RIP Tim Russert

I can't explain why, but I was quite sad to hear that Tim Russert died today. I didn't watch Meet the Press, and I never read Big Russ and Me. I was aware of him, obviously, but it wasn't like he was a big part of my day-to-day life. But still, when I read that he had died, it really got to me. I definitely recommend checking out The Daily Show's tribute to him; you can not only watch the lovely MSNBC tribute, but also watch clips of Tim chatting with Jon.

I will share my one experience with Tim Russert. Well, not with him. With his Nationals tickets. I managed to watch a taping of Pardon the Interruption back in 2005, the Nats' inaugural season. My connection there (a friend-of-a-friend type situation) gave a couple of other guys who saw the taping and I a tour of the studio after the taping, and we met some of the folks who worked there. She then asked whether any of us wanted to go to the Nats game that night; one of the guys we just met had a couple of tickets. That guy? Tim Russert's son. The tickets were Tim's. So I took the tickets and a friend and I went. The tickets were awesome--right behind the Nats' dugout, and next to James Carville. Who, by the way, was great fun; he gave us peanuts and heckled the infielders and managed to score game balls for most of the people in the section (including me). Just a great time.

So my thoughts go out to that guy I met, and all of Tim's family. How sad. And how sad that Tim wouldn't get a chance to see this election through to the end.