The main difference I want to reiterate is this:
The following works (whereas the one I provided before doesn't):
<!-- Start center-center blocks loop -->
<{foreach item=block from=$xoops_ccblocks}>
<div style="padding: 5px;">
<div class="blockTitle">
<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td width="101" height="37" style="background-image: url([color=0000FF]http://www.mysite.com/xoops/themes/mytheme/Big_Story_image1.gif[/color]); background-repeat: no-repeat;"> </td>
<td height="37" style="background-image: url([color=0000FF]http://www.mysite.com/xoops/themes/mytheme/Big_Story_image2.gif[/color]); background-repeat: repeat-x;"> </td>
<td width="114" height="37" style="background-image: url([color=0000FF]http://www.mysite.com/xoops/themes/mytheme/Big_Story_image3.gif[/color]); background-repeat: no-repeat;"> </td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<div class="blockContent"><{$block.content}></div>
</div>
<{/foreach}>
<!-- End center-center blocks loop -->