O.J. Simpson rides again

O.J. is “famous” as a football star (both college and professional), as a movie star, as an advertiser’s dream in the rental car industry, as a man tried and NOT convicted of murder, and now as a protector of sports memorabilia.

But those last two honours, acquitted of murder and charged with unlawful entry and whatever else, do not make you famous. They make you infamous.

The question is, can you toast juice? A Nevada court will answer that.

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The essay above seemed just a little “too cute”, upon further reflection, so I am adding the statement below as a post script.

There is also a horrifying reality to all of this. Mr Simpson has been, by many accounts, a man out of control, for many years. Nicole Brown Simpson had called police before her fatal assault to complain about his brutality. Police even photographed her with severe bruising to her face and arms. Simpson was never charged with assault.

Mr Simpson’s charm, which thousands of people have attested to, and his sporting achievements, which are the stuff of legend (and the National Football League’s “Hall of Fame”) made him the perfect guest for fawning sports memorabilia aficionados and the thugs that participate in a $US2 billion-a-year business. Many police officials and memorabilia experts say the vast majority of the high priced items available for sale are fakes.

This brings us to the NFL itself. We, the paying public, have fallen in love with a game that has brutality at its core. We have made the players, the owners, the coaches and tons of others millionaires. Many of the highly paid members of this fraternity are multi-millionaires.

I’ve been asking clients and friends what they thought about the NFL since the Michael Vick case erupted into the headlines. You know what? There is a growing group of men rejecting the NFL as loosely controlled mayhem.

One intellectual said to me, “The players of the NFL are the modern gladiators. Maybe they are even our society’s version of legal barbarians. Or maybe they are akin to the Roman Empire’s paid warriors or mercenaries.”

To him, accused dog killer Vick was no surprise and no anomaly. “O.J. Simpson has been a rage-filled man for years. Society just didn’t let him get away with it. We rewarded him at every turn. We adored him.”

Vick, many other NFL “Bad Boys” like “Pacman” Jones and O.J. are a sad reflection of American society and culture.