After many phone calls to people I didn't even know, I had done it.
When I began my quest, I was making phone calls to people I wasn't even sure about who I was actually trying to reach.
But a message today left me with the one number I wanted. And I was hoping it was 10 digits that would lead to some hardware changing hands.
But the ending I was hoping for has fizzled.
Last Saturday night, while sitting at my desk, I told my coworkers I would have gold in Jimmy Legree's hands by the end of the week. Well, my time's running out and so are my options.
The one man I wanted to speak to gave me the run around — and inadvertenly made me jump a few hurdles to get ahold of him.
I had a chat with Mr. John Blackburn this afternoon, the meet referee at the SCHSL track and field finals last weekend. The topic? Well, it had little to do with who he thinks is going to win Dancing with the Stars. He doesn't have any say in that. But he did have a hand in the outcome of the 400-intermediate boys hurdles. After doing the cha-cha for several minutes on the phone with a back-and-forth that got me nowhere, I took my headset off and hung up the phone.
A part of me thought I was going to figure out something someone had missed. Blackburn continually repeated that he saw no reason for a disqualification of the Patrick Cunninghm,
"I saw that the guy jumped the hurdle," Blackburn told me in a phone interview. "It was not very graceful but he made it over."
Blackburn said he didn't know how far away he was at the time but after some thinking, a distance of 20 yards was his final answer.
He wouldn't tell me the umpire's name who first reported the incident to Blackburn. He said, "I don't think it matters who the umpire is."
That's half right. His name is irrelevant but what he said isn't. What did the umpire see that Blackburn did not? How close was the umpire? Most people have pretty good vision at 20 yards. But what was his vantage point? Was he on a grassy knoll? Was he at an angle that couldn't provide the best line of sight?
I can't answer that. I wasn't there but he was.
His best answer to my question about whether or not Cunningham's outside leg actually dipped below the height of the hurdle, "I don’t remember that well."
And I don't remember who the state champion is. In my mind, it could be Legree. His medal says second but how can we be sure. The only way to be positive is to have umpires around the track to closely monitor the race. If they see something, they should report it to a person who oversees the entire meet. And then he can make a call about what he "remembers" he saw.