Goodbye 2008, hello contest

A big thank you to everyone who voted for the "best card set" and "worst card set" of 2008. As you can see by the results, there is little question about what people thought was the best and the worst of the past year. At least among people who visit this blog anyway.

Topps Allen & Ginter was the best card set by such a wide margin that not only did it win "best set" by 13 votes over its closest competitor, but it was the only set listed that was not voted the "worst set" of 2008. I have to say I agree. If you're collecting and you hate Allen & Ginter, I really have no idea what your collecting motives are.

Upper Deck X was picked as the "worst set" of 2008, also by a wide margin, 14 votes more than the "next worst," Upper Deck Spectrum (Upper Deck has a number of pointless brands out there. Personally, I'd throw Artifacts in there, too, and SP Authentic). I noted that not as many people voted in the "worst" category. Some collectors just love them all, I guess!

As a thank you for voting -- and for reading these last three-plus months -- I have purchased some plain old 2008 packs. Back in early November, I noticed my local store had just about every brand available. So for the next eight weeks or so, I made sure to buy a different brand each time. I tried to get as many brands as possible. Unfortunately, I struck out on Allen & Ginter (the blasters were there for a week and then everything disappeared) and a couple of others.

But I did track down a variety. Over the few remaining days of 2008, I'm going to feature some of the cards that I bought. I'm hoping it will be a pretty accurate microcosm of what was available to collectors in 2008, at least from a retail perspective.

Then, I'm going to give away the cards. All 120 of them. You may be sick of 2008 cards by now. But that's OK, you don't have to enter. If no one enters, I just keep the cards! But really, I want to give them away.

Here is how to enter. You will note that all of the packs and the cards I have purchased are listed along the sidebar, under the title "Win These Packs!" To enter, you must leave a comment on this post (or any of the other year-end posts here leading up to Jan. 1), in which you guess the card that I pulled FIRST from each pack. So, for example, you'd say:

"Bowman Chrome: Meche; Topps Chrome: Hudson, etc."

The entrant who guesses the most "first cards" correctly wins all the cards (plus I'll find something else to send you, too).

As a tie-breaker, also guess which pack I purchased first. The person who guesses closest wins the tie-breaker. As a second tie-breaker, guess which pack I purchased last.

I hope that's not too confusing. To repeat, first, guess the first card pulled from each pack, then guess the first pack I bought, then guess the last pack I bought.

Like I said, I'll be featuring some of these cards over the next few days, so you'll get a glimpse of what you might win. I hope this helps you enjoy the holiday festivities a little more.