I spent today roaming the fairways of Torrey Pines Golf Course here in a not-so-sunny San Diego, watching the world's best golfers compete in the 108th U.S. Open Championship. There was one little rule you had to follow in order to gain entry into the event, however:
No cell phones.
As an iPhone owner (and addict), my cell phone isn't just my primary means of communication, it's also my primary means of gathering information and staying connected to what's going on in the world when I'm away from home. Making it worse was the fact that I was attending today's golf tournament with my dad, a man for whom the term "CrackBerry" was invented. So here we were, seated in the grandstand flanking the 7th green, fidgeting because, U.S. Open be damned, we knew there was something else out there that we were missing.
This became even more apparent when someone seated next to me with one of these American Express Championship Vision devices said to his companion, "Tim Russert died today." They must have shown some bulletin on these U.S. Open-supplied devices, or the guy had some special sense or maybe he was able to smuggle in a cell phone.
Whenever I hear something like that, I automatically shift into what I call "breaking news mode." All of you news junkies out there know the feeling I'm talking about: you can sense a huge story is going down, and you need to do everything in your power to find out everything there is to know about it. Well, imagine my plight sitting in that grandstand with no connection to the outside world.
I didn't even know what time it was, because well... I don't wear a watch anymore. That's what I have my phone for. It's sad, but when I wasn't thinking about golf or how great Tiger Woods' tee shot was on that 7th Hole, I was sorely missing my iPhone.
As for Tim Russert, he was a great man and an outstanding journalist. I'll miss the whiteboard.
No cell phones.
As an iPhone owner (and addict), my cell phone isn't just my primary means of communication, it's also my primary means of gathering information and staying connected to what's going on in the world when I'm away from home. Making it worse was the fact that I was attending today's golf tournament with my dad, a man for whom the term "CrackBerry" was invented. So here we were, seated in the grandstand flanking the 7th green, fidgeting because, U.S. Open be damned, we knew there was something else out there that we were missing.
This became even more apparent when someone seated next to me with one of these American Express Championship Vision devices said to his companion, "Tim Russert died today." They must have shown some bulletin on these U.S. Open-supplied devices, or the guy had some special sense or maybe he was able to smuggle in a cell phone.
Whenever I hear something like that, I automatically shift into what I call "breaking news mode." All of you news junkies out there know the feeling I'm talking about: you can sense a huge story is going down, and you need to do everything in your power to find out everything there is to know about it. Well, imagine my plight sitting in that grandstand with no connection to the outside world.
I didn't even know what time it was, because well... I don't wear a watch anymore. That's what I have my phone for. It's sad, but when I wasn't thinking about golf or how great Tiger Woods' tee shot was on that 7th Hole, I was sorely missing my iPhone.
As for Tim Russert, he was a great man and an outstanding journalist. I'll miss the whiteboard.
1 comment:
Really interesting, if a little scary!
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