Romance and Mystery Novels

by Alina Adams

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Wednesday, July 19, 2006

SCOTT HAMILTON

As Scott Hamilton moves his family to Tennessee, we take a look back at the crises he faced less than ten years ago...

Diagnosed with testicular cancer a few days before Carlo Fassi's death in March (at the 1997 World Championships, as tragedy piled on top of tragedy, the dazed skating community walked around shell-shocked, wondering what shoe would drop next) at the time of Fassi's Tribute Show Hamilton was off the ice, recovering from surgery and chemotherapy.

Skating's then record high profile insured the story getting mountains of media coverage, including a cover story in People, and, the ultimate sign that your sport has entered superstar stratospheres, mention in the National Enquirer. (Previously, the mainstream press' interest in ailing skaters was limited to the rather morbidly gleeful death-from-AIDS count kept by several major-newspaper reporters).

Scott's illness, or rather, his recovery, was also a good enough reason to stage yet another skating telecast, as on October 29, 1997, CBS taped Scott Hamilton: Back on the Ice.

With celebrity guests Jack Nicholson, Cindy Crawford, Leeza Gibbons, and Angie Dickinson to add Hollywood glamour to the occasion, and proceeds going to the Cleveland Clinic Foundation which treated Hamilton's cancer, the night climaxed with Scott's tear-jerking performance to Gary Morris' live rendition of "With One More Look at You."

Yet, unbeknownst to Scott's fans who only saw the show live or on television, Scott's true comeback occurred during the rehearsal for that decisive number.

It happened with no fanfare, no warning even. At the main rehearsal, just as the television people were settling down and getting ready to begin, Gary Morris ascended the artists' platform and proceeded to perform his song so that Audio could get a level check. No cameras were rolling. Then, with no announcement, Scott stepped out onto the ice, and began skating his number. It wasn't officially a run-through. Everyone was supposed to be doing something else. No one was supposed to be watching the ice. Yet, everybody in the arena knew something magical was taking place. Everybody in the arena stopped what they were doing. And they watched. Mesmerized. Comprehending that this, truly, was the moment of Scott's return.

Arguably, the most interesting portion of the televised show came when some of the world's best skaters each recreated a portion of Scott's most-popular routines, pointing out, once and for all, what made the 1984 Olympic gold medalist so irreplaceable.

After the entire cast rocked out to "Hair," Paul Wylie kicked things off with his homage to Scott's "Conductor" routine. However, Wylie's precise, fastidious style seemed rather out of place in a program whose primary theme is a skater growing more and more tired, until he finally loses so much control, he can barely stand after a spin.

Next, Rosalynn Sumners came out in Scott's blue-with-red-V Olympic costume, skating to "You Always Hurt the One You Love," followed by Kristi Yamaguchi hop-scotching through "When I'm 64." Despite her technical skills (she did an Axel with a hat pinned to her vest), Kristi came off more as an authentic little girl, rather than the adult briefly hiding in childhood of Scott's interpretation.

Brian Orser delivered "Cuban Pete" with the backflip in the right place, but an utter lack of apropos facial expression, while Brian Boitano couldn't stop grinning all through his "In the Mood" while dressed in a chicken-suit. Yet, neither managed to recapture Scott's sheer joy in his own silliness necessary for both programs.

Similarly, Ekaterina Gordeeva, performing Scott's spoof of the lounge lizard who sings, "I Love Me," was handicapped by the presumed lack of Las Vegas entertainers in Russia.

In the end, Kurt Browning's "Walk This Way," came the closest to not just imitating Scott's steps, but capturing his exuberant spirit, as well.
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1 Comments:

  • At October 13, 2008 12:42 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    i remember seeing him skate to the Hair song, do you know who sang that particular version of the song "Hair".

     

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