Slip Sliding Away
Everyone has something or someone they have admired from a distance. Some people play air guitar to their throngs of simulated friends, legends in their own minds. Others play Xbox games where they can be a football star or the next Tiger Woods.
Well, when I was growing up, I always admired figure skaters. I loved the way they made gliding along the ice, something I have still never tried myself, look so darn easy. I watched in awe as they would skate through the air and make numerous jumps, dips and flips. Once I even had figure skates for my Barbie doll. On a card table, I placed aluminum foil to simulate the rink. It was a makeshift attempt, but it did the trick, at least figuratively. There's only so much you can do though to recreate that double axle with a leg that just won't bend.
The early 90's was a time that for me, will always be synonymous with the ice skating craze. Maybe it was just on my personal radar, but those are the years I finally feel skating began to get the credit it was long over due. Not only were many skating championships televised on multiple stations, there was even a movie, The Cutting Edge, that came out in 1992. I hearted that movie sooo much. It took my two favorite things at the time, chick flicks and figure skating and rolled it into one. It was awesome. Before that all the figure skating world had was Ice Castles which was also a great movie, much more depressing in comparison.
Since I started getting into watching skating more and more in 1991, when the 1992 Winter Olympics came along, I actually had a stake in who made it to the Olympic teams for each country. Although I watched my share of pairs and women's championships, my favorite were the men. I can't tell you why, but for some reason, the men skating by themselves were the most interesting to me. Pairs could dazzle you, and the women singles were talented, but it seemed like in the men's group, at least at that time, there were a few skaters who were trying to go outside the box. They were breathing new life into the figure skating genre which made me sit up and take notice.
I have many figure skaters I have liked over the years, but three of my favorites have stayed with me over time. My first, all time favorite is Scott Hamilton. No matter who comes after him, or who skated before him for that matter, I think Hamilton is still the best skater I've ever seen or will see, period. He did so many hard moves with what looked like such ease. If you knew anything about his childhood and the health difficulties he had to overcome, both then and now, you'd appreciate his talents even more. I once read his biography and did a report on him for school and I learned so much. All I have for that man is mad props and tons of respect.
My other favorite skater was Kurt Browning. A Canadian skater, I think I initially got into watching him because he was so darn cute back then. But the more of the routines of his I watched, the more I realized how much fun he brought to the ice. I never would have predicted that he would end up looking more like Scott Hamilton than Kevin Bacon as the years went on, but hey, time does funny things to a man.
My third favorite male figure skater of all time is Christopher "the Showman" Bowman. A child actor turned skater, Bowman knew how to turn on the charm. Chris Bowman looked innocent, but don't let his looks fool you. Out of the three men, he was the youngest and therefore the closest to being someone I could relate to. But it was more than that. His skating had a fearless quality to it. He would attempt moves he knows he shouldn't have, both in and out of competition and pay the price because of it. No one could deny how talented he was, but the reality was you only got to see a fraction of that talent due to his erratic behavior. Rumor had it he never put his heart and soul into the rigorous training that many skaters dedicate themselves to. In theory, his "half-assed" attempts could still skate cirlces, no put intended, around the competition. Imagine if he had been all in at any point. That's what his coaches and peers felt, too.
Bowman himself was well aware of his reputation and pretty forthcoming about being the self imposed "bad boy" of the male figure skaters. Back then I considered him the Robert Downey Jr. of the skating world. Both extremely talented and charismatic, but also both of them were amazingly self destructive. It seems Downey has finally got a hold of his demons (knock on wood) however Bowman wasn't so lucky as he died last week in a seedy hotel room, supposedly of a drug overdose.
It had been some years since I had given Christopher Bowman much thought, but from time to time I will still tune into skating to see whose out there and what it's all about. Whenever I watch skating I instantly would think of Christopher and what he was doing. I heard he was coaching which made me happy to hear since it seemed like maybe he had grounded himself somewhat. Even if he never reached his only personal best on the ice, perhaps he could help others achieve that goal. But I quickly learned to realize that just because he was out of the limelight didn't mean he had changed his "bad boy" ways. To the contrary. It seems he battled his demons continually and without apology the 40 short years he lived on this Earth. Hard living, reckless behavior and time left Chris looking something like this when he died.
A lot of people have said that Christopher Bowman lived the life he wanted to live and for that, he got what he wanted out of his time. But I can't imagine anyone would want to struggle with addiction and playing by the rules had they been given a choice. It's just a shame that sometimes talent and tumultuousness often seem to go hand in hand. It seems that Bowman never found what he was looking for in this life but souls like him live on somehow. If any skater could learn anything from Christopher Bowman it would be to not be afraid to take that risk. Bowman's whole life was one, some successful, some not so successful.
This clip is one of my favorite Christopher Bowman performances and has stayed with me all these years. It's partly due to his playful behavior, partly due to his perfect song choice. Even the commentary sums him up wonderfully in retrospect. It's not a perfect performance, but that's precisely why I chose it. There is another version of this routine out there which is flawless, but I felt this one better reflected who Bowman was as a skater and a person and why he will forever be missed.
