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Kurt BrowningKeeping it RealFebruary 8, 2006 Now seated in a limousine, the man who is nothing less than a true skating icon is enroute to a bookstore signing, just hours before his evening's performance with Stars On Ice. It's a snapshot of the dichotomy that is this three-time Olympian, because Browning is anything but the limo type. The down-to-earth star is, however, interested in publicizing his latest project 'A Is For Axel.' The alphabet book targets an audience dear to the thirty-nine year old father's heart - children, and one especially near to his heart, son Gabe, 2. Kathleen: What is going on with the reality TV series 'Skating With Celebrities'? Your fellow Canadian Jillian Barberie is a much better skater than the other celebrities. Her ability in the second show to do decent back crossovers proves she's had more than a little figure skating training in her past. And don't get me started on the size and pairs background advantage that John Zimmerman and Lloyd Eisler have. Will it be impossible for anybody to beat Barberie and Zimmerman? (Browning and partner former pop-star Debbie Gibson were cut after the second episode). Kurt: Oh, that topic definitely came up more than once - about Jillian being so good. In different sessions with the producers we talked with them and candidly asked, "So the competition is already over, right guys?" They repeatedly assured that it wasn't. The producers said the show was all about assessing each team's improvement and their ability to entertain, rather than who lands an axel or does crossovers like they've skated in an ice show before. The producers also said they wouldn't let Jillian's obviously high skills become the 'be all and end all' of the series and so (his voice turning mischievous) …it plays itself out. Kathleen: You've been doing television skating commentary this season - the dream job a lot of athletes aspire to. How did this come about? Kurt: I have a two-year relationship - sort of a trial - with ABC. They want to see how I fit and I need to see how I feel with it. At this point I'm hoping it will become a long-term relationship. My role with ABC is more or less to provide technical commentary. Terry Gannon is a complete professional and handles a lot of the background, the story behind what the viewers are seeing onscreen. Kathleen: What's the feedback you're getting from fellow skaters? Kurt: (Laughs) That I talk fast on camera! From the skaters that I know well, and who feel comfortable enough to give me an opinion, that's what I'm hearing - that I get excited and talk fast. Of course, Dick (Button) talks in such long sentences (laughing) that I feel pressure to get it in there. So far so good and I'm really enjoying it. This season I commentated for Campbell's International, the Boston Marshall's event, Skate America and US Nationals. Marshalls' was live, so that was a different experience. Kathleen: A few people have grumbled, because she's not a North American, that the network is also using two-time Olympic Champion Katarina Witt for commentary. Personally, Katarina can do no wrong in my mind. Your thoughts? Kurt: Kat is not actually doing commentary - she's doing backstage interviews - that sort of stuff. She has a big personality, and I'd imagine that they hired her for the same reason they hired me - because they want new voices. When fans are watching and listening to skating broadcast for a few hours, they need variety in opinions and a variety of different characters to hear them from. Kathleen: In your own mind, how will you judge yourself as a commentator? What will be the standard you'll measure yourself against? Kurt: Scott Hamilton. If I can do as well as Scott, then I won't embarrass myself. I like that he is so genuinely positive about skating and about whatever event or program he's commentating on. If a skater is in trouble out there on the ice and having a bad program - how can I say this (pauses) - Scott will try to 'save' the performance for the viewer. He'll find the strong points and the good things to talk about. As former amateur competitors, we've all been there - we've all had bad days. And rather than just let it go completely negative or sound disgusted with a performance, Scott will find a way to turn it around. Kathleen: Have any big name in sports commentary given you advice? Kurt: Yes, Dick Engberg said when you're doing commentary, try to pretend that you're sitting on the viewer's couch, in their home living room, right at home with them. When you think of it from that perspective - like you're casually watching the event with them - you can imagine what you might say in that situation, and how great it would make the experience for the viewers to have an expert there to ask questions and talk to. Kathleen: