Sunday Morning Coffee — October 19, 2025 — Sunday Morning Scramble
By Roy Berger, Las Vegas, Nevada
Good morning. Pour yourself an extra cup today, we’ve got a full Scramble:
Like him, loath him or just tolerate him, a sincere tip of the yarmulka to President Trump and his two key but by now weary advisors, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, for their tenacity and dedication to brokering the release of the Israeli hostages and the related Gaza cease fire. Remarkable work. Mazel Tov and thank you! That’s what a super-power should accomplish: using its force and leverage to bring parties to the table. Our hopes and prayers were answered with the return of the 20 surviving hostages and at least some, hopefully all, of the deceased back to their families for a proper memorial and burial. Past performance tells us that all may not remain calm in the Middle East forever, but our same hopes and prayers are still in play for that miracle too.
And then Mr. President, while riding a wave, you commute slimy George Santos’ prison sentence. Whatever kind of alleged ‘harsh’ treatment he was getting in the clink was self-imposed for the fraud he committed on the American voting public. This one is a real hard swallow.
Down goes alma mater. Well, that was no surprise. It happens every year. Miami looks like a college football power and then loses a game they shouldn’t. Ranked #2 in the polls they are pretenders after all, not contenders. Last Sunday I wrote: “Despite their recent success Miami always figures out a way of losing games they shouldn’t.” It happened again Friday night when two touchdown underdog Louisville beat the Canes on their own home field. U quarterback Carson Beck came into the game as the Heisman co-favorite at odds of 4-1. Four interceptions later he is now at 40-1. Prior to the season I wrote in this space if Miami hits the trifecta of beating Notre Dame, Florida and Florida State I’d consider it a great season. That accomplishment now complete it did temper some of the disappointment I might have over the Louisville loss.
On the brink. It was 63 years ago Thursday, October 16, 1962, which began a very tense two weeks in this country. The United States and the Soviet Union stared each other down in what became known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. To counter U.S. placed missiles in Turkey and Italy, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, with the okay from new Cuban boss Fidel Castro, covertly placed nuclear missiles in Cuba aimed directly at the United States. I was 10 and today I don’t pretend to understand the depth of the crisis from back then, but I do distinctly remember for the first and only time as a kid my parents being afraid, thus so was I. Two days earlier, on October 14, 1962 per the direction of President John Kennedy, a United States U2 spy plane photographed the Cuban missile base. The world feared an imminent nuclear war. An apprehensive 12 days ensued. Everyone took a deep sigh of relief when cooler heads finally prevailed. Conversation and negotiation, not bullets, prevailed. Khrushchev, to Castro’s chagrin, agreed to remove the missiles while JFK lifted the blockade around Cuba that was established to deter any other shipments from Russia to the island. Kennedy also removed our missiles in Turkey aimed at Russia. Immediately afterwards communications between the two superpowers actually became warm. Castro felt betrayed but the world won.
Who says there are no winners in Vegas? The Las Vegas Aces, the town’s WNBA team, won their third championship in four years the week before last sweeping Phoenix in four. Way to go, ladies. And good news for the league as playoff TV viewership was up over last year by 5% with 1.2 million tuned in for each game.
Golfers, next time you give your partner a gimme, or pick one up yourself, consider these stats from the 2025 PGA Tour: from three feet out, the pros made 99.5% of their putts. Only 12 players made them all, led by Beau Hossler who was 783 out of 783. At four feet nobody was perfect, but combined the players made 91.5% of their attempts. At five feet, still in gimme-range for hackers, the percentage on the Tour fell to 81%. Next time you decide to give or pick up a shorty, remember Hale Irwin at the 1983 British Open who missed a one inch putt. He didn’t actually miss it, but he did nonchalantly walk up to tap it in and whiffed. That’s a stroke.
A baseball season to forget. If for some unexplainable reason you are a Colorado Rockies fan you just witnessed six months of sheer futility. The Rockies finished 43-119, the most losses by a National League team since the expansion 1962 Mets. But that’s not the entire story. The Rockies season run differential of -424 is the worst since 1900 due in great part from the 6.65 ERA of their starting pitchers.
Speaking of baseball, now that we are in the heart of the playoffs, post season baseball is a different game than the regular season. And that’s a very good thing.
