With the Christmas holiday upon us, the sports world might slow down a bit (is there anyone else left for the Yankees to throw big bucks at besides Manny Ramirez?) so we’ll spend a bit of time the next couple of days with some of the top stories from 2008.  Besides, it’s a lot easier looking back rather than predicting things like the Braggin’ Rights game. As many pointed out, five of our prognosticators got it wrong. But three were correct. So kudos to Kathleen Nelson, Tom Timmermann and Cameron Hollway.

Water cooler:What was your top story of the year?

Mike Smith
If you’re a St. Louis sports fan, here’s the big story: You’re Bill Murray starring in “Groundhog’s Day.” Every day is the same as the day before. The Rams are still awful. The Blues are still in last place. Mizzou still can’t win a big game. And the Cardinals still refuse to spend the money or make the move that will put them back at the top of the division. And the pitcher still is batting eighth!

Joe Lyons
Albert Pujols’ MVP run. After entering the season with some injury concerns, he again was a model of consistency. The guy just continues to put up numbers and produce.

Derrick Goold
No doubt it’s the complete and utter implosion of the St. Louis Rams franchise. Sure it’s been years in the making, but every facet of the organization lurches out of 2008 draped with questions — the stadium, the talent, the quarterback, the coaching staff, the fan base, and even the long term certainty of where the team will call home. But I’ll leave all that to my colleagues who are far wiser in the ways of blocking and tackling. The best story I covered this past season was a memorable series at Coors Field between the Cardinals and the hosting Colorado Rockies. The four-game series in early May in Denver had a dash of everything. In the first game, Albert Pujols, on his way to the MVP, scored the winning run from second on a ground out. In the second game, Rick Ankiel has the best individual game of the season — a home run to go with two throws from the near the warning track in center field to nail runners at third base. (Maybe his next reinvention is as quarterback for the Rams?) In Game 3, a two-out triple in the eighth inning off Jason Isringhausen blew a lead and continued a trend. And in the final game, a clunker overall, Ryan Ludwick launched two homers to finish the series 9-for-13. He left Denver hitting .363, slugging .758 and proving the series at Coors was a snapshot of the Cardinals season.

Kathleen Nelson
It’s been a cruddy year for all the local teams. Albert Pujols’ accomplishments were the brightest. But nationally, it’s the Patriots go DOWN in the Super Bowl, spoiling what would have been the first 19-0 season in the NFL. If you didn’t believe in karma before Feb. 3, you probably do now, thanks to the Giants’ victory over the seemingly invincible Pats.

Ken Roberts
From my perspective, it was East St. Louis Sr. High winning its third state high school state championship in six months when the Flyers football team captured the Class 7A state title. It was the first 7A title for the school and the first one for the Flyers since 1991. Last May, the girls and boys track teams won titles on back-to-back weekends, the first time a Class AA school had done that since 1984 when the now-defunct East St. Louis Lincoln won the girls and boys track championships.

Reid Laymance
Dawn Harper winning the gold in Beijing had to be one of the nicest surprises and it’s hard to beat Hazlewood Central’s and Hazelwood East’s Missouri state football titles on consecutive nights at the Jones Dome.

The Post-Dispatch will publish its top 10 local and national sports stories of the year this Sunday.