Father's Day weekend

My so-called "month on the road", where I didn't spend more than 10 consecutive days in any one spot, has come to a conclusion. Stops in Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Scottsdale and San Diego have all accumulated and now for an extended period of time I will be in one base.

A big sports weekend on Father's Day, racing not necessarily at the forefront. Most of the country was encapsulated by the riveting U.S. Open golf match between Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate, which Woods ultimately won. It wasn't for a lack of effort on Rocco's part. Ordinarily I wouldn't glance at golf - and playing isn't my forte either after swinging clubs with my dad Sunday morning was abysmal at best.

The NBA Finals were nearing their conclusion amidst the referee-fixing scandal brought about by the disgraced con ex-ref Tim Donaghy. Only now they have just wrapped up, Boston beating the Lakers with a drubbing in game six to win their first title in 22 years.

And racing-wise, Junior Nation got their answer to their never-ending question of when their homeboy would return to Victory Lane. On a fuel mileage gamble, which eventually led to extra laps after a late-race caution, Dale Jr. stayed out on his crew chief's call to hit Victory Lane for the first time in 76 races.

The symmetry of that number is profound - that was Dale Sr.'s number of career victories - and this was also Rick Hendrick's "adopted son" scoring his first win for what Forbes estimates is the highest valued team in the series. While Dale has lost his father, Rick has lost a son, and it was fitting this would be the day these two finally won a points race together. He has genuinely been the best of the four-car Hendrick armada this season and a legit championship contender come the fall.

On the subject of wins and losses, though, while politics would usually be a far stretch to fit the parameters of this blog, I can't go through this week without a mention of Tim Russert's passing. As a young would-be journalist myself, and I mean that in terms of motorsports writing and not as a blogger, there's always a lot to learn from the veterans of this profession and perhaps none was more fair and fitting to the standards of it in a political sense than Tim.

He could ask the tough questions without coming off as rude or overbearing, and had a genuine passion for his job that few seem to display on the outside. Politics in this country is a dirty game more often than not, the mudslinging of both parties leads many to apathy and/or negativity. But Russert, having originally worked for Sen. Moynahan of NY, knew the inside of his work before becoming a "voice of the people".

And at its core, something I continue to study throughout my college career, that is the essence of this field, even as it changes with new technologies. A journalist should be someone who can eloquently but not pompously convey the questions and thoughts of their constituents for the betterment of that particular field. Russert was that to his core, and his loss is a difficult one to swallow.

For me, Sundays encompassed two interchangeable things - racing from February through September and football from that time until January. But always on before that was Meet the Press, and now it won't be the same without hearing those words from the ultimate family and fellow Jesuit-educated man.