You can catch Justin’s title game coverage starting this week on Bleacher Report. He will also be reporting from Miami on Wednesday and Thursday, as Florida and Oklahoma battle for college football’s ultimate prize.

We encourage all Bleacher Creatures to post questions, comments and recommendations on Justin’s board. He plans to field and respond to as many “mailbag items” as possible during his stay.

On behalf of our college football community, we wish you good luck and a great trip, Justin! We know you’ll represent us well!

1/6:  Justin’s Weekly Brain Seepage: The National Championship Edition

That’s right: T-Mac’s got a B/R account and has just published his first article where he recalls his favorite sporting moments of 2008.

Don’t believe me?  See for yourself.

I know I can count on all of you to leave T-Mac your feedback and give him a warm Bleacher Report welcome!

Happy holidays everybody.

We communicate with a lot of the writing community directly via email and bulletin boards, but we would like to perform periodic suverys of this nature.

The information provided will  help us figure out how we build new features, and what kind of improvements people would like to see. It is also interesting to learn how writers are finding B/R, and which experiences have mattered the most to them.

It’s no secret that Bleacher Report has given thousands of users a platform to share their views on sports. Many B/R diehards have used the network to jump-start their journalism careers, making the transition from casual fan to amateur sportswriter as they hone their writing skills.  With that in mind, B/R has decided to introduce the B/R Interview Series as a way for our writers to learn from the people who have been there and done that.

In the months ahead, I’ll be conducting weekly interviews with sports media professionals. The goal will be to glean insight from experience: to explore their influences and career arcs, and to learn about the processes that go into their work.  Interviewees will include well-known writers, broadcasters, and executives—all of whom have been able to turn their passion for sports into successful careers in the industry.

I hope that you find the interviews to be both interesting and informative, and feel free to leave any comments and/or criticism both here and on the individual articles themselves.

Enjoy the interviews!

–Max

Here is the latest interview featuring: Brandon Steiner

On Deck:  Buzz Bissinger, Pulitzer Prize winning writer and author of Friday Night Lights…

Past Interviews:

Ted Robinson

LZ Granderson

Jeff Pearlman

Dave Zirin

Today, we are rolling out a new feature that will capture the full power of those images — Slideshows.

Many of you have noticed a few of these Slideshows around the site in recent weeks. This was part of a pilot process to see if readers would take to a new, more visually-focused approach to articles. The response has been strong, and countless members have sent me messages requesting the ability to create them.

With Getty Images fully integrated into our Slideshow creator, we are ready to give it to everyone.

The Bleacher Report community has been thrilled with the continued increase in article quality over the last year, but we also realized that there is a visual aspect to sports that is, well…priceless. Until today, we had not found the right way to combine great writing with amazing photo-journalism.

This week’s tag-team release of Getty Images and Slideshows will be a huge step in that direction.

On November 30, 2008 the regulars at Third and Long Bar in New York City were treated to a level of sports discussion they weren’t normally used to as Bleacher Report writers from around the NYC metropolitan area came together for one of the first B/R Live Community Events.  Members shuffled in and out of Third and Long all Sunday long to catch the NFL games, engage in discussion about their team, and brainstorm about future articles to be written at B/R.

Bleacher Report t-shirts were given out and could be seen sported around the bar and patrons were served drinks with stickers featuring the B/R URL serving as coasters.  All in all the day was a success as Third and Long took on a Bleacher Report theme and writers came together face-to-face in the first of what we hope to be many live events that will further establish the B/R Community across the country.

I’d like to give a shout out to Angel Navedo and Crew for representing the Jets NFL Community, Marc Weisinger & Co. for hosting a rowdy Miami Dolphins gang, and June M. for braving the rainy conditions to cheer on her G-Men!  In addition a special thanks to Bar Manager Curtis Lanton who welcomed Bleacher Report in to Third and Long with open arms.

Here is a link to the pictures from the day: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bleacherreport/

Enjoy the pictures and keep an eye out for future B/R Live Events coming to a city near you!

