Tara May be Returning to the Ice

[CynicElle]

I don't think most people would need or want any particular elaboration on that kind of comment. IME, most people think commentators talk too much, not too little.

That's what I was thinking. I'm sure that if Tara had talked a lot during Ksenia's skate, Johnny would have reached over and throttled her people would complain that she never shut up.

Anyhow, Tara seems quite content with how her life has gone (as she should be), so I'm not sure what there is to feel badly about. I did feel like her skating career was rather brief for whatever reason, so if she comes back to do some shows, it'd be nice to see her again.

[zaphyre14]

Still sounds to me that since the acting gig isn't working out the way she hoped, Tara has no other plans and figures that, since skating is the only other thing she knows, that's a good thing to fall back on. Mind you, it doesn't seem like she's looked into finding places to fall into with it, but maybe she figures that the pro tour people will come to her after this announcement of her possible return.

Commenting on skating events isn't and never has been a full-time job, even for the Dick Buttons and Peggy Flemings of the world. If sports commentary in general is her goal, then I'd think she'd want to get some college journalism classes behind her. How many of the successful sports commentators these days (I'm thinking the likes of Terry Gannon) have not attended college? Geesh, even as bad as she was as a "reporter", Nancy Kerrigan went to Emerson for a bit. (And for what it's worth, I liked Nancy's commentary better than Tara's opiniated gushing. At least Nancy tried to be informative and educational.)

[Prancer]

Totally agree with you !
I can't get why some people stick to the position "studies don't help".

Straw man arguments aren't particularly helpful, either; no one has made that argument.

[GarrAarghHrumph]

Yeah, my bf and I would not have gotten our jobs if we didn't have bachelor's degrees. But he's in engineering (makes good money, as most engineers do) and I'm in science, so having a bachelor's in our respective fields IS required.

For non-technical fields, the degree probably doesn't matter so much.

It depends on the field. In my field, which is not tech, we expect all entry level people to come in with a certain level of knowledge, which they've obtained via their degree. We then train them to our way of doing things. But we can't train them from scratch. If they didn't have the degree, we couldn't hire them. And that's not a new thing - it's been a requirement for this type of job for decades.

[Frau Muller]

Thinking outside the box...I could very well see Tara coming back as a Pairs skater or Ice Dancer. Seriously. She's still a lot younger than was Calla Urbansky during the Urbansky/Marval Glory Years, right?

[skatingfan5]

Thinking outside the box...I could very well see Tara coming back as a Pairs skater or Ice Dancer. Seriously. She's still a lot younger than was Calla Urbansky during the Urbansky/Marval Glory Years, right?

Actually, I think that Tara is now just about the same age as Calla Urbanski was (28 years) when she won the U.S. pairs title and placed 10th in Albertville.

[Sparks]

I really don't understand what she said about her injury and her time in SOI. Her statement seems contradictory to what has been said in the past.

[skatingfan5]

I really don't understand what she said about her injury and her time in SOI. Her statement seems contradictory to what has been said in the past.

Tara has made contradictory statements about her hip injury (and her SOI experience) over the years, so it's understandable that you might be a bit confused.

[Prancer]

I really don't understand what she said about her injury and her time in SOI. Her statement seems contradictory to what has been said in the past.

Tara has said that she turned pro because of her hip, but I don't think she ever said she stopped skating altogether because of it. I may be wrong there, but it would be kind of strange if she did. For one thing, she DID skate after that; I remember seeing her on TV with the commentators nattering on about how she was disobeying doctor's orders by not allowing sufficient time to heal. There was quite a bit of on the boards because she said the same in an interview--she started skating before she was supposed to and started doing jumps before she was supposed, which was either love of skating or sheer stupidity, depending on who was posting.

But her hip wasn't up to performing every night, so she would decide whether she was skating or not on a particular night on that night, and sometimes even during the show, which wreaked havoc on the show schedule and other performers. Sandra Bezic gave her an ultimatum--do it all and risk injury, or stay off the ice and heal, but stop this minute-to-minute crap--and then Sandra cut her from the show. SOI backed down, but that was kind of the last straw in a long string of straws for Tara and SOI. She left/was fired (depending on who is telling the story, but I think "fired" is the word) soon after and hasn't skated professionally since that I know of.

At least I think that's how it went. I am beyond sure that someone will correct me if I am wrong.

[skatingfan5]

But her hip wasn't up to performing every night, so she would decide whether she was skating or not on a particular night on that night, and sometimes even during the show, which wreaked havoc on the show schedule and other performers. Sandra Bezic gave her an ultimatum--do it all and risk injury, or stay off the ice and heal, but stop this minute-to-minute crap--and then Sandra cut her from the show. SOI backed down, but that was kind of the last straw in a long string of straws for Tara and SOI. She left/was fired (depending on who is telling the story, but I think "fired" is the word) soon after and hasn't skated professionally since that I know of.

At least I think that's how it went. I am beyond sure that someone will correct me if I am wrong.

