Happy Hour with John Gaskins

Trivia Question: Who is the hottest college basketball team — Div. I or Div. II — in eastern South Dakota?   Answer: The University of Sioux Falls men, which started the season 2-8 overall and 0-5 in the Northern Sun Conference before their current six-game winning streak.   Even crazier — the Cougars are doing it with stealth offensive firepower, scoring over 85 points per game in Northern Sun conference games, good for second in the 16-team league. That is not usually coach Chris Johnson's bag.    So, how did a young Cougars squad with no seniors and 11 freshmen or sophomores have such a quick growth spurt? Why did "CJ" decide to play a run-and-gun game after spending most of his 18-year tenure preferring a more half-court, post-oriented, defense-and-rebounding (low-scoring) identity?   The most candid coach in the area gives answers as bluntly as ever in a half-hour Happy Hour chat from Orion Pub in downtown Sioux Falls.   The Twin Cities native sticks around for the first Happy Hour "Timberwolves Talk" session of the season with pub co-owner Jon Oppold, a fellow die hard Wolves watcher. Minnesota's regular season has reached the halfway point. Do the Wolves appear to have what it takes to reach the Western Conference Finals a third consecutive time?   Hear CJ and "Jonny Opps" deep dive about Anthony Edwards, the splendors of Rudy Goebert, roster moves the Wolves should make and avoid, "load management," and more.   Before all this, Sioux Falls Live reporter Trent Singer joins the host from Orion Pub for the weekly Thirsty Thursday local sports talk.   Topics: North Dakota State's basketball victory over the Jackrabbits, the USD women starting to pick things up at 3-1 in Summit League play after blowing out UND last night, and the O'Gorman girls' continuing to set and meet their own standard.   But the two start with some words about the Sioux Falls Burger Battle — the do's and don'ts for those diners participating.   Here's a hint: Don't be "that group." You know who you are. 

Trivia Question: Who is the hottest college basketball team — Div. I or Div. II — in eastern South Dakota?   Answer: The University of Sioux Falls men, which started the season 2-8 overall and 0-5 in the Northern Sun Conference before their current six-game winning streak.   Even crazier — the Cougars are doing it with stealth offensive firepower, scoring over 85 points per game in Northern Sun conference games, good for second in the 16-team league. That is not usually coach Chris Johnson's bag.    So, how did a young Cougars squad with no seniors and 11 freshmen or sophomores have such a quick growth spurt? Why did "CJ" decide to play a run-and-gun game after spending most of his 18-year tenure preferring a more half-court, post-oriented, defense-and-rebounding (low-scoring) identity?   The most candid coach in the area gives answers as bluntly as ever in a half-hour Happy Hour chat from Orion Pub in downtown Sioux Falls.  

Sioux Falls Live reporter Trent Singer joins the host from Orion Pub for the weekly Thirsty Thursday local sports talk.   Topics: North Dakota State's basketball victory over the Jackrabbits, the USD women starting to pick things up at 3-1 in Summit League play after blowing out UND last night, and the O'Gorman girls' continuing to set and meet their own standard.   But the two start with some words about the Sioux Falls Burger Battle — the do's and don'ts for those diners participating.   Here's a hint: Don't be "that group." You know who you are. 

Do the Wolves appear to have what it takes to reach the Western Conference Finals a third consecutive time? Hear CJ and "Jonny Opps" deep dive about Anthony Edwards, the splendors of Rudy Goebert, roster moves the Wolves should make and avoid, "load management," and more.

You could make a darn compelling movie about the career of Adam Thielen, the small town Minnesota kid who played Div. II football, went undrafted, and became a Top 5 all-time wide receiver for his boyhood team, the Minnesota Vikings.   South Dakota men's basketball coach Eric Peterson says that if his M*A*S*H unit Coyotes — with eight lost players due to injury or departure since the start of the season — somehow cut down the nets in Sioux Falls in March, Hollywood should make a movie about them.   You could certainly produce a gripping documentary about 26th year head coach Aaron Johnston and his mid-major juggernaut South Dakota State women's basketball program's wildly impressive stretch of excellence and dominance in Sioux Falls and the Summit League.   And when a 30 for 30 or even Hollywood film about Aaron Rodgers' career and life is made, the host of "Happy Hour with John Gaskins" says the final chapter should involve Rodgers' year with the Minnesota Vikings in 2026. Rodgers, 42, and arguably on the Mount Rushmore of most talented NFL QB's of all time, might retire. But last offseason, the former Green Bay Packer flirted with the Minnesota Vikings and reportedly wanted to play for them.    Hear why — despite most Vikings fans wanting nothing to do with Rodgers either because he was a Packer or because they don't think he is an elite QB anymore — the Vikings should go after him again, despite Monday's playoff performance that suggested he's cooked.   The host digs into Rodgers' key clutch stats and what he was working with in Pittsburgh — which suggests he was a Top 10 QB in '25 — and projects success with a receiving core that includes Justin Jefferson, a still-brilliant offensive mind like Kevin O'Connell (who lost his way this season, then found it before it was too late), and a top shelf defensive coordinator in Brian Flores, who the Vikes are supposedly trying to lock down.   That topic leads off Wednesday's show. Then, we ask the question: Is Adam Thielen on the Mount Rushmore of Minnesota Vikings receivers?    Then, Johnston and Peterson each joined the program for over a half hour to talk about their seasons so far.   Hear about Johnston's endeavors as a youth sports parent to his kids, including as a shot clock operator in basketball games. Plus, his thoughts on how the Summit League schedules games, how Brooklyn Meyer has established herself as one of the best posts in the country, and a monster matchup with surging North Dakota State on Saturday.   Then, hear about the depths Peterson has had to go to keep perhaps the most injured college basketball team of all time's head above water.