Sunday Morning Coffee — July 27, 2025 — Sunday Morning Scramble
By Roy Berger, Las Vegas, Nevada
Only the United States Armed Forces protected democracy better than the late Hulk Hogan. Dare any foreigner to threaten or demean our flag and they got their comeuppance from the Hulkster in the wrasslin’ ring. Same goes for Hulkamania—don’t question the cults loyalty or face the consequences. While Hogan, nor anyone else, could legitimize professional wrestling as a sport, since the 1980s Hulk made it world class entertainment for kids everywhere and closet adult admirers as well. For my sons, he was the Bruno Sammartino of my generation. However, Bruno never had the panache or retail appeal of Hogan. Terry Bollea died Thursday at age 71 of a heart attack. Way too young. Despite some later years controversy, Bollea will never be forgotten for the excitement and joy he brought to generations.
I’ve never watched “The Late Show” on CBS. I have no idea the inner workings of what drove CBS to cancel Stephen Colbert. But I do know from a business perspective that if reports of the show losing $40 million a year, half of which is Colbert’s salary, is true then the network has a fiscal responsibility to its shareholders to move on. Obviously television viewing habits are changing and the once late night dominance in both audience and ad revenues of Paar, Carson, Leno and Letterman have fallen on hard times. In June 46% of Americans’ television time was spent on streaming services led by YouTube and Netflix. Cable represented 23% while over-the-air broadcast stations, the bread and butter when we were kids, was watched by just 19% of the audience. Consider: an insider told me in Boston, the ninth largest television market of the 210 measured by Nielsen, over the past 20 years viewership of the late local news, a lead-in to late night programming, has fallen by over 90%. A million and a half households used to watch the local news in Boston; today that number is about 100,000 split by six stations. You’ll find the same drastic decline in all markets. Older folks can’t stay awake until 11 pm anymore and younger ones have given up stodgy network programming for multiple at-home viewing or gaming alternatives. It’s very bad economic news for any non-streaming vehicle.
Look no further than the YouTube phenomenon to see where audiences are going. Virtually anything you want to see is on YouTube. And it’s become an entertainment platform for anyone with the gumption. Classic case in point is my nephew Robby Berger who, while working as a hotel customer relations rep in LA five years ago, took a chance and built his own platform on YouTube. He has since combined with a cast featuring a couple of other knuckleheads by the names Fat Perez and Joey Coldcuts. They do contemporary Three Stooges type skits that primarily revolve around golf but stray into other abyss’ as well. Audiences in mass numbers have followed their hijinks which in turn produces a bevy of corporate sponsors. When Robby, 32, first went on YouTube in 2021 he was by himself and made up a sponsor for audience credibility—Windex, which had no idea they were billed as a sponsor, but it played well in Dubuque and everywhere else. Now sponsors flock to them. It’s not for everyone, but the free spending demographic from 25-39 are smitten thus so are advertisers. You can find this slapstick on YouTube under Bob Does Sports and Instagram at Bob Does Sports and Brilliantly Dumb. Proud of that kid, who prior to social media really hadn’t any idea of his future path. Robby is among thousands who have found this new medium as a career outlet.
And while we’re at it — Robby’s dad, my brother Mike, celebrates his 70th today. Happy birthday kid.
I didn’t know this and dollars to donuts neither did you. Al Jolson, a Jew who on stage impersonated a Black minstrel, normally is identified with the recording My Mammy which later was mired in racial controversy. However, Jolson wasn’t the first to perform it. That honor goes to William Frawley, who in 1918, three years before Jolson’s version, sang it as part of his vaudeville act. Yes, that same William Frawley who played Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy and Bub on My Three Sons.
It’s an MRI for rental cars. Dawn Gilbertson of The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that Hertz, tired of getting dinged for unreported dings put into their vehicles by renters, has introduced AI scanners at six U.S. airports. The scanners look like the shell of an automated car wash without the precipitation. Prior to rental the vehicle is run through the scanner for existing damage; after you return it the car is again scanned to detect new blemishes during the rental. The customer is notified of any incurred damage and related charges 24 hours or so after the return. Currently scanners are being used at airports in Phoenix, Atlanta, Charlotte, Newark, Houston and Tampa which means if you are going to any of those cities, use Avis.
Here’s a tip to all concert goers brought to you by Coldplay: bring your spouse.
Speaking of concerts and spouses, I brought Andi last Saturday night to see the Happy Together Tour for our fourth or fifth time. With us was a gang of hipsters from my morning Life Time Fitness gym crew. Vegas’ beautiful downtown Smith Center was the venue and packed with over 2,000 seniors as white as a Wonder Bread factory. The average age, except of course for our group, bordered on triple digits. But it was a great couple of hours with acts and music of our memorable, yet then taken for granted teen years. The Cowsills, still three of the original seven, open the show with their goofy style that probably has them sitting at the kids’ table for meals during the tour. Even though none of the men in the audience had any left, we all sang Hair with them. The Vogues without any originals were in essence a cover band. Gary Puckett, 82, had no Union Gap and a faint breeze might have blown him over, but he got through his twenty-minute set totally gassed at the end of Young Girl. Jay and the Americans have one original in Sandy Deanne who now has become Jay #3. And he can still belt out Cara Mia. The Turtles were a sham with both originals- Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman out of the act. So Ron Dante of the Archies became the main Turtle accompanied by Godfrey Townsend formerly of The Yardbirds and The Association. Wasn’t a total loss as Dante did his 1969 single Sugar, Sugar. Once again this year Little Anthony stole the show. At 84 he still has it, sounds great and hit the high notes like the old days. He did all his best stuff—Tears on My Pillow, Goin’ Out of My Head, Hurt So Bad and of course Shimmy Shimmy KO KO Bop. When Anthony took the stage a couple of hours into the show, for the first time of the night, there was finally racial diversity in the theater. And a bonus for me: there was no rush to leave early and get to the car. I knew nobody could move quick enough to beat me no matter how late I stayed.
