I can't believe this...

I played Nintendo Wii for the first time last night. Yeah I know...I'm a little late to the party...the rest of the world has been playing for a while now, but I just got invited!

I've never been a big gamer...maybe it's because as a kid I never went to the arcade like most kids. I'll guarantee you as a teenager I went to the arcade maybe...maybe...5 times.

I never really played any sort of video games until my parents bought me an Atari one Christmas. Remember Atari...Space Invaders, Pacman, Pong, and all of those other silly little games?

Then in 1998 my wife bought me a Playstation with Madden Football. Between 1980 and 2008...I rarely ever played a video game...and when I did...I SUCKED!

Despite the onslaught by advertisers of the latest greatest gaming systems...X-Box, Game Cube, Playstation 3, etc...my wife and I have held them all at bay and protected our children from the video wars. There are NO gaming systems in our house (except for the Playstation I mentioned earlier...but it sits on the top shelf of the closet in our office...way in the back)...no DS, no Gameboy...nada!

We're proud that our boys love to play outside, use their imaginations, create, color, build, ride bikes...anything productive besides sit in front of the TV. We promote a healthy, active lifestyle by being active and healthy ourselves.

So...imagine the battle that's raging inside of me this morning. Last night, after a great dinner with some good friends...we went back to their house and fired up the Wii. I had heard all about it...read about it...but here it was right in front of me.

Being a bit of a skeptic by nature, I had told myself on the way over that I wouldn't like it. It would just be another boring gaming system that I wouldn't be good at...and would really have no interest in. Man was I wrong!

Now I won't say I was good at the tennis game, or bowling...but IT WAS FUN! My wife loved it...and was actually pretty good. Of course, unlike me, she spent a lot of her parents money inside arcades as a youth!


After tennis and bowling I flew a couple of sorties over a European town trying to blow enemy aircraft out of the sky. I think I shot down two before crashing into a building...TWICE!

Never mind...I had a blast. So this morning, after telling my kids all about our experience, there is new found joy in the house. I've actually opened up to the idea of buying a Wii! I e-mailed a friend and told him the exciting news (well, exciting to me...he just kinda scoffed and welcomed me to the 21st century. Needless to say he spent enough quarters over the years to bail out a failing S&L)...anyway, he told me to buy the MLB Baseball game, and recommended a few others for the kids.

So as I contemplate buying a Wii...if you have suggestions about games you love or hate, or ones to absolutely get...or stay away from...I'd love to hear from you. So leave a comment and let me know what you think.

I'm a Junkie

I'm a news and entertainment junkie.

I love sitting and watching CNN, ESPN SportsCenter, Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, FOX News...you name it...if it covers current events I'm all over it like a teenager on a Wii!

A lot of the things that I watch on those shows gets discussed on the show each morning, while others don't because of time, subject matter, or because it's not mass appeal enough. So I thought I'd take a few minutes and discuss some of those things here on the blog.

First off...The Rolling Stones just signed a long-term contract with a new record label. That's obviously not a story you'll see Tori Ryden lead with tonight on News 8 WMTW. However, around Frank-FM it's been a big topic of discussion.

Mick Jagger is 65. Keith Richards is 64. Charlie Watts is 67. Ronnie Wood is 61.



I can't believe the words "long term" come up in conversation about any of the Rolling Stones...unless we're talking about long term health care!

Another thing that got my attention yesterday was the news about the family that had Extreme Makover demolish their nasty old house and replace it with a mini-mansion back in 2005...now having their dream home put up for auction because they can't pay the mortgage.

Besides a luxury home, they were also provided with $250,000, including scholarships for their 3 kids, and a home maintenance fund.

So where did all the money go? Well I'm assuming it went for more than extra cheese on a couple of pizza's last Friday night! Reports say they used the home as collateral for a $450,000 loan to start a construction business that failed.

I don't want to judge them, but can you imagine someone GIVING you a brand new home, college scholarships for your kids, money to keep up the house, and $250K? How do you mess that up?

NFL training camps opened this week. This is the time of year that I live for...I LOVE the NFL. Obviously I'm interested to see how former NY Jet and Oakland Raider running-back Lamont Jordan will fit-in on the Pat's squad...

But the BIG news is the return of Packers QB Brett Favre.

Brett retired back in April...



Now he wants to play again...



The Pack...not so interested! They've moved on, but they don't want Brett to move on...they'd prefer he just stay down on the farm in Mississsippi.

Have you ever been to Mississippi? Yeah...now ya know why Brett wants to return to Green Bay!

Anyway...enough already. The Pack should let him go play someplace else...other than the NFC North...and Brett should make sure that next time he says he's done...he's really done!

Here's a question for you...are you sick and tired of the Presidential election yet? I try to never get too deep into discussing politics for the obvious reasons. But unless they have something new to report I wish CNN and FOX would find something else to discuss.


And here's a tip for Obama and McCain...pick a VP already! Let us know who they are...so the TV know-it-all's can sit around and pick them apart for a while. It serves two purposes...it gets them to stop talking about you so much...and give us a chance to sort through the dirty laundry of your VP!

OK...that's it for now...I gotta get to the TV for late-breaking news! There has just been an earthquake in southern California...5.8 in the Richter scale...



Since I'm going to Disneyland for vacation on Friday, I need to find out if Mickey and Minnie still have a house...

See ya in the morning.