Wolves lollygag to an "L," Cousins linked to possible Vikings trade, SDSU player can't be bought / Nate Kaeding (hoops) and Jim Olander (Stampede) join

Happy Hour with John Gaskins

Charles Barkley has even weirder word than the ones host John Gaskins used — weebled and wobbled — about how the Minnesota Timberwolves blew a chance to go up 2-0 on the L.A. Lakers in their NBA Playoffs series. In fact, Chuck's word channels the second-best baseball movie of all-time, Bull Durham.

(Major League, of course, is the best baseball movie of all-time.)

Anyway, what now as the series makes its way to Minneapolis?

It was a WILD night in Las Vegas. Minnesota's underdogs walloped Las Vegas to tie that series at 1-1, while the Sioux Falls Stampede's season ended with heartbreaking double-overtime puck luck.

It's been a boring NFL Draft Week for the Minnesota Vikings — until now! As if Aaron Rodgers talk hasn't been enough of a mosquito bite to keep itching, now Kirk Cousins is being linked to possibly crawling back to Minneapolis. And our local college football news continues to be dominated by portal pillaging, although a loud message was dealt to Big 10 and SEC vultures via tweet by a South Dakota State coach about a Jackrabbit who will not be bought and refuses to acknowledge constant tampering.

First guest - Nate Kaeding

Why should Timberwolves fans have doubts about Minnesota being able to take down the LeBron and Luka's Lakers in this series, especially after what unfolded in Game 2? Why is Michael Jordan the GOAT over LeBron, and what of MJ do we see in Anthony Edwards? A lifelong Wolves fan who tutors the most talented young basketball players in South Dakota as the Sanford Sports Academy's basketball supervisor, Nate Kaeding answers these questions and broader topics about where the quality of the game is headed both locally and globally. With 14 years of college assistant coaching experience — including stints at the University of Sioux Falls and Southwest Minnesota State in addition to North Dakota and Montana State — Kaeding has a keen eye and direct way of evaluating all levels of the game, which is why he has served as lead analyst for high school boys state tournaments the last four years on SDPB-TV. The well-connected Kaeding forecasts the Eric Henderson era at Drake and what is to come at SDSU under Hendo's replacement Bryan Petersen, who blew up Kaeding's phone toward the end of the 42-minute conversation.

Second guest - Jim Olander

What a comeback season! What an agonizing way for it to end. The Sioux Falls Stampede and their fans were ready to celebrate a Game 4 USHL playoff series win in Waterloo on Tuesday night, up by a goal with a minute to play in regulation before the Black Hawks gamble to leave the net open paid off to send the game into overtime. That turned into double overtime, where a "puck luck" goal robbed The Herd of a chance to win the series in a deciding Game 5 in Sioux Falls on Friday. Team president and radio Voice of the Stampede Jim Olander joined Happy Hour after a not-so-happy bus ride that finished just after 5 a.m. on Wednesday morning to describe the heartbreak of the final chapter of an otherwise fascinating and uplifting story of the 2024-25 season. The Herd won 40 games, contended for the regular season's Anderson Cup for the team with the best record in the USHL, and hosted a playoff game for the first time in six years, when they won their third league title. How'd they do it under first-year coach Ryan Cruthers, and what is to be expected now that the organization's bar has been so mightily lifted?