Happy Hour with John Gaskins

Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
 
Those are the words of the Socrates of Gen X, Ferris Bueller.
 
They take on extra meaning when a Gen X'er like Sioux Falls Live sports editor Matt Zimmer visits Chicago, where Ferris Bueller had his day off.
 
With his own Sloan Peterson by his side, Zim and wife Jenn walked around the Windy City's iconic spots the day after they covered South Dakota State's lost opportunity against Northwestern on the shores of Lake Michigan.
 
After you hear which Chicago delicacy Zim enjoyed at Harry Caray's bar, hear him chomp into the shoulda-woulda-coulda of what he calls the Jackrabbits best ever chance at beating a Big Ten operation.
 
Blame game? It's complicated, but he and the Happy Hour host walk through offensive play-calling, defensive "doh!" moments, and Chase Mason's performance. Did the latter hurt his NFL stock? Well.....
 
You probably knew about the 90-minute weather delay Augustana sat through in Duluth before coming out of the locker room and taking a tough fourth quarter loss on the chin from the Bulldogs.
 
What you may not know is the Vikings could have hopped on the bus back to Sioux Falls with a win. Why didn't "Coach OJ" do that, and what do the hosts make of a potential playoff-killing decision?
 
USF suffered its own defeat before it hit the road to beat Jamestown last weekend. Quarterback Tate Schafer hurt his arm in the opener against Black Hills State and is out four to six weeks. Why will the Cougars be better off during that time than most teams would?
 
While football has kicked off and seized most of our sports oxygen, the Sioux Falls Canaries are participating in playoff baseball for a club record fourth season, opening with league titan Kansas City.
 
What fans won't get to see is the Birds' all-time "Home Run King," hit king, most tenured, and most beloved player of their 34-season modern inception swinging for the fences and making more magic with "Bari Bombs."
 
Jabari Henry suffered a lower leg injury last Friday that ended his season and potentially his professional career, with nearly a decade spent in Sioux Falls. If this is it, Zim, who has lived in the city his whole life and watched all of the minor league legends play, pegs Henry's place in the city's minor league Pantheon.
 
Finally... let's talk turf. As Patrick Lalley reported recently, the mayor's annual $800 million budget includes about $1 million for field turf to replace grass in The Birdcage outfield. Wise investment for an aged facility? 
 
Cheers!.........
 
......................
 
...... You're still here? 
 
It's over. 
 
Go home.

Perhaps you were enjoying a pontoon ride on Lake Madison instead of watching South Dakota State play on Lake Michigan.


Perhaps you were doing death-defying flips on your jetski instead of watching Austin Modzewski (pronounced muh-jet-ski). 
 
Maybe you were carving waves on your boat tube instead of watching new Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell carve up East Carolina's defense for South Dakota native Kalen DeBoer.
 
You catch our drift.
 
And, now you can catch up on all the highlights, lowlights, and in-between lights from these games with Tuesday's Happy Hour!
 
* SDSU coach Dan Jackson describes what he saw on film from his Jackrabbits' game of lost opportunities at Northwestern, particularly on the "five plays" his defense failed to make that could have swung the game. Also, why did the Jacks fail to close drives in the red zone? And what about Chase Mason's performance (23-48, 245, 0 TD, 1 INT) looked better on film than it did in the moment? 
 
* Why was USD coach Matt Vitzthum pleased with his defense despite some long Northern Colorado drives in a 38-23 win? Also, what did Vitz hear back from the Missouri Valley Football Conference officials about the targeting penalty that kicked Dawson Sescher out of the game, not to mention Isaiah Wray's penalty for his hit on UNC's quarterback on the same play? Plus, what will Eastern Washington's offense present that the Coyotes have not seen yet? 
 
* Happy Hour's local football analyst Kurtiss Riggs was in Alabama to visit University of Sioux Falls 1996 national championship teammate Kalen DeBoer, who led the Crimson Tide to a 48-10 pillaging of the Pirates. While it was a dominating win, what bemused some Bama fans, and what did Riggs—DeBoer's quarterback in '96 and a quarterbacks coach by trade—see from new Tide QB Keelon Russell?
 
The 11-time IFL champion former head coach of the Sioux Falls Storm had plenty more insight into Alabama's opener and DeBoer's chaotic schedule on gamedays and the day after, plus takes on the wild games involving Rutgers (with former USD coach Travis Johansen's defense bombarded by a traditionally awful UMass squad), Michigan's hail mary mulligan, Florida State's continued fall from grace, and Rapid City's sad state of high school football.
 
But this Happy Hour kicks off with a baseball monologue from the Happy Hour host, who was at The Birdcage last week watching what might be the final heroics and a heartbreaking injury of the Sioux Falls Canaries' most decorated and beloved player, Jabari Henry, the "Home Run King" of both the club and the American Association of Professional Baseball.
 
The Birds will be without their veteran slugger for the playoffs after he collapsed with a leg injury on Friday night. At 35, Henry contemplated retirement last season before returning for another dinger-filled, smile-splashed season. But if this is it, he sure went out with a bang two nights before the injury.
 