While 60s bands do not cross every demographic Billy Joel certainly does. If you haven’t seen the two part, five hour And So It Goes documentary just released on HBO/Max about the Long Island musical great, what are you waiting for? It was that good. Billy’s words and music made a societal difference. There is some fantastic historical footage including the Joel family brush with the Holocaust. If you’ve ever snapped your fingers to Uptown Girl, and who hasn’t, this documentary is a must see. However, spoiler alert— after five hours I still don’t know what a real estate novelist is.
It was so hot out here in the desert a couple of weeks ago the golf ball plead with me to stay in the bag. It was 108 degrees on the course. So, instead of playing I sought the cool indoor refuge of the NBA Summer League, an off-season showcase for draft choices, rookies hoping to impress and some guys who have been in the League for a year or two trying to sharpen their game. A reasonable $70 and un-Vegas-like free parking gets you in to the Thomas and Mack Arena at UNLV for the day. Same rules as the NBA regular season with two exceptions—quarters were ten minutes, not 12 and players were allowed 10 personal fouls instead of the traditional six. Which meant there are guys on house arrest doing time for committing less offenses than some of the Summer League players. Eight games, four going on concurrently in either the main arena which seats 18,000 or the very intimate neighboring Cox Pavilion with 2,400 seats. I grabbed a center court seat, four rows up in the Pavilion for the Knicks and Nets, while Minnesota and Detroit played across the concourse in the arena.
Summer League is a basketball festival for both junkies and stars. The two week event has a local economic impact of some $280 million, undoubtedly most of it in resort fees. Walking around at any given time you might find LeBron or Victor Wembanyama or Jalen Brunson or Nikola Jokic or dozens of other NBA All-Stars. Virtually every head coach can be found watching their Summer League teams with NBA execs in tow. Even the commissioner is on hand mingling with the common folk. Knicks owner James Dolan, who also owns the Vegas Sphere, and new head coach Mike Brown sat courtside watching their team beat Brooklyn 97-93 behind guard Tyler Kolek’s 24 points. Very good news for gambling degenerates like yours truly that took the underdog Knicks plus four unneeded points. There were so many yarmulkes in the crowd at the Knicks-Nets it looked like a Friday night Shabbat service at temple; instead it was dozens of younger folks on hand to see Brooklyn’s first round draft pick Ben Saraf from Israel. A good time, a great value and the air conditioning was delightful.
If you are in London looking for a Chinese restaurant and the hotel concierge recommends Royal China, bring along some extra quid. A sign at the hostess stand alerts that the first plate of chili oil/chili sauce is comp but any extra will cost three pounds. If you want hot tea, be warned that hot water will set you back an additional pound. And eat all your dinner to avoid the fifty pence charge for each takeaway container.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are struggling on the field and at the box office. However, a sold-out crowd of 38,000 was on hand at the Pirates PNC Park for a bobblehead giveaway last Saturday night. And no, the bobblehead wasn’t any of the Pirates past greats like Clemente, Stargell, Mazeroski or Parker. Not even Paul Skenes, the best pitcher in the game today. Instead, fans jammed the turnstiles and posted for resale on eBay the bobblehead of Mac Miller. Don’t be headed to the Baseball Almanac to find Miller’s career stats. They ain’t there. Miller was a Pittsburgh-born hip hop and rap singer who died in 2018 at age 26. Cause of death was reportedly an accidental drug overdose from cocaine, fentanyl and alcohol. The Pirates brass thought he was bobblehead worthy and based upon the SRO sign, so did the crowd.
This will never happen again: sixty-two years ago this month, July 2, 1963, the Milwaukee Braves played the San Francisco Giants in San Fran. Two future baseball Hall of Famers- Warren Spahn of the Braves and Juan Marichal of the Giants were the starting pitchers. Through nine innings the game was scoreless. Both starters were still on the mound. No runs were scored in the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th or 15th innings. The bullpen phones went dead. Spahn and Marichal were still at it. Finally in the bottom of the 16th, four hours and 10 minutes after the first pitch, the legendary Willie Mays ended it with a solo home run off of Spahn. Back then nobody knew anything about pitch counts, tiring arms or bullpen specialists. Each pitcher actually batted six times during the drama filled four hours. Marichal threw 227 pitches, Spahn 201. It’s been called ‘the greatest game ever pitched.’ It was old time baseball. The way the game used to be played. Four days later both pitchers made their regular starts. I miss that game of baseball.
And finally, it looks like Andi and I are getting new neighbors. Yes, the Knievel family has broken ground on the vacant lot right next door to us which will be a construction nightmare and a dusty pain-in-the-ass for at least the next two years. However, more immediate, Las Vegas Review-Journal entertainment columnist John Katsilometes reported last Sunday that Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett are now drawn in a duo caricature on the prestigious ‘Sinatra Wall’ at the Palm Restaurant in Caesars Palace Forum Shops. It’s the wall that has all the greats as the photo above illustrates. We’ve been there for eight years. What took Gaga and Tony so long?
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
I'm imaging the Knievel family buying the lot on the OTHER SIDE of your house with built-in ramps from their bedrooms so they jump over you guys every morning at 7.
Always enjoyable Herr Scribe!!