Still searching for that perfect gift for the Pittsburgh sports fan in your life?
Welcome to our 2021 Christmas shopping guide that, for the first time, covers anything the Steelers, Penguins, Pirates or college fan in your life could want, cut up into the following three categories:
1. GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS!
This once was all we offered, and it's still our mainstay. Buy a full year of DK Pittsburgh Sports for half-price -- $19.99 -- and have it available to give to them whenever you're ready. Including via email, if that's your preference. We've made this process more convenient than ever.
• To buy one gift subscription, tap here
• To buy more than one, email me directly
2. OUR NEW MERCHANDISE!
Two weeks ago, we introduced our online-only DKPS Shop, and we're happy to say we've had 92 orders already! We've sold hoodies, T-shirts, mugs, stickers, the accompanying gift cards for the Shop, really a representative sampling of everything that's in stock, with these being the top three:
1. Blue DKPS hoodies
2. Ceramic DKPS mugs
3. Blue DKPS T-shirts
Oh, also, all of this comes with free shipping! And, for orders over $75, a free Lunatic Brick!
3. OFFICIAL TEAM GEAR!
On top of what's above, we've reconnected with our partners at Fanatics to offer ... absolutely everything else!
Any and all officially licensed merchandise related to the Steelers, Penguins, Pirates, Pitt and Penn State -- jerseys, caps, keychains, tons more -- all of it's at hand through the nation's No. 1 outlet. That's the part of this that's just limitless. I'm not even scratching the surface of what's there.
Also, know that Fanatics concedes 10% of any sale to DK Pittsburgh Sports, so it's a way to support our site, as well. So far: 21 orders!
• To shop Steelers, tap here
• To shop Penguins, tap here
• To shop Pirates, tap here
• To shop Pitt, tap here
• To shop Penn State, tap here
• To shop everything else, tap here
We'll keep everyone apprised of how all these are going, as this is just as big a time of year for us as it is for most businesses. Especially when it comes to subscription revenue. Always has been.
Thanks to those who've already bought stuff!
UPCOMING EDITORIAL PLANS
We go where the stories are:
• We'll be sending Chris Carter to cover Pitt football's upcoming bowl game, Dec. 30 in Atlanta, marking another exception when it comes to traveling for colleges. For anyone who missed it or who's new here, we'd announced last summer that we wouldn't be traveling for colleges in the 2021-22 school year, but these Panthers have done some exceptional things themselves, and we're reacting accordingly.
• Taylor Haase will fly out to cover the NHL All-Star Game, Feb. 5, 2022, in Las Vegas.
• Dale Lolley's booking a trip to college football's Senior Bowl, Feb. 5, 2022, in Mobile, Ala., to get a firsthand look at a sizable portion of the next NFL Draft class.
• Alex Stumpf's headed back to Bradenton, Fla., yet again -- third time already this offseason -- in January for a more complete camp the Pirates will be conducting for their prospects.
NEW HQ LOCATION FOUND?
We might have found a place for the new bricks-and-mortar headquarters/store we're planning to build in Pittsburgh. More progress on that front this week. Hoping to be able to share something soon, but all I'll say for now is that the location would be a dream come true.
WEEKLY APP TIPS
Ways to make the app experience even better:
• At readers' request, thanks to Adam Bertram and our BoomPress developers, when you navigate back on the app or site, you'll be returned to the same spot on that page. Rather than have to scroll all the way down again. It's a bit bumpy right now, but we'll get there.
• You can add bold-face and italics in your comments. Use whatever keyboard combination you normally would to generate those. On Apple, for example, it's CMD+B for bold, CMD+I for italic.
• On our slide-out menu, you'll see a breakdown under each of Steelers, Penguins and Pirates of how you can proceed immediately to articles, multimedia, standings, statistics and schedules. Far easier access on all fronts.
• Our 'All content' option is back. Go to our menu and tap 'ALL CONTENT' to see literally everything we do in the order it was published. Also, if you open the 'Our regular features' element there, you'll also see a new 'LIVE COVERAGE' button that collects all our live game files.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our page views for the past week were 764,710, down 45.7% from a week ago. Our most-read original piece was my column from Minneapolis on Steelers-Vikings, at 39,072. Broken down by team, articles on the Steelers brought 23.2% of our traffic, the Penguins 21.1%, the Pirates 6.6%, Penn State 6.1%, and Pitt 3.2%.
• Our podcast downloads for the past week were yet another record 251,805, up 33% from a week ago. If it seems like every week's another record, that's because it is. Crazy.
• Our YouTube video views for the past week were 204,748, up 48% from a week ago.
• We're at 42,715 (+83) followers on Twitter, we're at 37,230 (+29) followers on Facebook, we're at 14,555 (-1) followers on Instagram, and we're at 9,373 (+164) followers on YouTube. These figures are just for our official company accounts on each of those platforms, not including any of our individual accounts.
• We make mistakes. If you see one, email: Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Anything you need, including lost/forgotten passwords, email: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Random trivia fun, to be read in an Alex Trebek voice: I asked last week what's our most expensive regular flight -- Ottawa -- and I'll ask this week what's our cheapest. (Hint: It's the cheapest by a mile!)