KidVid Tournament 2011: The Brackets!

You already know about my favorite kids music videos of the year. This past weekend many of you headed over to the Saturday Morning Cereal Bowl to vote on your favorites from that list. (Thanks, Dave! And thanks Jeff for the swanky logo.)

Combining my original, partially-ranked list with the rankings from the poll, I now have the brackets for KidVid Tournament 2011. It was a little difficult trying to merge the two and honor the high-ranked entries in each -- I visualize Salteens sitting in front of their monitor, stunned, while Jim Nantz interviews the lead singer who says that he just can't understand how the Tournament Committee overlooked them. (Also note: I excluded Secret Agent 23 Skidoo from the beginning because he won a couple years ago, and I exempt prior winners for a number of years.).

I've got 16 great kids music videos, ready to compete against each other in a friendly single-elimination tournament, with readers picking the winners in each round. The tournament starts Friday, but here's the entire bracket...

Ella Jenkins Region
John Upchurch & Mark Greenberg, "A Counting Error" (1) vs. Sugar Free Allstars, "Cars and Trucks" (4)
The Not-Its!, "Green Light, Go!" (2) vs. Essie Jain, "What a Big Wide World" (3)

Pete Seeger Region
Keller Williams, "Hula Hoop To Da Loop" (1) vs. Justin Roberts, "Obsessed by Trucks" (4)
Recess Monkey, "Black Hole in My Room" (2) vs. Jamie Broza, "Waters of March" (3)

Leadbelly Region
Caspar Babypants, "$9.99" (1) vs. The Verve Pipe, "When One Became Two" (4)
Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke, "Big Pet Pig" (2) vs. Holly Throsby, "Fish and Mice" (3)

Woody Guthrie Region
The Bazillions, "Preposition" (1) vs. Coal Train Railroad (and Readeez), "Just the Juice, Jack" (4)
Debbie and Friends, "Cinderella" (2) vs. Billy Kelly, "The Sky Floats (and So Do Boats)" (3)

Now, as I mentioned before, some of my friends around the kids music world will be hosting the first and second round matchups. Here's the schedule of when you'll want to check out their sites for the first round. I mean, you should be doing so, regularly, but still.

Out With the Kids: Friday, 3/18
Ages 3 and Up!: Saturday, 3/19
Gooney Bird Kids: Monday, 3/21
Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child: Tuesday, 3/22

As for which matchups will be featured on each site on each day, well, for that, you'll just have to tune in.