Sunday Morning Coffee — August 31, 2025 — Sunday Morning Scramble

By Roy Berger, Las Vegas, Nevada

Good morning. We took last Sunday off, didn’t publish and a heartfelt thanks to both of you who noticed. Very meaningful.

Let’s start today’s SMC with a couple of premises that I think we’ll agree upon: Scottie Scheffler is the best golfer in the world and the Colorado Rockies are the worst team in professional baseball. However, who is really comparatively better? Scheffler won five PGA tournaments of the 19 he played this season for a winning percentage of .263. The Rockies have only won 38 of the 136 games they’ve played but for a better winning percentage of .279. That should win you a couple of bucks at the next dull cocktail party.

Yesterday, Andi and I were among the opening weekend guests for the much ballyhooed debut of The Wizard of Oz at the magnificant Sphere. The 80-minute movie was good and fun if not a bit overhyped by the early reviews. If you like the feeling of being caught up in a tornado with seats vibrating, a fierce wind blowing and leaves falling from the sky never mind the flying monkeys and dropped apples, this come-to-life classic is for you. It will be the most expensive movie you’ve ever seen with tickets starting at $129 but the movie make-over cost $100 million and they have to get it back somehow. So far over 200,000 tickets have been sold with the flick playing every day the Eagles, Backstreet Boys and the Zac Brown Band aren’t live at Sphere through the end of the year. Buy tickets at Ticketmaster, the official Sphere ticket site, and not one of the imitator links. Every seat in the building, when configured for the movie, is a good one.

Another reason to ride the NYC subway: Waymo, the self-driving car company, just received permission to test up to eight vehicles in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Thank you but I’ll take the D train.

While we are on the subway, 60 years ago this past Thursday, August 28, 1965, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Fred DeLuca borrowed $1,000 from his buddy Peter Buck to chase his dream—opening a sandwich shop at 3851 Main Street. In return DeLuca gave Buck naming rights and the store was called ‘Pete’s Drive-In: Super Submarine Sandwiches.’ In 1968 they renamed it Subway. Today there are over 37,000 former Pete’s in over 100 countries with 410,000 employees. Heck of a dream, huh?

Big time kudo’s to Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife Penny, for their massive donation of $2,000,000,000 to the University of Oregon’s Heath & Science Knight Cancer Institute doubling the size of the cancer center for patient treatment and research. That’s two billion dollars, a lot of zeroes, and that’s not only impressive but incredibly meaningful.

On September 30 we will say goodbye to a life changing event for almost all of us. Thirty-four years ago, in 1991, an upstart internet service called America Online introduced us to a cacophony of beeps and buzzes that accompanied our dial-up internet connection. And how exciting it was when we didn’t get that busy signal and the beeps and buzzes meant we were about to be in network. It seems so prehistoric now, even though I can still hear the tune, but would you believe there are still 150,000 households that use AOL dial-up?

During the early 1970s Secretariat was unquestionably America’s horse. Ron Turcotte rode him and in the process of the 1973 Triple Crown conquest became America’s jockey. What few remember is the year before Secretariat, in 1973, Turcotte rode Riva Ridge to victory in both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont. Turcotte won five of the six Triple Crown legs in two years. The Canadian Mr. Turcotte died on August 22 at age 84. Five years after Secretariat made everyone a horse racing fan, Turcotte was injured in a 1978 fall at Belmont Park that rendered him a paraplegic.

Turcotte aboard Secretariat, the greatest thoroughbred of our lifetime.

I assume it’s a sign of getting really old when everything you watch has to be closed captioned.

Speaking of which, if you think 110 degrees in the desert is hot, then clearly you haven’t watched The Hunting Wives on Netflix with Malik Anderson. Oh my! I always look forward to Hard Knocks on HBO but this season with the Buffalo Bills seemed a little flat. And, if you have time on your hands, one that was recommended to me that I became addicted to is the quizzically named Animal Kingdom on Netflix. It originally played on TNT, 75 episodes over six seasons, and nothing short of The Hunting Wives could pull me away. It stars Ellen Barkin as a mom and grandma who wants nothing but the best for her four kids and grandson. It’s just how they go about achieving success that isn’t taught in business school.

