Just received an update from the tech team, and a fix for the problems with display in IE8 are among their highest priorities.
For those of you experiencing an ugly site because you are forced to use IE 8 at work, you might want to try your smartphone. It gives a very nice rendition of the page. Comments and such will work fine, but the site will just not display as intended.
If you run across more problems, you can send them straight in using support@sbnation.com. Try to be as specific as possible.