John-o-logue: Buzz at The Birdcage as Canaries keep crushing! No Caitlin Clark = No WNBA interest?

Happy Hour with John Gaskins

Perhaps you're familiar with the "Sports Illustrated jinx" from a past era, when your favorite team likely lost the next game after it appeared on the cover of the once-revered magazine.

More modernly, you're likely familiar with the "Madden jinx" — dawn the cover of the video game and you'll get hurt or your team will tank shortly thereafter.

But when it comes to Happy Hour with John Gaskins, at least on Tuesday, it is a reverse affect:

The "Happy Hour Hike." Or Happy Hour Buzz, or whatever.

There was plenty of buzz at The Birdcage again, as the Sioux Falls Canaries spiked their league-best home record to 15-7 with a 4-2 win over the Lincoln Saltdogs.

The offensive propeller was Augustana's all-time best hitter and Tuesday's Happy Hour guest Jordan Barth, who went 3-for-4 and was a triple short of the cycle, with a 2-run homer that tied the game at 2-2 in the fourth inning. The Canaries are still by far the American Association of Professional Baseball's leaders in scoring and home runs and also hold the lead in hits, doubles, triples, RBIs, and total bases.

Barth's former Augie teammate Tanner Brown held down the pitching fort with 7 strong innings (5 hits, 4 strikeouts) to boost his record to 4-2, while USF alumnus Josh Rehwaldt — the league's most-feared and best all-around slugger (.383, 14 HR, 45 RBI) — collected another hit.

Happy Hour host John Gaskins re-emphasizes why now is a better time than ever to stop watching the miserable Minnesota Twins — who had another historically putrid game at the plate — and catch the buzz at The Birdcage.

Plus, some words about the latest example of the "Caitlin Clark Effect." If she doesn't play, do we not watch or care about the WNBA? Mostly, yes.

And the reasons go well beyond the WNBA or even Caitlin Clark, at least in Gaskins' case.