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The Portlandian, the Internet's premier source of Tonya News
April 16, 2005 Edition - SPECIAL FLORIDA FIASCO EDITION
(C) 2005 Portland Ice Skating Society
http://www.oocities.org/portice
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In today's issue we devote a large amount of space to an in-depth
investigation of what REALLY happened in Florida last month. And
yes - you guessed it - it's quite different from what the
establishment media would have you believe. But first, we have an
announcement about an important upcoming Tonya appearance that
fans in the New Jersey area will want to check out.
TONYA TO APPEAR AT "CHILLER THEATRE" EXPO
What does Tonya have in common with "Happy Days" and "Dallas"
actors, a martial artist, the guy who played the Incredible Hulk,
a wrestler, an ex-Monkee, a retired porn star and a band that
looks like a bunch of zombie Elvis impersonators?
The answer is that they're all scheduled to appear at the
"Chiller Theatre" toy, model & film expo at the Sheraton
Meadowlands in Secaucus, New Jersey, from April 29 to May 1. The
Chiller Theatre is a large fan convention with a horror and sci-
fi theme, and the current guest list is an eclectic mix of
celebrities ranging from "Happy Days" and "Dallas" actors,
martial artists (Cynthia Rothrock), a guy who painted album
covers for KISS, wrestlers (Mick Foley), an ex-Monkee (Peter
Tork), a 1980's porn star (Seka) and a band called the "Dead
Elvi". So an outcast skater turned boxer shouldn't appear out of
place with this lot.
More details, including ticketing information, can be found at:
http://www.chillertheatre.com
Tonya will be there on the 30th and the 1st, and possibly the
evening of the 29th.
She will also be doing an exhibition celebrity boxing match at
the Jackson Mississippi Coliseum on May 14th. Details are still
to be finalized.
TONYA DUMPS TRAINER
The past few months have seen major developments in Tonya's
boxing career.
Shortly after our last issue, the "Portland Tribune" reported
that Tonya had ditched her trainer, Paul Brown, and was re-
evaluating her future in boxing:
http://www.portlandtribune.com/archview.cgi?id=27243
Needless to say, Brown is trying to blame Tonya for the breakup,
with comments implying she was lazy and just wasn't tough enough
to hack it in the world of professional boxing. In fact, we have
been aware for several months that Tonya has been concerned about
Brown's management of her business affairs and that she has seen
little of the thousands of dollars she has supposedly been paid
for boxing.
In addition, Brown was wanting Tonya to fight in a boxing match
coinciding with the US National Figure Skating Championships
being held in Portland in January. Tonya was not interested in
participating in a silly publicity stunt that she knew would
upstage the many talented skaters competing at that event.
As for being unable to find suitable opponents, it seemed to be
Brown who was constantly meddling with Tonya's opponents, with
them being routinely changed or fights canceled at the last
minute. Why, for instance, was Tonya not able to fight Hollie
Dunaway, whose almost identical height and similar 3-3-0 record
at the time would seem to imply a suitable matchup? Instead,
thanks to Brown, Tonya was shoved into the ring with Melissa
(A)yanas, a fighter with extensive amateur experience who quickly
defeated her.
In regard to the article in the Tribune mentioned before, Linda
Lewis (who has now again taken up the role of Tonya's manager)
has sent us the following statement from Tonya:
Dear Fans:
I wanted to let you know that I "fired" Paul Brown, due to
extenuating circumstances. You will be updated as things
progress. $10,000,000.00 for an event he planned? I don't
think so, HAHAHA!
Show me the money!!! In whose dreams?? My name is Harding, NOT
Tyson! I'll keep in touch,
Love to all,
Tonya
In short, Tonya wants to make it clear that she fired Brown, not
that he dumped her for laziness as he's trying to make out.
In a second article, Brown has tried to imply that Tonya owes him
money. He also reveals that Tonya owes money to the taxman:
http://www.portlandtribune.com/archview.cgi?id=27244
Tonya acknowledges unpaid tax obligations, "but I'm working on
that, trying to get everything taken care of," she says. "Not
having money to live on and pay bills and do work, it's been very
difficult. I'm trying to get myself back on my feet
(financially)."
She also says she has hired a lawyer to deal with Brown. Brown,
however, tries to make out that Tonya is being brainwashed:
"I care for this girl, that's the bottom line," he says. "I
don't want to see her fail. The thing about Tonya is keeping
her in balance. Once the ship starts tilting, you are going to
have some problems.
