The Bad Baseball Card Tournament: Sweet 16

Last week, we all learned a little something about baseball cards and ourselves, as we whiled way a dead week in January debating the aesthetic merits of forgotten, worthless baseball cards. This week, we'll go from 16 down to 1. You can play along, and wager your children's college funds, with this handy printable bracket (click to download as .pdf):

As always, you're voting for the card (not the player) you find least attractive. The winning card will be framed and hung on the wall of Scott Weber's office for one calendar year, so a lot is at stake. Here's how the schedule for the rest of the tournament will lay out, for those of you making other plans:

Hopefully after that, the Mariners will sign Endy Chavez or James Jones will proclaim that he'll steal 40 bases or Zduriencik will have left a message on the voicemail of James Shields's agent, and we'll have something to talk about. In the meantime: here we go. This is where the going gets tough, for a very specific definition of "the going".

#1: 1996 Metal Universe vs. #4: 1992 Topps Kids

#3: 1997 Circa vs. #2: 1995 Fleer

#8: 1990 Topps vs. #4: 1981 Donruss

#6: 1986 Sportflics vs. #2: 1991 Fleer

Check back tomorrow, which will be similar to today. For you. Your life, I mean. Your life is pretty much the exact same every day, when you think about it.