• Your Rankings: Does John Wooden top your list of the greatest coaches?
• Vote: Have your say on five coaching conundrums for the present.
• Chat: Ask Beano Cook about football coaches through the ages, 3 ET.

We were getting used to playoff baseball or big-time football games every night, so we weren't sure where to begin this morning. Louisiana-Monroe beating Arkansas State? Sure, we love a good showdown between Red Wolves and Warhawks as much as the next nebulous blog voice, but that didn't quite do it. Blue Jackets and Flames? Sorry, no playoff beards means no way.

Then we remembered -- it's John Wooden's 99th birthday!

Aside from being only one degree removed from the guy we fought the Revolution against (Wooden was born three days before abolitionist Julia Ward Howe passed away in 1910; she was born in 1819, a year before King George III passed away), the former UCLA coach is pretty much the greatest coaching icon in American sports.

So what birthday wishes would you send to Wooden? And while we're at it, are there any coaches working right now who might someday have a similar legacy?