It's a sad day for the newspaper business, as the Rocky Mountain News, another victim of the Internet, publishes its last edition today, and with that, adds to the growing list of top-notch, unemployed journalists.

I grew up with The Rocky. For as long as I can remember, it was my Dad's first contact with the outside world. He looked forward each morning to retrieving it from the driveway, snapping off the rubber band on the walk back to the house, glancing at the headlines and stories on its before-its-time tabloid form. I can still see him sitting at the kitchen table, his breakfast, his coffee and his newspaper (and we probably have photos of Dad multi-tasking, grandbaby balanced on his knee, The Rocky invitingly spread across the table in front of them).

Dad read The Rocky cover to cover -- ESPECIALLY the sports -- and as he grew older, what he couldn't get to in the morning, he would finish later in the day, after his nap. Dad was always willing to share his Rocky with Jack, who also loves sports and a good newspaper. I don't remember if Mom was interested in The Rocky, but I wouldn't be surprised if she was a fan, too.

I think The Rocky's presence in my Dad's life nudged me into journalism. While I was in college, The Rocky was the more popular, every-man's newspaper, and the place journalism students aspired to work, while The Denver Post took a loftier place at the table as the more intellectual publication. But The Post never had a place at the Vonderlage table.

In later years, after I had moved away from Denver, I always looked forward to reading The Rocky during visits home. I read it cover-to-cover, too, even the obituaries, to see if friends from high school or their parents had passed. I remember reading about people in their 50s who had died, and thinking, well, they were certainly old enough for the grave. I don't think that anymore.

So, today is a sad day not only for the newspaper business, but for countless families like ours for whom The Rocky Mountain News was a window to the world and a close family friend that won't soon be forgotten.

Rest in peace, dear Rocky.