Extra Point

May 2005

by Jack Tenney, Publisher

Sorry, Wrong Number

I really do like cell phones, don't get me wrong. I own two.

That being said, I don't know the number to either one, so I haven't given them out to anyone. Therefore, I don't get too many calls, although each one has the other on speed-dial. And I don't carry it (or them, since I could take two) to golf courses, grocery stores, churches, movies, sporting events or restaurants. Apparently, there's something wrong with me.

I do carry them (or it if I'm alone) in the car. So far, no one's called me while I was driving, and only on very rare occasions have I used the phone en route, usually to give a heads-up that I'm about to arrive in case there's something I can pick up on my way.

The reason for carrying a cell phone in the car is to call someone if I need help: accident, breakdown, hopelessly lost, that sort of thing. So far, so good; and being an old guy, no matter how lost I am, I never give up hope.

Because of the "roaming" thing and the hundreds of minutes of long-distance calling allowed monthly, I rack up most of my calls making long-distance calls, thus avoiding extra charges on my land lines. Intrastate calls on my cells are cheaper than my land lines. Make them nights and weekends, and I'm probably a little better off than I would have been with land lines alone; plus the convenience of calling while walking the dogs (although I've never actually made a call while walking the dogs, but I could, you know).

So what's the extra point?

Okay, I got to go to a Red Sox spring training game. I didn't bring a cell phone but just about everyone else did. Six times (twice while David Ortiz was batting), this huge woman in front of me (I'm talking a two-ticketer, a she-who-must-use-a-seat-belt extender on the airplane) kept standing up and talking on her cell phone.

Why? For the same reason everyone but me was talking on a cell phone to tell someone in Rhode Island or Bah-ston (read Boston) that the Sox game was on NESN and they should tune in because if a foul ball came into the short right field stands, "we're right thay-ah!"

In case you saw the game, Ortiz hit a grand slam but the Twins won.

I was the guy without a phone.