Joining the Wii Revolution (or How I Punched My Mom in The Face and Got Away With It)

Video games have been reintroduced into my parents’ basement. Years ago in this very same space my brothers and I said bad words, threw things and hit each other while playing Donkey Kong, Zelda and Mario Bros. Now my dad is saying bad words and hitting the couch while playing Tiger Woods golf on his brand new Nintendo Wii.

Maybe such pleasant behavior runs in the family.

My brothers and I gave Dad the highly sought after gaming system that mimics your movements as a Christmas do-over and an early birthday gift. I thought he wanted it to have something he could play with my niece. Turns out he wanted it for the golf game because it’s cool.

Despite a few early holes-in-one and an unbelievable amount of chip-ins, the game turned out to be a pretty accurate indicator of our golfing ability. I generally hit longer drives than my dad. He is a much better putter. But all in all, we are equals. As in equally lousy.

After a few spirited rounds, we started branching out to some of the other games that came with the Wii. My dad boxed Mia. He lost. Then Mia boxed my mom, She won again. The little cocky girl came up to me and said “You wanna fight. I’m really good, but I’ll take it easy on ya.”

And she did too, for the first round. I knocked her all over the place. But in the second round, I was feeling a little guilty for taking such pleasure in beating a 6-year-old. I let up and she got me good. But in the third round it was no holds barred. I went for it all. Get ready for the thunder Little Miss Princess!!!

She beat me too.

Mia is the reigning boxing champion of the family. She has never gone down for the count. She even destroyed her dad in less than five minutes for a 4-0 record.


A couple days later, when the house was all quiet and Mia was long gone, I coaxed my mom downstairs and convinced her to box me. It took three rounds of us looking ridiculous, waiving our hands at a TV screen, but I finally destroyed her. I left her bleeding on the mat.

TAKE THAT MOM! IN YOUR FACE MOM! I DON’T CARE THAT IT’S MOTHER’S DAY MOM! HA HA HA!

Why such hostility? Well, the whole thing started innocently. I liked the idea of playing a game with her. And when can you ever say, I punched my mom in the face on Mother’s Day and she thought it was kinda funny. But once we started playing, I really wanted to beat her up. I guess I’m still a little sore about what happened when we went bowling on my last visit to Utah.