A sports legend is born in the family room

On the baseball diamond, I am an all-star.

In the boxing ring, I am an Olympic champion.

On the tennis court, I am unstoppable.

In the bowling alley, I am a strike machine.

On the links, I am Tiger Woods.

And I do it all without even leaving the comfort of my family room.

I’m able to do all this via our family’s new Wii gaming system. We broke down and bought a system over the weekend. It was quite the blow to the pocketbook, but with four summer birthdays in our family, we’ve billed it as a birthday present for everybody.

And I should probably be honest. I’m not yet a baseball all-star, or a boxing champion. I may indeed be stoppable on the tennis court, and I don’t throw a strike very often in bowling. And on the links, I’m a lot more like Elle Woods than Tiger Woods.

But I’m learning, and having a lot fun. We all are. The Wii is a very different gaming experience. It’s less about the dexterity of rapid finger moves, and more about timing and grace. It forces you to get up off the couch and move around. It’s great for groups, and even Grandpa and Grandma White enjoyed bowling and baseball Sunday night.

The Wii comes with the bundle of sport games mentioned above. My favorite so far is probably tennis, though I still need to learn to swing more quickly when moving to my left for a forearm swing. My backhand is pretty solid, though.

For Drew, who will be 7 tomorrow, boxing is the big winner. He enjoys all things boy, whether its wrestling, playing sports or battling with Pokemon cards. So Wii boxing pretty much puts him in seventh heaven. We only have one of the required “nunchucks” required for boxing play, so there’s no head-to-head action, which is probably a good thing.

The family queen of the diamond is probably 9-year-old Katie. Perhaps all that time spent practicing for the 10-and-under fast-pitch softball league over on the Sportsplex has given her an upper hand when it comes to picking up the timing of the pitching.

Even my wife, Jena, is having big fun with the Wii. Jena’s never been much of a gamer, but she’s been enjoying all aspects of the Wii, from throwing strikes in bowling, to playing doubles tennis with me or Katie, to exerting pent-up aggression with boxing.

Of course the downside of this extra activity is that my body is not used to it. Jena and I have both woken up with sore arms, legs, backs and hips the past several mornings after playing the Wii the night before. I think I'm developing a case of tennis elbow. I might even need Tommy John surgery.

One of the funnest parts of the Wii is creating your own "Mii." A Mii is a cartoon version of yourself, which you then put into action in the various sports. With a wide variety of face shapes, hair styles, eye colors, nose shapes and other features, you can create a Mii that's an incredibly close likeness. And you can create other Miis just for fun. Katie created a character named "TigerFan." I like to play with a character I named "Jim Bob."

Is the Wii worth what we paid for it? Hard to say. I won’t be able to tell for sure for a few months. It was a bundle of cash, to say the least — probably more than I would have admitted being willing to spend a few months ago.

But what I like about the Wii is that it is providing family fun. It’s something we can do together. We can have family bowling nights without ever leaving our home. We can have family tennis tournaments without fighting the mosquitoes at Walker Park. And when it comes to skill level, the kids are on an even scale with the adults — they're definitely better at some games. And it sure beats the heck out of mindlessly staring at the latest rerun of Hannah Montana or SpongeBob SquarePants for the 903rd time.

So while part of me would be comforted to have the money back in my pocket, I am happy with the purchase for now. We’re having a lot of fun, together. Happy birthday to us.