Sunday Morning Coffee — September 21, 2025 — Sunday Morning Scramble

By Roy Berger, Las Vegas, NV.

A very fortuitous and rewarding trip to London last week. Fortuitous because we were there in-between Prince Harry’s forty-five minute reconciliation tea and crumpets with his pop and President Trump using his free night certificate at Windsor Castle. Rewarding as we saw our five- week old granddaughter Harley for the first time. Both Andi and I kvelled. Born on August 8, Harley became a US citizen a month later on September 3 at the US Embassy. Parents Scott and Cayla were stand-ins and took the oath for her. Passport photo taken, good for five years. She was crying during the shoot, not a particularly good look for immigration officials. Social security card and official document of citizenship to follow. She should be eligible to vote, via mail, during the ‘26 midterms. The bad news for everyone else who has a new granddaughter? Next to our new little arrival, yours is only the second cutest on the planet.

Poor kid. Alabama fan Andi ordered this for Harley before ‘Bama gagged in their season opener. Grandpa to the rescue: a Miami Hurricanes onesie is on the way to London.

Not so fortuitous during our London visit was arriving during a transit strike when the London Tube system was dark creating havoc above ground with traffic moving at a slow crawl to not at all. It took three times the normal ride time to get anywhere via taxi, ride share or private vehicle. The union is seeking a raise for their tube operators who now make between £65-£ 72,000 a year ($88-$97,000 USD). They’ve already turned down a 3.4% increase. And if that’s not enough, the union wants working hours reduced from 35 to 32 hours a week. No matter what finally happens I have to give the Brits kudos for knowing how to strike. They walked out on a Monday with notice they will return on Friday whether or not they have a deal. But fair warning— the intermittent stoppages and related traffic havoc will continue until a new contract is negotiated.

Fortunately the Tube was running again a week ago Saturday so Scott, my nephew Kyle and I could get to Fulham, just west of London on the River Thames, for an English Premier League soccer match. Stop rolling your provincial eyes please. Trust me, if you are a sports fan and in the U.K. between August and May do yourself a favor and see an EPL contest if you can. It was my fourth, always enjoyable because the player skills and the crowd reaction are such a novelty. This one pitted Fulham against Leeds United. It was the Premier League equivalent of Tennessee against Jacksonville on a Sunday, two sides not ready yet for prime time. It didn’t hurt that Scott professionally befriended the Fulham CEO and we were his guests in the Directors Box and all the accompaniments, very handy during a driving second half rainstorm. The stadium is quaint, only 30,000 seats, on the original grounds of what’s called Craven Cottage. It’s the oldest professional soccer stadium in London that has hosted the footie, as the Brits call it, since 1896, which I believe was the last year the Jets made the NFL playoffs. This was a high scoring match that Fulham won 1-nill in the final three minutes when a Leeds defender inadvertently headed the ball into his own goal. And for all you SMC cynics who are wondering if I was still there that late, well….

The Jewish holidays begin this week—Monday night for Rosh Hashanah and conclude when the Yom Kippur fast ends on October 2. Wishing a sweet, healthy, safe and peaceful holiday and new year for all who celebrate. Shana Tova. In London a week ago Friday night Andi and I went to Shabbat services at temple but with these days filled with hate and evil, it’s not as simple anymore as just showing up. We had to fill out an online guest application, be approved, and then bring our passports for verification and admission. There was no uniformed police presence instead blokes outside the front doors in dark suits who look like Ray Donovan. You didn’t want to mess with them. I’m not sure it’s exactly the way Moses drew it up but it is today’s societal mandate. The West London Synagogue was founded in 1840 and moved to its present Marylebone area location in 1870. The building is magnificent, and the hospitality extended to us superb. The Jewish population in Great Britain is only .48% of the whole, as a percentage four times smaller than the US at 2%.

Meanwhile, closer to home, we don’t say it enough but kudos to the FBI for their solid police work 10 days ago at Utah Valley University.

From the pork farm: in the new legislation that excludes some workers from paying taxes on tips there’s an exclusion for social media influencers.

Has there ever been a more fitting name for a baseball player? James Outman of the Minnesota Twins is just that. His batting average through yesterday is .145.

Rock and roll lost some legends over the past couple of weeks. Tom Shipley of Brewer & Shipley died on August 24 at 84; Mark Volman of the Turtles on September 5 at 78 and Rick Davies of Supertramp on September 6 at 81. Shipley and his late partner Mike Brewer will always be remembered for their 1970 counterculture hit One Toke Over the Line. Today it would probably be remade as One Gummy Over the Line. Volman and his partner Howard Kaylan gave us so many Turtles hits including: It Ain’t Me Babe, You Baby, She’d Rather Be with Me, Elenore, You Showed Me and of course their best seller, Happy Together in 1967. Their aptly named Happy Together summer tour still rocked through the decades. When Kaylan left the road in 2018, Volman brought in Ron Dante of the Archies to be a Turtle. Davies was Supertramp’s founder and only constant member. His hits included The Logical Song, Breakfast in America, Goodbye Stranger, Dreamer, Give a Little Bit, and Take The Long Way Home. The jukebox in heaven just got better with these three additions.