Labor Day weekend is early this year, we are still in August, but if it means the beginning of college football and the NFL next week, bring it on. And some big time matchups with Texas-Ohio State, Bama-FSU and LSU-Clemson yesterday and tonight’s rivalry reincarnation from the 80s — Catholics vs. Convicts when Notre Dame and alma mater Miami meet for the first time in eight years. Miami fans would settle for a 3-9 season if the wins were over Notre Dame, Florida and Florida State. And if you want to get tuned up for college football make sure to watch SEC Football: Any Given Saturday, eight all-access episodes now on Netflix. Good stuff.

We got to this weekend in 1894 when President Grover Cleveland signed a bill marking federal recognition to honor the achievements and contributions of workers to American prosperity. Seven years earlier, in 1887, Oregon was the first state to pass a law recognizing Labor Day as a state holiday. It became federal upon President Cleveland’s signature.

As a journalism school graduate and a lifelong newspaper reader the news last week of the venerable Atlanta Journal-Constitution ceasing publication of its hard copy newspaper after 157 years makes me ill.

Gentlemen, if you are in New York City and your ladies are looking for the Louis Vuitton store, and you aren’t really excited about them finding it, make sure to keep them off the 22nd floor of the Peninsula Hotel for this view:

September 1, with a month left in baseball’s regular season, is a good time to take inventory of my season wagers. With under 30 games left I still have some balls in the air and can categorize my plays three ways: still breathing; on life support or headed to the morgue. My two biggest bets both are still breathing. I have Tampa Bay to finish at least two games under .500; through yesterday they are three under— this play will go down to the final weekend. I took a flyer with last season’s worst team, the White Sox at over 53.5 wins. They have 48 wins with 26 games to play. The Sox are fun to watch and have some future upside, so I even bet a few more bucks on them at the All-Star break. Now they need to turn it up a notch and get to 54 wins. I also have the Cubs, Mets and Yankees to win their divisions. The Yankees have gotten hot and have some life trailing the Blue Jays by only two games; the Mets are six behind the Phillies and the Cubs, six behind the Brewers, are on their way to the morgue. Other than the White Sox, I made an additional play at mid-season: I was touted by a friend in Pittsburgh to play the Pirates under 67 wins. That’s dead and he’s now an ex-friend.

However, I will get it all back and more during the NFL season. I should be smarter than this from a lifetime of disappointment, but I can’t believe the Jets will be so bad to win under six games, so I have the over. I stayed hometown with the Raiders at over seven wins as they spent big bucks to bring Pete Carroll and Chip Kelly to town and add some coaching professionalism to a franchise that has been lacking for so long. Also, I like Atlanta over eight. Show me the money.

Bad news for everyone who fantasized about winning the Publisher’s Clearing House jackpots. PCH filed for bankruptcy in April. Among its largest unsecured creditors are 10 previous prize winners who will no longer receive an annuity; eight of the 10 were owed over two million each.

And finally, Alaska Airlines has taken in-flight entertainment to the highest level. On August 11 their scheduled non-stop flight from St. Louis to Seattle was diverted to Boise, Idaho, for a mechanical issue. Then the airplane wound up stranded on the tarmac for hours. On board was legendary jazz saxophonist Dave Koz and his band—Dave Koz & Friends—in route to Seattle for a gig that night. When the flight originally boarded in St. Louis a flight attendant noticed a group bring on musical instruments and put them in the overhead compartments. During the flight she found out they were professional jazz musicians. During the long delay she asked if they wouldn’t mind entertaining the rapidly growing grumpy passengers. Over the PA came this announcement never heard before in aviation history: “This is your captain speaking. This flight has been rerouted to Funky town. The seatbelt sign is off, and you are hear-by required to get out of your seat and dance.” The combo’s version of Stevie Wonder’s “You Haven’t Done Nothin” (link below) put a smile on everyone’s face experiencing their first ever live airplane concert. When the group finished, everyone got grumpy again.

I’m proud that Medjet is sponsoring Sunday Morning Coffee. I spent 20 wonderful years with Medjet in Birmingham, Alabama, and can tell you unequivocally they are the standard-bearer for medical assistance membership programs. A talented staff, who cares about its members, is at the forefront of the company’s success. Whether you are traveling for business or pleasure, domestic or international, a Medjet membership should be an important part of your travel portfolio before you leave home. Check out the Medjet website at medjet.com or just tap on the Medjet logo and you’ll be able to get a look at Medjet’s services, rules and regulations, pricing, and an overview of the organization. And remember, any opinions expressed in Sunday Morning Coffee content or comments belong to the author and not the sponsor. Safe travels with your Medjet membership! — Roy Berger