Here's where we are with covering the Pirates, from the who to the where to the why:
• I've got nothing new to say about the state of this franchise. So, as the resident columnist, a role I've held rewinding back to my newspaper days, I'm going to do what any columnist would do and migrate to what I'd feel would be the most compelling content. That'll be the Steelers for a good while, then the Penguins once they arrive in mid-September. That's not a protest, or pouting or anything personal. It's purely professional, in that I don't feel I put out much of a product in writing the same fire-everyone, sell-everything column every time I cross that river.
• To be clearer, I'm out for the season when it comes to covering and/or columns on the Pirates. Once it's all done, depending on what might or might not transpire over there that'd show any semblance of seriousness as a sports franchise, I'll reassess.
• The Daily Shot of Pirates ... oh, man, I'm struggling with that one. I really am. I've received some communications from listeners over the past 24 hours that've been tough to read. Give me the weekend to think about this one, please.
• Yes, absolutely, we're covering the Pirates as a company. Yes, that includes all games everywhere they're played. We talked about this extensively as a staff, and I had a lengthy phone conversation yesterday with José Negron in Denver. The consensus, which also included Chris Halicke and Taylor Haase, was that our collective pride in being everywhere with all three of our teams should supersede whatever idiocy's happening at 115 Federal, and that our 11 years of delivering on this were too important to give up. So ... José will get this done, with help on home games from Eric Bowser and help on minor leagues from Anthony Murphy.
• We heard from you, too, in a big way and in both directions. But I also saw this for our most recent seven-day span of traffic on this very app/site:
GOOGLE ANALYTICS
Those are page views. What's at the top are our home page, followed by our various feeds, followed by individual files on the Ke'Bryan Hayes trade and my one-on-one talk with Paul Skenes.
All I have to say to that is that these people don't deserve you. They really don't.
• What this team did Wednesday and Thursday bordered on criminal. I don't use the term lightly. It violated everything about how a team should conduct itself, relative to its own fans and consumer base, and yet a whole lot more. I've never covered anything like it.
And I don't blame anyone for any reaction they'd have to Bob Nutting, Ben Cherington or anyone and everyone involved. As low as I thought this had ever sunk beforehand, this still somehow bottomed out.
All of them need to go. All of them. Organizational enema, top to bottom.
• Repeating this for emphasis: We'll review all this again at season's end. There are two teams in town that care, that prioritize winning over profit, that are run by passionate professionals ... and then there are the Pirates. If they aren't going to carry themselves as an actual sports franchise but, rather, some profiteering entertainment outfit -- or something even more cynical -- then we'll leave coverage of the Pirates to the local entertainment writers. Or business writers. Or whatever, but it won't be us. We're about sports.
We're also not in the habit of pulling the plug on anything midseason or midstream in any capacity, for those who've paid attention, and we're not about to do it here, either.
Appreciate everyone's input. Here's hoping for the best.
INSIDE THE WORKS
• If you experienced a little weirdness on the site around mid-week -- getting logged out, seeing some ads -- that's because of an update our developers installed. All anyone has to do to address it is log out and log back in. No big deal.
• On a positive note, that update's going to allow us to re-establish menu presences for regular features like this one, like Friday Insider and so forth. Once I get a chance to catch up.
• After another week in Latrobe, Chris and I fly down to Jacksonville, Fla., for the Steelers' preseason opener Saturday. We'll be trying a couple new video things down there, all of which, of course, will be available here on our app/site.
• Taylor will be taking two more weeks of vacation through the middle of this month. That'll allow her to be back in plenty of time for the NHL prospect camps and, by mid-September, the Penguins' return to Cranberry, Pa.
• Paying subscribers live ad-free here. If you aren't subscribed yet or if your subscription's expired: This is our subscribe page. From there, make sure you're logged in, tap on the link, and thumb down to the bottom for the SUBSCRIBE button to buy/restart at the monthly or annual level. We also offer mega-discounts for students, seniors and special workers.
• Feel free to add a generous review on our Google business listing, our Appleand Spotify podcast channels and, arguably most important, our own official app pages, whether it's the Apple or Android version. It makes a difference.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our page-view numbers were 1,214,486, with 34,462 unique users over the most recent full seven-day span, July 25-31. Our most-read original piece was José'scoverage from Denver of the Bednar trade, at 28,545.
• Our video views for the past week, also July 25-31, were 1,084,112. Our most-watched show was Matt Williamson'sScout's Eye on Will Howard's physical flaws, at 33,127.
THE ASYLUM
Site Stuff: About the Pirates ...