And one more loss this past week that took a little bit of my adolescence, and every other New York Rangers fan of the day, with it. Ed Giacomin (Joc-a-min) was the Rangers goalie from 1966 until 1976 and every Rangers fan loved him. He transitioned the Rangers in 1968 from the old Garden on 50th Street to the new one on 33rd Street. He loved to roam outside of the goal crease and his acrobatic saves had chants of “Ed-die, Ed-die” bellowing from the blue seats in the Garden rafters. Giacomin never led us to the promised land of the Stanley Cup, but he was our hero anyway. In fact, young Rangers play-by-play broadcaster Marv Albert trademarked the “kick save and a beauty” call from one of Giacomin’s saves and it stuck. The seven-time All-Star and hockey Hall of Famer was 86.

Same old, same old. Reading the New York Times bestseller Zero Fail about the trials and tribs of the Secret Service, author Carole Leonning writes about the June 1968 death of Bobby Kennedy, “The man who assassinated him, Sirhan Sirhan, was of Palestinian descent and plotted for weeks to kill Kennedy because of his public support of Israel.”

Coming soon to a Las Vegas restaurant near you we go back to London. This should make the resort/casino corporate accountants in Vegas salivate: London restaurants now include a £1.75 charge, per person to reserve a table. A party of four —that’s $9.50 USD just for the right to use the table. Don’t want to pay it? Then try your luck as a walk-in.

Alabama football fans, my wife included, have taken a breath or two since the opening game loss to Florida State. They’ve won two in a row and a little, but not much, pressure is off head coach Kalen DeBoer. In fact, DeBoer may be a better businessman than football coach. When he negotiated his Alabama contract to succeed Nick Saban two years ago DeBoer knew stepping in for a legend, especially at a place like Bama, is almost impossible and he wanted protection. In his contract is a $70 million buyout if the school tells him to hit the Tuscaloosa road. Smart.

Want to become president in ‘28? Just move your campaign headquarters to a Cracker Barrel. According to Dave Wasserman of Cook Political Report, in the 2024 presidential election Donald Trump got 74% of the vote in counties across the country that are home to a Cracker Barrel restaurant. I’m not sure exactly what that signifies other than Dave Wasserman has too much time on his hands and CNN needs to give John King a Cracker Barrel projection map in ‘28.

And speaking of Mr. King, I had no idea he was married to CNN’s Dana Bash. They got married in 2008 but not before he converted to Judaism, step one in pleasing his wife. It wasn’t enough, however. They divorced in 2012 but maintain a very professional working relationship.

Boxing, a shell of what it once was, isn’t dead just yet. Vegas has been home to so many great classics over the past 50 years but never had a turnout like there was for the Terrance Crawford-Canelo Alvarez super-middleweight championship fight a week ago last night. Back in the day the big Vegas fights were either held at UNLV’s Thomas and Mack Arena or makeshift outdoor temporary bleachers at Caesars Palace and the old Las Vegas Hilton. The Crawford-Canelo bout was at the five-year old Allegiant Stadium, home of the Raiders. The record crowd of 70,482 generated $47 million at the box office, another all-time high. You’d have to go back 43 years for the previous Vegas best, 29,214, to watch Larry Holmes and Gerry Cooney at Caesars in 1982.

And speaking of Caesars, it was 73 years ago Friday, on September 19, 1952, the Adventures of Superman premiered on television. The show, which ran for six seasons and 104 episodes, wasn’t produced for national broadcast but instead went right to syndication on independent stations around the country. Don’t laugh but I still watch one or two a week. Channeling my inner Perry White—Great Caesar’s Ghost!

Fantasy camp potential? With the Yankees trailing the Tigers by 10 runs on September 10, the Yankees brought in outfielder Austin Slater to pitch the ninth inning. He made every fantasy camp pitcher proud: his first two pitches to Javier Baez were clocked at 36 mph, the first a called strike, the second a ball. They were the slowest pitches ever tracked by Statcast since its inception a decade ago. Baez, who hasn’t seen smoke like this since he was eight or nine years old, was so flummoxed he grounded into a force play on the third heater he saw.

And finally, make of this what you may: The Wall Street Journal tells us it’s getting rather quiet between the sheets. According to a new report by the Institute for Family Studies only 37% of the American population, ages 18-64, reported having sex at least once a week — down sharply from the 55% back in 1990. The decline is even more striking for those in the 18-29 demo with 24% revealing they hadn’t shtupped in a year, half as many from similar 2010 polling. However, there is good news for those 65 and older who can proudly say their sexual activity has remained constant. The study says it’s just as statistically irrelevant today as it was 35 years ago.

---

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