It's Monday in late June. The sports calendar is dry, almost dead.

Well, unless you're a Twins fan. Or — yeah, they're dry and almost dead, too.

But Happy Hour host John Gaskins has a full sports well to drink from, thanks to ESPN's latest jackassery of attempting to know or care about anything South Dakota sports. They put who on the Mount Rushmore of South Dakota athletes instead of who?

And also, the John-o-logue river overfloweth thanks to the "Summer of Opt In" and NDSU's waiting until deadline day to declare the Bison are joining UND, USD and SDSU in paying athletes directly starting tomorrow. 

What do we make of the whole forest after sifting through all the trees of the NCAA-House Settlement saga? Why, in the end, are these Dakota schools all "in?"

Plus, thoughts on the Minnesota Timberwolves' first two relevant offseason moves — keeping Naz Reid and Julius Randle — and what the next move should be. And, the Minnesota Twins are so miserable that perhaps they should be a seller instead of a buyer when the MLB trade deadline strikes at the end of July.

Finally, a Friday news dump item that we scrape out of the heap and shed light: Mayor Paul TenHaken calling to set aside $11 million in renovations to The Birdcage, signaling if were up to him, the Sioux Falls Canaries and the park they've always played in (since the latest inception of the team in 1993) are here to stay.