"She is being influenced by other people, but her biggest
enemy is herself. She has the talent and marketability to do
anything she wants in the world. All the world wants is to see
that she is serious, that she has turned her life around."
We have to ask how a competent manager would allow one of their
clients to fall behind on their tax obligations. It's not the
first time that Brown has been in trouble with the IRS either: he
lost one of his funeral homes over unpaid taxes as well.
Brown seems to be a guy prone to making extravagant hype about
what he can do for Tonya but never delivering. Was Tonya a
"Million Dollar Baby" or rather a cash cow for him?
TONYA WHACKS NANCY-BOY IN PHILLY
Tonya then teamed up with promoter Damon Feldman. Thanks to
Feldman she participated in two fights in January, both in the
Wilmington/Philadelphia area, one at Gators in New Castle,
Delaware on the 15th and and the second at The Lagoon in
Essington, PA on the 19th. In both cases, Tonya fought opponents
picked from volunteer members of the public rather than pro
boxers as was the case with her previous fights.
The Gators opponent turned out to be 26 year old Mark Mason from
Newark, New Jersey. Not much was known about him except that he
is a failed figure skater who describes himself as a Nancy
Kerrigan fan, and said he would dedicate this fight to her
(something that I'm sure that Nancy will be eternally grateful to
him for - NOT). He is 5-ft 2-in (155 cm), 125 pounds (57 kilos)
and has also tried kickboxing:
http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/life/2005/01/14localunderdogai.html
This second article includes an interview with a rather defensive
Tonya:
http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/life/2005/01/14tonyahardingcom.html
Tonya promptly won the fight with a TKO in the second round,
giving Mason a thorough thumping in the process:
http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2005/01/16newarkmannomatc.html
Frankly, it would have been disappointing had it been otherwise -
the guy looked like one of those weedy types you see in the
"before" pictures in ads for body-building equipment. He
definitely should have stuck to skating.
TONYA THRASHES DRAKE
The opponent for Tonya's January 19 fight at The Lagoon was
Brittney Drake, a pro wrestler from Delaware County. She was
selected by promoter Damon Feldman from over 200 applicants.
Drake wrestles in the Women's Extreme Wrestling Federation,
whose Web site (http://www.driventodream.com/brittney/) lists
her height as 5'6", (168cm) and weight as 120 lbs (55kg). "I feel
bad Tonya will have to go home a loser" said Drake, who works as
a waitress when she's not wrestling.
Tonya also featured in a spot with Drake on Philadelphia's KYW
TV recently. A rough transcript, courtesy of "Leo", our Special
Duties Operative in that city, can be found here:
http://forums.tonyaharding.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=264
Drake's abilities didn't match her big mouth, however. Tonya won
the fight, knocking her out at the start of the second round with
a punch to the jaw. In the words of one witness who saw a clip of
it on KGW TV:
"At the start of the second round right after the bell, Tonya
slammed her fist right smack into Brittney Drake's jaw knocking
her out flat!!
Her legs gave out and she just dropped to the mat on her ass
then was counted out..."
Way to go Tonya!!!!
A previously scheduled match for the Copacobana in New York on
the 25th of February was canceled.
TONYA GETS A BUM DEAL IN FLORIDA, OR THE CASE OF THE DANCING
CHICKEN
Tonya's next fight was to end once again in controversy.
The match was to take place at a venue called Beach Bums in Fort
Lauderdale, Florida on March 10, against a local TV personality
and drag queen known as "Daisy D", on a card that included,
amongst other things, a wrestler who weighs 650 pounds and what
was billed as a "raunchy Paris Hilton look-alike contest".
However, by late February confusion seemed to be forming about
exactly what the fight was to be, with Feldman making some
statements to the effect that the match was to be held as a
wrestling event because of trouble with the local boxing
commission:
http://www.portlandtribune.com/archview.cgi?id=28500
Then, at the last minute the fight was canceled, much to the
anger of many assembled fans.
It later emerged that several days earlier the Florida Boxing
Commission had refused to sanction the fight due to Daisy's lack
of boxing experience. There were then plans for the fight to be
staged as a wrestling match, which is largely unregulated in
Florida. However this was also abandoned as Tonya did not want to
take the chance of risking her boxing status by participating in
what might be construed as an illegal boxing match. Tonya instead
provided commentary for five wrestling matches from a balcony.
