Event Preview: Scott Hamilton is ready to hand off Stars on Ice to a new generation

It's not goodbye, just a farewell of sorts. Scott Hamilton has announced that his next stop in Pittsburgh, at the Mellon Arena Sunday, will be his last as a full-time member of the Stars on Ice tour.

'Target Stars on Ice'

WHERE: Mellon Arena, Downtown.

WHEN: Sunday at 6 p.m.

TICKETS: $35.25 to $55.25; 412 323-1919; at the arena; or by logging on to starsonice.com or target.com.

The 1984 Olympic champion is leaving the traveling skating show at the end of this season, but the way the 1984 Olympic champion explains his departure leaves a lot of room for limited return engagements. He's quick to point that out.

"I've been really careful how I've said this. I'm not retiring. I just don't want to tour anymore," Hamilton said in a telephone interview from Kansas City last week. "I want to skate.

"I think that after 15 years I've earned the opportunity to put some balance in my life."

At 42, he said, "I'm at the age where I'd like it to be predictable, pleasant and respectful and honest. I guess monogamy is what I'm looking for."

Hamilton said there's no instant marriage waiting in the wings. On a bus hopscotching from one end of the United States to another for 6 1/2 months a year, there has not been quite enough time to develop the kind of lifestyle he covets.

"After the tour it takes two or three weeks to get relaxed. Then I just get relaxed, and it's time for the next tour."

Along with monogamy, Hamilton is looking to explore other venues for his skating. One he's contemplated for a long time is ice theater, where the stress would be artistic not athletic.

"Professional skating has diminished quite a bit because the ISU [International Skating Union] is trying to keep everything in its realm," he said. The fine line between amateur status -- and its accompanying eligibility for the Olympics -- and professional has been blurred.

"Professional skating is entertainment, and I fear that entertainment is starting to suffer because everyone is trying to retain athletic ability," Hamilton said. "I want to work to keep professional skating healthy."

Besides, he said, he has begun to feel like an anachronism skating with rising stars less than half his age.

"I started to feel I'd been doing this for so long that I was taking up space that should be taken up by this generation of skaters. ... The show is so great, so established. I feel it's time for the younger skaters to feel a sense of proprietorship. They seem to feel they're skating in my show. I feel it's a company product. The other skaters deserve to take it to the next level, and they can't do that when I'm around."

Like his fans, Kristi Yamaguchi and Ilia Kulik are saddened that Hamilton is making his last full tour with Stars on Ice.

"I can't imagine Stars on Ice without him," Yamaguchi said. "We're enjoying every single performance. He's so much fun to watch, but it's sad, too. It won't be the same."

When Hamilton leaves, Yamaguchi will, at 29, become the senior member of the troupe. She said she expects she'll have to take on some of Hamilton's Mother Hen responsibility.

Yamaguchi disputed Hamilton's claim that he's preventing the development of younger skaters, saying, "He's self-deprecating, it doesn't surprise me. But I think it's respect we have [of Scott]. He's done nothing but help nurture young skaters. He helps them turn professional, make a place for themselves in the world."

Kulik, the 1998 Olympic champion from Moscow who is in just his third year on the tour, certainly has looked at Hamilton as his mentor.

"It's really sad because he's a great role model. I've been learning a lot from him," Kulik said. "When I first came here I didn't know a thing about the tour or what being a professional was about.

"I wish he could stay longer. Three years is not enough time to pick up all of his feelings about things."

Hamilton, arguably the world's most popular skater, has said that he never expected to have such a long professional career. And, he said last week, if it weren't for his successful battle with testicular cancer four years ago, "I've had done it a few years ago."

There is no way someone as competitive as Hamilton would walk away from anything on something less than his own terms.

Hamilton could have waited until the end of this tour to announce he wouldn't be back., but he felt that wouldn't be fair to his supporters.

"It's a way to say thanks," he said.

And the fans are responding with a huge "You're welcome."

"The crowds have been bigger. That's nice. It makes me feel really good," he said.

"It's a different feeling this year. I was always looking forward to the next year, things we would do. This year, I'm trying to focus on Year Now. Every night is a special night. I love every performance. There are no chips on my shoulder. I don't have to prove myself time in and time out.