Find Greener Pastures

Tara Lipinski, the first of the “wunderkind”…gifted child stars who have no idea why or how they do what they do on the ice, they just do it…..and do it with an irritating consistency that just boils the blood of envious wannabees!

While it was hard not to cheer for such a delightfully unselfconscious kid, her success would mark an influx of outrageously talented pixies that would, ultimately, abscond with our sport. The concept of “working hard and improving yourself” was doomed to the siren call of “If you haven’t made it by age 11, you’re done for!” Skating for a lifetime became a ridiculous pipedream as vicious, commercial speculators hijacked our sport.

Unfortunately, the powers that be, who should have know better, abetted the abduction by developing a competition and rules structure that favors narrow-hipped, pre-teen, anorexic, obsessive-compulsive neurotics (not to imply that Tara was such–I didn’t know her). World skating audiences are now filled with emotional sickos who just wait for these misguided munchkins to “crack” under some of the most intense pressure imaginable. I seriously question the sanity of any parent who allows their child to pursue elite levels of this sport today. It borders on child abuse!! But I wouldn’t be the first cremudgeon to claim “things were so much better in the old days”.

Like **** Button says, “Someone will win the US National title”, but not many of sound mind really care anymore. Like professional basketball and football, education and personal integrity are no longer caveats for entry to this event, and they broadcast a competition where suposedly “only talent on the ice matters”. Well, a great deal more than that matters in life, and if I have to endure one more inane interviewer demanding to know “How did it feel for a 12 year old to land a silly jump”, I may pull an Elvis Presley and shoot out my own television screen!! (In case you don’t already know, the answer to that question is AWESOME!!)Only dog fighting and Unlimited child martial arts fighting seem more appalling than figure skating coverage today.

Let these children duke it out in Junior competitions. We need a new event for those over 19, Womens Figure Skating. Why not ban triple jumps, and focus on interesting, artistic skating….and exciting height in jumps? Tara has already had two hip replacements, and she is not even 30 years old. Duh!!! Don’t skating authorities see what they are doing to young bodies….and minds? Don’t you think it’s wrong?………….and don’t let me get started on so called “Spiral sequences”!! If you can’t lift your leg unassisted, you shouldn’t be lifting it. What’s so beautiful about a young girl sticking her foot in her ear???? You don’t require men to perform such contortionisms! Why should unnatural flexibility be a prerequisite for the sport?

Tara also brought an ugly, roller skating technique to the sport that because of it’s consistency, has become a standard. Height and distance in a jump are just as important as rotational speed. Why not develop some kind of laser measuring device and score jumps for height! Triples today are just “cheated illusions”, why not simply ban them, and focus point accumulation on style and artistic merit.

It used to mean something to be “America’s (or any countries) Skating Sweetheart” or champion. It takes time for people to get to know competitors, and care about them. They are chewing girls up so fast now that you rarely even learn what town they represent. Of course, they often represent little more than greed and ambition, and are starting to provide an audacious “freak” show!! Compared to the image of Suzanne Davis King, Tenley Albright, Carol Heiss, and others, images of today’s skaters seem frighteningly pornographic. Someone should “Wise UP!”

I keep promising to get off my soapbox……but I keep forgetting!! Sorry

Well, to finish up Tara. I like to post good performances for my skaters, but the lessons Tara learned here were far more important than landing another triple flip. Everyone has a performance like this, some of us…..MANY more performances like this!!! When I met my Waterloo, I was not properly coached or guided, and forced myself to quit the sport!! Tara learned the same lessons and went on to become a World Champion, and a generational icon! Perhaps this video will encourage another skater yet to be, to make the right choice, as well!!

I’m glad Tara won an Olympic title, but she took the money and ran….chosing to focus on further “Self” development! I do not think that would have been Michelle Kwan’s choice. Perhaps by watching YOUTUBE videos, she and many others may learn they have a higher calling and an obligation to the sport that called them to greatness!

Ultimately, I still consider her the second “death knell” for our sport. O Fortuna, the wheel of fortune spins ever slower. It may stop…one day!