Is Jimothy what the Mariners are missing?

BEND, Ore. - Like many other things, I’m way behind with this Jimothy phenomenon that has become bigger than the Space Needle in Seattle and humongous everywhere else too.

I just found out about it this week when the Mariners announced they were holding a Jimothy Night Aug. 5th at T-Mobile Park.

That promotion turned into a sellout so the Mariners decided to add another Jimothy Night two nights later on Aug. 7th.

Maybe you can’t believe I hadn’t heard about this deformed raccoon in Ballard until now.

But I’ve gotten up to speed, and as a reporter, I have a lot of questions about this social media sensation. Problem is, when it comes to Jimothy’s popularity, there aren’t any solid answers.

For starters, we don’t even know if Jimothy’s a male or female, we just know he looks too round and chubby to be the kind of raccoon we normally see.

I’m guessing he’s universally loved because he’s unique, an underdog of sorts, surviving against all odds in the wild, and we’ve decided he’s someone - some thing? - worth rooting for.

I read a story in which the author or veterinarian or rodent expert praised Jimothy’s mother for the job she did raising that fat little fella of hers, clearly nurturing, protecting and teaching him/her the ropes.

Fast-forward through the following paragraphs if you already know how this story began.

I didn’t until today’s Google search, so here goes…

Kiana Hall of Seattle noticed what she thought was a cat under her car in the parking lot at the Ballard Goodwill on July 13th.

She took a video of the varmint as it came out from under her car and saw that it wasn’t a cat, but what exactly was it?

Turns out, it was a roly-poly raccoon with short spine syndrome, and Hall named him/her Jimothy because he/she “looked like a Jimothy.”

That doesn’t make sense either because no one knows what a Jimothy looks like because parents either name their kid Jim or Timothy, they don’t put the two together, do they?

Guess how long the video was that Hall took and posted on Instagram?