Saved by Safety

Have you heard about the people who have thrown their Wii remote controls through their TV set? I recall when Nintendo first released their innovative game system hearing about people who, swinging their remotes wildly while playing a game, would lose their grip and send the little plastic piece hurtling through their beloved TV set.

I would laugh openly at their idiocy. Who would do something like that, even unintentionally? I guess I'm just lucky because I've never had a baseball bat slip through my hands on a hard swing or lose my grip on a bowling ball in mid-swing so I couldn't relate. I've seen people accidentally send a bat or ball flying across the infield or bowling alley, and laughed at them, too. These must be the kind of people Nintendo and Wii invented the strap for.

That's right. They had to start adding a little strap to the remotes for people to wrap around their wrist in case they lost their grip and I thought that was a little like wearing a helmet while scrapbooking. Just hold on to it, people. How hard can it be?

A couple of days ago I was playing Wii (or, as my wife says, "Wii-ing it up") and I was playing bowling. I was determined to make it to the pro level and determined to take out the wretched 7-10 split I was facing. I tried to add a little extra spin to my throw and at the last second, at the apex of my hard swing, I felt the remote slip out of my hands.

Luckily, I was wearing the retarded-proof strap and the remote simply clunked against my hand.

I laughed nervously at myself. It happened. I was one of them.