Hey everyone,

So Bleacher Report’s founding team was recently named as one of 25 finalists in BusinessWeek’s America’s Best Young Entrepreneurs for 2008.

Our loyal Creatures have done so much for us that it seems absurd to ask for yet another favor, but we’re hoping that you guys might be able to put aside your B/R addictions for two minutes and vote for us.

Winning this thing would be a huge victory for Bleacher Report, and help to further solidify its rightful place in the world of mainstream sports media.  This is definitely not the way we prefer to attract attention—but if it helps the sports media establishment notice our talented writers and thoughtful fan-analysts, we’ll take it.

Some thanks are clearly in order here, given that the feature only mentions four people and that none of this would be possible without the help of many, many more.

Major props to Ryan Alberti, for establishing Bleacher Report’s high quality standards for content early on in the game and overseeing the site’s editorial process as we’ve grown into an article publishing powerhouse the likes of which the world has never seen.

Many thanks as well to our genius web engineers—Axel, Tung, Tyler, and William—for enabling us to turn an idealistic vision into a live website read by millions of people every day.

Shout outs to Trey Bradley and Mike Eagan for helping to develop the Bleacher Report concept in its early stages, and to Aron Glatzer, Jay Middleton, Gracie Leavitt, Emily Fowler, Quinn Slack, Shaun Andrews, and the rest of the hands we’ve brought along since to take us to the top.

To all the Moms and Dads, your support and advice was invaluable.  And thanks for letting us live at home while we bootstrapped this thing.

And of course…a very special thanks to all of you, our dedicated Community.  It’s been a pleasure serving you and we are thrilled to continue working together at making Bleacher Report a household name and revolutionizing the nature of online sports media.

Lastly, I’d like to thank God…and this Bud Light I’m sipping on right now.

Alright, alright, enough—we haven’t even won yet!  Go vote guys!

Bleacher Report writers, if you’ve ever doubted the premise of this site, namely that you—the educated, passionate fan—can produce better content than the average journalist, look no further than this recent article on ESPN.com.

I am not familiar with the author, Graham Watson, and my intention is not to disparage her work. In fact, I would much prefer to recognize a positive example than criticize someone’s shortcoming.

However, after reading her recent piece “Notre Dame looking to turn the corner after disappointing 2007 campaign,” I was so disappointed, I felt like turning the corner… and marching back to Bleacher Report.

Her article is well-researched and factually accurate—but sorely lacking analysis or opinion. I already read the Blue Ribbon preview on Notre Dame. I don’t need another recap of last year’s statistics, this year’s schedule, and interviews given at last Friday’s media day, all of which have been available for free at und.com for more than a week.

Unfortunately, there was quite literally nothing in the piece that led me to believe her press credential had provided any insight into Notre Dame Football. In fact, several B/R writers have written more compelling articles about the Irish in recent weeks—without access to Charlie Weis and his players.

What does all this mean for you—the Bleacher Report writer?

First, there are readers who are hungry for content about their favorite team—in my case, Notre Dame. Second, primary sources like an athletic department website provide all the data, reports and interviews you need to stay informed. Definitely use those resources to form the foundation of your article. But understand that information is just as readily available to us as readers.

What we want is for you to interpret, analyze and offer your opinion—Bleacher Report gives you that platform. Please take full advantage… unless you’re a USC fan.

his week a couple more Bleacher Report writers hit the airwaves to talk sports, and we’ve got the audio here to share with the rest of the Bleacher Creature community.Yesterday, Boston sports fan-expert Stew Winkel chatted live with Dave Dameshek on the Dave Dameshek Show on ESPN Radio 710 Los Angeles. Stew provided commentary on his editorial “Patriots Fans: Don’t Take Sides Against The Family Again—Ever”, in which he called the Sports Guy Bill Simmons to task for his comments about the Patriots on a previous airing of the Dameshek show.

Press play to listen to Stew’s complete interview:

boomp3.com

The previous day, ESPN Radio Marylan’s Shan Shariff had Bleacher Report and MentalGolfGuru.com golf writer Jeremy Scott on the air to discuss his article “Breaking News: John Daly Would Rather Get Drunk Than Play Golf,” which really struck a chord with golf fans and drinkers alike after being published on Wednesday.

To listen to Jeremy’s full appearance, press play:

boomp3.com

On the heels of Bleacher Report’s official launch last week, plenty of media outlets big and small picked up on the story and covered the launch, the site, and the concept.

Press covering the story ranged from tech-heavy blogs to financial publications to sports sites, and they all agreed on one thing:

There is something seriously cool going on at Bleacher Report, and it’s all about the multitude of writers who make the network their home for creating and debating sports analysis.

Press coverage and publicity are a good thing and we welcome it with open arms, but we also realize that the media is just now catching on to something that’s been apparent for a while—that sports fans can and should be qualified as experts in their field, and all they need is the right platform for their voices to be heard.

We’re grateful to the hundreds of writers who have chosen Bleacher Report as their platform, and are working night and day to continue improving the quality of the Bleacher Report experience.

That said, head on over to our Press Room for a sampling of the generous coverage of Bleacher Report’s launch. We’ll be updating this regularly as more media outlets pick up on the Open Source Sports Network.

Stay tuned here to the BR Blog for further announcements about the next stage in Bleacher Report’s evolution.