While I'm looking for the surround of the Nicholas Sparks quote, consider this complete item from the Washington Post.
 
Recruiting Insider - Princeton Day's McKnight says he's headed to Iowa State.
    Only a few days ago, Princeton Day Academy forward Eric McKnight was unsure of his college plans.
    "I'm open right now," McKnight said after playing in the preliminary game for the Capital Classic, listing Indiana, Penn State, Rutgers and George Washington as schools that had shown interest in him but adding that none had offered a scholarship.
    Less than two weeks later, Iowa State lost its coach, Todd McDermott, to Creighton and subsequently hired Fred Hoiberg. While the Cyclones had shown mild interest in the 6-foot-nine McKnight, a native of Raleigh, N.C., earlier in the process, things suddenly heated up, according to Princeton Day Coach Van Whitfield.
    Now, McKnight is bound for Ames.
~ Josh Barr
 
~~~~~~~
 
We know that people sometimes put 'had' in front of past tense verbs and we know that when they try to put 'had' in front of an irregular past tense verb, 'had showed' doesn't sound right so they use 'had shown' instead of 'showed'. It's called 'forcing the iregular past participle'.
 
Why else did Josh Barr write what he wrote?

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