Before we look ahead to a rapidly-approaching 2025 football season, a look back — over beers and with a background of classic country music at the Gateway Lounge, of course — at pop culture titans from our youth who left us this past week.
Gen X'ers John Gaskins and Matt Zimmer put the latest local sports buzz on hold for a bit to reminisce about the essence of Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Famer Ozzy Osborne, Baseball Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg, WWE GOAT Hulk Hogan, and "Cosby Show" heart throb Malcolm Jamal-Warner (Theo Huxtable). They all died this past week, and their legacies are all in the wheelhouse of the two hosts.
John and Zim next look back on last week's MVFC Media Days. Zim's biggest takeaway was the response and tone of North Dakota State head coach Tim Polasek regarding one particular touchy topic affecting all FCS teams in 2025. Plus, what do we make of the health of the league, with a currently clear two-tier system — The Big 3 of NDSU, SDSU, and USD... and then everyone else?
Then, a look back at the short-lived but memorable tenure of South Dakota State running back Nate White, the Wisconson transfer who made an instant impact on the practice field and instant friends in the locker room before his tragic death in his sleep at the age of 20 last month.
White's now-well-documented happy time in Brookings is a testament to the culture fostered within the Jackrabbit program over the last 20 years, a feature also well-established with the Sioux Falls Canaries. While "culture" and "family" are attainable cliches in prep and college sports, they are difficult to come by in minor league baseball. But the Birds clearly have it with manager Mike Meyer in a season that is escalating into a bonfire of big offense and big wins. How and why did the inferno grow?
Finally, now that it is obvious the Minnesota Twins aren't championship contenders, what moves should the front office make for an organization that is for sale, but not in the bottom of the barrel? 

What a weekend it was to be at Target Field!
Twins ace Joe Ryan got the 2-1 pitcher's duel win over National League All-Star starter and Cy Young candidate Paul Skenes in front of a sellout crowd, followed by a one-hour concert from still-jacked 50-year-old Nelly in front of a still-amped throng.
While Happy Hour host John Gaskins attended that, his Nobody's Listening Anyway co-host Matt Zimmer had the fortune the next day of witnessing Byron Buxton hit a 427-foot home run to complete the cycle on Byron Buxton Bobblehead Day.
These awesome experiences, plus Buxton's appearances in Monday's Home Run Derby and Tuesday's MLB All-Star game, lead off a midsummer's daydream full of baseball and football conversation from the Gateway Lounge in Sioux Falls.
Is Buxton one of the very best players in all of baseball? Can we enjoy this joyride he is on or is it still bittersweet considering so much of his talent has been squandered via injuries?
Meanwhile, the Sioux Falls Canaries have six players in their league's All-Star game next week, with two of them up-and-coming local talents from Augustana (Jordan Barth) and USF (Josh Rehwaldt), the latter who Zimmer things should have gotten a call to join an MLB operation by now.
While baseball is in midseason form, Alabama coach and USF player/coaching alumnus Kalen DeBoer stopped in Sioux Falls last week for a few speaking engagements before heading to Atlanta for SEC Media Days this week. Zimmer walks through his takeaways, including the connective tissue of DeBoer's 67-3 tear while head coach at USF to year two leading Fresno State, Washington, and now the Crimson Tide.
Meanwhile, you can watch and hear Happy Hour's one-on-one with DeBoer from last May here.

What is there to say about South Dakota State running back Nate White's death, just over 24 hours after it was reported on Wednesday?
The tragedy — with details yet public — rightfully hovers a cloud over the program, the FCS, and the regional sports scene, trivializing normal day-to-day events and hot sports topics.
But "Nobody's Listening Anyway" hosts John Gaskins and Matt Zimmer make what they can about a 21-year-old transfer from Wisconsin who was expected to be the starter and gained a boatload of respect and adulation from his new teammates in Brookings.
Before this shocking event, the top current issue regarding Jackrabbit Athletics was the looming decision to "opti in" (or not) to the NCAA-House Setttlement that allows schools to share revenue with athletes and changes the NIL model. As of the recording, athetlic director Justin Sell — who spoke on the topic for 90 minutes on Happy Hour last week — had yet to announce the decision, which comes with a June 30 deadline.
John and Matt discuss why USD went all-in over a week ago and why SDSU is still mulling it over, not to mention why this might not be as big a deal at these mid-major schools as it is in Power Four leagues.
This leads to reaction USD athletic director Jon Schemmel's remarks on Wednesday's Happy Hour about the lingering attendance struggles — with upticks in the past year, Schemmel said — at football and basketball games, and what would bring more fans, which leads to the latest discussion of attendance at for the Canaries, who have won 15 of their last 20 games, are 13-5 at The Birdcage, and sport the third-best record and the highest-scoring, hottest-hitting lineup in their league. 

