Nobody's Listening Anyway

Plus, thoughts on Octoberfest beers, Gruden's firing, NFL ratings, and Vikings most recent... Vikings thing.

Answering our critics after Cousins answered his in win over Seattle. Zim describes being at a rock-bottom Goofs loss. Why is John (somewhat) optimistic about Nebraska? And what is Augie really trying to do in the long game by going D1 in hockey?

Both Matt and John's favorite teams lost in head-banging fashion. Are the Vikings cursed with kickers? Will Nebraska ever be great again? And what is there to take away from the fourth Sanford International? 

Why ORU is a tough SCHOOL to root for, USD's NCAAW and football nightmares, ISU chickening out, and even some HS hoops talk!

Was a fan-less tourney proof fans DO make a HUGE difference, especially for SDSU? Plus, Matt and John exchange stories about drinking on the job.

It was a (mostly) awesome weekend to be a Jack fan, and beat writer Zim. Does either host buy any conspiracy about the USD men's hoops Sunday cancelation? And why is Noah Freidel brave for sitting out the rest of the season?  

Plus, our thoughts on the frigid weather, Valentine's Day, and Tom Brady drunk in public.

How does Zim imagine reacting to a Vikings' Super Bowl if they finally made it after 40 years of life? The same way it has been for John the last two years as a Chiefs fan?

How much blame does Rodgers deserve for GB's decade full of title flops? Did Brady prove he was the true alpha in NE? Would Mahomes make other teams elite? Plus, a bizarre story from USD hoops and someone who got lucky not gambling on it.

John and Matt talk about getting fat, Christmas presents they received from spouses, favorite and least favorite Christmas flicks, and if the Vikings should fire Mike Zimmer after a 3rd straight infuriating loss and disappointing season.

Jacks-Yotes rivalry gets a punch in the nuts from Noah Freidel (6:00). What would it take to get Sioux Falls an affiliated team now that the Saints have joined the Twins (28:30)? Plus the Dan Bailey blame game (41:45). Ben Leber on Vikings (46:30) and his observations on two flawed CFB teams -- Minnesota and Nebraska, a game he analyzed on FS1. 

SDSU (9:00), Vikings (37:20) but we begin with John (kinda) relating to the guy who slept in Tom Brady's vacant house, and end with Carson Wentz's woes and future.  

SD native Tim Miles (38:00) on his loyalty to Coors Light, his TV gig & new podcast, the weird new world of CBB, Jacks & other teams who played in Sioux Falls,  reflections on his Husker tenure. But we start with the overblown heroes Chad Beebe and Kirk Cousins beating overblown old flame Teddy Bridgewater in a mud bath for the ages. 

At 53:00, veteran Nebraska and Iowa sports talk host Travis Justice describes why the Big Red (still) blows at football, why Husker fans are an easy target, and the budding Black Friday rivalry.

Yes, the Vikings are in the playoff picture, but do they feel like a playoff team? Why should there be pessimism heading into the Bears game? Plus, how covid keeps messing with sports, including locally, and SDPB's voice of prep state championships Craig Mattick joins John to get us up to speed on life after his daily radio show of 20 years was canceled -- and took look back on the 7 years of "Craig and John."

A Vikings vent after putrid loss. If Zim & Cousins were canned, would we object? And as Gophers/Huskers and Big 10 start, why are Zim and John just aren't in the mood. Plus, insight into HUGE college hoops event coming to Sioux Falls. 

Cousins, Vikings are a steaming pile. Mahomes, Russell, Brady, Cam. Huskers flex muscle then get testy after saving B1G football. Personal Gardy stories that will make you laugh and smile.