And then there is post-season Shohei Ohtani. No words fitting enough to describe what he did on Friday night against Milwaukee. Ironically 48 years ago yesterday, October 18, 1977, Reggie Jackson hit three home runs in the sixth game of the World Series for the Yankees against the Dodgers. What Reggie didn’t do, that Shohei did, was also pitch six innings and strike out 10.
The World Series begins Friday. I’ve seen all or part of every Series over the last 65 years. My first one in 1960 was probably the most impressionable to me. I was eight, a Pittsburgh Pirates fan because my dad was, and that’s the way I thought it should be. The Pirates played the mighty Yankees. The Pirates were huge underdogs and in fact were outscored 55-27 over the seven games. Somehow the Pirates won the close ones and took the Yankees to a deciding Game 7. It resulted in the only final game walk-off home run in baseball history when 24-year-old Bill Mazeroski won it for the Pirates, 10-9, leading off the bottom of the ninth. I went nuts. The anniversary of that walk-off was this past Monday October 13. There are seven players of the 50 who participated in that Series who still survive. The list is topped by diminutive Yankees pitcher Bobby Shantz who turned 100 last month, the second oldest living former MLB player, right behind Bill Greason’s 101. Not at all intimidating, standing only 5’6”, nonetheless Shantz was the league MVP in 1952 as a pitcher for the Phillies going 24-7. Also still with us from the ‘60 Pinstripes are Bobby Richardson, voted the World Series MVP, the only time a player on the losing side won the award, and his double play partner shortstop Tony Kubek. Both are 90. From the winning Pirates, pitcher Vernon Law who won the 1960 Cy Young award is 95; his favorite relief pitcher Roy Face is 97; and outfielder Bob Skinner is 93. Our hero, Maz, is the youngster at 89. Special to me, much later in life, was I got to rub elbows with those four Pirates at various Pirates Fantasy Camps.
Our musical birthday wishes go out to Barry McGuire, turning 90 last Wednesday, and his great anti-war ballad of 1965, the Eve of Destruction when the United States became fully involved in Vietnam. “The Eastern world, it is explodin’, violence flaring’, bullets loadin’.” Also let’s twist again for Chubby Checker and Paul Simon, both have no need to be coy about celebrating their 84th. And seemingly quicker than it took this girl to become a woman now Gary Puckett celebrated 83 on Friday. He’s still touring, wearing that goofy Union Gap coat, with the summertime Happy Together ensemble.
You think you’re getting old? An artifact discovered by a local Indiana landowner on June 2 resting on a bank of the Whitewater River was sent to the University of Indianapolis’ Human Identification Center which confirmed it was a human skull. Research scientists at the University of Georgia using carbon dating technology estimated the remains dated back to 2300 B.C., over 4,000 years ago. Don’t know about you but I think that is incredible.
If you were looking for the American city that is the antithesis of Las Vegas, welcome to Abilene, Kansas. On Thursday I left the neon behind for a day and visited the community of 6,500 in the heart of Kansas, a 160 mile drive west across I-70 from Kansas City highlighted by nothing but farmland and golden wheat staff. Why? Legitimate question. Abilene, where everybody is wholesome and sincere, is the boyhood home of President Dwight Eisenhower and the Eisenhower Museum. But that’s not why I was there. It’s also the headquarters of the National Greyhound Association, as in dogs not buses. Some of you know I spent 35 years, 1974-2009, in that business managing, at one time or another, eight greyhound pari-mutuel racetracks in as many states. Back in the heyday of greyhound racing, as recently as 2000, there were 50 racetracks operating in 18 states. A short 25 years later there are two remaining, both in West Virginia. A perfect storm of casino and lottery expansion along with vigilant animal rights activists using smear campaigns have decimated the business. Every October what’s left of the industry honors some of the outstanding professionals that at one time made greyhound racing the sixth largest spectator sport in America. This year the recognition belonged to my very close friend of the past 50 years Dan Luciano and another colleague, Tim Leuschner. Both really distinguished pros who operated with the welfare of the racing greyhounds foremost. Yes, it is a haul from Vegas but any doubt I had about being there for the ceremony was quashed when I found a glitch on the Hertz site and got a car rental for $37.50. At that rate, even if I wasn’t going to Abilene, I probably would have flown to KC anyway just to drive around for a few hours. I was glad I went getting to visit with old friends I haven’t seen in ages. As you can imagine lodging in Abilene leaves a bit to be desired—it was recommended to stay at the new Holiday Inn Express, the Abilene equivalent of the Four Seasons, Peninsula and Ritz. Only hotel I ever stayed at that had no bottled water. None. A first for me in over half a century of traveling. As the desk clerk told me, “the general manager is off today but he’ll be bringing some with him tomorrow.” Parched, I left early Friday morning before the manager arrived with the days ration of Dasani. It was also too early for oatmeal or the signature burnt waffles but my heart was warmed when I checked out and bumped into an old friend in the lobby: a USA Today. Haven’t seen one in forever. It’s a lot skinnier than back in the day but still a fun read. Abilene, Kansas is Americana rolled back a century or two. And in our crazy, chaotic world that’s not a bad thing every once in a while.