Sioux Falls hosts Kansas City on Wednesday at 6:30 in Game 1 of a best-of-three first round series with the Kansas City Monarchs. Here is a preview of that series.
 
All tickets in The Birdcage will be $10, except in the Diamond Club behind home plate, whose occupants will receive wristbands giving them access to an all-you-can-eat concession menu and all they can drink, including domestic beers.

Happy Hour kicks off with a baseball monologue from the Happy Hour host, who was at The Birdcage last week watching what might be the final heroics and a heartbreaking injury of the Sioux Falls Canaries' most decorated and beloved player, Jabari Henry, the "Home Run King" of both the club and the American Association of Professional Baseball.
 
The Birds will be without their veteran slugger for the playoffs after he collapsed with a leg injury on Friday night. At 35, Henry contemplated retirement last season before returning for another dinger-filled, smile-splashed season. But if this is it, he sure went out with a bang two nights before the injury.
 
Sioux Falls hosts Kansas City on Wednesday at 6:30 in Game 1 of a best-of-three first round series with the Kansas City Monarchs. Here is a preview of that series.
 
All tickets in The Birdcage will be $10, except in the Diamond Club behind home plate, whose occupants will receive wristbands giving them access to an all-you-can-eat concession menu and all they can drink, including domestic beers.

Happy Hour's local football analyst Kurtiss Riggs was in Alabama to visit University of Sioux Falls 1996 national championship teammate Kalen DeBoer, who led the Crimson Tide to a 48-10 pillaging of the Pirates. While it was a dominating win, what bemused some Bama fans, and what did Riggs—DeBoer's quarterback in '96 and a quarterbacks coach by trade—see from new Tide QB Keelon Russell?
 
The 11-time IFL champion former head coach of the Sioux Falls Storm had plenty more insight into Alabama's opener and DeBoer's chaotic schedule on gamedays and the day after, plus takes on the wild games involving Rutgers (with former USD coach Travis Johansen's defense bombarded by a traditionally awful UMass squad), Michigan's hail mary mulligan, Florida State's continued fall from grace, and Rapid City's sad state of high school football.

Perhaps you were enjoying a pontoon ride on Lake Madison instead of watching South Dakota State play on Lake Michigan.


Perhaps you were doing death-defying flips on your jetski instead of watching Austin Modzewski (pronounced muh-jet-ski). 
 
Maybe you were carving waves on your boat tube instead of watching new Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell carve up East Carolina's defense for South Dakota native Kalen DeBoer.
 
You catch our drift.
 
And, now you can catch up on all the highlights, lowlights, and in-between lights from these games with Tuesday's Happy Hour!
 
* SDSU coach Dan Jackson describes what he saw on film from his Jackrabbits' game of lost opportunities at Northwestern, particularly on the "five plays" his defense failed to make that could have swung the game. Also, why did the Jacks fail to close drives in the red zone? And what about Chase Mason's performance (23-48, 245, 0 TD, 1 INT) looked better on film than it did in the moment? 
 
* Why was USD coach Matt Vitzthum pleased with his defense overall despite some long Northern Colorado drives in a 38-23 win? Also, what did Vitz hear back from the Missouri Valley Football Conference officials about the targeting penalty that kicked Dawson Sesher out of the game, not to mention Isaiah Wray's penalty for his hit on UNC's quarterback on the same play? Plus, what will Eastern Washington's offense present that the Coyotes have not seen yet? 
 
* Happy Hour's local football analyst Kurtiss Riggs was in Alabama to visit University of Sioux Falls 1996 national championship teammate Kalen DeBoer, who led the Crimson Tide to a 48-10 pillaging of the Pirates. While it was a dominating win, what bemused some Bama fans, and what did Riggs—DeBoer's quarterback in '96 and a quarterbacks coach by trade—see from new Tide QB Keelon Russell?
 
The 11-time IFL champion former head coach of the Sioux Falls Storm had plenty more insight into Alabama's opener and DeBoer's chaotic schedule on gamedays and the day after, plus takes on the wild games involving Rutgers (with former USD coach Travis Johansen's defense bombarded by a traditionally awful UMass squad), Michigan's hail mary mulligan, Florida State's continued fall from grace, and Rapid City's sad state of high school football.
 
But this Happy Hour kicks off with a baseball monologue from the Happy Hour host, who was at The Birdcage watching what might be the final heroics and a heartbreaking injury of the Sioux Falls Canaries' most decorated and beloved player, Jabari Henry, the "Home Run King" of both the club and the American Association of Professional Baseball.
 
The Birds will be without their veteran slugger for the playoffs after he collapsed with a leg injury on Friday night. At 35, Henry contemplated retirement last season before returning for another dinger-filled, smile-splashed season. But if this is it, he sure went out with a bang two nights before the injury.
 
Sioux Falls hosts Kansas City on Wednesday at 6:30 in Game 1 of a best-of-three first round series with the Kansas City Monarchs. Here is a preview of that series.
 
All tickets in The Birdcage will be $10, except in the Diamond Club behind home plate, whose occupants will receive wristbands giving them access to an all-you-can-eat concession menu and all they can drink, including domestic beers.