I'm flying to Serbia, via London, Monday night. I'll be there a full week, visiting extended family and, ideally, taking a bit of a break from the day-to-day grind on this side of the planet.
When I return, we'll be about a month out from our company's 10th anniversary, July 23, so we're trying to scheme up as much as we can now before I go. And, in understanding that a lot of you've told us you're coming a long way for this, I want to lay out as much as I can today:
• We have a logo! Woo! Dali came up with it over the past couple days, and it'll soon be seen everywhere online, as well as at the celebration!
• The event itself will be held at our HQ/shop -- 224 Fifth Avenue, Downtown -- because of course it will. It's not the biggest space, but Fifth Avenue itself, as well as the broad sidewalk in front of our place and the next-door UFC Gym will offer plenty.
• Rather than have a set specific timeframe, the celebration will last throughout our standard business day at the HQ/shop, meaning from noon to 6 p.m. ... or beyond. That way, we offer as many people as possible a flexible time to pop by on a Tuesday, including those who work Downtown or those who might be headed to the Pirates-Cardinals game across the river later that night. Plus, the more it's spread out, the more time we have to spend with everyone individually.
• There'll be refreshments 'n' at. Still being weighed what that'll entail. (The Boss wants to make sure nobody's putting greasy fingerprints all over her merch!)
• There'll be goodies galore. That means giveaways and, yeah, that'll include that one extra shipment of 3XL Kenny Pickett T-shirts this idiot ordered right before the trade.
• We're making up T-shirts of that logo up there, too. And that'll be available online, as well, for anyone who can't make it.
• We're inviting everyone. The list's long. As we get confirmations, we'll share names, but the bar's high. What can be counted on, obviously: Me, Dali, Dara, our entire full-time staff (although José Negron will have to leave early to cover Pirates pregame sessions), any and all contributors who can make it (I've heard, for example, from the resident madman cartoonist who pledges to be on hand to sign his drawings and books!)
Plan ahead! We want you here!
YES, A REAL VACATION
In Serbia, I'll be about as far from my responsibilities as possible, and that'll mean no writing, no organizing, none of that. I'm undecided on the Daily Shot podcasts, if only because those comprise such a massive percentage of our overall revenue. I'll keep giving that thought.
Regardless, even if I record those over there, the whole process takes only about an hour. No planning, no script, just press the button and blab.
INSIDE THE WORKS
• We made not one but two full-time hires this week, but I'll hold off on announcing either until I'm back.
• Sad to say, Corey Crisan's got to leave us soon. He's done -- and continues to do -- a terrific job on Steelers, Pitt, Duquesne, wherever he's been assigned. I'll let him share his next move, which is closer to family and outside the media industry. Good kid. He'll be missed. (But he'll also be around for the Steelers' minicamp all of the coming week, in a class move to not leave us hanging.)
• Taylor Haase's latest summer travel has her up in Buffalo, N.Y., for the NHL's Scouting Combine. Follow along on the Penguins Feed. Nobody, nobody, nobody covers hockey like we do.
• Those strange-looking miniature commenting balloons were supposed to be adjusted back this week, but that hasn't happened yet. This was an unintended side effect of the effort to ensure our blind subscribers have full access to all content.
• Everyone loving being ad-free? If you're not there yet, it's only for paying subscribers. If you aren't subscribed yet or if your subscription's expired: This is our subscribe page. Make sure you're logged in, tap on the link, and thumb down to the bottom for the SUBSCRIBE button to buy/renew at the monthly or annual level. We also offer discounts, as ever, for student subscriptions and senior subscriptions.
• Grateful that so many of you continue to leave us good reviews on outside platforms. There've been hundreds of reviews already. For anyone who hasn't yet, feel free to add your own on our Google listing, our Apple or Spotify podcast channels, our YouTube channels for the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates and, last but not least, our own app, whether it's the Apple or Android version. And again, thank you!
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our page-view numbers for the past week were 697,789, with 44,491 unique users over the most recent full seven-day span, June 1-7. Our most-read original piece was my Friday Insider on the Steelers' tight ends from the South Side, at 16,374. (Amazingly, we also had a Pirates-Dodgers live game file that reached 52,549 views this week! That's close to Steelers range!)
• On the multimedia front, our podcast downloads for the past week were 77,094, plus another figure we (still) can't access yet on a second platform, and our YouTube video views for the past week were 115,198.
• Our company social media accounts are at 53,941 followers on X, 40,538 on Facebook, 31,453 on YouTube, 14,944 on Instagram ... and already 4,580 on the new Threads!
• We make mistakes. If you see one, email: Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com
• We're often asked about our HQ/shop merch being available online, and yes, it's right here. The Downtown shop itself's open Tuesday-Saturday, 12-6 p.m.
• Anything you need, email: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Thanks for reading and, as ever, for your support of this venture.
