Sunday Morning Coffee — June 22, 2025 — Sunday Morning Scramble
By Roy Berger, Las Vegas, Nevada
We haven’t Scrambled in about three weeks and stuff is piling faster than Shedeur Sanders speeding tickets. So let’s get right to it:
Our music memories were saddened by the number 82 over the past couple of weeks. Sly Stone died on June 9; Beach Boys legend and leader Brian Wilson two days later and this past Wednesday Lugee Alfredo Giovanni Sacco, whom we knew on stage as Lou Christie and could hit a high note like lightning striking, also passed. All three musical giants were 82. The Beach Boys will always hold a special place for me—they headlined the first concert I ever saw. It was back in April 1968, and the family and some friends were on North Miami Beach at the snazzy Driftwood Motel for spring break. I was 15. My neighbor Howie Levine and I took the city bus, about 150 blocks south to the Miami Beach Convention Center, to see a show that included the Strawberry Alarm Clock, Buffalo Springfield, Bobby Goldsboro and The Beach Boys. Tickets were $2.50.
No pun intended but Las Vegas is getting pumped to host the Enhanced Games next May. There’s over a million dollars on the line for athletes who are encouraged to use performance enhancing drugs and try to beat the world records of those who didn’t. You can’t make this up. Rumor is Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire will throw out the first needles. (Okay, I did make that up.)
Cruisers are familiar with having to pay a pricey ‘single supplement’ if they’re traveling alone. Now the airlines are looking to get a piece of the solo traveler’s wallet too. In May Delta offered Minneapolis to Miami seats at $118 per person if two were traveling; by yourself would run $199. For the same city pair United was $269 for a single and $151 each for two. Once the media got the word and started to inquire, many of the single fares magically disappeared.
Remember when people used to get dressed up to take flights? It didn’t matter if you were sitting in first class or coach, a jacket and tie was very much in favor as for the travelers pictured above. Well these days the lack of civility in society takes no prisoners not the least of which is air travel. On my way home to Vegas from London a couple of weeks ago I decided to upgrade to the business class cabin. This was my view for 10 hours:
The College World Series winds up this weekend in its traditional Omaha, Nebraska, home where it’s been for the last 75 years. LSU holds a one game lead over Coastal Carolina in the best of three series. If you haven’t watched college baseball this season, or maybe just tuned into the World Series to take a look, you saw something very different—a safety innovation that I really like. There are two first bases on the field. The traditional white one stands where it always stood: in fair territory attached to the foul line. Then there is the colored base, that’s attached to it, but in foul territory. The white base is for the first baseman while the other one is for the runner. It allows both to give maximum effort and not worry about getting tangled up and injured on a close play or errant throw. It’s a practical idea.
The boys from LSU’s main campus in Baton Rouge are only one game away from the national title. However, it’s also time to applaud the achievement of another LSU baseball team—this one on LSU’s branch campus in Shreveport (LSUS). The LSUS Shreveport Pilots play NAIA ball as do 236 other smaller institutions whose programs are not ready for D1. NAIA, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, is equivalent to NCAA D3. The NAIA baseball tournament was played last month in Lewiston, Idaho. Been there? Me neither. The tournament was double elimination which made LSUS laugh. That happens when you never lose a game. Their home field seats 1,000 and tickets were tougher than for Kenny Chesney at the Sphere. LSU Shreveport didn’t lose a home game all season. Come to think of it, they didn’t lose a road game either finishing at a phenomenal 59-0. The Pilots only played four one-run games. Nothing else was really close. They bus everywhere—some trips took 10 hours, but it never wore them down. The only time the Pilots flew was to the national championship in Idaho. Hope they had an extra seat for the trophy on the way home.
With the New York Yankees slumping, winning only two of their last nine games, I guess those torpedo bats aren’t worth a damn after all.
The Vegas customer relations beat goes on. If you are staying at the Flamingo, the first question is why? Okay, the location can’t be beat, but the place is antiquated and messy even though a long overdue facelift is underway. The parking garage is filthy and the walk into the hotel from there is uncomfortable at best. But no worries. The Flamingo continues to value customers as other Strip properties do hammering them with the mystical resort fees and exorbitant charges. The Flamingo just announced if their guests want to get into their rooms prior to the official 3:30 pm check-in time, even if the room is ready, it will cost an additional $60. Of course the Flamingo can spin it as a value. The Wynn charges $75. Well done, once again, Vegas.
On the flip side, a good Vegas deal is something called ‘House Seats.’ For $99 a year members get a daily listing of available shows, both on and off the Strip, that offer a couple of comp tickets with the membership. On occasion there might be Carrie Underwood or David Copperfield tickets. More readily available are comedy, magic, and tribute shows. There’s always something to choose from. In essence you are a seat-filler making the theater a bit warmer and crowded than it would have been. It’s like Kramer at the Tony Awards. A week ago Wednesday we used the site for the first time in the five years that we have been members. We couldn’t believe our good fortune grabbing a pair for Carrot Top that night. Okay, knock off the snickering. The transaction was seamless, and the tickets sent right to your phone. The only caveat is if you don’t use them, House Seats fines you $20 a ticket. We went. The 400-seat theater in the Luxor was full. There must have been a big run on House Seats that night. Carrot Top was funny, props or no props. The 60-year-old known around his neighborhood as Scott Thompson was entertaining for a guy who has been doing the same basic shtick for the last 40 years. I thought I really scored on this one—two comp tickets, on the aisle no less, and an enjoyable hour and a half. I was pretty pleased with myself until someone said to me, “Let me get this straight—you paid almost $500 over the last five years for a membership you never used and now your bragging about two free $50 tickets?” Buzz kill.
