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Turning 40 has been a realization of many things. Mostly, they don’t make things like they used to. This is especially true when it comes to video games. I used to be a darn good race car driver on those arcade games where you were sitting down with the steering wheel in your hand, gas on the far right, brake in the middle and the shifter right by your right thigh, just like in your car.
This new Nintendo Wii is all geared to the next generation.
All of the contraptions for controlling the race car are on the steering wheel. What the heck. I had no chance.
Where is the gas pedal? Is there a brake? Don’t I have a shifter anymore?
So much for modern technology. Everything was “A” button for this and “B” button for that.
My nephews Franklin, one of the triplets, and Jacob, worked me over pretty good during my visit to St. Louis for my big 40th and the Christmas break.
Franklin darn near lapped me in the game. You know that stinker picked the hardest track there was to race on and smirked at me the whole time.
Both of them warned me the car I was driving had me doomed from the beginning.
“Pick a different car,” Franklin said.
“Don’t pick that one,” Jacob said.
I got one with a dinosaur looking creature driving it, and the car had a huge engine with big back tires. It was stylish if nothing else.
“That’s a slow starting car,” Franklin said, like he was an analyst for the Daytona 500 or something.
I got plenty of help for the race against Jocob. Franklin told me every mistake I was going to make right before it happened.
“Look out, you’re going off the track.”
“Get back on the track.”
“Speed up.”
“Turn, turn, turn!”
Nothing like having a crew chief in your ear to make Nintendo Wii even more life-like.
After racing the boys, Rachel, another one of the triplets, wanted her turn.
Man, she played me for a softie, smiling and laughing and acting like this race was no big deal.
Being noncompetitive by nature, I was going to let her win, of course. Not.
You won’t find any bigger fighters in this world than Rachel and Rebekah, who with Franklin, were born prematurely on Jan. 2, nine years ago.
Those two girls aren’t going to lose anything after the battles they have had to win over the years with wheelchairs, walkers and braces on their feet as they fought complications of cerebral palsy with dozens of operations and hundreds of therapy sessions.
So, there I was, racing Rachel, and I’m not going to lie, I was out to let her eat my dust. After all, she whipped me in Nintendo Wii bowling over the summer.
I had a huge lead, too, sitting in fifth place with Rachel seven positions back in 12th place.
Next thing I know, I’m off the track. I negotiate my way back to the race course only to be crushed by some monster car.
I still had a fighting chance as Rachel moves from 12th to ninth place and I spin, fly and dart into the wall to spin some more as I see her number turn from ninth to eighth and then seventh as she goes right by me, laughing all the way.
After that first day, I decided to leave the Nintendo Wii games to the kids.
You can reach Gene Morris by calling (913) 294-2311 or by e-mail at
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