Liz Clarke of the WASHINGTON POST has a piece Sunday on the influence of sports blogs on fans, noting that “in the arena of sports, the arbiter of what matters is increasingly shifting from the mainstream media to the freewheeling realm of the blogosphere, where impassioned fans opine about the playing field’s heroes, villains and controversies of the day.”

Kathleen Hessert of Sports Media Challenge, a Charlotte-based marketing company, tells the WP that, “More and more, the fans are setting the agenda now. They’re rattling the cages and saying, ‘Hey, I have as much to say about this — and have as much invested in my sport — as any media person. And my opinion is just as valid as the mainstream media’s.’”

Clarke adds that Hessert’s company “keys on the 10 or 15 most influential sports blogs, whose membership shifts but typically includes such powerhouses as Deadspin and SportsbyBrooks, and produces a list of the five biggest topics each week.”

We’re thrilled to be mentioned by the Washington Post and in the company of Deadspin, but we know we don’t deserve such profound accolades.

If we had any influence, Joe Theismann would be hosting SportsCenter every night, Brady Quinn would have Myspace, the Pittsburgh Steelers would get the credit they so richly deserve for the marketing masterstroke that is Steely McBeam, and Colin “Shrutebag” Cowherd would finally embrace his inner woman:

SbB is now hiring people professionally proficient in the following areas.

• Sportswriters
• Graphic Design
• CSS
• PHP
• WordPress
• Photoshop
• Access to Joe Paterno game-used colostomy bags

Skill level, enthusiasm, and ability to work on deadline is more important than professional experience (and those rumors of you having to be a Winnipeg Blue Bombers fan … not true). So if you’re interested in working with a sports blog that is now nearly as big as Mark Mangino’s pancreas, email a résumé and examples of relevant past work to us.

Well it looks like the worst is behind us as far as the changeover to the new site design. Thanks to everyone sending us feedback on the new site.

Feel free to continue to email us on site issues, questions, comments and the inevitable complaints. Things from here on out are back to normal. Our front page posts and SbB Girls photos will be updated every day (including weekends) at the beginning of next month.

We will be posting intermittently throughout the next week or so, mainly to try to get this Word Press thing down. We will also be turning comments on for our posts beginning next month as well, but want to get a handle on how all that works first.