"The boxing commission won't allow me to compete in an
unsanctioned event," Tonya was quoted as saying.
"I just found out about this last night, so I had no time to do
anything," she said. "But I was told that I am very welcome to
fight, as long as I am on a legitimate card. I felt bad about not
being able to do this for my fans. Everyone wanted to see me kick
someone´s butt."
In the days afterwards promoter Damon Feldman took to dissing
Tonya in the media, blaming her reluctance to fight for the event
being a flop and for him losing a large amount of money on the
deal. This is, of course, standard practice for any of Tonya's
managers whose perfidy or incompetence blows up in their face -
blame it all on Tonya. Ever notice that Tonya never has problems
when she works with reputable promoters like Mike Burg or Michael
Rosenberg? It's only these other wannabes that cause her trouble.
If Tonya had listened to Feldman she probably would now be banned
from two sports instead of just one.
"If I had stepped into the ring, I would have been arrested" said
Tonya afterward. "I guess it got pretty out of hand. Some of the
people were out of control."
Typical of the news coverage was an article that appeared in the
New York Post on March 13. Captioned "Sideshow Tonya" it claimed
that Tonya received $25,000 for the event even though she didn't
even fight and that she spent the rest of the evening "drinking
and dancing until the wee hours of the following morning" in the
upstairs VIP area, neither of which were true. It also claims
that Tonya wieghed 160 pounds when her actual weight is 130.
Other papers had Feldman claiming that Tonya swore at him,
supposedly saying "F--- you! I'm a boxer, not a sideshow! I
should punch you in the mouth!'". In fact Tonya did not swear at
him, (not that we'd blame her if she did) and only said "I'm not
going to be a dancing chicken." And we're not told that Tonya has
also suffered from illness for several months and has been unable
to train properly.
As usual, the true facts are rather different from the by now
expected anti-Tonya propaganda appearing in the media. For a
start, a source close to the Tonya camp tells us that Tonya was
never told that the Florida boxing authorities had not sanctioned
the boxing match until right before the fight was about to start,
at which point Feldman tried to pressure her into a wrestling
match instead. On the contrary, we have it on good authority from
this source that Feldman initially lied to Tonya and told her
that the boxing match was sanctioned. This is despite the fact
that as early as the 28th of February - almost two weeks before
the event - Feldman was being quoted in the press about his plan
to run the event as a wrestling match instead because of the
boxing authorities refusal to approve the fight. In fact, the
Florida authorities voiced concern about this match at least a
week before the fight, and Feldman acknowledged that concern in
the media, along with his alternative plan for a wrestling match.
So what did happen? Our source tells us the following:
- Tonya and her agent Linda Lewis arrivedd in Florida on the
evening of the 7th. Feldman suggests that Tonya say she is going
to wrestle Daisy, a request that Tonya naturally found odd. Tonya
then asked Feldman if there was a problem, which he denied.
- the next day, Tonya, Daisy and Feldman appeared at a press
conference in which Feldman talks of a boxing match. He repeats
this in an on-air interview on the 9th on a local radio station.
Later that day, Linda learned from a friend back in Portland of
reports about the boxing commission refusing to sanction the
fight. When Feldman is confronted with this, he replies that "it
was all taken care of" and that he had worked it out with the
Commission.
- Tonya then contacted the Commission herrself, and was told the
fight was not approved, and that furthermore Feldman had been
told this. Tonya was also told she would lose her boxing license
if she so much as stepped into the ring in boxing gear.
- Linda called the manager of Beach Bums and told her that the
match was canceled. The manager had also contacted the Boxing
Commission and was also aware of the problem. It was agreed that
Tonya would stay and do a meet and greet and sign autographs in
order not to let down her fans. During all this time Feldman
continued to deny that there was any problem.
- when Tonya and Linda arrived at Beach BBums that evening, the
Boxing Commission and a bunch of cops were there to meet them.
They were very nice to Tonya and thanked her for contacting them.
When Feldman arrives, he again tries to coax Tonya into
wrestling, which Tonya again refuses.
- Tonya does some commentating on the wreestling from the DJ's
booth. Daisy D tries unsuccessfully to provoke Tonya into coming
down and wrestling.