Beer-logo'd golf bags. Old school MTV veejays. The Dead Guys of the Week — Brian Wilson and Sly Stone — and their place in music and pop culture history.
Matt Zimmer and John Gaskins tried their best to kick around fun and breezy topics to avoid that dreaded summer buzz kill — The NCAA-House Settlement and where schools like SDSU and USD fit into it.
But eventually, the hosts of the weekly "Nobody's Listening Anyway" podcast got down to busines at Gateway Lounge. What does this darn thing mean and what really matters to the college football fans of the Dakotas and the FCS?
What's also exhausting and confusing is if SDSU, USD, and NDSU will opt in or not, and what the competitive advantages and disadvantages would immediately be no matter what that choice is.
Over his ice cold Bud Light on tap, Zimmer — who, like most, is blurry-eyed from the deluge of reports and details about the Settlemen and what schools are doing about it — boils things down to the simplest and most straightforward of terms, including what SDSU football coach Dan Jackson makes of it.
Also, what is the bigger picture of the Sioux Falls Storm in the wake of head coach Andre Fields's resignation this week? Is this a sign the team may never come back? Why and how did it lose its hold on both its league and the springtime sports fans of Sioux Falls?
Also, some Twins Talk — Bailey Ober's injury, Buxton's boom, Wallner's emergence — and a few words about the University of Sioux Falls' new logo, which leads to the rabbit hole of SDSU and USD logos and sports team logos, in general.
On the way out, a word about "Tacos and Tequila," the upcoming hip-hop festival at The Birdcage, and Matt's new pickup truck. And his way to drive a pickup.

The breaking news of one of the biggest sports stories of the entire summer interrupted an entertaining storytelling session about beer and how picky people are about their beer.

Aaron Rodgers reportedly plans to sign with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Will he be any good? Will they be any good.

We could ask the same thing about Chase Mason as a first-time starting quarterback for South Dakota State, but Sioux Falls Live sportswriter Matt Zimmer's long chat — and long, in-depth Sioux Falls Live story — suggest the former Huskers baseball pitcher is ready to light up the FCS.

Plus, how much will the Twins suffer from Pablo Lopez's injury, what do we make of (and how much do we care about) major college football events like Utah Valley leaving the FCS (domino effect leading to MVFC expansion?) and the House Settlement involving revenue sharing?

Plus, our Dead Guy of the Week and a Dead Gal of the Week!

Why should Sioux Falls be captivated and impressed by Canaries slugger Jabari Henry tying and eventually breaking the American Association independent league's career home run record, and what makes his story and career intriguing?

How disappointing, if at all, should we consider the Minnesota Timberwolves' postseason run considering it will likely end in a "gentleman's sweep" of 4-1 in the Western Conference Finals? Is Anthony Edwards' starpower taking a step back the way he does on some nights?

Now that the Minnesota Twins have cooled off a bit after their 13-game winning streak, what makes them worth a continued emotional investment from casual fans? 

What should we make of the South Dakota vs. North Dakota State football game being ranked as one of ESPN.com's top 10 college games (including FBS) to watch this season, and is South Dakota State being snubbed? 

What is Taryn Christion's legacy at SDSU — GOAT? Or perhaps something more meaningful?

John Gaskins and Matt Zimmer tackle these topics for Tuesday's "Nobody's Listening Anyway" show for "Happy Hour with John Gaskins" from Gibs Sports Bar on the east side of Sioux Falls. 

But first — a toast to George Wendt, the "Cheers" actor who played loveable barfly Norm Peterson, died last week at age 76. Turns out, one of the most popular characters on one of the most popular shows in TV history has quite a following. Our Gen X hosts who grew up on Norm and the merry gang in the Boston sports bar devote a worthwhile chunk of time to what both Norm and Cheers meant to them. 

From May 14 (sorry for the delay):

Is Diet Coke the "worst-tasting thing in the world?" 

Is it acceptable to wear pajamas in public, let alone sweatpants? 

Is our "Dead Guy of the Week" — a B-list Twins legend — someone that passes Matt Zimmer's fame test?

As they do every week at Gateway Lounge, John Gaskins and Zim solve all the world's problems and mysteries in this Mid-May version of "Nobody's Listening Anyway."

