WISCONSIN SPORTS fans have a couple of reasons to salute Rick Reilly this month.
First is the celebrated Sports Illustrated columnist’s early valentine to UW basketball coach Bo Ryan, whom Reilly calls “my new favorite coach” in the Jan. 29 issue of SI.
Reilly on Ryan: “I swear, you’ve never met anyone like him. He could talk the freckles off Opie. He once persuaded an engaged woman into calling off her wedding and marrying him instead. Thirty-two years later she’s still convinced. And he can flat coach. With his patented Swing offense and his obsession with detail, he could win 20 games a year with five large parking meters. He’s the most unheralded winning machine in the country and headmaster of the No. 2-ranked Badgers.”