I think you are pretty much right. Tara initially said that she injured her hip sometime during summer 1998; later she said that she had injured it the previous year and had competed all of that last eligible season injured and in great pain. She had hip surgery in 2000 and then did skate with SOI for two years. IIRC she started out in the 2002 SOI cast (going through rehearsals, etc.) but then left the tour after Sandra gave the ultimatum. I also seem to remember that she injured her hip again that year, which may have contributed to her last-minute withdrawals from numbers in the SOI show. And I'm sure someone will correct me if I am wrong about this.

[Coco]

When she joined SOI, she was supposed to be their future, almost like their "franchise." It never made any sense to me that SOI gave her that discretion to take such huge risks with her hip. If they'd been a professional sports team, they would be ridiculed no end for jeopardizing their star like that. At the time, I thought their behavior could be explained by them not believing the injury was as serious as it was. But you can't fake torn labrum surgery, so the injury was real. It's still rather appalling how SOI treated her.

I am sympathetic to how chaotic it must have been for the rest of the cast to not know from night to night if she was skating or resting. But it seems like there must have been sooooooo many other ways for SOI to handle Tara, given the real medical issues with her hip.

[danceronice]

Totally agree with you !
I can't get why some people stick to the position "studies don't help". It's a very bad advice to give to younger people. Studies and degrees are not everything but if one can do them he'd better go for it since it can't hurt at least, and at best you get a real good and well paid job. The more strenghts you have in life, the better. Many people who did not attend college now have trouble to get a interesting professional career. Either it was a choice or not, but now they are stick to lower positions compared to people with good degrees who pass them fast and get better jobs.

Or you get into grad school and STILL spend years going from hourly job to hourly job, hoping someone higher up the food chain dies so their job opens. I have degrees from two INCREDIBLY prestigious schools--the singly most valuable thing about the BA was the name of the school on it, as it's a liberal-arts degree and therefore the knowledge base behind it is largely irrelevant to employers. The name got me into the MA program, which got me a speciality degree in a specialty field. Seven years later I am one year into the first real "full"-time job in that field, with an additional AS degree that actually got me more jobs faster to make ends meet. I am EXTREMELY lucky in that I have no debt. For someone who couldn't pay for any of that without loans, they'd be doomed.

Prancer is absolutely right: college is not for everyone and if you don't want to be there, DON'T GO. Some of my classmates from the AS program are probably making more money than I am without any other degrees, and they wouldn't be doing any better or be any happier with a BA. They'd just have a whopping load of debt.

If Tara doesn't want to go to college, she shouldn't. I would think if she's at all serious about acting she'd at least think about drama school and a fine arts degree, or even take classes at a two-year college in drama for fun--it wouldn't in any way make it easier to get acting jobs but it might give her a few more connections and a little more acting cred, as opposed to 'celeb who wants to act.' But why on Earth should she go slog through a four-year liberal arts program for some pointless degree in English or French or Underwater Basket-Weaving or whatever liberal arts field just because college is the thing to do if that's not what she wants to do? It certainly won't make her better-read--I know far too many of those 'educated' folks in the 'professional' world who wouldn't know a book if it bit them and couldn't find Afghanistan on a map. (Not a few of them are in Congress. *rimshot*) I have no idea if Tara is well-read or not, and it really isn't my job to tell her she needs to "broaden her horizons." Heck, I've never even been to the Olympics as a spectator, and I've never been to Japan or Paris--who am I to tell her she's leading a closed, narrow life?

[Carolla5501]

I thought, but could EASILY be wrong, that the final "blow up" came over Tara being 'well enough' to perform in some TV broadcast and then being unable to perform for SOI. NOt sure where I got that from however so it may have been "internet gossip without real source and facts"?

[Prancer]

I thought, but could EASILY be wrong, that the final "blow up" came over Tara being 'well enough' to perform in some TV broadcast and then being unable to perform for SOI. NOt sure where I got that from however so it may have been "internet gossip without real source and facts"?

That may be right. Something happened after the ultimatum; Sandra had to back down and Tara performed with them for a while after that. But I don't remember what it was that dealt the death blow. A TV performance rings a faint bell.

[floskate]

I was actually rather impressed with her work at Worlds from the clips I have watched and have always found her to be articulate and easy to listen to even going back to her skating days. Of course she can improve and given time, if she wants to pursue commentating, she will. I'm really not getting all this snarking on her. I would have thought that after Scott and Sandra, Tara would be something of a breath of fresh air for you!! It's not as if you have any more appealing options is it? (Other than Paul Wylie who I would have as a mainstream commentator in a heartbeat if I worked at NBC!!)

[Sparks]

But her hip wasn't up to performing every night, so she would decide whether she was skating or not on a particular night on that night, and sometimes even during the show, which wreaked havoc on the show schedule and other performers. Sandra Bezic gave her an ultimatum--do it all and risk injury, or stay off the ice and heal, but stop this minute-to-minute crap--and then Sandra cut her from the show. SOI backed down, but that was kind of the last straw in a long string of straws for Tara and SOI. She left/was fired (depending on who is telling the story, but I think "fired" is the word) soon after and hasn't skated professionally since that I know of.

That is what I'm talking about.