One time on the internet someone posted a photo and they captioned it, "I Think This Is Kurt Browning's House." Does fame intrude on your life? Kurt: Hey, if I were in the neighborhood I might snap a picture of Wayne Gretzky's house too (laughs). I live a very normal lifestyle. Sure, there are the 'famous' moments where I'm on a red carpet someplace, or meeting the Queen, or getting an award, but generally I rent a movie or gas up my car like the next person. I don't really alter my life. When I take the subway, no one bugs me. It's actually kind of a nice level of fame: enough notoriety to do what I want, like commentate, and have people listen to you what you say - but not enough fame to have to worry. Kathleen: It's time for the Torino Olympics, for which you'll be providing nightly post-event commentary on the Canadian network CBC. How would the new Code of Points judging system - making its Olympic debut - changed the way you competed as an eligble skater. Kurt: It would have changed everything. From the way I trained, to my program content, I would have had to make huge changes across the board. Right now we have a mishmash of pre-Code of Points skaters and the newer young guns. Tim Goebel was an established skater and an example of someone who had a harder time making a successful transition under the new system. Of course, Tim has had some difficulties with the consistency of his quad, so he may not be the best example. Michelle Kwan has yet to totally succeed under these rules, and we'll all see what happens in Torino. The older skaters are trying to adapt and you look at someone like Michael Weiss who spent his whole life trying to get to a certain level in the sport, and then suddenly the rules change and to some extent it's not fair. We'll really see what the system has to offer after the crop of skaters now competing at the junior level have years of time and experience competing under it and then we can evaluate if it was a success or not. I have my reservations. But I also think that viewers will soon begin to understand and catch on that it's not that complicated. Right now, all the skaters look the same as they each try to cram in as much as possible, and try to get the higher levels. There's not enough breathing room to execute all of the elements. A figure skating performance is not supposed to look like a last-minute Christmas Eve shopping trip where you rush around trying to throw everything you can grab into your cart. And the downside of so many skaters looking so much alike is that you lose the 'it' factor - the Janet Lynn type of performance that takes your breath away. Kathleen: Do you think anyone can beat Evgeni Plushenko? Any Canadian man? Kurt: He is definitely one of the few guys that has been able to slip seamlessly into the new system and score just as well. My one complaint about him is that he sometimes seems to just 'stand there' for awhile in each program. He does some funky arm thing, looks really artsy, and then shakes his straight hair around. But he's also incredibly athletic and has great feet. Not my favorite skater on a personal level, but I certainly respect his ability. Jeff Buttle is not yet a quad master and if he does land one in Torino, I'll be sending him flowers and chocolates. Emanuel Sandhu is this wild joker card from outer space thing (laughs) that shocks and bewilders the skating world. The only talent he lacks is being a 'politician' - he doesn't sell himself on the ice. Emanuel is remote and that creates a barrier. He doesn't make himself affable and friendly, and he does that on purpose. Does the skating world respect his abilities? Of course, I'd wager even Plushenko does. But part of skating is being able to be agreeable to an even greater mass of people; you need judges from all over the world to come together and like you and your performances. Skating events aren't rock concerts where there's the same demographic across the audience and they all like you. Our audiences range in age from 8 to 75, so you better be able to make yourself palatable to a wide variety of people and cultures. Kathleen: You were at US Nationals. Johnny Weir got his third consecutive men's title and the dark horse who made the Olympic team turned out to be Matt Savoie. Rohene Ward - an absolutely enormous talent - received a huge amount of well-deserved hype, but then sadly came in last. Kurt: You're sad about Rohene? Hey, (laughing) get over it! Rohene is phenomenal, but okay, he bombed. Next season I believe he could come back and it could be his time. I actually met him when he was around eleven years-old. I remembered him from a one-day skating seminar I taught in Minneapolis a long time ago. He stood out because I couldn't believe he'd only been skating for a couple of years at that time. He impressed me because