mm6mm6
Member
I was talking about the History Channel's TOP SHOT reality tv show with one of the guy's at work about two weeks ago. He said he was good friends with the owners of a neighborhood bar in Chicago where Tara Poremba and her friends and family gathered to watch the show Sunday nights at 9pm (central time).
I asked if he could find out if my wife and daughter and I could stop in or if it was a closed door kind of deal. He called me in the middle of my 12 hour shift yesterday to say that he had paved the way for us to go last night if we wanted to.
I called my wife and she and our daughter drove the 45 minutes to my work and we met up at 6pm when my day finished (thank goodness I didn't get a late call!). We had a nice dinner at Outback Steakhouse and then we drove the short distance to the bar.
I spoke with the owners and told them who I was and they said that my friend had told them all about us. They in turn had mentioned to Tara that we were coming tonight and that our daughter was a shooter.
Tara arrived around 8pm and came right over to our table. Tara is an extremely personable woman and she was just as kind as you could ever imagine someone to be. She asked Lauren about her shooting and said, "Isn't it great when people underestimate you because you're a girl?"
One of the reasons I really wanted to go out of our way and seize this opportunity to meet Tara was because I just knew she would be an outstanding role model. Watching the interaction between Tara and Lauren was amazing for me and my wife. Lauren doesn't get intimidated by other people, even a reality tv show participant (some may say celebrity) like Tara. The two of them talked back and forth and listened to each other. Again, I cannot stress enough what an absolutely wonderful person Tara is.
I made sure that Lauren knew that Tara was a Marine (or still is, once a Marine, always a Marine!) and is a Chicago police officer now. Her husband was very nice and funny and her mom was great too. All of her friends and family were wearing really cool custom tshirts with "Team Tara" on the front and this on the back:
During my lunch break during the day, I stopped in at the firehouse and one of the fireman let me use his laptop to download a picture of Tara off the internet. Then I sent it to the local Walgreens and had an 8x10 printed out at the local Walgreens. Tara signed it for Lauren:
... and we got a few photos with Tara:
...and then it was time to watch Episode 4.
It was really fun to watch the show with a group like this. Everyone boo'ed and hiss'ed at the Red Team. Whenever Tara came on, everyone cheered and hooted and hollered.
If you haven't seen the 4th Episode, I won't ruin it for you, but for those who know, Tara jokingly said she would be stepping outside for some air while she came up on the screen when it was time for her to shoot. She laughed and said she was very embarassed by her rookie mistake.
When we were leaving, Tara asked Lauren if she was on Facebook (which of course, she is) and then told Lauren to please "friend" her.
We had a great time and it was really neat to participate just this tiny little bit with the TOP SHOT show. I am so pleased that the History Channel produced this show that features firearms, shooters, military, and police in such a positive light. I still can hardly believe that this show is even on tv. Tara said she is still in contact with a bunch of the other participants on the show and that she made some great friends. She also talked about some very, very funny inside info and off camera stuff. You can just imagine what happens when a group of shooters (you know how we can all be, right?) have to live together for 30 days. It was interesting to hear that they had no outside contact with their families either. No cell phones, no nothing for 30 days. Tara hopes the show does well and that they have a second season and that TOP SHOT continues for a years to come.
Tara can't talk about how she did, but we made sure she knew that the three of us are watching every Sunday and we're rooting for our local girl Tara!
-Steve
I asked if he could find out if my wife and daughter and I could stop in or if it was a closed door kind of deal. He called me in the middle of my 12 hour shift yesterday to say that he had paved the way for us to go last night if we wanted to.
I called my wife and she and our daughter drove the 45 minutes to my work and we met up at 6pm when my day finished (thank goodness I didn't get a late call!). We had a nice dinner at Outback Steakhouse and then we drove the short distance to the bar.
I spoke with the owners and told them who I was and they said that my friend had told them all about us. They in turn had mentioned to Tara that we were coming tonight and that our daughter was a shooter.
Tara arrived around 8pm and came right over to our table. Tara is an extremely personable woman and she was just as kind as you could ever imagine someone to be. She asked Lauren about her shooting and said, "Isn't it great when people underestimate you because you're a girl?"
One of the reasons I really wanted to go out of our way and seize this opportunity to meet Tara was because I just knew she would be an outstanding role model. Watching the interaction between Tara and Lauren was amazing for me and my wife. Lauren doesn't get intimidated by other people, even a reality tv show participant (some may say celebrity) like Tara. The two of them talked back and forth and listened to each other. Again, I cannot stress enough what an absolutely wonderful person Tara is.
I made sure that Lauren knew that Tara was a Marine (or still is, once a Marine, always a Marine!) and is a Chicago police officer now. Her husband was very nice and funny and her mom was great too. All of her friends and family were wearing really cool custom tshirts with "Team Tara" on the front and this on the back:
During my lunch break during the day, I stopped in at the firehouse and one of the fireman let me use his laptop to download a picture of Tara off the internet. Then I sent it to the local Walgreens and had an 8x10 printed out at the local Walgreens. Tara signed it for Lauren:
... and we got a few photos with Tara:
...and then it was time to watch Episode 4.
It was really fun to watch the show with a group like this. Everyone boo'ed and hiss'ed at the Red Team. Whenever Tara came on, everyone cheered and hooted and hollered.
If you haven't seen the 4th Episode, I won't ruin it for you, but for those who know, Tara jokingly said she would be stepping outside for some air while she came up on the screen when it was time for her to shoot. She laughed and said she was very embarassed by her rookie mistake.
When we were leaving, Tara asked Lauren if she was on Facebook (which of course, she is) and then told Lauren to please "friend" her.
We had a great time and it was really neat to participate just this tiny little bit with the TOP SHOT show. I am so pleased that the History Channel produced this show that features firearms, shooters, military, and police in such a positive light. I still can hardly believe that this show is even on tv. Tara said she is still in contact with a bunch of the other participants on the show and that she made some great friends. She also talked about some very, very funny inside info and off camera stuff. You can just imagine what happens when a group of shooters (you know how we can all be, right?) have to live together for 30 days. It was interesting to hear that they had no outside contact with their families either. No cell phones, no nothing for 30 days. Tara hopes the show does well and that they have a second season and that TOP SHOT continues for a years to come.
Tara can't talk about how she did, but we made sure she knew that the three of us are watching every Sunday and we're rooting for our local girl Tara!
-Steve