If I’m the Cleveland Browns I say goodbye to the aforementioned Shedeur Sanders sooner rather than later. The Browns have five quarterbacks on their roster. Do they really want a rookie who thinks driving at 101 miles per hour, 60 over the speed limit at 12:30 am, is using good judgment as happened last Tuesday? Two weeks prior he was stopped for doing ‘only’ 91 mph in a 65 mph limit. The Browns need to say ‘see ya kid.’ Let him become someone else’s problem if any team wants him. Preferably not the Jets.
Golf fans can add Sunday’s U.S. Open winner J.J. Spaun to a list that includes Shaun Micheel,, Michael Campbell, Todd Hamilton and Danny Willett. All are contemporary major champions that by and large were never heard from again. Not to take anything away from Spaun, but the Open contested at Oakmont outside of Pittsburgh played as turn number one at Talladega where massive collisions happen, and dreams go to die. This Open was no exception on an extremely challenging golf course with weather conditions anything but pleasant. Spaun somehow averted disaster, made a miraculous putt to win and all things considered is a deserving champion. Now we can probably file him under ‘read mail.’ However, for four days on one golf course that didn’t give anything back to the players J.J. was the best and deserving.
Before we leave the golf clubhouse a disappointing word about Rory McIlroy. Not that he didn’t win the US Open nor how poorly he played finishing tied for 19th, eight strokes behind Spaun. Back on April 13, during the final round of the Masters, there wasn’t anyone save for maybe runner-up Justin Rose’s family, who wasn’t pulling for Rory to win and capture the career Grand Slam of golf on his 11th try. It was wonderful theater and great for one of the game’s favorites. Since then his play and his attitude have been nothing but double bogeys. He admitted he has become “indifferent” and found it hard to get motivated for subsequent events after the Masters win. Last weekend at Oakmont he tomahawked his club after a bad shot; smashed a tee marker and took a backhand swipe at a flag in a fit of frustration, not really becoming of a champion at any level. He was on the cut line and said he really didn’t care if he made the Open cut or not. What really got me was he declined talking to the media after the first two U.S. Open rounds saying, “I feel like I’ve earned the right to do whatever I want to do.” Oh really, Rory? Yes, you’ve got golf talent but don’t forget for one minute the media might not have made you the golfer you are but certainly made you the celebrity you have become and the dollars you have banked. Here’s hoping McIlroy brings his horseshit attitude to the European team for the Ryder Cup in September.
So what did we learn from the Stanley Cup playoffs? Edmonton has the best player in the game in Connor McDavid, but the two-time champion Florida Panthers are by far the league’s best team. Playing in the finals for three straight years and winning back to back Cups is no accident. And Canada’s country-wide Cup slump continues— losing in the championship round seven straight times since Montreal last won in 1993. As for betting with your head and not your heart — I was pulling for Edmonton but thought Florida was too good so that’s where my money went. Score one for the head.
Two days after the beginning of summer, tonight’s NBA Finals Game 7 will finally bring the curtain down on the long winter sports season. I have no wager but was a fan of Oklahoma City all season winning a fairly easy totals bet on the Thunder. Indiana has had a great playoff run but OKC was the best of the best all year long and both my heart and head hopes and likes them to win.
Tom Thibodeau, the former New York Knicks head coach, learned a hard lesson that all we suffering Knicks fans have known for the past 52 years: mediocracy for the orange and blue reigns supreme— don’t tamper with it. Thibodeau made the unforgivable error of coaching the Knicks to the NBA semifinals, two wins away from the championship round. For his heroics he was promptly fired.
Finally, we’ll take a break next Sunday and concentrate on trying to hit, excuse the oxymoron, slow fastballs. I’ll be in Pittsburgh doing something I said I’ll never do again—play baseball. But after a fairly successful week at a Tigers themed camp this past January in Vero Beach, FL, why not? It’s a charity tournament for Pittsburgh Pirates Alumni Charities and it gives me the opportunity to lace-up and play with and against a good bunch of yinzers whom I haven’t seen in a while. I don’t know how the four games will go but at least my eyesight, four years after a bad dog bite, has recovered and is really good. I feel okay, through knocking down and chasing throws at first base can be terrorizing playing old-guy ball. And I won’t be the elder statesmen among the 56 players on the four teams. That honor belongs to spry 82-year-old catcher who still can get up and down out of a crouch with the best of them. However, you won’t have to look too far down the seniority list to find me. And when the weekend is over if I say I’ll never do it again, I’m probably lying.
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
Another multi topic hit!
Firing Thibodeau was a huge mistake considering that they couldn't get the coach they really wanted.
Enjoy your baseball outing!