DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS

A worker wires up the two biggest letters of the street signs above 224 Fifth Avenue, Downtown, yesterday.

Sign of the times!

Apr 28, 2022 • 12:00 am

Good morning!

Amid the Pirates' opening their 136th season, the Penguins' ramp-up to the Stanley Cup playoffs and the Steelers' ramp-up to the NFL Draft, one would think it might be easy for us to lose sight of the ramp-up to the grand opening TODAY of our new HQ/shop at 224 Fifth Avenue, Downtown ... and one would be mistaken! It's an enormous event for us, and Dali and I -- and many others -- are engaged every single day in something to that extent! Hope to see you there!

If you're new ...

• WELCOME! This is DK Pittsburgh Sports' town hall of sorts, where we lay out what I'm doing that day/week, who we are as a company and, in the comments, carry on a fun weeklong conversation on the question posed below!

If you're already a subscriber, we can't thank you often enough. You're the reason that this special place exists. You're the reason that Steelers, Penguins and Pirates fans, for seven years now, have been able to connect from all over the world. This feature offers, down below, all our coverage schedules, vital links and, of course, the staff locator map.

If you're new, allow me, please, to take you on a quick tour:

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• PLATFORMS: We've got a website, DKPittsburghSports.com, that's available on all browsers and all devices. We also have a free, state-of-the-art app, available for both Apple and Android. These were custom-built, completely from scratch, in 2020.

• ABOUT US: We encourage you to learn about our site's pioneering history, how we were the first company of its kind in North America, and how we've inspired similar ventures across the continent and even overseas. We built this place the old-fashioned way, with our own hands and hard work. It's been amazing to see what we started.

• ABOUT OUR COVERAGE: We commit to covering the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates year-round, everything they do, everywhere they go. We travel to every game, every practice, every function involving all three of Pittsburgh's major-league teams. We also report on Pitt football/basketball, Penn State football, Duquesne basketball and Robert Morris basketball/hockey.

• ABOUT ME: I write columns here, meaning opinion, and I do so based off my own reporting, getting around to as many events as possible. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, I've covered sports here since my teens, first for the Post-Gazette, then for the Tribune-Review, before breaking off on my own with this venture. Won a bunch of awards, did five different Olympics, blah, blah. Let's get back to the other stuff.

• OUR REPORTERS: Dale Lolley's got 29 years on the Steelers beat, Dave Molinari's in the Hockey Hall of Fame for his work on the Penguins beat, Taylor Haase covers the Penguins as our most-tenured staffer, and Alex Stumpf's building his brand in a big way on the Pirates beat. Among contributors, former Steelers guard Ramon Foster writes and podcasts football for us, Chris Carter covers Pitt football/basketball, Cory Giger covers Penn State, Rob Ullman is our illustrator, and Bob Maddamma manages our Hot Button news wire.

• OUR COMMUNITY: That's you! We're proud to have subscribers in 150+countries congregating in our one-of-a-kind comments section, where passionate fans discuss and debate their teams in a moderated, civil, politics-free forum!

• MULTIMEDIA: Every weekday morning on our DKPS Podcast Network, including Apple and Spotify, and on our YouTube channel, I do three Daily Shot shows, one each on Steelers, Penguins and Pirates. We've also got the weekly Ramon Foster Show in both audio and video forms. Along the way, our staff's crafting podcasts on Steelers, Penguins, Pirates, Pitt and Penn State. All this is managed by multimedia guru Eddie Provident.

THE BREWING QUESTION

Each month in this space, we ask readers to share thoughts or experiences on events that impacted or influenced their own lives in following our teams. This edition: What would you expect to find at a visit to our new HQ/shop?

WEEKLY FEATURES

• Monday: North Shore Tavern Mound Visit
• Tuesday: In The System
• Wednesday: Mike's Beer Bar Classroom
• Thursday: Drive to the Net
• Friday: Point Park University Insider
• Saturday: Site Stuff
• Sunday: Cartoon Canon