On Saturday (June 30) of the national SABR convention in Minneapolis, I walked up to the elevator bank next to Roland Hemond, who was starting to look through the local newspaper.  A smart idea, considering how slow the elevators copuld be.  I introduced myself and told him how much we were looking forward to having him as our guest at our November banquet (Friday, November 9, Denver Athletic Club).  The elevator doors opened and we got in.  I didn’t say more because Roland obviously was trying to find something in the newspaper.  However, he turned to me and said, “I’m trying to find the Diamondbacks box score from last night.  I like to start my day right.”

“Roland,” I replied, “That really marks you as a 20th century person.  Most other people would have just pulled out their smart phone and looked it up.”

“I’m not too good with those things,” said Roland, “How about you?  Have you got one?”

“No, not me.  All I have is a moderately intelligent phone.  It takes pictures and lets me talk to people,” I said.

At this point, the doors opened and we went our seperate ways into the fifth floor lobby.  It was only then that it ocurred to me that Roland wasn’t just making idle conversation.  He was hoping I had a smart phone so I could look up the Diamondbacks box score for him.

Jim Powers