Sunday Morning Coffee — February 18, 2024 — Sunday Morning Scramble

I’m not sure where to find the answer but how long do you have to live somewhere to have proper license to have community pride? Andi and I have been in Las Vegas for only five and a half years. Nonetheless we are really proud of our adopted home town and all its residents for the classy way last weekend’s Super Bowl and all the related events were conducted. Absolute top of the line made great in no small part by the estimated 450,000 guests in for the weekend. A Super Bowl return to Vegas is not on the NFL calendar for the next four years with the earliest opportunity being 2029. New Orleans, San Francisco and Los Angeles will host in ‘25, ‘26 and ‘27. The site for 2028 hasn’t been determined yet but Vegas will not apply as the Final Four will be here that year. Which leaves 2029. Y’all come back now, ya hear?

The NFL, which for over a half century wanted nothing to do with Las Vegas, now can’t get enough. Over the past three years the city has hosted the NFL Draft, the Pro Bowl and last Sunday’s Super Bowl. Commissioner Roger Goodell was giddy last Monday on what a great job the community did. The only thing Allegiant Stadium has not hosted, and it doesn’t appear to be imminent, is a Raiders’ home playoff game.

Originally the economic impact by Vegas visitors Super Bowl weekend was estimated to be about $500 million in spending. It has since been revised upward to $1.1 billion. Betting on the game set a Nevada record with almost $186 million wagered. At one point Sunday afternoon, in the second half, analytics said San Francisco had an 87% chance to win. Those fortunes changed in a hurry with Kansas City rallying  to win 25-22 and its backers cashing tickets. The $186 million bet resulted in a $6.8 million profit for the books or 3.5%.

One more Super Bowl note and then we will get to scramblin’ about all things not Big Game. I’m not one to pat myself on the back, oh bullshit, yes I am. In last Sunday’s SMC I wrote: “I have two plays today.  Looking for offense, if the game comes down to the quarterbacks, I like Mahomes to be the difference. So I took the Chiefs plus two points and the Chiefs over 23.5 total points.”  Excuse me while I give myself an overdue atta-boy.

Since we last did a general scramble we missed some important birthdays — Everyone’s favorite loser Bob Uecker is 89; Tina Louise, who kids ogled over as Ginger in Gilligan’s Island celebrated her 90th and the great Gene Hackman is 97. And Facebook just turned 20.

It’s sad to hear about the demise of Fruit Stripe chewing gum. Oh, how I loved that stuff as a kid. Come on, admit it, you did too. Five zebra-striped flavors to a pack: wet ‘n wild melon; cherry; lemon; peach smash and my favorite, orange. Beech-Nut brought Fruit Stripe to the market in 1960, sold it in 2003 and Ferrara Candy Company euthanized the brand a couple of weeks ago.

Something got my attention when I read that Japan was the fifth country to land on the moon. They did it this past January 19. Three of the four others were pretty easy: the United States, Russia and China. Who was the fifth?

Which brings to the fore an old baseball/moon landing story. Gaylord Perry was a solid major league spitball pitcher for 22 years beginning his career with the San Francisco Giants in 1962 and retiring in 1983 as a KC Royal. He won 314 games and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991. As good a pitcher as Perry was, he was a terrible hitter. In 1964 his Giants’ manager Alvin Dark, talking about how inept Gaylord was with a bat, predicted “There will be a man on the moon before he hits a home run.” Dark was right. Five seasons later, on July 20, 1969, at 1:17 pm Pacific, Apollo 11 landed on the moon. Minutes afterward, in his 548th career at-bat and facing the Dodgers’ Claude Osteen, Perry sent a fast ball skyward toward the moon. It made former manager Dark’s prediction come true. The Candlestick Park crowd of 32,560 erupted. To this day nobody is sure whether the cheers were directed toward Apollo 11’s landing or the ultimate destination of Osteen’s fastball off Perry’s bat.

Gaylord Perry died on December 1, 2022. Nine months later, almost as a fitting tribute, India was the fifth country to land on the moon touching down on August 23, 2023.

With the Raiders, A’s and Warriors all leaving Oakland, or on the verge, In-N-Out Burger announced for the first time ever they will close a location adding to the Oakland vacancy list. The restaurant near the Oakland airport, with its long drive-through lines and packed parking lot, has become a target for thieves harassing customers with car break-ins, property damage, theft and armed robberies. The chain’s CEO Denny Warwick said, “The location remains a busy and profitable one for the company, but our top priority must be the safety and well-being of our customers and associates.”  The last chance to buy a Double-Double and get pistol-whipped is March 24.

I really hope he had a money back guarantee and saved his receipt. The NFL announced on Friday that Raiders quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was suspended for two games in the upcoming 2024 season for violating the NFL’s Performance Enhancing Substances (PED) policy. The Raiders benched Jimmy G after week seven last season when his nine interceptions led the league. He was so bad the Raiders actually gave the job to rookie Aidan O’Connell who was probably worse. Nevertheless, Garoppolo never got back on the field. His contract will not be renewed and Garoppolo will be released over the next couple of weeks. Should he find another job, he will sit for the first two games of the upcoming season. At the very least I hope Garoppolo can get refund. Whatever he used didn’t work.

So, if the worst happens and we are faced with Biden vs. Trump in November, and I still don’t think it will come to that, the last time an incumbent president ran against a former was in 1892 when Grover Cleveland took back the White House from President Benjamin Harrison. Biden can’t recall whom he voted for in that election.

Trump’s comment last week regarding the only reason he appointed Nikki Haley to the post of ambassador to the UN was to get her out of South Carolina so the lieutenant governor could assume control is laughable. Henry McMaster succeeded Haley in 2017 when she became the ambassador; he won reelection in 2018 and 2022. He recently came out as a strong Trump backer, spurning Haley’s candidacy. Trump now says the real reason he advanced Haley to ambassador of the UN was to clear the way for McMaster and save South Carolina. Does anyone, other than Trump, really believe he had any idea in 2017 who Henry McMaster was?

I’m not sure why, but a couple of Saturdays ago while flipping through the cable menu, I got stuck on the Professional Bowling Tour. Nowadays, it appears using one bowling ball is so yesterday. Each player has two, three or maybe four on the carousel and you don’t use the same ball for the first throw as you might for the second trying to convert a spare. I have no idea why.

I’m a proponent of legalized cannabis. Thirty-eight states permit its use for medical reasons while 24 allow distribution recreationally. Of course, with the benefit comes the abuse. Some believe marijuana use is safer than alcohol and I’m sure that case can be made. However, driving with either in your system is a recipe for disaster. Research from the University of California, San Diego, says a pot user should wait at least four hours before getting behind the wheel after smoking one joint. For those who ingest the popular edibles it’s recommended to wait six to eight hours no matter how aware and smart you might think you are. In 2000 the percentage of motor-vehicle crash fatalities involving THC consumption was 9% of all accidents. In 2018, on the brink of wide-spread legalization, that number rose to 21.5%.

And finally,as every day goes by I have a harder and harder time trying to wrap myself around today’s collective madness. Elizabeth Lopez-Galvan, 43, was a popular private DJ in the Kansas City area and the mother of two. She loved the Chiefs and made it her business to take the kids to the Chiefs Super Bowl victory parade last Tuesday. She never returned. Twenty-two people were injured in a mass shooting at the end of the parade and Lopez-Galvan was murdered. It’s overwhelming to think if San Francisco would have won the game, Ms. Lopez-Galvan would still be with her kids, her husband and her community today. Senseless and heartbreaking.

See you in a couple of weeks.