Sitting on their hands. That best describes New York Rangers hockey fans as the Blueshirts have not only lost their first three home games of this season but haven’t scored a goal yet on Madison Square Garden ice. They are the first team in NHL history to accomplish that dark feat. They’ll try once again to finally light the lamp on Monday when Minnesota comes into town.
Las Vegas visitation fell 10% over the course of June, July and August compared to the same period a year ago. But those who popped into town were serious about their gaming. For the house, revenue increased by 4% on the Strip and 7% downtown validating the statistic that 80% of casino revenue comes from about 20% of players.
The NFL looks to showcase their product on an international stage every year. This season it plays seven overseas contests in Brazil, Ireland, Germany, Spain and the three annual games in the UK. For some reason, the past two years they have featured the Jets on the international menu. Jets fans were rightfully ecstatic to get them as far away from New York as possible. Well, it backfired on the NFL last Sunday when the Jets played Denver in London. The only winless team this season, the Jets were true to form and absolutely horrible. They traveled 7,000 miles round trip to gain a grand total of 82 net yards on the field which included a negative 10 yards passing. The offensive line was just that, offensive, allowing nine sacks. Quarterback Justin Fields, no Joe Namath, has filed a class action suit against his line for lack of support. Incredibly the Jets were still in the game on their last possession, which of course failed, and the Broncos flew home with a 13-11 win. Attendance at Tottenham’s Hotspur Stadium was a sold out 61,155 who watched 60 minutes of inept American football. One bloke said to his mate afterwards, “And the Yanks think our game of footie (soccer) is rank?”
Nothing will get an NFL head coach fired as quickly as drafting a quarterback with the first pick in the draft. Former Tennessee Titans field boss Brian Callahan found that out last Monday after the Titans lost to the lowly Raiders dropping their record to 1-5. Tennessee had the top choice in this year’s draft and chose Cam Ward out of Miami. It’s not working and Callahan took the hit. According to The Wall Street Journal Callahan’s firing just continued a trend. Six of the last eight quarterbacks picked number one, including each of the last four—Ward, Caleb Williams, Bryce Young and Trevor Lawrence have seen their coaches fired during their rookie seasons. The only thing perhaps more lethal for a head coach would be losing to the Jets. Carolina is on the clock for that today.
One more football note: Talk about a bad beat— if you took Murphy High School and the 98.5 point spread in their Mobile, Alabama, match-up against rival Williamson, a late touchdown beat you. Williamson escaped with a 100-0 win. In their six wins the Lions have outscored their opposition by a combined 405-24 including four shutouts. They play the Jets next as a 35-point favorite.
And finally, many of you remember Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman who served in Congress from 1989-2013. In 2000 he came within a hanging chad of becoming vice president on the Al Gore ticket. Lieberman ran for president in 2004, a race he ultimately lost to John Kerry. Lieberman, Jewish, died last year. Last week on a special project I was doing for our synagogue here in Vegas, I was talking with the president of a Santa Monica, CA, temple. He as sitting president, me as immediate past president of mine. We compared notes, woes, limited accomplishments and laughs about the thankless volunteer position. My SoCal compadre told me that in 2004, when running for president, Lieberman visited his Santa Monica congregation on a campaign stop. The Senator told the assembled audience that becoming president of the U.S. is a job he really wants. He thought he could make a difference. And then said, “on the other hand the one job I want no part of is becoming president of my synagogue,” to uproarious laughter. Joe Lieberman wasn’t kidding. He was also a very smart man.
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 do believe that Shanz is the only living player to have played for Connie Mack.
I'll always remember Nikita banging his shoe on the table!
While living in Connecticut at the time Joe Lieberman was admired by all. When he switched to an Independent he was never afraid to reach across the table. It's true. He would have made a huge difference.
Wow! As they say it is in the details. Broad and deep.