Site Stuff: Almost a month into everyday columns ... and what a life!

Mar 2, 2024 • 12:05 am

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BRADENTON, Fla. -- If there's one question I'm asked more than any other, and it's always taken as a compliment, it's this: When do you sleep?

My answer: I get around to it.

It's now been three weeks since I've been sticking a column atop the app/site every single day, which probably gives off the impression that I'm more pressed for time than ever. While that's been true in some ways, it hasn't in all ways, thanks to the help of the staff. I'm getting assistance from everyone, from transcription to video creation/posting, to covering practices and other events I'd rather not cover. The balance isn't perfect yet, but it's progressing.

But to lay that out further, I thought it might be fun to share a day in the life for, say, a weeknight Penguins game at PPG Paints Arena:

• 2 p.m.: I wake up. So yeah, I do get sleep. Maybe a bit too much, believe it or not. But hey, it's the norm now, and I'll go with whatever works. This buys time to whip up a (very large and very over-caffeinated) iced latte, plus a bakery item from a Downtown favorite place (pasta salad at Corner Mercantile on Wood, an elegant little prosciutto sandwich at La Gourmandine on Forbes, made-on-the-spot reuben at Market Street Grocery) and walk to our own HQ/Shop on Fifth. From bed to the shop, gloriously, takes no more than six minutes of walking.

• 2:30 p.m.: Once at the HQ/shop, which has already been open for a couple hours, I'll scarf down the food, then venture out to the sidewalk to do a bit of litter picking-up and so forth. I'm not unique in that regard. Most of the proud storefronts down here take care of their own properties, which is why it looks as neat as it does here. I'll then open the laptop and get to checking comments here, always first in line, then replies on other social media, as well as notifications/messages from the teams we cover or our staff. This is also when I'll tend to schedule meetings, interviews and the like, as it's the only time I'm available amid normal human business hours. That takes me into ...

• 4 p.m.: The Ramon Foster Show. And as I tell the big man all the time, no matter what kind of day I'm having to that stage, everything brightens upon seeing that smile at the other end. We do roughly 20 seconds of show prep, press live and away we go. It's a legit great time, and I really hope that shows.

• 5 p.m.: Bearing in mind that this is a hockey night, and it's bound to be an extra-long one, I'll head into our soundproof studio at the back of the HQ/shop and record one, maybe two of the Daily Shot podcasts in advance. Whichever ones are least likely to have topics expire by the next day's sunrise. (It's happened, though. Late-night trades 'n' at.) That'll always feel good because it'll save me roughly an hour at the far end.

• 6 p.m.: I've got to be at the arena for warmups, and the door-to-door walk up Fifth from our HQ/shop takes only 12 minutes, even for a slow walker like myself. I'll often stop at our Downtown Target, also on Fifth, for some food I can carry up with me. I'm not big on eating at stadiums or arenas.

• 6:15 p.m.: Say hi to everyone along the way through PPG Paints Arena security, except for big Sam up on the third floor, since he gets a hug. Make my way up to the seventh-floor press box.

• 6:30 p.m.: Warmups start. Both teams come spinning out onto the ice. I rev up the live file, put out promotional material on social media to let people know where I'll be through the game (because it won't be on social media), check the players for anyone unusual missing, line combinations, odd interactions, injuries, etc., then set up the faceoff app alert, which I'll fire off at exactly ...

• 7:08 p.m.: Hockey. My focus on the first period is on pace, on leg movement, on commitment to structure. By about 10 minutes in, it switches to plain old hockey, but I find it important to gauge how the Penguins emerge for these things since ... you know. From there, I'll use intermissions to find photos for the live file, track plays that'll require clipping and pass those along to staff. I'll also stroll down to the far end of the press box to say hi to Eddie Johnston and Craig Patrick, as well as any visiting writers in town that I'll know.

• 9:45 p.m.: As the third period winds down, I'll ask staff to assist in some elements of the live file because I'll start getting swamped there, plus I might have to go downstairs early depending on the urgency of having to enter the locker room quickly. For example, I might request a player in advance, so I'll need to be among the first inside so that player doesn't leave. The staff will likely fire off the end-of-game score alert and close the live file.

