Having played for Bo Ryan during his tenure at UW-Platteville, I knew the man could coach. Over his final 12 seasons at Platteville, he compiled a 314-37 (.895) record, averaging 26.2 wins a season. He led the Pioneers to four national championships, including the 1995 team that I started for. We went 31-0 and beat an undefeated Steve Alford-led Manchester team for the title.

Ryan recruited me just after winning his first title (1991) and he was always mentioned when Division I jobs opened up in the area. When I asked him whether or not he was going to leave while I was there, he said, “John, the only job I want other than this one is the University of Wisconsin job.” That job opened up a couple times over the next several years and Ryan was passed over both times. Despite all the success at the D3 level, he realized he needed to get some D1 experience before he’d get a chance with the Badgers, so he took the head position with UW-Milwaukee. After turning that program around in two seasons, he finally got his chance to lead the Badgers.

Like I said, I knew he could coach, but his performance over the last four years leading Wisconsin proved that he could coach. I wasn’t sure how Ryan’s disciplined nature was going to go over with the thinner-skinned D1 scholarship players, but from what I’ve heard, he’s adjusted his coaching style a bit and has led the Badgers to an average of 23.3 wins in his first four seasons. During that span, Wisconsin has won two Big Ten championships, and Ryan has won two Big Ten Coach of the Year awards in the process. Wisconsin has earned four straight NCAA tournament births, and last year they advanced to the Elite Eight after two straight Sweet Sixteen appearances.

His talents were on display again tonight as the Badgers visited the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in the ACC / Big Ten Challenge - the Deacons prevailed, 91-88. The Badgers weren’t themselves defensively, allowing Eric Williams to dominate inside and Justin Gray to score a career high 37 points. Somehow Wisconsin stayed in the game, riding Alando Tucker’s 23 second half points. Tucker is Wisconsin’s best player, with Brian Butch and Kammron Taylor chipping in – it will be interesting to see how this relatively young team progresses as the year goes on.

One thing’s for sure: Bo will “coach ‘em up.”

To understand Ryan’s philosophy, check out the great article he wrote for collegeinsider.com.

We’re in the middle of the stretch run - for a lot of fantasy owners, it’s do or die time. Post all of your roster questions here.

QUARTERBACKS

David Garrard, JAX – Byron Leftwich is out for a while and Garrard will start in his place. He was pretty good against Arizona, throwing for 115 yards while rushing for 61 yards and a score.

Ryan Fitzpatrick, STL – Backup QB Jamie Martin left the game with a concussion and if he can’t go next week, Fitzpatrick would get the start. He finished the game strong against a questionable Texans defense throwing for 310 yards and three scores, including a TD pass to Kevin Curtis for the win in overtime.

RUNNING BACKS

Samkon Gado, GB – The way that the Packers didn’t use Gado in the second half of the Monday night game against the Vikings led many (including myself) to believe that he was out of the mix at RB. But Sunday he ran for 111 yards and a score, so he is very much in the mix.

Or is it, I wish I were a Colts fan?

Anyway, if loyalty to a hometown team weren’t the overriding factor, Peyton Manning would be the favorite player of more fans than just about anyone else in the league. (Others in contention: Tom Brady, LaDainian Tomlinson and Chad Johnson. Yes, Chad Johnson.)

Manning knows what he’s doing out there. He’s THE guy. Reading defenses, calling his own plays at the line, getting in his O-linemen’s faces when they screw up because he just wants to win the f’ing game. That’s it.

A quick look at the progression of his numbers this season proves just how much this guy wants to win. Early in the season, he wasn’t delivering the 300-yard, 4-TD performances as regularly as he did last year. Manning even went two-straight games — against Jacksonville week two and Cleveland week three — without recording a single touchdown throw.

But the Colts won.

And now, heading into tonight’s match-up with Pittsburgh, Manning had tossed three TDs in each of his last three games, 18 in his last seven.

And the Colts keep winning.

Screw the stats. Manning doesn’t care if he’s handing the ball off to Edgerrin James 30 times a game or chucking it 40; just put more points on the board than the guys on the other side of the field. That’s all that matters.

Remember when Shaun Alexander, one yard shy of his first league rushing title, threw a tantrum last year because Mike Holmgren chose to throw at the goaline late in the game? If Manning sat one TD away from Marino last year on the final play of the regular season, Colts on the goaline needing to score to win, he’d call Edge’s number without hesitation if the defense gave him the run.

