Winter feels good on Planet Snoth

By Marty Basch

The ray guns werent working well on Planet Snoth. Back on Earth at the Bentley farm, they mowed down the killer tomatoes, crazed onions and freaky corn like a hot knife through soft butter as Otto Matic escaped in the rocket with the humans he rescued.But Planet Snoth and level two, was another matter as the Brain Aliens seemed nonplused by the ray guns and poor Otto was getting instantly fried.Time to pause the computer game.Thats when the press folder on top of the stack in the corner of the office spoke to me.Inside on paper were the words of David Ingemie, president of Snowsports Industries America, a non-profit sports marketing organization.More than 61 percent of Americans are overweight and there are three times as many overweight adolescents in the U.S. now compared to 30 years ago, he said.Ingemie was touting a new program called Winter Feels Good (www.winterfeelsgood.com) designed to target children under 14 and their parents to get them away from the TV and computer screens and outside skiing, snowshoeing and snowboarding in places like New Hampshire without the use of a jump jet like Otto Matic needed.That was food for thought. Though it had been challenging and exciting navigating Otto over water crossings, smashing through gates, fighting the bad guys and running behind bales of hay during the battles with the mad tractor, I must admit I did need to give the fingers and wrist a rest. Battle strain, you know.Then there were those bullet stats from some study or another that told of how 300,000 deaths a year in the United States are associated with obesity and less than one-third of Americans engage in the recommended amounts of exercise.Interesting, I thought, sipping a soda. Diet, though.There were more factoids. Sedentary lifestyles are linked to 23 percent of the deaths from major chronic diseases and 40 percent of adults in this country dont participate in any leisure time activity.That was enough to inspire me. Back to the leisurely game, and with the winter theme fresh in my mind, Otto, under my direction, started smashing those Powerup Pods with vigor now, experimenting with using the freeze guns on Planet Snoth against the Brain Aliens and slothy Jell-o crawly things. Eureka! Blast em with the freeze gun and then give em a swift kick. That stopped the aliens. This winter feels good thing was right on.In his quest for the escape rocket, Otto waged tiresome war on the aliens, burning loads of carbs, or whatever a robot needs, as he water skied, floated through the air in bubbles and propelled himself across numerous stretches of water.Exhausting.Time to pause. Otto needed rest and had to figure out how to use those bubbles better as those slothy Jell-o crawly things were adept at bursting said bubbles.Kids certainly are interested in the fun aspect of snow sports, said the words of public relations director May Jo Tarallo on paper. Were banking on the fact that parents will be more interested in activities that can keep their kids healthy.Staying inside and watching television two hours a day certainly will keep them safe and warm. At least theyll know where there children are. Right?But, and can you believe this, there are some people on this planet who think going outside in the cold to strap your feet onto some boards or upside down tennis racket is of more benefit than hours spent in front of a screen watching Sponge Bob or Trista getting married. Come on. Weve got some biathletes on the couch, skilled at using all the fingers on their hands for both computer games and the remote. The truly gifted can control the Ottos of the software world with one hand while switching the channel with the other. Probably surf the net too. Can the Multi-Task Olympics be far behind?Thats got to burn more than the 690 calories a downhill skier will use in an hour of the tough stuff or the 1,208 calories a cross-country skier of the same weight will use in an hour racing at 8 mph.Inspired again, it was back to Planet Snoth and the battles with the Brain Aliens. Not to worry, itll probably take Otto all winter to reach the escape rocket on level two before leaving Planet Snoth for the next world. Or at least, until it dumps outside.Marty Basch can be reached at rodeman@aol.com.