As someone who benefitted immensely from the Washington Post sports department, I hate to see the news that it's being shuttered. In 1997 the Post took a chance on me, a hayseed college senior at Radford University, to cover an important beat — Virginia Tech football. The Hokies were on the rise nationally, and when a previous student stringer at Tech suggested me to her editor, Steve Berkowitz, I somehow got the nod. I made countless mistakes. I wasn't ready. But the tough coaching I received from Berkowitz taught me more in a few months than any class ever did. About real life and real responsibility. I am grateful for an opportunity that became a notable catalyst towards a dream career. At the time, my mom was sick with the breast cancer. Seeing my name in that newspaper gave her some joy when joy was hard to come by. She kept everything. I found this recently in a scrapbook she kept in the basement of my childhood home. It wasn't very good, but I was proud that momma was proud that our name was on top of it.