- by now the crowd is upset at being rippped off and the autograph
session is shifted to a balcony with Tonya being surrounded by
security guys. And we're also told Feldman had a flaming argument
with Beach Bums management and had to be led away by the police.
Secondly, Feldman claims that Tonya's reluctance to fight cost
him $15000. In reality, Feldman's loss was caused by the fact
that only a fraction of the 1000 people he needed to break even
showed up. These people showed up in full expectation of seeing
Tonya fight, and only learned she would not be doing so after
they had paid, so the fact that Tonya later withdrew is
irrelevant and would have had no bearing on the box office take.
Feldman's loss was simply a normal commercial risk that faces
anyone promoting an event of this type and has nothing to do
with Tonya. Indeed, had it not been for Tonya's presence it's
likely the turnout would have been even lower and he would have
lost even more money. So the fact he lost money was in spite of
Tonya, not because of her. He should be grateful he didn't lose
more.
Tonya's contract with Feldman was for a BOXING match - a match
that she could not participate in because of the Florida boxing
commission's refusal to sanction the fight. Had she done so, she
most likely would have been arrested, as the police were on hand,
and may also have lost her boxing license. Tonya was under no
contractual obligation to participate in a wrestling match
instead and was quite entitled to tell Feldman to stick his
proposal where the sun doesn't shine.
As for the claims that Tonya spent the rest of the evening
dancing and drinking, Tonya spent the evening signing autographs
on a balcony and then went straight back to her motel at 12:30 AM
at the latest. She had nothing to drink other than a Sprite and
didn't even know there was dancing.
Finally, Feldman is claiming that Tonya was paid $25,000 despite
not fighting. This is NOT correct - Tonya has not been paid
anything and seems to have got little from this debacle apart
from a few bucks for signing autographs. And although the exact
figure of Tonya's fee is confidential, we can say that it is
nowhere near the $25,000 claimed.
Even doing a bit of basic arithmetic shows the 25 grand figure is
absurd. For instance, Feldman claims he needed 1000 people to
turn up in order to break even. At a ticket price of $20 a head,
that would mean a box office gross of $20,000. Even if he kept
all of that for himself (and we presume he would have to split
some of it with Beach Bums) that wouldn't leave him with enough
to even pay Tonya, let alone all the other participants, like
Daisy D, the Paris Hilton impersonators and the guy who weighs
650 pounds.
People tend to get upset when they don't get paid. Upsetting
people who weigh 650 pounds doesn't sound like a smart move. And
apparently newspaper "reporters" at the NY post can't do basic
arithmetic, as they just blindly reprint everything they're
told even though it doesn't add up.
It's now obvious that Feldman deliberately hid or downplayed the
problems with the boxing authorities, hoping to pressure Tonya
into his "plan B" involving the wrestling match at the last
minute when it would be difficult for her to refuse. We think
that he knew that Tonya would be reluctant to go for the
wrestling idea and didn't want to risk her taking a hike earlier
in the week as he realized even fewer people would turn up if
they knew Tonya wasn't going to be there. Not only did he try to
manipulate Tonya but he knowingly misled people into paying for
something he knew he might not be able to deliver. Fortunately
Tonya wasn't going to be pushed around and his scheme blew up in
his face, leaving him to face alot of angry punters. Now, of
course, he's trying to blame Tonya for his own bad judgement.
And yes, the fight would have been a farce. It would have
actually made Fox Celebrity Boxing look classy by comparison -
something that most people would have thought was impossible at
the time that was broadcast. Indeed, Feldman seems to have gone
out of his way to try and select the weirdest opponents possible.
This may be good for the box office but not for Tonya's
credibility as a serious athlete. The media have the knife out
for her already - she doesn't need this circus freak stuff.
We believe that Damon Feldman is yet another in a long line of
sleazy crooks who have tried to exploit Tonya over the years. His
devious and dishonest behavior in an attempt to save himself from
his own incompetence nearly put Tonya's boxing career in jeopardy
and resulted in a large number of rightfully aggrieved spectators
being ripped off. If he was really a professional promoter he
would have done his homework and wouldn't be in this mess,
something for which he has only himself to blame. At best, the
only boxing events he ever came up with were freak show stuff
that does little for Tonya's credibility as an athlete. We don't
believe that people like him are of any benefit to Tonya and we
won't be sorry if the disgruntled audience members sue his sorry
butt off.
"How could he take advantage of me in this way?" Tonya asked.