He knows he can throw 50 touchdowns every year if he wanted to, but he also knows he wouldn’t win as many games doing it. That’s gotta be the kind of guy you root for.

Whether you’re a Colts fan or, as in my unfortunate case, a Browns fan.

If I were a fan of the Houston Texans, I would have burned their stadium to the ground yesterday, after they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against the inept St. Louis Rams. They were up, what, 24-3? I understand the idea behind playing not to lose, as opposed to playing to win. But for the Texans to give up a lead like that, they must have been executing the ultimate prevent defense, one that prevents their opponents from punting. How embarrassing. Season ticket holders, revolt.

Coming off an embarrassing Turkey Day loss to the Falcons, the Detroit Lions canned head coach Steve Mariucci Monday, naming defensive coordinator and former Bears HC Dick Jauron as the interim head coach.

So did Mooch deserve to get fired? Well, the Lions were 15-28 under Mariucci, including 4-7 this season, which doesn’t exactly help you establish job security. Of course, if I’m pointing fingers, I’m looking for president Matt Millen, who put together a team that’s gone an NFL-worst 20-55 since 2001. Unexplicably, Millen was given a five-year extension before this season.

Pro Bowl cornerback Dre Bly, in an interview on the NFL Network, pointed his finger at someone else, though:

“They should have fired guys on this team a long time ago… I feel like there is one guy in particular who I felt like is the cause of this whole thing. That’s just how it is.”

Who?

“It’s not hard to figure out. The quarterback (Joey Harrington) here has been bad. He hasn’t gotten the job done since I got here. Y’all just see Sundays, but I’ve been a part of this every day for three years… practices. You see how the guys practice and the practices have been bad… I really don’t believe coach would have gotten fired if Jeff (Garcia) didn’t get hurt.”

Things have been ugly in Detroit for a long time, yet somehow, they just got even uglier.

Former Cowboys WR Michael Irvin was charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia in Plano, TX.

Irvin, an ESPN analyst and semifinalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, told The Associated Press late Sunday that the drug pipe found in his car belonged to a friend of 17 years who left a Houston rehab center and came to Irvin’s house in Carrollton for Thanksgiving. Irvin wouldn’t reveal his friend’s name.

Irvin said he put the pipe in his car because he didn’t want it in his house where his children might find it. He said he planned to drive somewhere the next day, like a grocery trash bin, and throw the pipe away but forgot.

The article doesn’t say what kind of pipe Irvin had in his car, but the former wideout has had a history of using cocaine. If his story is true, one wonders how he could “forget” to throw the pipe away. If I were in his position, I would have immediately taken the pipe down to the nearest 7-11 and thrown it in the Dumpster out back. That’s assuming, of course, that I was still inviting my crack addict friends over for Thanksgiving.

Time winding down in the Duke/Memphis game, tied 67-67. Duke has the ball with about 40 seconds left. A shot is taken and, as it is coming off the rim, Shelden Williams tips it in. I’m a big Duke fan, but it looks like a goaltend to me. Memphis brings the ball up with about 20 seconds to go, forces a shot, Duke grabs the rebound and gets fouled.

During the free throws, they show the “above the rim” replay which clearly shows that the ball was still in the cylinder (in fact, it was on the rim) when Williams tipped it in. What does Vitale say?

“Good tip. Not on the cylinder.”

He needs to get the vision checked in his one good eye.

A great way to determine a player’s fantasy performance is his efficiency performance. For those not familiar, here is the NBA’s efficiency equation:

EFF = ((Points + Rebounds + Assists + Steals + Blocks) - ((Field Goals Att. - Field Goals Made) + (Free Throws Att. - Free Throws Made) + Turnovers))

The rating takes into account all of the stats that are used to calculate the 9 major fantasy basketball categories.

Here are the Top 20 players, based on their average efficiency ratings for their last 10 games:

1. Elton Brand 29.9
2. Kevin Garnett 29.4
3. Tim Duncan 28.8
4. Marcus Camby 28.4
5. Shawn Marion 28.4
6. Allen Iverson 28.3
7. Lebron James 27
8. Paul Pierce 26.7
9. Dwyane Wade 26.5
10. Dirk Nowitzki 25
11. Chris Bosh 24.9
12. Kobe Bryant 23.7
13. Richard Jefferson 23.4
14. Jermaine O’Neal 23.3
15. Peja Stojakovic 23.1
16. Chris Webber 22.2
17. Antawn Jamison 22
18. Gilbert Arenas 21.3
19. Ricky Davis 21.2
20. Dwight Howard 20.8

