I'm as crushed as I imagine you all are because of the Spurs' lackluster play in the last few games. Regardless, games are won and lost - but this blog is a project that's built to last. So let's ignore our woes for a while and learn about the cool new features recently added.

Things are happening in SB Nation. Reading Mr. Pappagiorgio's explanations at Welcome to Loud City I learned about the new improvements and upgrades we are now able to enjoy at Pounding the Rock, and thought it merited a post of its own. I'll be posting a guide soon to try to teach new members how to use these and the classic tools in their fanposts.

More about the new features, after the jump:

Upgrade 1 - Integrated Photos:

The SBNation has acquired a license agreement for us to use AP and Getty images in all of our posts from here on out. You can see in this article an image I chose up as an example of what you will be able to see in the future. From that photo, you are just a click away from viewing more AP and Getty images related to the article. This allows us to use game photos without worrying about copyright infringement. (Not that the couldn't sue me for the black hole drawing I used for the game preview, but hey.)

Upgrade 2 - Team Pages:

This is the most interesting new feature. You can see the Spurs' new page by clicking on "Spurs" in the links bar at the top of the page, just below our main header advertisement. Alternatively, you can click on THIS LINK, just to make your life easier this time around. The page will show any and all posts submitted for publication in the SB Nation blogs that were tagged as related to the San Antonio Spurs. As such it's not actually part of Pounding the Rock but rather part of the SB Nation main site, so it can pull articles from multiple places to give you one hub for all your team news. This shows the importance of properly tagging your fanposts and fanshots.

Update 3 - Player Pages:

This feature is very much like the one above, except instead of the page being based on the team, it's centered around players, with each one having his own page. You can check out Manu Ginobili's page by clicking on THIS LINK. If you want to see the non-Manu's pages, you can find them by clicking on "Roster" on the links bar I mentioned before. Articles and posts tagged with that player's name will show in his respective page - so again, tagging your posts properly is mandatory if this is to work.

Upgrade 4 - Game Coverage Page:

Either on the infamous links bar at the top of this page or on the "Team Page", clicking on "Schedule" and then selecting "Coverage" for any given game listed on the schedule will take you to a new page that contains the game previews, recaps and articles related to it. There's also a box score and game stats, for people who believe in them (not me).

So there you go. We have new toys. Now go play with them.