A giant quiz, dose of trivia, and my cat

Yikes!

Once again I’ve allowed the “Notes” file to overflow — not to mention a general dawdle on answering your questions.

Ditto on some items of local interest that are worth discussing.

Why don’t we try getting to some of these things today?

Lots of questions and smallish issues are waiting for us.

So let’s do it…

ITEM: The boss keeps reminding me that he misses those cool surveys and polls we tossed at you when I was writing A Brand New Day.

Alrighty, then.

Let’s import them to sports.

For just a little fun and games today, I’m going to get the party started with a couple of trivia questions. Answer them correctly and you’ll be getting a jump on all the others who will eventually join in.

See, the BIG question is this: Who is (or was) your favorite athlete? And why?

We want everyone to write in with an answer to that one.

My email address is right down there at the bottom of this column.

But…

If you want to increase your odds of being celebrated in the paper as true sports guru, take a stab at these two questions — which were hard before Google but probably not so much now.

Still…

Let’s see how you do.

Question No. 1 — Who ran for Eddie Gaedel?

Question No. 2 — Who was the first National League designated hitter?

But remember now…

Our big, fat, fun survey is open to all of you, whether you answer the questions or not.

Who is (or was) your favorite athlete?

Tell me about it, using the email down at the bottom here.

You’ve got time, friends.

We’re going to publish a star-spangled introduction column explaining the whole idea — and you won’t be able to miss it.

But right now, it’s over to you.

Let’s get this party started.

ITEM: Speaking of baseball, I’ve covered at least a couple thousand games in person — so I know when somebody is brain dead out there.

The Mariners have been awful for more than a month now, and that 13-2 start feels like it belongs in the Civil War era.

Yep, they have some serious physical limitations, but to be honest, they’re not “thinking the game” well enough to win, either.

Example: Last Saturday night, they were locked in a 3-3 battle with the Angels at T-Mobile Park.

Lefty Roenis Elias was on the mound, trying to keep the things tied, but Elias got in trouble immediately.

Eventually, the Angels had runners at first and second with nobody out, but Jonathan Lucroy, who was fooled, rolled into a double play.

That left Cesar Puello on third, but now with two outs.

Elias was left to deal with the left-handed Kole Calhoun — perhaps the Angels’ hottest hitter — but he had bases open and every reason to make Calhoun chase HIS pitch.

Once again the count went to 3-2, with Calhoun looking uncomfortable on every off-speed pitch.

“Kole was really swinging the bat,” said Angels manager Brad Ausmus. “Even with left on left, I really liked how he was attacking the fastball.”

So on this full count, Elias pitched like the bases were loaded and a walk was the end of the world.

He threw a fastball right down the middle, and Calhoun pounded it out — a two-run home run that wound up winning the game.

But…why?

Elias could have thrown a curve or changeup, and Calhoun likely wouldn’t have any kind of meaningful contact.

Or even if he’d missed and walked Calhoun (whose home run was his 12th), Elias would have been able to take his chances with rookie Luis Rengifo, who was hitting .218.

Plays and decisions like that one turn a ho-hum team into a really bad one over 162 games.

C’mon, lads, let’s TRY to win.

At least.

ITEM: I’m signing off today with an answer for y’all who got in touch before I moved over to sports.

My condo-mate Sammie the World’s Greatest Cat was in critical shape at that point. She’d gone from 13.3 pounds to 5.15, and the vet told me that any more weight loss, and Sammie would be facing complete organ failure.

Our last shot was a protocol that involved me giving Sammie a syringe full of steroids on top of her food every morning — then tossing in some chemo meds every 2-3 days.

It’s strong strong stuff, but Sammie gobbles it with her chow.

I didn’t have much hope when this routine began, to be honest, but Sammie TWGC began to eat so much that even with just a small percentage of nutrients on board, she began to tip-toe back from the brink.

Just before I left on this medical journey of my own, Sammie checked in at 8.3 pounds.

Even better, he’s back to having fun — often at my expense. You won’t be shocked to hear that it doesn’t bother me a bit.

You go, girl.

Oh, and thanks so much to all of you who’ve taken the time to write and ask about Miss Sammie.

I’ll always believe that you helped.

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns for The Press appear on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Steve also contributes the “Zags Tracker” package on Gonzaga basketball once monthly during the offseason.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com