Rich Nadler, RIP

We lost Rich Nadler while I was away on vacation. I always liked Rich, and though I made fun of his using a clipboard on "Ruckus," it was completely in jest. The show was never the same after he left in 2005. Ramesh Ponnuru, who broke the story Saturday on NR Online, credits Nadler with launching his journalism career. "He was one of the most brilliant men I have ever known." (More tributes.)

Other news I learned on my return:

• Comcast has agreed to start carrying (finally) the NBA Channel, which has been available to Time Warner customers forever thanks to the fact that Time Warner's Turner Sports is a co-owner. Comcast last month agreed to carry NFL Network on more of its systems, under a new deal that values the channel at about half the price that the egomaniacs running the league thought they could shake out of cable operators. Time Warner, I'm assuming, will follow suit in time for NFLN's exciting preseason coverage.
• The Kansas City Star legalized gay marriage! Well, at least in its pages. Good coverage of the story from Fox 4. Kudos to Chuck Hewitt and Michael Hewitt for forcing the issue.
• Those little plugeroos for Conan O'Brien and "SNL" that Brian Williams extracted from the leader of the free world last week may be only the tip of the iceberg, according to Verne Gay of Newsday. OK, it's a fake list, but better than one I'd come up with...