Here is the first assignment for our finalists:

Preview a game of your choice.

Which game to choose? It's totally up to the finalists: NFL playoff game, Rose Bowl, NBA matchup, college basketball game ... you name it.

The format? Also completely up to the finalists: A straight game preview, a prediction-based piece, an evaluation of the matchups, the key story lines, a little bit of everything ... it's all up to the authors.

These assignments are intentionally open-ended, giving the finalists plenty of freedom to write them however they think will work best.

Deadline? Pieces must be posted on finalists' own blog no later than 9 a.m. PT/Noon ET this Thursday. (Note: This is a slight extension from the first deadline).

Length? If you want a guideline, maybe shoot for about 750-800 words. But that's not a hard requirement at all. 500 words might work well, as could 1,200. But for someone who really isn't sure what to aim for, 750-800 words should  be sufficient.

Couple other quick answers:

What's the purpose of this assignment? The assignments are meant to provide some common ground for comparison purposes. This way, all of the finalists will have something that has a similar theme, even if they take very different approaches to it.

Can the finalists write additional pieces? Most definitely. The finalists can write as much as they want, but the assignments ensure they will at least all have one comparable piece on which to base votes from round to round.

What do the judges do now? We will be evaluating the finalists' work on the first assignment and providing some comments later this week, but besides that, we will not have any influence on who makes it to the next round.

Good luck to our 16 finalists.

-Tom