Flashes of Panic

I’m transcribing the last of my recordings from the NCAA meet, and listening to my questions I’m reminded of the idea I had wanted to write about. I’m fascinated, I suppose, by the way we create athletic heroes, and I was looking for my interviewee to do something spectacular. He was primed to, winning his first of two races, but then stepped off the track halfway through his second. I can hear in my questions an attempt to salvage my first idea, fishing for explanations of ambition, dreams, or both. Meanwhile, he’s oozing disappointment and frustration.

It’s another one of those moments where I hate listening to myself as I inflict this interview on a patient athlete at the worst possible time, but fortunately I am not utterly clueless throughout.

Anyway, I got something else which was just as usable (and some small buzz as a result) but I didn’t realize it until afterward. I’m still curious about my original thesis, though.

Now Playing: Turn off the stars from SXSW 2005 Showcasing Artist by Wayne Sutton