As for the rest of her life, "It's just me and my kitty at home
now," said Tonya. "I've grown up a lot. I didn't have a great
upbringing. But I believe in myself now. I love what I am. And I
ask questions. That's why I'm here and not in jail."
KIMMIE'S TRIPLE AXEL - A USFSA ICEPICK IN THE BACK FOR TONYA?
Without doubt one of the chief highlights of the U.S. Figure
Skating Nationals held in Portland recently was the execution by
Kimmie Meissner of a triple axel, making her the only American
woman apart from Tonya to achieve the feat and one of only a
handful worldwide. Kimmie landed two triple Axels during practice
at the USFSA championships in Portland, ending speculation that
she can do the jump, but producing speculation that she'd try it
in competition. That she did, attempting it in her free skate
that Saturday night.
The landing of Kimmie's free skate axel was, however,
particularly ugly. Within hours of the event controversy was
raging in at least one forum as to whether the axel was cleanly
landed, with suggestions even being made that the USFSA had
deliberately ratified a faulty jump in order to stick it up Tonya
one last time. Of course, we all know that those nice, decent,
fair-minded people at the USFSA would never do anything like
that, don't we? On one Michelle Kwan forum, for instance, one
poster expressed the following view:
"After seeing Meissner's 3axel, I have come to one conclusion.
It was a great effort, and she stayed on her feet, but it
should not have been ratified. The jump was cheated on both
the takeoff and landing and besides the point she barely hung
onto it.
It is my opinion that the USFSA despises Tonya Harding so much
that they would be willing to ratify a flawed and cheated jump
in order to move Tonya's name aside as 'the only American to
land a 3axel'.
I think this is a stab in the back to Tonya. Sure, she's done
some bad shit over the years, but she landed a clean 3axel and
deserves to hold her record until someone else steps up to the
plate and matches her. And IMO, Meissner didn't do that
tonite.
But now the USFSA will be happy, they won't ever have talk
about Tonya and the 3axel ever again.
And I don't care if Meissner's was ratified, it still doesn't
come close to Tonya's effort. Peggy calling Kimmie's 3axel
'awesome' is laughable. Has she forgotten about Midori and
Tonya already or is she just delusional?
We've been scammed, but hey, it's figure skating. :("
"The sloppy landing is beside the point. She didn't get all
the way around. The jump was cheated. Midori's 89 3axel had a
saved landing also, but she got the full 3.5 revolutions.
Kimmie didn't, so no, she didn't "do" the 3axel.
It's a stab in the back to Tonya, who IMO is still the only
american woman to *complete* a 3axel."
Others shared the feeling:
"It was prerotated a little bit and a little short on the
end."
"It *was not* clean! It was under-rotated by at least 1/4 and
maybe more? It should not be ratified, it's unfair to Tonya
and to other skaters who have not had their jumps ratified
either (remember Michael Weiss several years ago and the
quad!). I also thought that maybe the USFSA might ratify just
to lessen Tonya's acheivement... we shall see."
"I think they were just so happy to have a lady close to a 3
axel they were willing to ratify it. It looked off in the
broadcast and when they did the slow mo it appeared to me to
be prerorated a bit and around 1/2 revolution landed on the
ice. It was a darned good attempt but it wasn't clean. I am
sure it is only a matter of time for her to land a clean one
but until then they should not have credited the jump until
then."
"It was cheated, no height and air position, the landing was
not checked.
We're hoping it could get better but that doesn't erase the
fact that it was underrotated tonite and was not a powerhouse
like Tonya's or Midori's. I mean after watching it, I wanted
to jump up and down like how Tonya did her axel but there was
no momentum on that jump. I mean when you say the word Triple
Axel by the ladies it's like a myth and when you do the myth
it has to be legendary. It was a great effort but no height."
"Count me as one of the people who do NOT think the jump
should be ratified. She clearly finished the rotation while on
the ice. Just thinking about Tonya's triple axel . . . wow.
I'm still in awe of Tonya's jump, so much power, height, and
ice coverage. Kimmie gets good height, but makes up for
everything else with speed. ... Ratifying Kimmie's jump stinks
of hypocrisy, IMHO."
"I also looked closely at my tape, and the axel was under-
rotated, so no it wasn't clean. But I think they were just so
excited, that it was like 'whatever, it was done! Give it to
her'."