A few things jumped out at me as I watched the Cowboys and Broncos today (which Denver won in OT, 24-21 after Ron Dayne’s long run set up a Jason Elam FG):

1. In the first half, Denver punted and the ball bounced around at the 1 yard line. The initial call was a touchback, but after a few commercials, we found out that Shanahan wanted to challenge the call. So we go to ANOTHER set of commercials and come back to find out that the call was overturned. A couple of years ago, the NFL changed the rules so that the clock would run, even if players went out of bounds, for a good portion of each half. This rule was designed to make the games shorter, but as I’m sure you’ve noticed, the games aren’t any shorter. They are still running 3+ hours. What we get are more commercials, and no one needs that.

2. Denver MLB Al Wilson stops Dallas RB Marion Barber on a 3rd and 1 at midfield and begins to celebrate. Only he didn’t stop him. Barber keeps his feet moving and neither of his knees touch the ground. His second effort gets the Cowboys a first down and Wilson looks like a fool.

3. In the 4th quarter, Dallas safety Roy Williams covers Denver TE Jeb Putzier on a pass play. Putzier makes the catch and Williams sort of runs past him, waving his hands to indicate that the pass is incomplete. As the replay eventually shows, the catch was clearly made and Putzier is able to get up and gain another six yards while Williams, who should know better, looks like a fool.

4. The Cowgirls’ short shorts are getting shorter. This one is not a complaint.

As I watch the end of the Lions / Falcons tilt (currently 27-0, Falcons), I am reminded of an op-ed piece I read a while back arguing that the Thanksgiving games should rotate around the league. The article stated that every year, the Lions and the Cowboys get a half game advantage over the rest of the league by getting a home game on Thanksgiving. Moreover, while the Cowboys have improved recently under Bill Parcells, the Lions are generally in the bottom half of the league, which sometimes makes for games like the one today.

Whoever represents each conference in the previous season’s Super Bowl should play a home game on Thanksgiving. The visiting teams should be non-division opponents that made the playoffs the previous year. I say “non-division” because the half game Turkey Day advantage shouldn’t be applied to a division contest. The other option is to pick a good rivalry in each conference, with each team alternating as host. How about the Packers / Bears and Raiders / Broncos? Or the Redskins / Cowboys and the Patriots / Jets?

I prefer the first option, but either would work and both would be better than the current setup. Let’s just hope that the Broncos / Cowboys can make up for a ho hum first game.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Let’s talk baseball.

So Jim Thome’s a South Sider now. Huh. The sox gave up Aaron Rowand and two top pitching prospects to get Thome, who’s coming off his worst season, a season cut short by elbow surgery.

This isn’t to say that the White Sox were nuts to go after Thome. The guy’s good for 40 dingers and 100+ walks a year, and he’s one of the nicest guys in baseball. But the White Sox were nuts for going after him so early. There were not many teams that were even interested in taking on that contract, and the Sox surely could have cut a better deal had they waited a little bit longer and sweated the Phillies out a little bit. On the other hand, this makes Frank Thomas completely expendable, and provides insurance in case they don’t re-sign Paul Konerko. But come on, are they really going to keep Thome and Konerko? Paulie’s as good as gone for Anaheim.

As far as trades go, this is not one of Ken Williams’ best, falling somewhere at or below the trade with Pittsburgh that netted Todd Ritchie but cost them Josh Fogg and Kip Wells. Still, it’s more than the Cubs have done. Juan Pierre is a nice addition and all, but it’s hardly enough.

This should be a great game, as the 8-2 Denver Broncos and the 7-3 Dallas Cowboys are widely considered to be among the top 5 teams in the NFL at the mmoment.

Both coaches have done an impressive job this year. In particular, Mike Shanahan has done a fantastic coaching job after many critics were starting to question his management of the team. As usual, the running game is dominant. This year the Broncos could have two running backs rush for over 1,000 yards. Even more impressive is the play of quarterback Jake Plummer:

In his third year in Shanahan’s offense, Jake Plummer has completed over 61 percent of his passes for 2,074 yards and 13 touchdowns with just three interceptions. He has a franchise-record streak of 219 passes without an interception.

Plummer has always been talented, but his tendency to force plays and make stupid mistakes always limited his effectiveness. Shanahan took a big chance sevral years ago by handing the team over to Plummer, but the coaching might finally be sinking in. Of course it helps to have a great running game, but Plummer might finally be ready to lead this team deep into the playoffs and possibly to the Super Bowl. The Cowboys will present a great test.

