "win" on purpose, everyone participating must make a pick for each game in order to qualify.