Ever since I started SCU about two years ago, I have always touted the community we have built as the reason why blogs are so important to the hobby. Now is our chance to show our chops and really give the world outside our network a view of what we are all about.

Last year, after thinking of ways to bolster the blogger network, I settled upon the Blog Bat Around, or a singular topic weighed in upon by everyone who wanted a shot at it. No limits, no scruitny, no reason not to participate. After a handful of them were done on multiple sites, it kind of died off due to a lack of direction. Now that baseball season is in full swing and blogs are receiving more attention than ever, I think its time to try it again.

The way it works is I will post the topic below and you will have a specific time frame to post your response. After the deadline, pending any acts of god, I will compile the links, do short writeups on all of them and post them on this site for everyone to click on. If you want your article included, all you have to do is comment with the link or send me an email with it.

Here are the rules if you havent seen this before:

-This is an open forum, anyone may participate at any time. I will not discriminate, nor will I leave you out if we dont agree. If you use your post as a personal attack against me or any of the other bloggers, I will not include it.

-Please make your article at least semi-relevant to the topic. You can be as creative as you want, but keep the general topic in mind. If its about Book Value, you can go on a relevant Beckett rant, but dont do a product review of Topps Heritage, or something similar.

-Keep your article PG or PG-13, as I want the most people to be involved.

– Please give your article a title, and make it easy to find when you give me the link. If you want your full name included and not just your blog title, put it in there somewhere.

– Give us something to read, so dont give me 2 sentences and call it a day. Make this a normal post, as you would want your readers to see it as a normal part of your blog.

– You do not have to include the topic in your post.

– Please comment somewhere on the site or email me the link to your article with any special instructions.

– I will not search out links, so if you want it included, it is your responsibility to get it to me. Comments on the bat around post make it easiest for me to compile – FYI.

Deadline:

You will have one week to post your response, and comment with the link or email it. This means on Sunday the 18th at midnight, I need to have it for the article to be included in the first post. I will add yours if you do it late or forget, but it will go at the bottom.

Topic:

The Ultimate Shopping Spree – after some discussion on Twitter, it seems as though people want a go at this topic.

Here is what we are going with:

Remember those days on Nickelodeon where they would hold contests for their version of a kids’ ultimate shopping spree? They would let the winner loose in a Toys R Us for however long and let them keep what they could fit in the cart, right? Well, if you were given $50,000 and 15 minutes on ebay, what cards/memorabilia would you buy with the money? Break it down card by card, and give us a price and a reason for what you are buying. Not everyone would go out there and buy a Joe Jackson cracker jack, but some people would. So, with that, what would you spend the mother lode on? Happy buying.

Have fun with this one guys, Im expecting some great stuff across the card blogger network over the next week. If you have any questions, shoot me a line or ask one of the bloggers who has been around for a long time. Hopefully we can have a huge amount of participation, and in the meantime show how the blogs have become the new number one source for hobby info and commentary.