he had gotten so good, so fast. Then sure enough, there I am commentating at my first US Nationals and who's also there? Rohene. It was kind of weird. I didn't recognize him right away - he was pointed out to me. In the commentary I said that when he steps on the ice he has the aura of a speed skater, and he's got a kind of 'thug' look - a bit intimidating - like if you met him in an alley you'd be afraid. But then he starts to move and does these Sasha Cohen spirals, and jumps either direction, and he's both soft and aggressive, he's confusing. He's shy, yet avant garde and he's very interesting in all sorts of ways. He was embarrassed after he bombed, but you know - he let it go. Skating is such a 'feeling' sensation that when you're out there competing and the feeling leaves you, it's gone. When a hockey player is bombing he can hit the bench, but if it's happening to you at the two minute mark and you've still got two minute to go, you suffer through those two minutes of alone time with the whole world watching and you just can't salvage it. Rohene lost it, and we've all been there. Obviously his head wasn't in quite the right place but he has so much talent that I'm not concerned. I told him, "Congratulations! You have just had a fantastic learning experience." He smiled. He showed his humility and his composure. If I could give him any advice it would be simply, 'trust yourself.' Kathleen: What do you think of Matt Savoie? Kurt: Seeing him skate at Marshall's in Boston made me a believer, I really took notice of Matt. At Nationals I watched him all week - he's very intelligent, very focused, and he really went all out and fought to make that team. He's kind of like Yuka Sato, very smooth and a 'skater's skater.' He's not flashy like Weir, and he's not all-American like Weiss. He's an under the radar skater, clean and pure. Kathleen: Hypothetically, let's suppose you were forced to make a sudden decision. You have to choose either figure skating or hockey for your son, with a guarantee he'd become a star in whichever one of the two sports you selected for him. Which would you choose? Kurt: I think when you know too much, when you know the good and the bad about a sport or a lifestyle, it's different - it becomes a much harder decision to make. When my parents put me into figure skating they just wanted me to get some exercise. Nowhere in their minds were they thinking that I'd go on make the sport a career, nor did they imagine I'd have this kind of success at it. I probably know too much about figure skating to make that decision for him. Gabe has been doing a little skating, using the little skates with double blade runners. Less than two minutes out there and he said - "Papa alone!" - meaning he wanted me to go sit on the side and watch him. I want him to be able to skate, but I don't care if he's any good at it. It's such a pleasure to play hockey though, are you saying he could skate at NHL star level (laughing)? That would mean a lot more money! At least with hockey you have home games, because with figure skating it seems you only get a home game once a year. I think I'll sign him up to learn both, but then again, hockey is so dangerous. Size-wise, how big does he get to be? Kathleen: Small, like Wayne Gretzy size. Kurt: (Laughing) I can't do it, I can't decide. Katarina Witt once asked Michael Weiss and I this same question and we said, "Hand him a hockey stick and see how he does!" Kathleen: What is it like to stand on the podium, especially when you're on the top step? What do you think about and do you ever become self-conscious and find yourself thinking, "Damn, I really want to scratch my nose right now." And, how is it different the 4 th time you're up there as world champion compared to the first time? Kurt: Good question. It was quite a shock the first time. I didn't see it happening even though I believed in myself. The bronze medalist at that 1989 Worlds, Grzegorz Filipowski, was just so excited that I remember laughing with him and feeling jovial and really enjoying the moment. It was one year after the Olympics and Grzegorz, Chris Bowman and I were the new guys on the podium. It wasn't a teary, crying sort of moment - we were just three really happy guys. Of course, the next season was awful. I had to adapt to being the reigning champion, but that second trip to the top of the world podium was probably the best because it was in Halifax, with my family and my whole circle of friends there with me. At World's in Germany I was so confident it wasn't a shock, just vindication of what I could do. Prague was probably my most emotional World's because I was recovering from a slipped disc in my back. I only took silver but my mother always said that was her favorite medal because I came back from injury and still took second. Everybody