"You know those NFL Draft Diaries they'll have athletes write leading up to the NFL Draft? Well, since I'll never be an athlete, but my sports blog The Futon Report is in a tournament (the Ladies... Hot Blogger Bracket), I'll instead chronicle the events leading up to the tournament and how it's affected my life. And as long as I remain alive, I'll care."

(Read Day 1 of the Diary)

We're two days through open voting on the Ladies... Hottest Sports Blogger tournament, and the first round has only one more day to go. And now, for reasons that I've completely forgotten, I have a burning desire to keep at it and win this thing.

That first day of voting was rather rough on me. My first round opponent, Pittsburgh Sports and Mini Ponies, took an almost 2-to-1 voting advantage into Thursday morning. At times like this, it's easy to complain and scoff about the seeding, but you have to stay a true competitor and tough it out. So after a couple posts and comments rallying my loyal fans and promoting the cause, PS&MP's lead decreased. I jumped 11 percentage points in 24 hours! But I am still down by about 130 votes.

Wednesday night I had trouble sleeping, so I got up and ran on the treadmill for about 20 minutes. Exercise is always a good way to vent some frustration and learn to think well under duress. It helped me think about things game plans. I saw some of the other bloggers in the training room as well. Some were lifting weights. You could tell they were also losing.

One of the obstacles I've had to overcome was favoritism by the bracketeers who set this whole thing up. One-fourth of the Ladies... collective — Holly and TheStarterWife — right out of the gates squeed over the concept of mini ponies. Again, it's not worth it to pull a Mark Cuban and say that the tournament is rigged. Rather, it's up to me, the contestant, to work within the system and see what advantages I can gain over my formidable opponent. I've worked and blogged all year for a shot at glory, and I'm not about to throw it away and let my emotions get the best of me.

Thursday was spent campaigning for more votes and eating. You have to eat during this tournament. I had my favorites Thursday: pizza and sandwiches. And that new Diet Caramel Pepsi.

The first round comes to a close Friday night at 10 p.m. eastern. I don't know if I can come back from the current triple-digit deficit, but it doesn't mean you don't try to win. Although I'm not sure exactly what I win if I do. They didn't really clarify that.