Nothing too heavy this week.
Stephen Foxx stopped by at the Downtown HQ/shop yesterday afternoon, it made my day, and I just thought I'd share.
He approaches the back of the place where Dali, Dara and I were immersed in separate work things, and he says, "So this is DK Pittsburgh Sports!" At which point I notice the man's U.S. Navy garb and stood up to thank him for his presumed service, for which he thanked me right back.
He's been with us for a long time, it turns out. Lives in Canton, Ohio, and he's here for the weekend to catch some Paul Skenes, and he'd hoped to stop by and see us at some stage of his visit to share his feelings about our company, our content and, of course, our longstanding program to ensure all who serve in the military -- active-duty and veterans -- never pay for a subscription.
There've been times, he acknowledged, that he's paid and times he couldn't. But he always had our military program to count on and, as Dali interjected from behind her desk, "That's why we do it. That's why it's there."
She was, as ever, right. And I added to Stephen that I was glad he'd taken advantage of it rather than wondering if he should and allowing us to fall out of his life.
No real point here. And no sales pitch, either. (We're a few weeks away from rekindling our latest military drive.) Just a pleasant encounter that reminded me of:
• The beauty of the program
• The generosity of readers, who pay for veterans
• The real reason we opened the HQ/shop
Thanks to Stephen for that. I'd had kind of a lousy week up until he walked in, to be honest -- fell hard onto a Novi Sad sidewalk on my last day in Serbia, tripping over a loose grate -- and this was a wonderful welcome home in a way.
And yeah, Stephen snapped up some merch, too! He's a Penguins fan, mostly, but also loves The Ramon Foster Show!
ANNIVERSARY DATE: JULY 23
Yet another reminder that everyone's more than invited to our company's 10th anniversary, July 23, at our HQ/shop, 224 Fifth Avenue, Downtown, ranging from noon to some undetermined point past 6 p.m.
• There'll be refreshments 'n' at. Still being weighed what that'll entail. (The Boss wants to make sure nobody's putting their 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.
Plan ahead!
INSIDE THE WORKS
• In the interim, we're short-handed. There are times it'll show. All I can promise: We're pushing like crazy to be back to firing on all cylinders by the start of the Steelers' training camp.
• We've made not one but two full-time hires, but I'll hold off on announcing until next week. One's still working elsewhere, and we always respect that.
• Taylor Haase's latest summer travel has her flying to Las Vegas in the middle of next week for the NHL Draft. Follow along on the Penguins Feed. Nobody, nobody, nobody covers hockey like we do.
• Those miniature commenting balloons were supposed to be adjusted back this week, but that hasn't happened yet. All I can do is keep asking.
• 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. From there, 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. 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 572,509, our lowest total since the new Google Analytics platform was installed last summer, and the same was the case with the 30,123 unique users over the most recent full seven-day span, June 14-20. Our most-read original piece was my column on the Pirates' front office from PNC Park, at 21,085. Not great.
• On the multimedia front, our podcast downloads for the past week were 50,030, and our YouTube video views were 57,863. Also not great.
• I mean, I probably should point out the obvious that I was gone for seven days, so I'm to blame for what's above. My content, both written and spoken, will always account for a sizable percentage of what gets consumed here, and it all shrunk to zero for that time.
• Our company social media accounts are at 54,042 followers on X, 40,539 on Facebook, 31,523 on YouTube, 14,943 on Instagram ... and already 4,647 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.
