I've read through most of the comments here and I truly appreciate the feedback - positive or otherwise. I'll address some concerns as best I can.
Regarding the layout - it is absolutely a preference thing - some folks like the magazine layout and some prefer the old school blog format.
I completely disagree with the comments that this version is unorganized or sloppy or whatever. This project was thoroughly researched, tested, designed, and professionally implemented with amazing quality control. I'm extremely impressed with the seamless conversion and the quality of SBN's work.
Speaking of SBN, they are in fact a company looking to make money. Shocking, I know. But to attain that goal, they need to please their customers - ie you. They didn't make this change cavalierly. This is a company of bloggers who do blogging all day long and they get the sports blogging community. They know their customers and they better - because traffic = ad revenue. They wouldn't mess with a model if they weren't very confident that this was the right direction to take the community.
It will take some getting used to. I will tell you honestly that the first few times I looked at "the cover" at the top of the page, I didn't like it at all. However, the more I worked with it and got accustomed to it, the more I started liking it. Now I love it and I love the way it looks and draws the eye.
It is designed to be more mobile friendly and I'm fully on board with that as well. We're becoming more mobile as a society and accessibility is key.
With all of that said, I'm fully aware that some of you will never get used to it and will always dislike the format. For that I'm truly sorry and I don't know what to tell you other than to promise that I'll keep trying to improve my writing and I'll keep trying to manage the blog to the best of my ability so that you will continue to come to the blog in spite of the format you may not like.
I thank you all for being part of this community and for your continued support.
Last note: If you want to report any bugs or make suggestions or even give feedback, feel free to email support@sbnation.com - though I would encourage you to read the FAQ's here first:
http://www.celticsblog.com/2012/9/24/3394219/welcome-to-sb-nation-unitedthanks again everyone
your humble blogger