So, as they say, here we go.
I wasn't sure if we'd ever cover playoffs again with any of our three teams, the way so much has gone so wrong for the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates the past year and change, but that script sure flipped over the NFL weekend, huh?
For anyone new enough to our app/site to not remember, we take our playoffs super-seriously around here, and this won't be an exception. This Site Stuff, held back a couple days just in case this occurred, will lay out how we'll handle everything leading into the Steelers-Bills kickoff Sunday, 1:02 p.m., in Orchard Park, N.Y.:
• Starting at the end, I'll cover the game along with Corey Crisan. We'll drive up there the previous night, get to the stadium early, offer much more detail than the norm and, generally speaking, stay in touch throughout. With Chris Halicke managing matters from afar, that affords us the freedom to bounce around a bit and keep the Feed rolling.
• I'll stay on top of the team through the week myself as much as possible. I'm also covering Penguins-Canucks Thursday night, so it won't be every single day.
• The Feed will basically go berserk this week. Don't be shy about thumbing down further than usual. We're going to put a lot on there, about both the Steelers and the Bills. We want the reader to feel like this is a one-stop shop, regardless of where news might originate. It'll all be here.
• We've got new Chalk Talk up from Chris this morning, and we'll also have his comprehensive Next Opponent feature later in the week, in addition to Matt Williamson's Mike's Beer Bar War Room. There'll be a couple bonus surprises in the analysis mix, as well, including one I'll have up myself Saturday.
• My Daily Shot of Steelers podcast's about to take the show title to the extreme. It'll run literally every day until the team's eliminated.
• We'll have at least 10 live, interactive videos between The Ramon Foster Show, the South Side Beat and more. Find those here.
Almost forgot what this was like.
LAYING OUT WEEK 1
The Steelers' full media schedule of activities at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on the South Side:
Monday: Open locker room, 1:15 p.m.-2 p.m.
Tuesday: Mike Tomlin press conference, 12 p.m.
Wednesday: Open locker room, 10:45 a.m.-11 a.m. Practice, 12:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m., then another open locker room
Thursday: Open locker room, 10:45 a.m.-11 a.m. Eddie Faulkner and Teryl Austin press conferences, 11:45 a.m. Practice, 12:30 p.m.-2 p.m., then another open locker room
Friday: Practice, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., then open locker room
INSIDE THE WORKS
• One thing I'd like to do in the near-term future is basically shut down -- meaning just me -- for about a week or two to handle some lagging business/promotion needs. I was going to do that this month, but Mason Rudolph had other ideas.
• Our app's currently undergoing a behind-the-scenes update, and you'll soon be asked by Apple or Android to update. It's framework stuff. Don't sweat this. In some cases, it'll just update itself.
• We've hired a full-time reporter who'll start with us in mid-February. Not ready to detail that yet, but this individual will cover Pitt athletics beginning with spring football, then do a lot of Pirates and, really, a lot of everything.
• The Downtown HQ/shop saw a near doubling in revenue, year over year. Maybe more impressive, if only because Dali's always so conservative in budgeting, it exceeded her projection by nearly $10,000. This ... never happens. With anything.
• Everyone still 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 new 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 have pages for student subscriptions and senior subscriptions.
• For anyone asking -- and we still get lots of questions on this -- yeah, there's still a subscription level. It's the level where there are zero ads, first and foremost. It's an infinitely better experience. It's also the level at which readers have access to our Live Qs, our commenting platforms, our in-person meetings and many other perks. We feel it's a really good value.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our page-view numbers for the past week were 1,141,411, with an all-time record 66,323 unique users over the most recent full seven-day span, Dec. 31-Jan. 6. Our five most-read original pieces:
1. My Friday Insider on FSV vs. Mario Lemieux: 32,833
2. My column from Seattle on Rudolph: 32,253
3. Chris Halicke's Chalk Talk on the quarterbacks: 19,345
4. My column on Penguins' many questions: 10,397
5. Taylor Haase's coverage of Penguins in Boston: 8,636
As an aside and FYI, the reason these numbers here often will look very different than the page-view numbers shown to the public on the actual site is that ... well, we're not very good at this yet. We're working on it. What's here comes directly from Google Analytics and is completely accurate.
• On the multimedia front, our podcast downloads for the past week were 107,595, and our YouTube video views for the past week were an all-time record 242,633.
• Our company social media accounts are at 52,012 followers on X, 40,357 on Facebook, 27,947 on YouTube, 14,954 on Instagram ... and already 3,580 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.
• Anything you need, email: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com