always thinks about the gold, but that silver was the medal with the most meaning to Mom. Kathleen: Didn't I once see on a TV special a few years ago a wonderful number where your wife, ballet dancer Sonia Rodriguez, was dancing on a platform next to the ice while you skated? Kurt: She was on a chair with her dance partner from the ballet, Aleksandar Antonijevic. It was kind of a 'gamesmanship' between he and I, as he tried to keep her away from me. We were going back and forth and finally she joins me on the ice. She only had ballet shoes on, not skates, and when I put her into a lift over my head, it rained down on us. It was very cool how they made that work. The very next day, we found out she was pregnant and (laughing) we never did that over-the-head lift again. Kathleen: Someday, decades into the future, what are some of the memories you'll have with you not from past skating events, but from the countries you visited? Kurt: (Laughing) I remember going jogging in England and then trying to find my way back to my hotel. The path disappeared and I ended up in this neighborhood where there was also no way to get to this street that I could see that was running parallel to these row houses. Finally, I had to run right through this person's house to get back to the street, while they were just sitting there watching television. Egypt I'll always remember as a spectacular trip. Kristi (Yamaguchi) and I were filming a Disney special - all this Aladdin and Jasmine stuff. My wife, who at that time was my girlfriend, was also there and it was rare for her to be able to join me because she's always training with the ballet. The Egyptians had never seen ice before and grown men were walking on it and falling, and laughing in amazement at this sheet of ice that we take for granted. Egypt was so unusual, a great experience. I got to take Arabian horse through the desert, and swallow three flies in a single day while riding a camel named Noah. Kathleen: What is something you can't do on the ice that someone else makes look easy? Kurt: Shae-Lynn Bourne every now and then will do some move out there and I'll ask her, "What was that?" She's a fascinating skater because she has a childlike sense of exploration with her feet and her edges, and her body's ability to lean and corner. I envy her skating ability. Jamie Sale and David Pelletier also have such strong control over their bodies - they are so secure and confident that it can make me jealous. Kathleen: And conversely, what particular skill of yours do skaters tell you they would like to possess. Kurt: People talk about my footwork, because of course everybody has their unique thing. I skate to a pretty wide range of music and styles, so personally I'd like to think it's my adaptability and versatility. My goal is to be versatile enough so that when an audience hears I'm going to skate, they won't have a pre-set image in their mind of what the program could be. It could be comedy, it could be drama, it could be anything. That is the best compliment I could strive for. Kathleen: You're a very modest man, not someone prone to brag. But if you had to, how would you finish the sentence, "My greatest contribution to the sport of figure skating was _____." Kurt: Honesty. I mean that in the sense that I want to be on the ice, I want to be in front of you. I appreciate that you got the family in the car and pulled out your wallet to entrust me to entertain you. I appreciate the effort that people make to come see me, and I want to skate for them. When I was a young teenager, my mom and dad would drive me to skating club carnivals, where you'd be skating for some little prize or toy. My parents took the time to do this because I guess they thought I had some talent to offer, so it seemed like the right thing to do. One time a man tried to stop me as we were walking by - to say he enjoyed my performance and ask about my skating - but I just kept walking. My mom grabbed me by the ear, pulled me around a corner, and told me to respect people when they show an interest in the things I'm doing. She said that when anyone takes the time to come watch me, and shows an interest in my skating, then I need to stop and listen, because they have other things they could be doing. Those words stuck with me. I came from very humble beginnings, and I never forgot that. |
Stepping out of a downtown St. Paul, Minnesota hotel, four-time world champion Kurt Browning is surrounded by, literally, a bunch of clowns. The Winter Carnival has hit the streets and a group of parade clowns recognize Browning, perhaps a nod to his renowned clown skating number - a classic program from an extensive repertoire. Deflecting attention after the impromptu autograph ends, the self-deprecating Browning laughs saying, "They must have thought I was Brian Boitano."