And Bleacher Report college football writer Justin Goar will be there to take it all in, by virtue of his No. 1 ranking in the final b/rCS Standings.

Goar wrapped up our season-long competition with 464 MyPicks votes, B/R’s metric for article of the day nominations. His “Weekly Brain Seepage” became must-read material for college football fans, and he also utilized collaborative “Creature vs. Creature” pieces to engage members of the community.

Bleacher Report is also proud to recognize the accomplishments of Gray Ghost and college football Community Leader BabyTate, who finished second and third, respectively. Ghost burst onto the scene with his vivid, direct, and personal writing style. BT not only gives rankings a unique spin with his “11 Best 11s,” he also consistently provides feedback and guidance for other writers in our college football section. Each will receive an apparel package for their favorite team.

Honorable mention goes to Brian Scott, Ben Weixlmann, and GeorgiaDawg, permanent fixtures in the college football community. Congratulations to everyone who participated. Thanks for making our section one of the most productive and vibrant B/R has to offer.

Enjoy Bowl Season on Bleacher Report!

Effective immediately, the Open Source Sports Network has partnered with the world’s premier provider of high-quality photographs: Getty Images.

Bleacher Report writers will now have instant access to a massive library of images across every major sport—both American and international—including photos from games that have just concluded.

It is more evident than ever that the editorial content being produced at Bleacher Report is second to none. And by partnering with a major photo provider like Getty Images, we are proud to support the outstanding efforts of our writers.

Before we slice into Thursday’s turducken, I want to give some thanks to another week of outstanding B/R contributions to CBSSports.com and Foxsports.com.

Monday on CBSSports.com: Ryan Williams (MLB), D. Michael Lee (NBA), BabyTate (college football), Michael McNeil (fantasy football, NFL).

Monday on Foxsports.com: Shaun Ahmad (NBA), Erick Blasco (NBA).

Tuesday on CBSSports.com: Josh Nason (MLB), Greg Checki (fantasy hockey), Raider Card Addict (NFL), Jordan Schwartz (NFL).

Tuesday on Foxsports.com: Thomas Halzack (NBA).

Wednesday on CBSSports.com: Lisa Horne (college football), Forrest Kobayashi (fantasy baseball), Brandon Johnson (NBA), Alan Bass (NHL), Ryan Lester (fantasy basketball).

Wednesday on Foxsports.com: Daniel Damico (college basketball), John Lorge (NBA).

Thursday on CBSSports.com: Brett Lissenden (NFL), Danny Penza (NBA), John Baucum (college football), Josh Kyrzakos (fantasy hockey).

Thursday on Foxsports.com: Kelly Crandall, Patti Rodisch, Jen Preston, Mark Eckhart Jr., Mary Jo Buchanan & anybody else I may have missed on a thorough roundtable effort (NASCAR), Jameson Fleming (college basketball), Andrew Ungvari (NBA), Brian Hutchison (NBA rumors).

Friday on CBSSports.com: Sean Crowe (NFL), Hoops4Life (NBA), Bryan Thiel (NHL), Brandon Ribak (fantasy basketball), Nick DeSilvio (Hot Stove-MLB), D Wizzle (MMA).

Friday on Foxsports.com: Matthew Petersen (NBA), Brett Lissenden (college basketball).

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Aron

The new black toolbar at the top of the screen now sports a drop-down of your favorite topics, with the latest articles displayed in whichever way you want to read them (top rated, newest, most read, most commented).

Your favorite articles are now one click away from you at all times.

Additionally, the Bleacher Report team has retired the old “Lineup” page and updated it with a much more organized and snappy design. Once again, users will be able to control how content is displayed.

Finally, observant users may notice a small but important feature we have added to comment threads. Users can now delete their comments, in the event that something goes wrong, or edit them, if the need should present itself.

Look for more changes to come in the weeks ahead, as the Bleacher Report team is eager to distribute some Christmas Presents to our awesome community of users.