Here's where we are with covering the Pirates, from the who to the where to the why:
• I've got nothing new to say about the state of this franchise. So, as the resident columnist, a role I've held rewinding back to my newspaper days, I'm going to do what any columnist would do and migrate to what I'd feel would be the most compelling content. That'll be the Steelers for a good while, then the Penguins once they arrive in mid-September. That's not a protest, or pouting or anything personal. It's purely professional, in that I don't feel I put out much of a product in writing the same fire-everyone, sell-everything column every time I cross that river.
• To be clearer, I'm out for the season when it comes to covering and/or columns on the Pirates. Once it's all done, depending on what might or might not transpire over there that'd show any semblance of seriousness as a sports franchise, I'll reassess.
• The Daily Shot of Pirates ... oh, man, I'm struggling with that one. I really am. I've received some communications from listeners over the past 24 hours that've been tough to read. Give me the weekend to think about this one, please.
• Yes, absolutely, we're covering the Pirates as a company. Yes, that includes all games everywhere they're played. We talked about this extensively as a staff, and I had a lengthy phone conversation yesterday with José Negron in Denver. The consensus, which also included Chris Halicke and Taylor Haase, was that our collective pride in being everywhere with all three of our teams should supersede whatever idiocy's happening at 115 Federal, and that our 11 years of delivering on this were too important to give up. So ... José will get this done, with help on home games from Eric Bowser and help on minor leagues from Anthony Murphy.
• We heard from you, too, in a big way and in both directions. But I also saw this for our most recent seven-day span of traffic on this very app/site:
GOOGLE ANALYTICS
Those are page views. What's at the top are our home page, followed by our various feeds, followed by individual files on the Ke'Bryan Hayes trade and my one-on-one talk with Paul Skenes.
All I have to say to that is that these people don't deserve you. They really don't.
• What this team did Wednesday and Thursday bordered on criminal. I don't use the term lightly. It violated everything about how a team should conduct itself, relative to its own fans and consumer base, and yet a whole lot more. I've never covered anything like it.
And I don't blame anyone for any reaction they'd have to Bob Nutting, Ben Cherington or anyone and everyone involved. As low as I thought this had ever sunk beforehand, this still somehow bottomed out.
All of them need to go. All of them. Organizational enema, top to bottom.
• Repeating this for emphasis: We'll review all this again at season's end. There are two teams in town that care, that prioritize winning over profit, that are run by passionate professionals ... and then there are the Pirates. If they aren't going to carry themselves as an actual sports franchise but, rather, some profiteering entertainment outfit -- or something even more cynical -- then we'll leave coverage of the Pirates to the local entertainment writers. Or business writers. Or whatever, but it won't be us. We're about sports.
We're also not in the habit of pulling the plug on anything midseason or midstream in any capacity, for those who've paid attention, and we're not about to do it here, either.
Appreciate everyone's input. Here's hoping for the best.
INSIDE THE WORKS
• If you experienced a little weirdness on the site around mid-week -- getting logged out, seeing some ads -- that's because of an update our developers installed. All anyone has to do to address it is log out and log back in. No big deal.
• On a positive note, that update's going to allow us to re-establish menu presences for regular features like this one, like Friday Insider and so forth. Once I get a chance to catch up.
• After another week in Latrobe, Chris and I fly down to Jacksonville, Fla., for the Steelers' preseason opener Saturday. We'll be trying a couple new video things down there, all of which, of course, will be available here on our app/site.
• Taylor will be taking two more weeks of vacation through the middle of this month. That'll allow her to be back in plenty of time for the NHL prospect camps and, by mid-September, the Penguins' return to Cranberry, Pa.
• Paying subscribers live ad-free here. If you aren't subscribed yet or if your subscription's expired: This is our subscribe page. From there, make sure you're logged in, tap on the link, and thumb down to the bottom for the SUBSCRIBE button to buy/restart at the monthly or annual level. We also offer mega-discounts for students, seniors and special workers.
• Feel free to add a generous review on our Google business listing, our Apple and Spotify podcast channels and, arguably most important, our own official app pages, whether it's the Apple or Android version. It makes a difference.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our page-view numbers were 1,214,486, with 34,462 unique users over the most recent full seven-day span, July 25-31. Our most-read original piece was José's coverage from Denver of the Bednar trade, at 28,545.
• Our video views for the past week, also July 25-31, were 1,084,112. Our most-watched show was Matt Williamson's Scout's Eye on Will Howard's physical flaws, at 33,127.
• Our company social media: 64,085 followers on Facebook, 58,421 on X, 52,195 on YouTube, 16,925 on Instagram, 6,237 on Threads, 6,221 on TikTok, 2,740 on Bluesky
• We make mistakes. If you see one, email: Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com
• The Downtown HQ/shop's open Tuesday-Saturday, 12-6 p.m., and our company merch can all be had in our online store.
• Anything you need, email: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Thanks for reading and, as ever, for your support of this proud independent venture.
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