"count me as one who doesn't think it should have been
ratified. It WAS cheated, and the landing WAS NOT clean. Under
the COP it would have been a double."
Even on r.s.s.i.f. there was agreement:
"Not yet. Meissner is a talented young woman who cheated that
axel. Tonya's had height and flow.
Tonya is many things, but a great jumper she was."
Did the USFSA use Kimmie to shaft Tonya one last time? We've
discovered this video of Meissner performing three triple Axels,
two in practice and the one she did in competition. The last two
are in slow motion. Judge for yourself whether these are as good
as Tonya's and if the final one is properly landed - the
competition one has a particularly hairy landing and she barely
stays upright:
http://users.ev1.net/~alternity/Kimmie_Meissner_3_Axel.mov
Kimmie Meissner is clearly a talented young skater who
unquestionably does have the ability to land the triple axel
cleanly as is proved by her landing them properly in practice. It
is likely that she will eventually land one that is indisputably
clean in competition. If the USFSA has used her by ratifying an
invalid jump simply in an attempt to get at Tonya they have done
Kimmie no favors and certainly have done themselves no credit.
As for Tonya's opinion, her comments were "I didn't [see it]".
"I'm really glad to see that somebody finally had the guts to
actually pull it off. I heard it wasn't as good as mine, so she
still has some work to do."
WEB SITE NEWS
Tonya's new official web site at www.therealtonya.com is now up
and running. This marks the first time Tonya has had an official
site in around five and a half years. It is planned that the
lastest news about Tonya and her engagements will appear here.
Meanwhile, Puppetboy has moved his site to a new domain at:
http://www.trinitrotoluene.org/tonya/
We don't know what "trinitrotoluene" is, but it sounds like
something highly explosive, so it sounds like the perfect place
for a Tonya site!
MEDIA ROUNDUP
Linda Lewis also tells us that Tonya has several major interviews
coming up, though details have not been released yet. Apparently
Clint Eastwood's film "Million Dollar Baby" has created quite
alot of interest in Tonya and women's boxing in general.
The February 2005 edition of "Portland Monthly" magazine
(http://www.portland-monthly.com) has a feature article on Tonya.
The Special Duties Section is proud to announce that we were
involved in supplying material for this article. It's a fairly
large feature article, running for six pages, mainly focusing on
Tonya's relationship, or lack thereof, to Jim Maxey's
tonyaharding.com web site.
"Portland Monthly" appears to be a semi-gloss lifestyle
publication aimed at the latte-sipping, SUV-driving Yuppie
brigade, kind of like P-town's answer to a magazine we have here
in New Zealand called "Metro". There are two main themes to the
article, interspersed with each other: the first is an attempt at
some sort of critical intellectual analysis of the stories posted
in the "fantasies" section of the web site - a difficult task
given that there's not much intellect behind them, whilst the
second details the writer's attempts to track down the individual
behind the site, told in a racy style intended to imitate a hard-
boiled "noir" type detective story. I'm pleased to report that
the Special Duties Section gets a prominent mention, along with
well-known Tonyaphiles Charlie Main and David House, with the
trail winding from Christchurch, New Zealand, to Anchorage,
Alaska as reporter Scott Vogel attempts to track down Maxey.
Ultimately the article is a bit of a let-down, however, as
despite having the advantage of being located in the same city as
Maxey, Vogel fails to actually meet him or dig up much about him
that is new to Tonyaphiles - it's mainly just a rehash of the
stuff that was in the Portlandian years ago.
Still, it makes a good read and has at least served the function
of "outing" Maxey amongst Portland residents in a way that the
Portlandian couldn't and making it clear that the site is not
associated with Tonya any more. Now all his old school chums will
know that he's a pervert.
Unfortunately, it does not appear to be available on line, but a
piece of artwork by Amy Crehore used to illustrate the article
can be found at:
http://www.amycrehore.com/wst_page4.php?idx=1&file=images/tonyaforweb.jpg
As a followup from last edition's article on Shawn Eckardt, we
have also come across this quite lengthy article about Shane "hit
man" Stant from 1994 that nobody else seems to have ever
mentioned:
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/issues/1994-06-15/feature.html
The article details Stant's escapades with a couple of sleazy
lawyers, who seemed to be more interested in trying to make money
off his notoriety (they were the people behind the 900 number
that flogged "memorial" baton shaped key rings at one stage) than
in his legal defense. The general tone of the article is that
Stant was basically a nice but not terribly bright young man who
ended getting mixed up in something nasty, rather than someone
who was themself nasty like Gillooly. It almost makes you want to
feel sorry for the guy - almost.
