Instead of doing the same ol' link dump, today we're going to mix things up. It's not because there aren't good articles out there today (e.g. this piece on ERA estimators is quite good), or that there's a lack of news (Roy Oswalt is going to announce something today). Instead, we're going in a different direction this morning because sometimes, you just have to stop and appreciate fine art.

By now, you've likely already seen the fabulous Zim Bear. It's the give-away promotion that's taking the world by storm. Bloggers are calling it the scariest thing ever, and even opposing managers are calling Don Zimmer to have a laugh. It's gold, Jerry, gold.

How can we let something this brilliant slip us by? We can't. So I'm kicking off our first contest of the new year: The Zim Bear Photoshop Extravaganza. 'Shop or otherwise somehow insert Zim Bear into any photo or picture of your choice (within the site guidelines), throw it in the comments below, and we'll select a winner sometime later on this week. I'm not entirely sure what the prize will be yet, but I think a $25 MLB.com gift card sounds about right.

Without further ado, I give you the first entry in the contest below, courtesy of Sandy Kazmir:

Sandy Kaz also provided us with some cutouts of the Zim Bear to use in photoshop, and you can find those below the jump.

Now have at it!