THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Sorry seems to be the hardest word

Our theme today is apologies.

At least a couple that have been delivered, and one biggie that has not.

Spoiler: The bottom line here is that Pat McAfee is a raging jerk.

We’ll get to him at the finish and (hmmm) maybe toss him out with the garbage?

In this current culture of social media, with millions of words, opinions and outright nonsense flying around every hour, plenty of ideas, incorrect “facts” and plain old lies come zooming past all of us.

One obvious truth: The better known any individual might be to wider society, the more we’re going to read or hear.

Sometimes, apologies are necessary because someone has tried to say the right thing, but botched the delivery.

Then there are bursts of purse emotion, and all of us can identify with that sort of moment — and hopefully, an apology to follow when we know we’ve let feelings go too far.

Of course, there is a third category.

This is where we’re talking about pure self-promotion, someone stupid (or just mean) babbling silly statements in search of an audience — and no other reason.

In a world of instant communication, it’s a way to become famous.

Or infamous.

NOW, LET’S back up and look at these different situations — all concerning sports in our part of the world, yes, and all from the past week.

It’s easy to find the emotional outburst that requires an apology.

There are plenty every day, but some anger we saw up close came right at the beginning of the Seahawks-Giants game at the Meadowlands.

Less than five minutes in, with the Giants on their first possession, quarterback Daniel Jones got rushed out of the pocket, couldn’t find a receiver and had to run.

Seattle safety Jamal Adams flew up from his coverage assignment, took a bead on Jones and went down low to knock his legs out from under him.

Unfortunately, Jones’ knee cracked Adams’ helmet as he was losing balance.

The result was a concussion.

NFL protocol is clear on these situations: A player with a suspected concussion is out of the game.

Period.

It’s the right decision, no doubt.

But Adams, who hadn’t played since the first game of the previous year and spent all that time rehabbing from surgery, wasn’t having it.

Jamal wanted to get back on the field, and he angrily roasted the NFL doctor who rendered the verdict.

To Adams’ credit, once he’d calmed down and had the situation explained to him, he felt bad about hollering — in front of the world — at a man who was just doing his job.

Adams apologized to the medic, and to the league.

Good for him.

NOW, WE come to an executive who made a blunder.

Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto speaks to the public — plus doing regular radio and television spots — as a regular part of his gig.

But at the club’s season-ending press session, featuring Dipoto along with GM Justin Hollander and manager Scott Servais, Dipoto botched some explanations about how the Mariners happened to miss the postseason by two games.

Among other things, Jerry told his audience that this year’s team had improved over the season before — which was never going to sit well with a fan base so disappointed with visions of a World Series.

There was more, although some of it came out as a “word salad” that even Jerry would have winced if he heard it repeated.

He tried humor, and it failed miserably.

He tried some of the club’s internal metrics — for instance, if a team wins 54 percent of its games for a decade, that percentage most often gets you to the Series at some point.

Instead of understanding the numbers, fans took Dipoto’s 54 percent “goal” to mean that the Mariners were aiming for mediocrity.

It was awful, especially for an executive who is normally so good at being honest, transparent and pretty darn clear about what the club is doing.

Dipoto knew he’d blown it.

Within 48 hours, Dipoto apologized and said plainly that he’d shot himself in the foot.

“I whiffed in my attempt to paint a baseline picture of what makes sense to me (more) than to our fans and media,” he said.

“Our goal isn’t to be mediocre. Our goal is to win championships, and then to play a high level for a long time, and that’s what I was trying to convey.

“Obviously, it didn’t help. I wish I could hit reset and try it again. But that moment’s gone.”

Hopefully, given the huge strides made by the Mariners organization from top to bottom over the past few years, fans will understand what Jerry trying to say.

Or at least give him a mulligan.

FINALLY, we come to McAfee, who damn well should be asking forgiveness for shooting his mouth about Washington State University.

And spewing ugliness.

I’ve never understood why this wrestling announcer has a platform on ESPN’s College GameDay.

He’s a “make-you-angry entertainer,” not any kind of analyst.

Just to get into the headlines, though, McAfee inserted himself into that misunderstanding involving coach Jake Dickert and GameDay’s Lee Corso, who called the WSU-Oregon State game the “Nobody Wants Us Bowl.”

Beyond that, former Coug QB Ryan Leaf exchanged words with GameDay host Kirk Herbstreit.

It would have ended quietly – remember, Wazzu’s flag “Ol’ Crimson” has been on that show for 292 consecutive episodes — except that McAfee suddenly went nuts.

“Like, shut up! Washington State, about sick of you!” he bellowed. “Waste of time on this show.”

Do you suppose McAfee, who only has a national profile because Aaron Rodgers appeared on his show, like, every week … would a guy like that calm down and apologize to all the Wazzu folks?

You know, the ones whose jobs are at stake if the school has to make dramatic budget cuts?

Of course not.

He doubled down on his own show, adding foul language to his anti-WSU rant.

I’ve got an idea.

Hey, Pat, get back to wrestling and those guys hitting each other with fake chairs.

It will take adults to sort out the future of these two schools abandoned in the Pac-12 collapse.

That leaves you out.

So.

Shut up!

Email: [email protected]

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”