It's a pretty slow news day, so I fired up Google News and searched for "video games" by date. Usually, I'm awash with old curmudgeons bemoaning kids today with their "electronic gizmos", alarmist reporters talking with their local hospital director about "Wii-itis", and star athletes dishing on how they like to unwind with a game of Madden. Fascinating, right?
But today, I stumbled on something that gave me a few giggles:
A Clarkston man arrested in a bank robbery Saturday is now charged in two other Macomb County bank robberies and has been identified by authorities as the notorious "Super Mario" bandit from the 1990s.
Joseph Brodak, 63, spent several years in prison for robbing 10 metro Detroit banks of about $40,000, authorities said. He was dubbed "Super Mario" after he was arrested in 1994 sporting a large moustache, a purple cap and a plaid jacket like that worn by the cartoon plumber from a series of video games still popular today.
Um, excuuuse me? I do believe that mario wears a red hat and his jacket ain't plaid, people. Maybe they meant Wario. At least he's a known robber. Or Waluigi, at least he wears purple. But what really got me was the following gem, from the local DA:
"He looked like the game piece," Ken Chadwell, the U.S. district attorney who prosecuted Brodak in the '90s.
The game piece. Ha. Grownups don't understand video games!
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