• 10 p.m.: Yet another locker room session's been highlighted by talking with the Scandinavians, all of whom are the greatest pros, and I'll head back to the media room that Mike Sullivan (eventually) will visit for his postgame session. While waiting for him (which can take forever), I'll type up bullet material for what I'm now calling red files, those Feed entries I started with the Steelers that share instant info with you. Staff will process videos, complete them, after I'm able to shoot them out of my iPhone. Sullivan arrives, I ask a question that's almost always system in nature (because I know other people will take care of the more obvious storylines), and out I go after one more hug for Sam on the way out.

• 10:12 p.m.: I've walked home. If it's really cold, which it almost never is here anymore, or it's raining, I'll take a couple of Downtown underground shortcuts through the BNY Mellon skyscraper and the Steel Plaza subway station. Once in the door, I make another coffee, this one powered with enough fuel to send someone into orbit. This also happens to be dinnertime, in whatever form that'll come, though I've got to eat while working.

• 10:30 p.m.: I don't like doing the podcasts before writing. My writing always comes first, and I've got to clear out the column before anything else. That takes about 2.5 hours, which is less than my old norm because of help that I get from staff with the aforementioned transcription and videos. Massive, massive time-saver there.

• 1 a.m.: Time to record. If I'm smart, which occasionally occurs, again, I'll already have recorded Steelers and Pirates shows earlier in the day. If not ... yuck, I'm doing all three. As it is in this scenario, all I've got's the Penguins. I'll bang that out, then send all three shows over to Serbia, where my cousin in Belgrade handles all the production just as he's waking up. (Nice timing, right?) We worked that out, as well as another arrangement with a niece, when I visited a couple summers ago. It's awesome to have them available when I'm up in the middle of the night, and it works out well for them, as well.

• 2 a.m.: I'll add a couple Feed entries for the game, then proceed to do a final sweep of the entire site -- home page, feeds, etc. -- to ensure you've got the cleanest possible reading experience in the morning. And for the coup de grace, I've got a usual crew of longtime subscribers, including our aces in the Germany bureau, who send me any errors/typos in my column, since I don't have anyone on our staff up to proofread. This is appreciated more than I can say, though I thank them every single night, anyway.

• 3 a.m.: I'm not one of those people who can snap fingers and fall asleep, especially not after those nuclear-powered coffees. So I'll take about another hour to chill, I'll do the next day's New York Times mini-puzzle and Wordle, I'll catch up on the war in Ukraine and other global news and, by about 4 a.m. ... ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz.

• 7 a.m.: Without an alarm, I'll reflexively wake up. Just one of those things. And when I do, I'll put out alerts for the column and all three podcasts, while my son Marko in Philadelphia and my niece in Serbia handle the rest.

So, to anyone who says this is a dream gig ... I mean, yeah, it is. All my life, I wanted to run a media company the way I wanted to run it, chiefly how I'd create and present my own content. Nothing to complain about. This is it.

But man, don't even ask how all this happens on the road.

INSIDE THE WORKS

• I'm flying to Boston and Ottawa in the coming week to cover the Penguins' games there. Next trip after that will be to Newark the following week. If it were possible, I'd be doing them all. Hate to miss anything amid a playoff push. At month's end, I'll fly back to Florida to cover the Pirates' season-opening series, March 28-31, in Miami.

• Exciting meeting coming up this week with our BoomPress developers about the commenting platform upgrade. If you've got requests, consider this the last call.

• Grateful that so many of you have followed through on our request to support us without spending a penny, by simply leaving 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 definitely not least, our own app, whether it's the Apple or Android version. And again, thank you!

• Reminder: Our 10th anniversary is July 23 at the Downtown HQ/shop. We've already heard from quite a few of you planning to attend, including some from well out of town. For anyone interested in the latter, know that the Pirates and Cardinals have a three-game series at PNC Park at that time, so it's a nice double-dip.

• 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 discounts, as ever, for student subscriptions and senior subscriptions.

• For anyone asking, 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 861,760, with 36,379 unique users over the most recent full seven-day span, Feb. 23-29. Our most-read original piece was Taylor Haase's Drive to the Net on the Penguins' trade for Emil Bemstrom, at 13,025.

• On the multimedia front, our podcast downloads for the past week were 104,790, and our YouTube video views for the past week were 110,568.

• Our company social media accounts are at 52,806 followers on X, 40,395 on Facebook, 29,687 on YouTube, 14,961 on Instagram ... and already 4,048 on the new Threads!