Goodbye Tim Russert

My Sunday mornings will never be the same. Every Sunday I do the exact same thing. I get up around 7:30, make some coffee, settle into the recliner, and flip on "Meet the Press." I am a newsie. I love all things news, but in my mind there was a clear number one in terms of getting the "straight scoop," and that was Tim Russert and MTP.

I always felt that in this day of opinionated news across the cable networks and the internet, the only place you could find an unbiased view was on Russert's program. He had the amazing ability to stay neutral on very challenging and difficult issues. He drug the true positions out of everyone he interviewed and made them "grow a spine," to quote my HS history teacher. He never succumbed to the handsome airhead mentality that captures a lot of news anchors and reporters. He was all about substance and professionalism.

I don't get too emotional about celebrity/newsmaker deaths, but this one really got to me. He was a part of my family, kind of like an uncle that I saw once a week. All of the tributes in the past few days have been awesome. I knew he was a family man, but I didn't realize how well he treated his employees and their families.

There will always be a void in my weekends now. The world has lost a truly special person. I think of all the tributes this week, this was the most touching, it is a montage of clips of newsmakers and fellow anchors along with some music by Bruce Springsteen.