DK'S GRIND

Kovacevic: Our TV ad hits … New Zealand? You won’t believe this

By Dejan Kovacevic

Posted on October 26, 2017

We’ve got all day and night to talk sports, and Martavis Bryant will still be a petulant child by evening’s end, anyway.

I’ve got something a whole lot more fun this morning.

Allow me to introduce you to a couple of fine gents in New Zealand named Gareth Dinneen and Steve Prescott. They’re popular, respected rugby commentators for the website The1014.com “at the bottom of the world,” as the Kiwis often refer to their locale.

A few months ago, they reached out to my wife Dali for advice on building their site, creating a subscription base and that sort of thing. We’ve helped a lot of people like this, not just the ones who have paid. We feel like, since ours was the first independent site on the continent to offer local sports news like this, it’s part of our long-term legacy if we can lead to more of that happening. Plus, you know, it just feels good.

So get this: Gareth and Steve asked permission if they could create their own video advertisement patterned as a tribute to our TV ad that we made last year.

If you haven’t seen ours, it’s 29.5 seconds and just below. Watch this first for context:

Now — and you won’t believe this — watch what these guys did:

I can’t begin to tell you how this moved my wife and me when we got it yesterday. I really can’t.

You know, business doesn’t always go smoothly. There are highs and lows. There are all kinds of unpredictable elements. But we’re now selling this platform to anyone who wants it, for any reason at all and anywhere in the world. Yesterday alone, we sealed the deal on two more places — I’m not at liberty to announce either, as they’re truly independent ventures like ours — and we’ll be there every step of the way to help them along, just like we have with Greg Bedard and his hugely successful Boston Sports Journal that’s built on our platform.

There’s profit in that, sure. But there’s also joy. Our main motive in starting this business was to be happier than we were. That was No. 1. If it was money, this would have stayed a one-reporter operation, and I’d have written columns from my living room. We wanted it to be what you see today. We wanted it to make us happy. And we wanted to make other people happy, too.

The more the merrier, from the top of the world to the bottom.

Best wishes, Gareth and Steve! I might see you in Auckland at the next Split Enz reunion show!

WHAT’S BREWING?

• If it’s actual sports commentary you seek, from this morning’s Weekday Wakeup, I’ve basically given up on Martavis:

• It’s Winnipeg day, so I’ll be all over Penguins-Jets morning, noon and night. Katie Brown and Matt Sunday will be co-pilots. I’ll also appear on Winnipeg’s TSN Jets TV network at roughly noon, as well as a live hit on Winnipeg’s TSN 1290 radio at 5:30 p.m., which can be heard online.

• Matt Gajtka’s newest Matt’s Stats, sponsored by Schneider Downs, examines the Penguins’ effectiveness against fast teams and heavy teams. And in the Jets’ case, both, since they’re fast and heavy.

• Sara Civian rounded up our staff’s thoughts on the worst stadium/arena songs for Daily Fun Thing. We were unkind.

• If you missed it, I offered a Midweek Reader on the Steelers’ Sean Davis, Artie Burns and Mike Hilton, with accompanying artwork by Matt Sunday.

STEELERS TODAY

• Event: Practice
• Location: Rooney Sports Complex
• Time: 1-3 p.m.
• Early media availability: 12:30-12:45 p.m.
• Coordinators availability: 3-3:15 p.m.
• Our coverage: Lolley, Lysowski

PENGUINS TODAY

• Event: Game vs. Jets
• Location: PPG Paints Arena
• Time: 7:08 p.m.
• Penguins skate: 10:30-11 a.m.
• Jets skate: 11:30 a.m.-noon
• Doors open: 6 p.m.
• Lots open: 5 p.m.
• Tickets: Available
• Our coverage: DK, Brown, Sunday