They just can't believe it.  To some — especially college football fans outside of South Dakota and the FCS — it just doesn't make any sense. Why would 6'4, 230 lb., bodybuilder-framed, rocket-armed, runaway freight train fast Chase Mason stay at South Dakota State for his final season of college eligibility when he has already been offered over $1 million to play at least one Power Four school (according to his SDSU head coach)? Beyond the life-changing money, Mason could potentially raise his NFL stock — and there is plenty, according to NFL scouts Mason and Dan Jackson converse — by playing against the highest level of CFB competition in front of 70,000-plus seat stadiums and millions of weekly national TV viewers.  NFL stock aside, just the P4 QB1 experience alone appears intoxicating and once-in-a-lifetime, as one of Mason's former teammates Mark Gronowski made it appear at times at Iowa after leaving SDSU for a reported $1,000,000 to $2,000,000.  Mason made it clear in his 68-minute chat with Happy Hour on Monday — "never in a million years" did he consider transferring, and no prospects of seven figure NIL dough will change his mind and convince him to enter the CFB portal, which will be open Jan. 2-16. The former Viborg-Hurley state champion quarterback, FBS-offered, and University of Nebraska baseball player said NFL scouts have told Jackson that he does not need to play at a higher level in 2026 to raise his stock. But more than anything, Mason cited over and over again during the Monday chat that, to him, nothing compares to the culture and "brotherhood" he experiences at SDSU and he doesn't want to discover the downsides to exploring if the grass is greener beyond the Benjamins at a big-league school. Again, some wonder — there has to be a catch, right? Perhaps he isn't worth mondo money and knows it and he actually doesn't have any higher-level interest. Perhaps anyone who claims he is a legitimate NFL QB prospect is either overblowing that notion or flat-out lying. Listening to Mason's entire Happy Hour chat could clear some confusion, but for good measure, Tuesday's show features the Sioux Falls Live sports reporter who has covered Mason closer than anyone the last seven years back to his high school days. Matt Zimmer helps the Twitter keyboard warriors and fans of other fan bases make sense of all the Mason-is-staying hype from the last 24 hours. In particular, Zim revisits Mason's past and why he transferred from Nebraska to SDSU and changed sports in the first place four years ago. NFL? There's a Jackrabbit track record of the last decade that's beyond decent. There's a comparison between Gronowski and Mason regarding their NFL stock that Zim finds worth noting. And now that Mason is coming back, should we project SDSU to take a leap back to the status of the FCS elite after a 9-5 season that ended in the second round? What kind of talent can we assume is coming back to surround Mason to make a national championship run in 2026? (After all, the portal window isn't open until Jan. 2-16, so nobody really knows which 2025 Jacks besides Mason are going to stay). Zim lays out his current outlook and explains why Jackson is looking more to the Div. II and NAIA ranks than the FBS for transfers to fill positions of need. Speaking of South Dakotans announcing they are staying in their powerhouse programs, Zim dives into Kalen DeBoer's remaining the coach at Alabama despite being a floated name in the media as a candidate at Michigan and Penn State. Why is Alabama — as hot as the seat appears to be sometimes — a better gig for DeBoer than the jobs in Ann Arbor and Happy Valley? Then, some words about the 7-6 start for SDSU men's hoops, which included Monday's 87-72 loss to Wyoming. Does this feel like a "down" year without a clear Summit League star like Oscar Cluff, Zeke Mayo, Baylor Scheierman, David Jenkins, or Mike Daum?  