There's even plenty of local and regional sports to discuss:

• Does SDSU or USD have more potent quarterback/offensive line combo?
• In what way are SDSU and USD trying to become the Iowa of the FCS?
• What sneaky-big addition did USD hoops just make?
• Are the Twins worth watching again now that they're on fire?
• How impressive should the Canaries be this year?
• Is it better to buy cheap nosebleeds or second-mortgage prime seats at major league pro sporting events?
• Should Chris Finch take just a little heat for the way the Wolves have underachieved in the playoffs?
• Is it insane to consider the way the Wolves have played "underachieving?

You may or may not be smarter after hearing this. But you'll definitely feel better after a laugh or five.

How can you not have Minnesota Timberwolves fever, especially on the precipice of a showdown full of stars, storylines, and bad blood between the Wolves and Golden State Warriors?

Jimmy Butler — whose belligerence and self-engineered exit eventually sunk the squad into the abyss — returns to face unruly Target Center fans, not to mention the superstar who has lifted the Wolves from that abyss, Anthony Edwards.

Steph Curry — a Hall-of-Famer who has spearheaded four NBA titles in the Bay Area while the Wolves have mostly wallowed in misery — returns to face the team that passed him over twice in the 2009 Draft. 

Then, there's the Big Man Battle Royale with Rudy Goebert and Draymond Green, who choked Goebert in a game last year and trash-talked him from his pulpit on the TNT set. To add to the spice: ANT said publicly before the season started he couldn't wait to face the Warriors in the playoffs because Green "talks so much trash." 

John Gaskins and Matt Zimmer carve into the carnival to lead off this week's "Nobody's Listening Anyway" from Gateway Lounge, then take a stab at what to make of the tepid but not terrible Minnesota Twins. How much life will the returning-from-injury Royce Lewis give them? The latest heroics of Byron Buxton lead to this discussion:

Is Buxton the most electrifying Twins player of all time? Does he belong on the Mount Rushmore of Most Electrifying Minnesota Pro Sports Athletes of the last 30 years? Which Wolves and Vikings players make that cut?

Closer to home, what is there to make of the recently-announced partnership between the Summit League and Missouri Valley Conference, with the commissioner of the latter league taking over as commissioner of the Missouri Valley Football Conference and Summit League leader Josh Fenton being tabbed "Executive Advisor" in the MVFC?

Finally, South Dakota State's 2025 season opening football opponent has an even more turned-over roster than the Jackrabbits, and the Augusta baseball and softball teams are heating up as the calendar flips to May. Why have the Vikings been so consistently successful in those diamond sports for over a decade?

Things certainly feel different in South Dakota State's football program — at least the personality of the head coach and staff and therefore the atmosphere of spring football.

Happy Hour host John Gaskins and Sioux Falls Live SDSU reporter Matt Zimmer compare notes of their recent interviews with quarterback Chase Mason and offensive lineman Quinten Christensen and wax poetic about the "vibe" of the program and how it will serve the Jacks in what feels like a year of upcoming uncertainty, considering all the new players and coaches. 

While Mason has the "rocket" arm and undeniable athletic prowess, USD's Aiden Bouman brings unmatched experience into the MVFC and FCS national race that gives them an "edge" against other FCS powers, according to local football guru Kurtiss Riggs. 

Both USD and SDSU saw multiple players sign NFL undrafted free agent deals, but is there one local player that feels like he has the best chance to make a roster? What do we make of the Vikings' first-round choice and the trade that made Sam Howell the backup quarterback? (Hint — we don't think an Aaron Rodgers drop-in is still out of the question).

Finally, what does the Timberwolves' 4-1 series win over the Lakers say about both teams?

Also, find out how a guy named Seymour Weiner and TV legends Beavis & Butthead wove into the fabric of today's discussion.

Beyond Pierre lineman Grey Zabel, a North Dakota State Hall-of-Famer-to-be, it appears there may not be a South Dakotan (native, high school alumnus or local college player) drafted. But history tells us that doesn't mean there aren't several that could make an impact on NFL teams. 

It appears J.J. McCarthty will "hit the ground running" as Vikings QB1, according to Kevin O'Connell. But KOC also continues to lead Zim and John to believe the Vikes still may have Aaron Rodgers on their radar, which they should. 

Exhausted by NIL/portal transfer talk? So are we. So we keep it to a couple of recent nuggets.

Finally, Augustana deserves a standing ovation for the forthcoming renovation of the Elmen Center to make it the on-campus hoops home -- at long last and full circle.

And, we have two Dead Guys of the Week — one, we learned during taping of the show.