Michael Vick is playing better, but the Falcons have lost two straight:

Last week, Vick completed 21-of-38 passes for a season-high 306 yards and two touchdowns in a 30-27 loss to Tampa Bay. He has been much more efficient through the air in the last three games, going 63-of-99 for 743 yards and five touchdowns without an interception.

That’s impressive, but I’m still skeptical as to whether Vick can live up to the hype. Let’s see if he can continue with this efficiency in the pocket through the rest of the season. With his amazing running ability, I think he’ll often revert back to his tendency to run with the football. This will make him more prone to injury. Let’s see if Vick can keep up the solid play this week in front of a national audience.

Meanwhile, the Lions are a mess. Mariucci made a desperation move several weeks back by switching to the aging (and gimpy) Jeff Garcia at quarterback. Harrington has certainly been a disappointment, but he deserved a full season with his new weapons. Regardless of who plays today, the Falcons defense will present a good test.

Every week, I highlight a few marginal fantasy players, three to start and three to sit. First, let’s see how I did last week:

START

Matt Hasselbeck – 233 passing yards, 1 TD (HIT)
Shaun Alexander did most of the damage against the 49ers, but Hasselbeck contributed with a solid game.

Patrick Pass / Heath Evans – 184 combined yards (PUSH)
The duo split the carries and the catches and combined for a very good total.

Andre Johnson – 6 catches, 50 yards (PUSH)
AJ had a solid game in points per reception leagues, but owners in other leagues are still waiting for him to do something.

BENCH

Mike Vick – 306 passing yards, 2 TDs (MISS)
Vick looked great against a good Bucs defense. He seems to be getting more consistent as the season goes on.

Kevin Jones – 67 total yards, 1 TD (MISS)
I’ll give myself a miss on this one. Even though KJ didn’t have a very good game, he did find the endzone.

Ashley Lelie – 4 catches, 81 yards (PUSH)
Lelie had a better game than I expected, but he still didn’t find the endzone even though the Broncos put up 27 points.

On to this week’s picks:

START

QB – Trent Green, KC
Green has had an up and down season and is currently QB18, but this week he faces a New England pass defense that is second worst in yards allowed per game.

RB – Chris Brown, TEN
Brown has been solid lately, and this week he faces a porous 49er defense that allows 120 yards and 1.5 TDs on the ground.

WR – Eddie Kennison, KC
Just like Green, Kennison should have a big day against the Patriots.

BENCH

QB – Chris Simms, TB
Simms will probably struggle against a very good Chicago defense that is second best in the league against the pass.

RB – Tony Fisher / Samkon Gado, GB
Who knows what’s going on in GB. After a great game against ATL, Gado gets pulled early in the second half of Monday’s game against the Vikings for fumbling. Whoever gets the carries might find it tough to run against the Philly D.

WR – Reggie Brown, PHI
The Packers have been surprisingly good against the pass, allowing only 187 yards a game through the air. I think they’ll keep Brown out of the endzone.

Apparently, Doug Christie’s knee injury has him considering retirement. The main beneficiary of this move would be Marquis Daniels, who has averaged 13 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal since Christie has been out.

Go get him.

Thank God. Now maybe we can all move on with our lives, the Eagles can turn their attention back to their lost season, and TO can watch it all from his couch.

Wondering who to cut and who to pick up? Post all of your fantasy basketball questions here.

Donovan McNabb is out for the season and Antonio Gates is nursing a foot injury. So what do you do?

Post all of your roster questions here, that’s what.

QUARTERBACKS

Mike McMahon, PHI – Donovan McNabb is out for the rest of the season and McMahon looked pretty good in the second half of the game against the Giants. He should be reasonably productive in the Eagles offense the rest of the way.

Jamie Martin, STL – Marc Bulger is out again with a shoulder injury so that means Martin will be the starter for the Rams. Martin was solid in relief on Sunday and should be an adequate fantasy backup for the remainder of the season.

RUNNING BACKS

Tony Fisher, GB – Sam Gado lost his job with a fumble in the beginning of the second half of Monday night’s game and, just like that, has gone from hero to goat. Fisher is first in line to get carries, but the Green Bay running game isn’t very impressive. Fisher will do some damage in leagues that reward one point per reception.

Maurice Hicks, SF – If Kevan Barlow and Frank Gore continue to miss time with injuries, Hicks would get the start. He played great on Sunday, carrying the ball 11 times for 83 yards and a score after Barlow left the game.