This weekly show is now part of the "Happy Hour with John Gaskins" daily podcast, which you can find at SiouxFallsLive.com, MidwestSportsPlus.com, and most podcast platforms like the one you find here! So, if you enjoy the topics Matt & John cover, you'll get those topics, plus relevant local guests, every Monday through Thursday on Happy Hour... so we highly recommend you check that out!Is it time for the Coyotes to take a seat at the FCS "grownup" table? In other words, to make room to expand the "Big Four" of FCS football — North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Montana State, Montana — to the "Big Five?"USD has made three consecutive quarterfinals, something NDSU and SDSU — who have split the last four national titles, two apiece — can't say after losing in the round of 16 on Saturday (but the Bobcats and the Grizzlies can).Unlike the Big Four, the Coyotes haven't played in an FCS national title game within the last four years, or ever. We'll find out how they stack up against a blue blood Saturday on ABC in a time window when Army-Navy will be the only other football game to watch on over-the-air TV.But Sioux Falls Live sports editor Matt Zimmer and Happy Hour host John Gaskins dig in to what three years of USD reaching this round means, particularly for a 2025 team that has won five consecutive games — four against ranked teams — and left a 47-0 bruise on SoCon champ Mercer, the nation's best (statistical) offense and rush defense, by holding the Bears to 277 total yards (227 short of their average) and bulldozing them for 316 rushing yards (226 over their average).So, will the Coyotes stack up to the Grizzlies better than the Jackrabbits, who were 50-burgered? Zim and John kick that around as well in this week's edition of their five-years-and-running weekly podcast "Nobody's Listening Anyway."Also on the docket:* Why is Zim happy for Jimmy Rogers at Iowa State, and why does he find it nonsense to bash his character for leaving Washington State after less than a year to take his third head coaching job in four years? And why, in hindsight, was he still the best choice to take over for John Stiegelmeier?* Why does Zim feel Chase Mason doesn't need to go to the Big Ten or SEC or any FBS school to show NFL pros he is worthy of an early rounds NFL Draft selection?* What is Zim's sense of how many SDSU players who aren't out of eligibility will stick around?* Does NDSU's early round exit from the FCS Playoffs make the postseason more interesting or more boring? Does it make the FCS stronger? Does it strengthen or weaken the case that the Bison should want to stay in the FCS?* Oh, and should James Madison's entry into the CFB Playoffs make the case for NDSU and SDSU to "move up?" Actually, Zim says no. Why?* Bowl games — yeah, their prestige has been weakened over the decades by the sheer volume of them, the number of top players sitting them out, and now the number of teams refusing to play in them. Does that mean they should all go away? Zim says no. Hear why.

This weekly show is now part of the "Happy Hour with John Gaskins" daily podcast, which you can find at SiouxFallsLive.com, MidwestSportsPlus.com, and most podcast platforms like the one you find here! So, if you enjoy the topics Matt & John cover, you'll get those topics, plus relevant local guests, every Monday through Thursday on Happy Hour... so we highly recommend you check that out!What is the silver bullet?This is a question outside observers may ask when teams like the Jackrabbits and the Coyotes produce a late-season turnaround. Both have gone from funks — the Jacks' four-game slide after a 7-0 start and more the Yotes' haven't-figured-it-out-yet malaise at 5-4 — to heaters that make them look like dangerous playoff teams. In South Dakota State's case, the return of quarterback Chase Mason is an easy answer, given how flawless, electric, and inspired the Jacks looked in their 41-3 first round playoff win over New Hampshire. But SDSU had already turned the corner the week before in the dramatic win at North Dakota. So, what is the other silver bullet at SDSU? Hint: It lies in both the head coach and offensive coordinator. In Wednesday's "John-o-logue," Happy Hour John Gaskins plucked insight from Dan Jackson and others (like John Stiegelmeier) to pinpoint the turning points.At USD, there isn't one player or aspect that sticks out as a cure-all in their four-game win streak, which included three consecutive wins over Top 25 teams just to reach the playoffs.But there was a broad, overarching concept employed by head coach Travis Johansen that yielded powerful results. It wasn't an obvious or dramatic silver bullet, but Johansen reveals it in his weekly one-on-one 30 minute chat with Gaskins. After a close first half against Drake, the Yotes pulled away 38-17 in the first round of the playoffs as quarterback Aidan Bouman had his best game of the season.Was there a big turnaround moment for Bouman? How has Larenzo Fenner broken out into an at-times impossible-to-cover receiver? How did Mikey Munn become an All-MVFC first teammer? Johansen answers these questions and gives a glimpse into why Mercer has the nation's second-best passing yardage attack, and what kind of challenges the Bears defense will present to USD's now-humming offense.Meanwhile, Wednesday marked (Early) National Letter of Intent Signing Day for high school athletes all across the country. It is always a day for college football teams to pump up their incoming recruiting class.Gaskins chatted with two Sioux Falls standouts about their paths to CFB — Sioux Falls Washington receiver Jhace Woods (South Dakota State) and Sioux Falls Jefferson tight end Eddie Whiting (Michigan State).How did the schools they signed with first start a relationship? What led them to choosing their school, and which other schools tried to pluck them away?In both players' cases, the schools they chose went through coaching changes — Woods earlier in his process when Jacks coach Jimmy Rogers left for Washington State, and Whiting just days before signing day when MSU fired Jonathan Smith and within 24 hours hired Pat Fitzgerald.So, what kept the Sioux Falls ballers loyal to their original choice?