The Boston Globe has also published this very comprehensive
article on Tonya that is well worth reading. It covers the Drake
fight, her lawsuit against Paul Brown, her thoughts on the
Edmonton match, and the canceled fight at the Copacabana in New
York on February 25th:
http://www.boston.com/sports/other_sports/boxing/articles/2005/01/26/from_the_rink_to_the_ring?pg=full
There was a small article about Tonya in a recent issue of
"People" magazine (Feb 14th, p.24, bottom right - has Teri
Hatcher on the cover), along with a picture. Unfortunately it
does not appear to be available on line, though it sounds like
the picture is similar to the one used in a Boston Globe article
from the descriptions by those who have seen it. They also get
Tonya's boxing record wrong: it's 4-0-0 for the celeb boxing and
3-3-0 for the real pro boxing.
The recent U.S. Figure Skating Nationals in Portland have also
resulted in a resurgence of Tonya news in that city's media:
http://www.oregonlive.com/skating/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/sports/110510306555450.xml
http://www.oregonlive.com/skating/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/sports/110510304055450.xml
These two articles are from the Oregonian, and the first one of
these (about the triple axel) is actually positive - and by Abby
Haight, no less!
An article in The Columbian, no longer on line, also recalls
Tonya's impact on figure skating. In a rare moment in Tonya-
related journalism it actually acknowledges her positive
contribution to the sport, describing her as "the finest athlete
on skates" and credits her with "playing a crucial role in the
sport's evolution from its artistic roots to its athletic
modernity"
Thre must be something hallucinagenic contaminating the water
supply around Portland these days.
"PRIZE FIGHTER" RELEASED
We have been informed that "The Prize Fighter", a boxing-oriented
independent film that Tonya shot some scenes for a couple of
years ago is finally getting a release. It has been in
Blockbuster and Hollywood Video stores since the 25th of January
in both VHS and DVD formats.
The plot is essentially about a retired fighter, Ed Jones, whose
life falls apart after his wife dies of cancer, and his attempt
to redeem himself through one last comeback. Gary Busey plays a
sleazy promoter who will stop at nothing to see him fail. Tonya
has a brief part as the owner of a bar where the fights take
place.
More details, including a trailer that you can download and view,
is available at the film's official site at
www.prizefighterthemovie.com.
DAVID HANS SCHLEAZE TAKES THE BIZKIT
David Hans Schmidt is a name well-known to Tonyaphiles - he was
Tonya's agent for several months in the mid-90's and was
instrumental in the release of the what has come to be known as
the Wedding Night Video. He's a guy who makes his living as a
pimp for people with embarrassing photos of celebrities to
peddle. Recently, however, it was Schmidt who found himself on
the wrong end of the tabloid publicity machine.
A group of hackers, believed to be the same people who hacked the
cellphone of Paris Hilton, the world's richest bimbo, struck
again a few weeks ago. This time the victim was Limp Bizkit
frontman Fred Durst, with the hackers making off with a home-made
porn video from his computer (why people - particularly
celebrities - are stupid enough to make these things after what
happened to Tonya we don't know). Schmidt was negotiating with
the hackers and Durst in an attempt to organize a legitimate
release of the footage, but the hackers welched on the deal and
posted a whole lot of his private information on the net!
Naturally, he's upset about it: "We're going to catch those
little bastards", Schmidt was quoted as saying. Apparently the
irony of a guy who makes his living off selling embarrassing
intimate photos of celebrities having his own privacy violated
completely escapes him. The words "hoist" and "petard" come to
mind.
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VISIT THESE GREAT TONYA WEB SITES:
PortIce - http://www.oocities.org/portice
Official Tonya site - http://www.therealtonya.com
David House - http://www.tonyaharding.org
Charlie Main - http://www.charliesweb.com/tonya/tonya.html
Puppetboy - http://www.trinitrotoluene.org/tonya/
Valerie Smith - http://www.olywa.net/radu/valerie/LilHam.html
Swan Lake - http://members.tripod.com/~TonyaHarding/index.html
Blades of Gold - http://members.tripod.com/tmhfan/index.html
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