Let’s begin.

Dissent is welcome, but keep it clean or you’ll be sent to the penalty box.

1. WHAT UP WITH AARON MILES AND THE SMACK TALK? The dude got a World Series ring here, right? The Cardinals gave him more than 1,200 at-bats in three seasons, and skipper Tony La Russa showcased Miles’ ability to play multiple positions, all of which helped to get him a nice pay day from the Cubs. Good for Aaron. I’m genuinely happy for him. So why is he taking shots at the Cardinals on the way out? Show some class, pal. The experience in STL was a rewarding for you.

UPDATE: In an exit interview with Derrick Goold over and Bird Land, Miles did say some good things about the Cardinals and their fans.  You can read Miles’ comments here:

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/bird-land/bird-land/2009/01/being-a-cardinal-made-my-career-happen-says-aaron-miles/

2. IN DEFENSE OF ILLINOIS GOV. ROD BLAGOJEVICH: OK, so he’s accused of trying to sell a vacant seat to the U.S. Senate. The feds have called it a conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud,  and solicitation of bribery. Well, in professional sports, the same thing is called a “Personal Seat License.” So if I am understanding this correctly, Blago apparently is a visionary who hoped to introduce a PSL program to the U.S. Senate. Pay him a fee, and you get the right to a seat. What’s the big deal? Pro sports owners do it all of the time and the feds don’t arrest ‘em.

3. I WAS ROOTING FOR KURT WARNER TO WIN THE MVP, BUT LET’S HUSH WITH THE WHINING: It looks like Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning is the Associated Press MVP for 2008, and this has Kurt Warner fans in a tizzy. No. 13 had a fantastic season for the Arizona Bidwills, passing for 4,583 yards and 30 TDs for a QB rating of 96.9. Manning is Manning; he has that “Pujols Factor” going for him in that he’s widely considered to be the best player in the game, season in and season out. Really hard for me to crack on a guy, Manning, who is so consistently excellent. With the way he runs the game on the field, Manning is the closest thing I’ve seen to John Unitas. But if you don’t think Manning was the MVP, I would debate that other candidates had an equal if not better case than Warner. RB Adrian Peterson led the NFL in rushing, and carried the Minnesota Vikings into the playoffs. Atlanta Falcons RB Michael Turner was No. 2 in rushing yards and rushing TDs, and was No. 1 in rushing attempts and No. 1 in rushing first downs. Turner keyed a  franchise resurgence. I’m not sure why Miami Dolphins QB Chad Pennington didn’t get more run as an MVP candididate; he was second in the NFL in passer rating (97.4) and performed flawlessly down the stretch, with the Dolphins needing to win every game to complete their improbable run to the AFC East title. But the guy who gets overlooked most of all is San Diego Chargers QB Philip Rivers. He had the best NFL season that no one outside of SoCal is talking about: 4,009 yards, 34 TDs, only 11 INTs, a league-leading 8.39 yards per passing attempt, and an NFL-leading QB rating of 105.5. And Rivers got it done without as much bang from LT and the Chargers’ running game, which finished 20th in the league this season. Did Rivers feast on the weak AFC West? Sure. But he also had a QB rating of 94.6 against playoff-bound teams, and played well (97.8 rating) in the Chargers’ losses. There were a lot of good, legit candidates for the MVP this year. I didn’t even mention some defensive stalwarts. I’m just surprised that Rivers was never really in the conversation.

4. THE BEST NEW SHOW ON TELEVISION THIS SEASON WAS: “Crash,” which is winding down on its 13-episode run on Starz. It comes from the same creative minds that gave us the film “Crash,” which won the Oscar for best movie for 2004. And the TV series is an extension of the film, with new characters and story lines. The dazzling ensemble cast includes Dennis Hopper as aging eccentric Ben Cendars, a fading music producer with an addictive personality. And actor Ross McCall is devilishly perfect in playing Kenny, an LA police officer and one of the most despicable characters on TV.  Also, there is only one word to describe the actress Arlene Tur, who plays the cop, Bebe: alluring. Just a warning — the show isn’t for kids. Or for prudes.

5. OK WHO YOU GOT THIS WEEKEND IN THE NFL PLAYOFFS? ROAD DOGS? It’s an unsual wild-card lineup, considering that road teams are favored in three games, and Indy being a “pick ‘em” at San Diego. But I think two home teams will prevail this weekend, Miami and Arizona. I know Atlanta is the trendy pick to win at Arizona, and that Arizona defense is horrible, having allowed 36 TD passes this season, and a third-down conversion rate of 44 percent. But ATL’s defense isn’t impressive, either. The Falcons have given up 4.9 yards per rushing attempt, and the Cardinals might be able to get something done on the ground with a refreshened Edgerrin James. And as long as the Cardinals can keep the Falcons defense off balance, then that will ease the pass rush on Warner, and he’ll be able to have his way against the ATL secondary. The Cardinals at home win in a wild one.

60-second bonus: A poster already pointed this out on Bernie’s Press Box, but to repeat: the Big 12 North went 3-0 in Bowl games … the Pac 10 went 5-0 in bowls, so let’s cease with the rippage of West Coast ball. I don’t think any team out there is better than USC. I wish the moneychangers would at least jolt the BCS system by adding one more game to the menu; how fired up would this sports nation be in anticipation of USC being matched against the winner of the Florida-Oklahoma tiff?

Thanks for reading…

-Bernie