Tim Russert dead aged 58

To go completely off the topic of baseball, Early this afternoon, NBC broke the news that Tim Russert, member of the NBC family, had collapsed and died. Serving 16½ years as moderator, Tim was the longest serving host of NBC's Meet the Press. Russert was one of the country's most respected and influential political journalists, and in 2008, TIME magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Tim had just returned home to Washington, following a family vacation in Italy, where he went to celebrate his son's recent graduation from Boston College. I think the whole country's sympathy will go out to his wife Maureen and son Luke.