This weekend has been filled with amazing tributes to Tim Russert, the NBC journalist who was the “master of the Washington roundtable” that was “Meet the Press”. Like so many who follow politics, I was a huge fan of his and have written a little bit about why that you can read right here.
One might suspect that Tim himself would have been a bit uncomfortable with all the fuss. That would be true to his roots. As the great newspaper columnist Mike Barnicle said on the special tribute to Russert that was “Meet the Press” this morning, “Tim Russert was from Buffalo, he was always from Buffalo.”
You don’t know how much that statement means unless you lived in that Western New York city. It is much maligned, and when I was offered a job there in the early 1990s, many–including my spouse–questioned my sanity. But the thing you learn quickly in Buffalo is its true secret. It’s people. It may cold there a few months each year, but the people are warm and thus Buffalo may just be the about the friendliest place I’ve ever lived in.
So while the center of American power weeps more than a little this weekend, Washington’s loss is so eclipsed this weekend by the loss of the place that calls itself “The City of Good Neighbors.”
Because Tim Russert was the local boy who made good. Real good. This is a city that has been through its share of tough times, not to mention getting so close to having a Super Bowl Champion team and falling just short on four separate occasions. You know that a place is a bit passionate about its football when on a Sunday afternoon they replace the Muzak in the Supermarket with the radio play-by-play of the game. Ever since witnessing that in my local “Tops Friendly Market” on one of the my first Sundays in Buffalo, I’ve always told that single event as my epiphany about why Buffalo was a very special place.
I haven’t been back to Buffalo in too many years, and like so many of us I haven’t kept in as close touch with my friends there as I should have. I know their hearts are heavy this weekend because their native, and perhaps most famous son has passed away so suddenly. The tributes for him keep referring to Tim Russert as such a good person, a good father, and of course a good son. Is there any greater epitaph for a man?
On this Father’s Day, it would be important to remember that a big reason for that goodness that we all seek is always remembering where you’re from and being proud of it. Tim Russert did that (and how) and in so doing, proved why its a lesson that we should all never forget.