Well, when I was growing up, I always admired figure skaters. I loved the way they made gliding along the ice, something I have still never tried myself, look so darn easy. I watched in awe as they would skate through the air and make numerous jumps, dips and flips. Once I even had figure skates for my Barbie doll. On a card table, I placed aluminum foil to simulate the rink. It was a makeshift attempt, but it did the trick, at least figuratively. There's only so much you can do though to recreate that double axle with a leg that just won't bend.
The early 90's was a time that for me, will always be synonymous with the ice skating craze. Maybe it was just on my personal radar, but those are the years I finally feel skating began to get the credit it was long over due. Not only were many skating championships televised on multiple stations, there was even a movie, The Cutting Edge, that came out in 1992. I hearted that movie sooo much. It took my two favorite things at the time, chick flicks and figure skating and rolled it into one. It was awesome. Before that all the figure skating world had was Ice Castles which was also a great movie, much more depressing in comparison.
Since I started getting into watching skating more and more in 1991, when the 1992 Winter Olympics came along, I actually had a stake in who made it to the Olympic teams for each country. Although I watched my share of pairs and women's championships, my favorite were the men. I can't tell you why, but for some reason, the men skating by themselves were the most interesting to me. Pairs could dazzle you, and the women singles were talented, but it seemed like in the men's group, at least at that time, there were a few skaters who were trying to go outside the box. They were breathing new life into the figure skating genre which made me sit up and take notice.
I have many figure skaters I have liked over the years, but three of my favorites have stayed with me over time. My first, all time favorite is Scott Hamilton. No matter who comes after him, or who skated before him for that matter, I think Hamilton is still the best skater I've ever seen or will see, period. He did so many hard moves with what looked like such ease. If you knew anything about his childhood and the health difficulties he had to overcome, both then and now, you'd appreciate his talents even more. I once read his biography and did a report on him for school and I learned so much. All I have for that man is mad props and tons of respect.
My other favorite skater was Kurt Browning. A Canadian skater, I think I initially got into watching him because he was so darn cute back then. But the more of the routines of his I watched, the more I realized how much fun he brought to the ice. I never would have predicted that he would end up looking more like Scott Hamilton than Kevin Bacon as the years went on, but hey, time does funny things to a man.
My third favorite male figure skater of all time is Christopher "the Showman" Bowman. A child actor turned skater, Bowman knew how to turn on the charm. Chris Bowman looked innocent, but don't let his looks fool you. Out of the three men, he was the youngest and therefore the closest to being someone I could relate to. But it was more than that. His skating had a fearless quality to it. He would attempt moves he knows he shouldn't have, both in and out of competition and pay the price because of it. No one could deny how talented he was, but the reality was you only got to see a fraction of that talent due to his erratic behavior. Rumor had it he never put his heart and soul into the rigorous training that many skaters dedicate themselves to. In theory, his "half-assed" attempts could still skate cirlces, no put intended, around the competition. Imagine if he had been all in at any point. That's what his coaches and peers felt, too.
Bowman himself was well aware of his reputation and pretty forthcoming about being the self imposed "bad boy" of the male figure skaters. Back then I considered him the Robert Downey Jr. of the skating world. Both extremely talented and charismatic, but also both of them were amazingly self destructive. It seems Downey has finally got a hold of his demons (knock on wood) however Bowman wasn't so lucky as he died last week in a seedy hotel room, supposedly of a drug overdose.
It had been some years since I had given Christopher Bowman much thought, but from time to time I will still tune into skating to see whose out there and what it's all about. Whenever I watch skating I instantly would think of Christopher and what he was doing. I heard he was coaching which made me happy to hear since it seemed like maybe he had grounded himself somewhat. Even if he never reached his only personal best on the ice, perhaps he could help others achieve that goal. But I quickly learned to realize that just because he was out of the limelight didn't mean he had changed his "bad boy" ways. To the contrary. It seems he battled his demons continually and without apology the 40 short years he lived on this Earth. Hard living, reckless behavior and time left Chris looking something like this when he died.
A lot of people have said that Christopher Bowman lived the life he wanted to live and for that, he got what he wanted out of his time. But I can't imagine anyone would want to struggle with addiction and playing by the rules had they been given a choice. It's just a shame that sometimes talent and tumultuousness often seem to go hand in hand. It seems that Bowman never found what he was looking for in this life but souls like him live on somehow. If any skater could learn anything from Christopher Bowman it would be to not be afraid to take that risk. Bowman's whole life was one, some successful, some not so successful.
This clip is one of my favorite Christopher Bowman performances and has stayed with me all these years. It's partly due to his playful behavior, partly due to his perfect song choice. Even the commentary sums him up wonderfully in retrospect. It's not a perfect performance, but that's precisely why I chose it. There is another version of this routine out there which is flawless, but I felt this one better reflected who Bowman was as a skater and a person and why he will forever be missed.
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