[Sparks]

When she joined SOI, she was supposed to be their future, almost like their "franchise." It never made any sense to me that SOI gave her that discretion to take such huge risks with her hip. If they'd been a professional sports team, they would be ridiculed no end for jeopardizing their star like that. At the time, I thought their behavior could be explained by them not believing the injury was as serious as it was. But you can't fake torn labrum surgery, so the injury was real. It's still rather appalling how SOI treated her.

I am sympathetic to how chaotic it must have been for the rest of the cast to not know from night to night if she was skating or resting. But it seems like there must have been sooooooo many other ways for SOI to handle Tara, given the real medical issues with her hip.

Okay, but there was talk about how Team Tara was not completely honest about the severity of her injury, which is kind of fraudulent when you think about it. Did she sign the SOI contract under false pretenses?
Why do you think SOI treated her so badly?

[stjeaskategym]

But why on Earth should she go slog through a four-year liberal arts program for some pointless degree in English or French or Underwater Basket-Weaving or whatever liberal arts field just because college is the thing to do if that's not what she wants to do? It certainly won't make her better-read--I know far too many of those 'educated' folks in the 'professional' world who wouldn't know a book if it bit them and couldn't find Afghanistan on a map. (Not a few of them are in Congress. *rimshot*) I have no idea if Tara is well-read or not, and it really isn't my job to tell her she needs to "broaden her horizons." Heck, I've never even been to the Olympics as a spectator, and I've never been to Japan or Paris--who am I to tell her she's leading a closed, narrow life?

So true. So many people are stuck in jobs they have no real interest in doing and have majors in college that are borderline worthless and ridiculous. I doubt Tara's life is so bad. And why do some people think she needs to go to college if she wanted to improve her vocabulary? Reading would improve her vocabulary, and it's a hell of a lot less expensive.

But her hip wasn't up to performing every night, so she would decide whether she was skating or not on a particular night on that night, and sometimes even during the show, which wreaked havoc on the show schedule and other performers. Sandra Bezic gave her an ultimatum--do it all and risk injury, or stay off the ice and heal, but stop this minute-to-minute crap--and then Sandra cut her from the show. SOI backed down, but that was kind of the last straw in a long string of straws for Tara and SOI. She left/was fired (depending on who is telling the story, but I think "fired" is the word) soon after and hasn't skated professionally since that I know of.

Ouch. I hope they at least gave her some credit for making an attempt to perform in the shows that she was physically able to do, rather than just sitting out for an extended time. Injuries can be strange and you may have good days and bad days. Being "fired" for a serious injury sounds so harsh. Hopefully it was handled better than it sounds!

[DickButtonFan]

Or you get into grad school and STILL spend years going from hourly job to hourly job, hoping someone higher up the food chain dies so their job opens. I have degrees from two INCREDIBLY prestigious schools--the singly most valuable thing about the BA was the name of the school on it, as it's a liberal-arts degree and therefore the knowledge base behind it is largely irrelevant to employers. The name got me into the MA program, which got me a speciality degree in a specialty field. Seven years later I am one year into the first real "full"-time job in that field, with an additional AS degree that actually got me more jobs faster to make ends meet. I am EXTREMELY lucky in that I have no debt. For someone who couldn't pay for any of that without loans, they'd be doomed.

Prancer is absolutely right: college is not for everyone and if you don't want to be there, DON'T GO. Some of my classmates from the AS program are probably making more money than I am without any other degrees, and they wouldn't be doing any better or be any happier with a BA. They'd just have a whopping load of debt.

If Tara doesn't want to go to college, she shouldn't. I would think if she's at all serious about acting she'd at least think about drama school and a fine arts degree, or even take classes at a two-year college in drama for fun--it wouldn't in any way make it easier to get acting jobs but it might give her a few more connections and a little more acting cred, as opposed to 'celeb who wants to act.' But why on Earth should she go slog through a four-year liberal arts program for some pointless degree in English or French or Underwater Basket-Weaving or whatever liberal arts field just because college is the thing to do if that's not what she wants to do? It certainly won't make her better-read--I know far too many of those 'educated' folks in the 'professional' world who wouldn't know a book if it bit them and couldn't find Afghanistan on a map. (Not a few of them are in Congress. *rimshot*) I have no idea if Tara is well-read or not, and it really isn't my job to tell her she needs to "broaden her horizons." Heck, I've never even been to the Olympics as a spectator, and I've never been to Japan or Paris--who am I to tell her she's leading a closed, narrow life?

Really English and French pointless degrees? I'll tell that to my aunt who has an English degree who now writes for a newspaper... and my other family member who has a music degree and makes 90,000 a year, and mother who has an English degree and work in her field all her life... and someone else I know with an art degree who makes 50,000 a year. Liberal arts degrees aren't pointless. Just because some can't find great jobs doesn't make the degree pointless. You find people who can't find a job in any walks of life.

[Iceman]

Tara skated with SOI for four seasons and started rehearsals for the fifth.

More recently, in a 2010 statement on her web site, Lipinski denied that her hip injury was a factor in her decision to retire or that she suffered particular pain during her amateur career beyond "the norm for any athlete".


Tara certainly has a remarkable list of "the youngest to....."