Back when I was a kid, I appreciated the more simple things in life. For me, it was getting up and sprinting to the nearest St. Louis Post Dispatch machine and getting the paper. I went to the machine near Tholozan and Kingshighway. Most days I actually got fully clothed but others I just ran out in what I was in at the time. If they would have timed me on one of my pursuits, I may have challenged a college draft pick for the 40 yard dash.

I needed the paper because I needed to know what local scribe Bernie Miklasz thought about a game, player or upcoming event. As a St. Louis sports fan and prospective writer, he was the guy I looked up to. Every fan has their selective voice and for me, Miklasz was it.

Bernie Miklasz is leaving the Post Dispatch after 26 years of writing print columns, blogging for their STL Today website and producing many podcasts, including Breakfast With Bernie and Best Podcast in Baseball with Cards reporter Derrick Goold. To me, he is the epitome of “tell it like it is and don’t care what others think”. Bernie doesn’t sip the koolaid(unless you put it next to a fine cigar) and prefers to think against type on certain topics. He is a blunt instrument in a world of talking head sports types that are afraid to challenge the status quo. (more…)