Kurt's out to redeem himself

This time Kurt Browning won't forget that while skating isn't ruled by a clock, it must respect one. A year ago, he was performing superbly during his freeskate at the Sears Canadian Open and was likely going to eclipse Todd Eldredge for first place, when his frenzied "Play That Funky Music" program simply ended.

Thirty-five seconds shy of the event's minimum requirement.

The mandatory .3-.4 deduction on every judge's card probably cost him first place and $25,000, the difference between top of the podium ($40,000) and fourth ($15,0 00). But the loss of money, a title, and a little of his own pride, weren't what bothered him.

"I was embarrassed because I made a mistake that made pro skating look bad," Browning was saying yesterday as he prepared for tomorrow's opening of the Sears Open at Copps Coliseum.

"It was just a mental error. I knew about it. I just forgot this particular competition, the programs were shortened."

No such miscues this week, Browning promises. It's his only head-to-head tournament of the year and, as Browning has proven so often in his career, he is a competitor at heart. His other two "competitions" are light-hearted team events, although in the first -- Ice Wars -- he had to beat Brian Boitano on the final skate for his team (The World) to beat Boitano's (The U.S.). And aren't we fortunate to have a more legitimate event here this week?

This season, Browning will carry a full load of Stars on Ice stops: 66 with the U.S. tour, another 10 with the Canadian version. But he's cut back his competitions and other performances to less than a handful.

"Because my summer was taken," he explains.

In early June, his mother Neva died and Browning spent a lot of the spring and summer with his family. In August, an injury to his left ankle kept him from practising every jump except the triple loop.

But he's got the rest of them back, as evidenced by his five-triple performance at Ice Wars.

Browning figures to use all five in the two-evening competition at Copps, including the triple Axel in both the short and interpretive programs.

It's the necessity of maintaining such a high jumping standard which pushes many professional skaters away from sanctioned pro-am events such as the Sears Open. Pros Orser, Browning and Steve Cousins will be going against three men -- Eldredge, Emanuel Sandhu and, especially, Alexei Yagudin -- who can land quads. When you're a top touring pro, it's difficult to find the time, and the energy and the motivation, to maintain even a triple Axel.

"You don't have to come to these if you don't want to," Browning said. "So I must want to. I might bitch and complain about the short program (with its technical content), but I put one together.

"I like competing against Alexei Yagudin and people like that. I might not be able to beat them, but a couple of times I might get lucky."

Luck would have little to do with it. Browning has established himself among the top half-dozen competitors in the history of the sport, when both pro and amateur careers are taken into account.

The skater-of-choice is probably Scott Hamilton, mainly because he had an Olympic championship to add to his four world titles. Browning had no medal, and nothing but bad luck, from his three Olympic appearances, but was virtually unbeatable at the worlds. And Browning has shown a much broader artistic repertoire as a pro than has his mentor, Hamilton.

Hamilton is retiring from skating at the end of this season, and Browning has just returned from training with Hamilton for Stars, the show which was built around his friend.

"I'm kind of wrapped up in what's happening to Scott this year," Browning said. "We've been working on making this a great finish for him."

In Friday night's freeskate, Browning will perform a number from this year's Star Tour, a western number, with him playing "a flirtatious cowboy. It's not a comedy, but it's a fun piece. The big thing is the costume; old-fashioned Hollywood TV cowboy with major embroidery."

Included in that stitching are a couple of family tributes. Browning comes from a family of ranchers and Rocky Mountain trail-guides and into the costume he had sewn two brands: the 47-bar of his father Dewey and the JB-half-diamond of his grandfather, Jack.