The Slice: Back to school? Let’s kick it off with a quiz

In the spirit of a back-to-class pop quiz, let’s start with a reader challenge.

OK, close your books.

What do the 1986 Rodney Dangerfield movie “Back to School” and real-life higher education here in Spokane have in common?

Find the answer right above the warm-up question.

•Slice answer: Sande Paulson ignored my instruction to name something other than paste when answering the question about favorite school supplies.

“Why not paste? It was my favorite — LePage’s paste. It smelled so good, good enough to eat. However, one taste was enough.”

I wonder if it was more nutritious than Elmer’s Glue or Silly Putty.

•Too many Cooks: Dave Cook, sports information director at Eastern Washington University, is used to encountering people who share both his first and last names. Just ask him. He’s got a list.

But this moniker duplication got a new wrinkle recently. A young man named Evan Cook made the EWU football team.

As it happens, Cook’s son, who plays football at Cheney High School, is also named Evan.

Of course, there are about 30 Robert Johnsons, something like 15 Robert Andersons and a dozen Steve Smiths in the Spokane phone book. So I guess it’s all relative.

•Speaking of names: It must be odd to be a kid who attends a school with a name that’s the same as his or her own last name.

•True or False: Fort Spokane was the name of the Army post in TV’s “F-Troop.”

Give up? OK, that’s not true. In the show, it was Fort Courage.

•Slice answers: Andy Huska said he thinks Helen Hunt would be the ideal casting choice to play Mayor Mary Verner in a set-in-Spokane disaster movie.

Readers at City Hall suggested Susan Sarandon, Karen Allen, Kathleen Turner and a back-in-time version of Katharine Hepburn.

Terry and Sue Krupke proposed Willie Nelson.

Jim Corcoran thinks she should play herself.

•Reader challenge answer: There’s an administrator, a “Dean Martin,” at the college in the movie and there’s a “Dean Martin” at Gonzaga University’s School of Law.

•Warm-up question (for those who have DVR): How many hours of unwatched Olympics do you still have recorded?

•Today’s Slice question: Ever had a friend or co-worker chill your relationship after you encountered him or her in a compromising situation?