ProFootballCentral.com

By PFC Bills Writer John Franklin  

On June 13 th 2008 we were all shocked to learn of the passing of not only the greatest journalist of our time (besides yours truly, just kidding guys) Tim Russert. Russert a native of South Buffalo was a die hard Bills fan and a great ambassador for not only the Bills but for the entire city of Buffalo. He would usually close his Sunday morning Meet The Press Television show with “GO BILLS”. When the Bills decided to switch to their new jerseys in 2002, they had Russert help them promote the jerseys by presenting him a special #72 Russert jersey to display on Meet The Press. He chose this number because it was his son’s high school number, and he knew that’s who would end up with it
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  The Bills organization released this statement the same day as his passing:
“The Buffalo Bills organization is devastated in hearing the news of the passing of Tim Russert. Tim, as everyone knows, was a tremendous Bills fan. He was always so proud to let people know just how much he loved our team and was such a great ambassador for Buffalo. So many times he ended his “Meet The Press” show with his patented “Go Bills!” that it became part of our Game Day morning rituals. He was a true friend and we will miss him immensely. Our sincere sympathies go out to his family and our team carries a heavy heart tonight as we mourn the loss of this great man, Buffalo’s native son and a Bills fan forever.”
   
  Many Bills fans including myself immediately began lobbying for the organization to pay tribute to Tim in some way. Some ideals we came up with were, a patch worn by the players this yr, a sticker on the helmet possibly,one fan even suggested his name go up on the Wall of Fame at Ralph Wilson Stadium. The Mayor of Buffalo, Byron Brown along with N.Y. senators Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer decided to name part of Route 20 in front of the stadium Tim Russert Highway. I believe the Federal Government must approve this also though.
 
 I remember an old broadcast when Russert was at the Super bowl begging and praying for his beloved Bills to win. He even promised not to talk about them for a whole year if they pulled it out. It never happened during the brief life of this wonderful man, but now when it does, he has the best seat in the house now and may be able to pull some strings for us this time with the boss.

 I think I speak for all Bills fans when I say he will truly be missed. Being a Bills fan is such a great experience, we’ve taken our bumps on the field, but we will never give up. We are like family and one day we will stand on top of the NFL world and when we’re in downtown Buffalo at the parade going crazy I’m sure Tim will be right there, just like he was in 1991 after the first loss to the Giants.

This time we will all cry tears of joy though. As a good friend of mine who recently passed away (who was a Dolphins fan) told me when I talked of the agony of the four Super bowl losses I experienced as a young Bills fan, “ Just think now you have something to look forward to, if they had won you’d have already experienced it and were so young you wouldn’t have appreciated it as much”. So every time I am thinking about the losses I think of that saying my great, late friend told me.

This Football season will be hard without him; we always got together and drank a few beers for the Bills-Dolphins game. Jim was a great friend of mine and I know he’s pulling strings for the Dolphins up there, but I hope Russert will pull harder, if I know them both they will be up there continuing the great Bills-Dolphins rivalry, one with a Coors Light in hand and the other a Rolling Rock. Goodbye my friends you’ll truly be missed