Happy Hour with John Gaskins

On this very day in 1989, the best and funniest sports movie of all time — according to both of Tuesday's Happy Hour hosts — was released in theaters.
 
Major League took box office viewers on a rollicking ride a few days after Michigan won its first — and until Monday night, only — national championship in basketball.
 
Times have changed in 37 years and yet they haven't. 

What do we mean by that? Well, push play and find out on the latest "Nobody's Listening Anyway" with the Happy Hour host and Sioux Falls Live sports editor Matt Zimmer from the Gateway Lounge, brochacho.
 
The two fortysomething hosts were just the right age to witness the R-rated fun of the fictional story about a ragtag, sad-sack group of Cleveland Indians — led by dour and dry-witted tire salesman and minor league skipper Lou Brown — who decided to "win the whole (freaking) thing."
 
A stroll down that memory lane was a more palatable way to start this episode than digging right into the Wolverines' first hardwood title in 37 years and what it means for the sport.
 
But once the host and Zim dug in, they pondered the question:
 
Is it really all bad? Is it really that bad?
 
Michigan didn't win the national championship with a Fab Five this year (Side note: we forget the actual Fab Five never won it, either). They came a couple of years after the '89 champs led by Glen Rice). 
 
More like the Free Agent Five — a starting group made entirely of transfers that was clearly the best team all season.
 
You could see that as a sign of everything right or wrong (or anything in between) about how times have changed in NCAA hoops, and the hosts wander through all of that, including President Trump's executive order attempting to put guard rails on the transfer portal. Good idea? Well...
 
This, of course, leads to how the portal affects our local mid-major teams and local former prep studs like JT Rock, the 7-foot-1 Sioux Falls Lincoln prodigy who will be moving on to his third school in three years. This follows a sophomore season as a role player at New Mexico (6.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, 12.8 minutes a game) that followed a barely-saw-the-floor freshman campaign for former SDSU coach T.J. Otzelberger at Iowa State.
 
It's all so complicated and a tad dark, but thank goodness for the bright light of springtime and baseball, right? Not quite, if you're a Minnesota Twins fan.
 
Alright, but how 'bout that spring football? Now, we're talking. Zim attended practices for SDSU, USD, Augustana, and USF and relays some observations, especially the quarterback races (at SDSU, that means the QB2 race behind Chase Mason) at all four schools.
 
And, we can't forget about the spring treasure of The Masters, which will be without Tiger Woods this year. That's probably a good thing after his latest crash (and the now-released video of his cringe call to the president). Why does the host — a lifelong golf geek whose Tiger fandom has gone in-and-out through the last three decades — feel this is Tiger heel turn?
 
We land our puddle-jumping plane back in the soggy marshes of the Final Four. Why is it not a "bucket list" event for either the host or Zim? And what do we make of the (unfortunate) burning image of the Women's Final Four — the dust-up between coaching legends Geno Auriemma and Dawn Staley?
 
Some of today's thorny topics are enough to make these men curse, like Harry Doyle when the Indians got only "one (gosh darn) hit." 
 
Don't worry. Nobody's Listening Anyway.

Balling with future NFL running back Zach Zenner. Rooming with current South Dakota State tight ends coach Vince Benedetto. Getting chewed out by Brandon Valley coaching legends.
These are stories that can only be told by Austin Sumner, a gun-slinging quarterback who smashed passing records and elevated SDSU from up-and-comers to uppercrusters.
No Mount Rushmore of SDSU quarterbacks is complete without Sumner, the son of two Augustana athletes, whose growth spurt before his freshman year of high school supercharged him into a super talent for nearly a decade.
Dive into the huddle as Sumner screams play calls over the deafening thunder of the Fargodome and Nebraska's Sea of Red. 
Sit next to him in the locker room to witness Zenner's unusual if not amazing, pregame ritual. Sit next to him in the car, in the moment he realizes he wanted to be a Jackrabbit.

The SDSU quarterback legend grew up in Brandon, which would re-emerge as a state football powerhouse during his time with late, great coach Chad Garrow.

Balling with future NFL running back Zach Zenner. Rooming with current South Dakota State tight ends coach Vince Benedetto. Getting chewed out by Brandon Valley coaching legends.
These are stories that can only be told by Austin Sumner, a gun-slinging quarterback who smashed passing records and elevated football programs at both BVHS and SDSU from up-and-comers to uppercrusters.
No Mount Rushmore of SDSU or BVHS quarterbacks is complete without Sumner, the son of two Augustana athletes, whose growth spurt before his freshman year of high school supercharged him into a super talent for nearly a decade.
Dive into the huddle as Sumner screams play calls over the deafening thunder of the Fargodome and Nebraska's Sea of Red. Walk with him to the sideline for a nose-to-nose tongue lashing from BV football coach Chad Garrow. Walk with him to the locker room for an earful from infuriated BV basketball coach Brent Deckert.
Sit next to him in the locker room to witness Zenner's unusual if not amazing, pregame ritual. Sit next to him in the car, in the moment he realizes he wanted to be a Jackrabbit.
Sumner takes you to all those places in an 85-minute stroll down memory lane with Happy Hour host John Gaskins in the Gateway Lounge. But first, he'll take you to wear he is now, working alongside, of all people, the man who broke his SDSU records — Taryn Christion.

What a short, strange trip it's been.
 
Also — spirited, successful, and at times sensational.
 
Now, it's over. Now what?
 
Over Miller Lite tallboys at Orion Pub in downtown Sioux Falls, Sioux Falls Live writer Trent Singer joins the Happy Hour host to look back on a unique season of USD women's basketball, which came to an end with a WNIT "Fab Four" loss on Wednesday.
 
An almost entirely new roster made of mostly transfers. The "core four" senior transfers immediately gelled and swept Coyotes fans, who were hungry for a return to relevance, off their feet by the end of their postseason run.
 
Take a bow, Carrie Eighmey. But don't take a very long breath. It's re-loading season once again. 
 
The Coyotes conversation naturally flows into the USD men's issue of roster turnover, which, like many mid-major men's teams, is a byproduct of the transfer portal and irresistible NIL money at higher levels for those who perform well. 
 
How much would it help to have more in-state players? Why is Eric Peterson uniquely equipped to handle the turnstile? 
 
Next, a high school hoops discussion starts with Sioux Falls Live's Super Six All-Metro team and the recent All-State honors, then dives into the complicated case of the Sioux Falls Lincoln girls, who have won one game in the last two seasons.
 
All roads lead to a grand finale of local food talk. Why is Trent so crazy about Raisin' Canes coming to town and where are the hosts' favorite local places to eat?
 
 
Michael Rand, Minnesota Star Tribune
The veteran columnist recently wrote about the Gopher women's basketball resurgence under former USD coach Dawn Plitzuweit. How did she manage to scrape the program out of the scrap heap of the saturated Twin Cities sports scene, at least for a few days?
 
Rand also wrote about Augustana hockey coach Garrett Raboin reportedly turning down the plum Gopher job. What is it about the seat that Raboin's mentor Bob Motzko gave up that may have kept Raboin in Sioux Falls?
 
How well will the Kyler Murray pickup work with the Minnesota Vikings? What should we anticipate they will do with their first round draft pick?
 
The Timberwolves have been to back-to-back Western Conference Finals. How equipped is this year's team to get back there?
 
And then there are the Twins, whose fans have hit a low point, at least in this century. What is there to actually watch and enjoy?