Tim Russert

by Brian Reich | 14 Jun 2008, 2:00am

There will be many moving obituaries written and eulogies delivered honoring Tim Russert.   He deserves all the kind words that people share.   And we will all be better for remembering his contributions - to our lives, and our society - as a journalist, author, and human being.  

He was a giant in the media, as some have said the most influential journalist of this generation.   His passion for sports was significant, and his knowledge of and genuine support for  the teams that he loved (the Buffalo Bills, the Washington Nationals) was truly incredible.   Most importantly, however, he was just a wonderfully nice person — happy, warm, interested, thoughtful - whether he was meeting you for the first time, or talked to you every day.  

I didn’t know Russert well enough to offer anything truly meaningful in the wake of his death — others will have better words and deeper memories to share.   I met him twice, both while working for Vice President Gore, and like millions of others watched on Sunday morning and countless other times as he displayed his talents.   As a Washington Nationals season ticket holder, I also saw him at the ballpark quite a bit.  

Two quick memories:

The first time I met Tim Russert, I was working for Vice President Gore as his Briefing Director in the White House.   I remember arriving early on a Sunday morning to the NBC studios in DC in advance of an appearance on Meet the Press.   I was the only person from the staff who had gone straight to the studios (everyone else would arrive with the Vice President in the motorcade later).   I was sitting in the conference room shuffling documents and Russert came in to ask me when the VP would arrive.   He made a point to introduce himself (like I didn’t know who he was) and asked what I did for the VP.   I answered, and then awkwardly transitioned the conversation to football — a topic I felt much more comfortable talking about.   Russert’s eyes lit up and we proceeded to have a discussion about the prospects for the Buffalo Bills season (dim, at best).   The whole encounter probably lasted only a couple of minutes, but his interest in my thoughts was genuine and appreciated.   Later that morning, Russert came to see Gore in the conference room where we were all waiting and Gore introduced everyone.   When he got around to me, Tim said “yes, Brian and I met earlier.”

The second time I met Tim Russert, also while working for Vice President Gore, was at that Naval Observatory (where Gore lived, and we were doing a taping of Meet the Press).   Again, I was on site early and again I was the only person from the Vice President’s staff  to be on location ahead of time  (the others were doing final prep at the house a couple hundred yards away).   And again, Russert made a point to  come over and talk to me   — only this time, when I told him that we had met during Gore’s last appearance on the show, he seemed to remember (or pretended really well).   I had helped our internal policy and press teams with the research for the interview — we spent weeks pouring through policy positions, past statements, transcripts of Meet the Press and everything else we could find to try and out-research Russert and his staff - so  this time  I felt like I had more insight into how Russert’s mind worked, at least enough to support a conversation.   It worked, we talked briefly and he asked my opinion on a few pressing issues.   Little did Russert know, I was pumping him for information to aid Gore in the interview.   My most meaningful contribution gleaned from the conversation with Russert was an update on the Bills season prospects (still dim, at best).   Gore made Bills references both on-air and in private conversations with Russert, which he lated thanked me for helping with.    

Both times I met Russert he was generous with his time and interested in our brief conversation.   In the 8+ years since, I have watched him hundreds of times on television and seen him at baseball games in DC on at least a dozen occasions.    I certainly can’t claim to be a friend or even an acquaintance really.   I am just a fan.    But, I am still very sad about his death.   He was a truly great journalist and an upstanding person and I will miss him.

TAGS : Journalism Sports TV