Tom,
spot on what you saying.
the human factor is another important point...
especially when you asked the involved person, when a record was set (or not)....
here begins very often than the time of fairy tales....
and very often, it is just the ego, to make the story bigger as it was in reality.....you have to ask yourself....why...isn't it not great that you had set a record....
if this person now telling his story to a journalist who has not the clue for five cents, as he normally writes about American Football....
the story is published...the people read it...and here is the legend....but not the real fact....
the big problem here, is, that the most historian are never be at the place as a witness....
I'm historian and chronist....but I only write an article when I was at the place and saw it with my own eyes....or if it's a long time ago story....than, when I got the facts, confirmed, in my hand...
I wished that the other writer would think about before they type the first letter.....