Never had this level of growth. Never offered anything close to this level of a product.
Never sit still.
One thing Eddie Provident and I do a lot -- and I mean a lot -- at our Downtown HQ/shop is to plot and plan. We'll do it at the big table in the back. We'll do it on a walk to the Market Street Grocery between bites of the phenomenal reuben. We'll do it much later in the evening by text or phone. And the only rule: No idea's a bad one, certainly not at any natal stage.
Why not expand our college coverage to the extent that all our schools will soon have optional buttons out front on the app?
Check. That's doable.
Why not make that app all-encompassing so it's a true one-stop shop for all scores, all boxes, all stats?
Sooner rather than later.
But even those aren't what I'm talking about. It's the bigger, broader, almost-insane-sounding stuff that's the most fun and that really gets the juices flowing. And to offer just a couple examples in that category ...
Why not do a full-blown, live, call-in talk show?
The days are way behind us when terrestrial radio holds some grip over the technology, the talent, the advertising, the revenue or anything. If we're able to craft everything we need -- and Eddie's as resourceful as they come -- there's nothing but an imaginary ceiling stopping us from aiming every bit as high. And the more one learns about the unending illusion of TV/radio ratings, still based on a ridiculous system of stuffing boxes in a handful of homes, the more one learns how much web-based broadcasts are either rivaling or surpassing the old kind.
What about web-based postgame shows, when everyone's at their most emotional?
And hey, if it's feasible with audio, then why not video?
Terrestrial/cable TV's no different than radio in fading fast, both in relevance and financially, whereas web-based video is exploding by every real measure available to it. Trust me that it's no longer surprising when Ramon Foster and I are fielding viewer questions from all over the country but also all over the world. That's what happens when there are no borders, no cable-service boundaries or antenna ranges. Everything's within reach.
I was told in 2014 this venture could never challenge newspapers, right?
See what I mean?
Stay tuned, so to speak.
Oh, and if you've got any ideas in this spirit, let's hear 'em. Can put it here in comments or come on down and share them with me and Eddie.
ACTUAL VACATION!
For the first time in this site's history, I'm taking an honest-to-gosh vacation of my own. It'll begin this coming Friday, it'll be overseas -- Serbia and England -- with my son, Marko, and I'm already under orders to do zero work in the week we're over there. Like, for real, no columns, no podcasts, no nothing related to this company. For an entire week.
Once in a lifetime. Really looking forward to it, both of us.
INSIDE THE WORKS
• Before taking flight, I'll cover the Pirates-Phillies tomorrow at PNC Park and make one more drive out to Latrobe.
• Pitt and Penn State football training camps both open Monday, and we'll be all over both, with Corey Crisan on the South Side, Cory Giger in University Park. To keep repeating this, we'll cover these like never before.
• More in-depth content's coming. It'll be internal. It won't disappoint.
• Yes, to those who've been kind enough to ask, we'll start up the annual military drive soon, possibly beginning next Saturday.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our page views for the past week were 404,765. Our most-read original piece was my column from PNC Park on the Pirates' management, at 10,848. Broken down by team traffic, articles on the Pirates brought 18.6% of our readership, the Steelers 16.5%, the Penguins 10.2%, Penn State 2.3%, and Pitt 1.7%.
• Our podcast downloads for the past week were 233,557.
• Our YouTube video views for the past week were 104,499.
• Our company social media accounts are at 46,075 followers on Twitter, 37,752 on Facebook, 14,555 on Instagram, 15,211 on YouTube.
• We make mistakes. If you see one, email: Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Anything you need, including lost/forgotten passwords, email: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Thanks for reading this feature. It's never stopped being crazy to me that anyone does.
• I'll be at the HQ/shop all day today! Stop by!