Just a quick note to let you know that we changed two things with the site last week. The first, as I'm sure you've seen, added a Hot Topics section to the blog home page. This will now show you the most popular topics in the last 24 hours. The second feature we launched will remove comment contributions by the blog's author when calculating popular posts. So a blogger can't comment a whole bunch of times on his own post to get ranked in the popular posts list on the front page. More coming soon! Kareem

Tonight, thanks to your input, we're launching some new FOX Sports blogs features (and we've got more coming soon). Specifically, here's what's new:

• New Blog Directory. We've changed the blog directory around a bit. We've added a Tag Cloud, so you can see which topics are so hot right now, and you can easily access posts about teams you want to read about. If you prefer the old blog directory, you'll still be able to access the old-school page by clicking the "Browse All Recent Posts" links under the...
• Search Box. You can now search posts by category using the new search box on the blog directory page. You can't (yet) do a full-text search, but that's in the works.
• Avatars. You can now upload a picture as a virtual representative of yourself. It will show up on your blog and whenever you comment on somebody else's blog. Please keep 'em clean!
• Official FOXBlog box. We're going to use the FOXBlog to provide you with updates, get more good feedback from you, and point out interesting posts in the FOX blogs world. So we thought it would make sense to devote a place for the FOX Blog on the blog directory page.
• Category pages. We listened to you, and got rid of the full posts on the category pages (to see an example of a category page, here's here's the MLB page). This means that it will be easier to find good posts quicker.

That's it! Here's an example of what the page will look like (click for full-size): Please let us know what you think, and know that there's much more on the way! Kareem

A tag cloud is a visual depiction of content categories used on FOX Sports blogs. Categories that are more frequently used appear more orangey and in a larger font than ones that are used less frequently. The teams in each section on FOX Sports are displayed in alphabetical order, which means that you can find teams alphabetically and by popularity. Here's what a FOX Sports tagcloud looks like: In the above tag cloud, the Kings have been written about a ton, and the Suns, well, not so much.

We've had two FOXSports writers covering the Super Bowl--Adam Schein and Peter Schrager. They've got some really good behind-the-scenes stories from their time in Detroit. Here's a great story from a party that Schrager was at:

Highlight of the night came toward the end. Someone came up to me with what I thought was some major league dirt. "Yo, that's Bryce Fisher of the Seahawks." In my head, I'm thinking that I may have to break the "Eugene Robinson" story of Super Bowl XL. I was upset to hear the news. Holmgren's had these guys do disciplined all week, what a shame this would be. And from what I gathered, Fisher was one of the good guys of the league. I checked it out. Over on the side was a guy 180 pounds tops, sipping on a bottle of water. Hmm ... Bryce Fisher, eh? I found it odd for three reasons. A) It was the night before the Super Bowl and he had a game the next morning; B) the guy looked 40-years-old. Bryce Fisher is 29; C) Faux-Fisher was 200 pounds max. I've met Bryce Fisher. He's a 272-pound defensive end. The whole thing was weird. Sure enough, the guy was shaking hands, being told "Good luck," and using words like "focused" to describe his mindset. Chris Hetherington Then it all hit the fan. I'd been talking to San Francisco 49ers fullback Chris Hetherington for the greater part of the evening. Hetherington's one of the cooler guys in the NFL. He went to Yale, has played on a myriad of teams, and has seen it all. He also looks like a cross between Hulk Hogan and Chris Jericho. The two of us were talking about Connecticut high school football for about five minutes, when a young man in a suit interrupted us. Suit: "Chris, meet Bryce Fisher." Hetherington: "Huh?" Fake Bryce Fisher: "What's up man." Hetherington: "You want me to embarrass you, man?" Fake Bryce Fisher: (Stepping back) "Okay ..." Hetherington: "Get out of here." Hetherington turns to me, "Bryce Fisher and I were teammates in St. Louis. He lived on my couch for two weeks. That's not Bryce Fisher."

And here's Another great story from watching a Cold Pizza taping:

I entered the building during a "Cold Pizza" segment where producers encouraged fans to cheer loudly after host Dana Jacobsen and Matt Leinart did some sort of box step dance. I stuck around and watched the piece. At the very end of it, I witnessed this exchange: Jacobsen (to Leinart): "If you've ever watched this show, you know I'm a terrible dancer." Random Steelers Fan in a Tommy Maddox jersey, mullet, and mustache behind me at the top of his lungs: "Don't worry honey -- no one's ever (expletive) watched this (expletive) show!"

You can read all about their adventures on Schein's blog, and on Schrager's blog. Do you guys have any good Super Bowl stories to share?

Hey gang... we're knee-deep in building out some cool new features for y'all that we think you'll really like. We wanted to get your input, though, because we definitely don't have all the answers. So, if you've ever thought "if only I could do [this]" on FOXSports blogs, now's your opportunity to let us know! There are two ways to do this. You can leave your thoughts in the comments, or you can post it on your blog (asking YOUR readers for their thoughts, too) and categorize the post under "FeatureRequest" (with no spaces). We can't guarantee that we'll implement everything that comes up, but you'll have an impact on where this product goes, and you'll be making the product better for YOU, the community. Thanks, and we're all excited about hearing your ideas to make this a better product! Kareem