The Slice: Overheard never: ‘Down in back’

Do Spokane area residents who are really tall (or at least have long torsos) request seats in the back row of a section when purchasing tickets for an entertainment event?

It must get old to hear grumbling behind your back, especially since being tall is not inherently inconsiderate.

Let’s move on.

Warm-up questions: Is yours a family with divided loyalties as the Eastern vs. Montana football game looms? With 21 days until Black Friday, have you decided that you will be a different sort of consumer this year? Was Spokane the last city in America to abandon the “Miami Vice” look? Is it OK to give someone a gift of tickets to a concert or a show when it’s rather obvious that the event in question is something you want to see more than the gift recipient does? Is it possible to be interested in wine bottle labels but blasé about wine?

Today’s Slice question: Is the Northwest (let’s include Alaska) the absolute worst region of the United States when it comes to ludicrously located capital cities that are nowhere near the middle of the states?

OK, there is something to be said for capitals being close to most of a state’s people. But perhaps you would agree that there is a difference between taking population density into account and jabbing a thumb into the eye of the hinterlands.

Of course, state capitals were not selected yesterday. Odds are there was a good reason a city off in one corner of the state got chosen. Still, it’s hard for me to look at a map of my own state and not think that Wenatchee ought to be our capital, even if winter travel from the West Side could be iffy.

Sorry. Didn’t mean to hog the conversation. Please feel free to weigh in.

But one more thing. If you are in the “It should be the biggest city” camp, it is only fair to note that more than a few biggest-city state capitals happen to be more or less centrally located.

All right, I’ll pipe down now.