betED.com - The View from the Couch - by Gavin McDougald!
September 19th , 2007 - Hahahahahahahaha...
There are far too few feel-good stories in sports these days, but this one just can?t help but bring a smile to most everyone?s face.
The last time O.J. Simpson made this much press, it was all about two dead people, an ultra-slow-speed chase in a white Bronco, a shrunken glove and blood all over a Brentwood estate.
We were shocked! O.J.? The running back? Number 32? Naked Gun?s Detective Nordberg?
Say it wasn?t so Orenthal!
But it was so. And due to two incompetent lawyers ? and one brilliant one ? the murderous O.J. limped off into the sunset to play a little golf while looking for the ?real killer.? But, like the bad penny that he is, he?s turned up again. This time in Las Vegas where he?s been charged with just about everything there is in books except murder.
Again we were all taken by surprise, however this time the reaction was deliciously different. This time people were neither surprised, nor upset. Only joyful.
The internet, which was just in its infancy the first time, is rolling around in this story like a dog on a dead animal:
? Fark: ?O.J. Simpson charged with 8 offenses, including kidnapping, faces life of getting squeezed in prison?
? Times Online: " They got Capone in the end, OJ "
? Deadspin: "The O.J. Simpson feel good moment."
And it?s not just the blogosphere either. The traditional media are clearly preparing for more of the same that they offered in 1994 after the murder of Simpson?s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
The trial coverage that helped launch a thousand news networks, (alright, Court TV and MSNBC), and Greta Van Susteren's career and subsequent facial surgery is going to see a resurrection in ?07. The difference is, back then in 1994 we liked O.J. and most were hoping against hope that he was actually innocent.
A god on the football field from high school, through college and in the NFL in Buffalo, he seemed like one of the good guys. He had the nice family, the hot wife, the cute kids and a semi-successful career in movies and on TV. However 24/7 coverage of his life revealed that what we thought we knew about him was wrong, and by the trial?s end, most were hoping for a guilty verdict.
Unfortunately, like the glove, the prosecution didn?t fit ? so they couldn?t convict.
This time things are a wee bit different. In a poll taken earlier in the year O.J. Simpson finished behind Osama Bin Laden as the most despised man in America, and only just. That was after he tried to release his book, If I Did It, a supposedly fictional account on how and why he ?would? have gone about killing Smith and Goldman.
In 1994 the evidence wasn?t enough, or rather wasn?t handled well enough, to send him to jail. This time, again, things are different. O.J. was caught on tape and it was so incriminating the judge upped his original six felony charges to eight, this time including kidnapping.
Simpson could face lifetime in prison without the opportunity for parole.
All the while O.J. is apparently acting like none of this is anything to worry about. He?s whistling happy tunes, (?If I only had a brain? if you can believe it) and cracking jokes about ?what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.?
This, in a way, does make morbid sense since in his criminal life he has been, thus far, untouchable.
Yet again this time, things are different. If this goes to trial Simpson will be the societal pariah instead of a celebrity victim. There will be no sympathetic jurors. And his star attorney Johnny Cochran is dead, and even if he were alive, O.J. probably couldn?t afford him.
So maybe O.J. was right. What happens in Vegas will stay in Vegas.
Hopefully he stays in Vegas for a very, very long time.
Cheers - Gavin McDougald - AKA Couch
Bet on the NFL here!
September 19th , 2007 - Hahahahahahahaha...
There are far too few feel-good stories in sports these days, but this one just can?t help but bring a smile to most everyone?s face.
The last time O.J. Simpson made this much press, it was all about two dead people, an ultra-slow-speed chase in a white Bronco, a shrunken glove and blood all over a Brentwood estate.
We were shocked! O.J.? The running back? Number 32? Naked Gun?s Detective Nordberg?
Say it wasn?t so Orenthal!
But it was so. And due to two incompetent lawyers ? and one brilliant one ? the murderous O.J. limped off into the sunset to play a little golf while looking for the ?real killer.? But, like the bad penny that he is, he?s turned up again. This time in Las Vegas where he?s been charged with just about everything there is in books except murder.
Again we were all taken by surprise, however this time the reaction was deliciously different. This time people were neither surprised, nor upset. Only joyful.
The internet, which was just in its infancy the first time, is rolling around in this story like a dog on a dead animal:
? Fark: ?O.J. Simpson charged with 8 offenses, including kidnapping, faces life of getting squeezed in prison?
? Times Online: " They got Capone in the end, OJ "
? Deadspin: "The O.J. Simpson feel good moment."
And it?s not just the blogosphere either. The traditional media are clearly preparing for more of the same that they offered in 1994 after the murder of Simpson?s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
The trial coverage that helped launch a thousand news networks, (alright, Court TV and MSNBC), and Greta Van Susteren's career and subsequent facial surgery is going to see a resurrection in ?07. The difference is, back then in 1994 we liked O.J. and most were hoping against hope that he was actually innocent.
A god on the football field from high school, through college and in the NFL in Buffalo, he seemed like one of the good guys. He had the nice family, the hot wife, the cute kids and a semi-successful career in movies and on TV. However 24/7 coverage of his life revealed that what we thought we knew about him was wrong, and by the trial?s end, most were hoping for a guilty verdict.
Unfortunately, like the glove, the prosecution didn?t fit ? so they couldn?t convict.
This time things are a wee bit different. In a poll taken earlier in the year O.J. Simpson finished behind Osama Bin Laden as the most despised man in America, and only just. That was after he tried to release his book, If I Did It, a supposedly fictional account on how and why he ?would? have gone about killing Smith and Goldman.
In 1994 the evidence wasn?t enough, or rather wasn?t handled well enough, to send him to jail. This time, again, things are different. O.J. was caught on tape and it was so incriminating the judge upped his original six felony charges to eight, this time including kidnapping.
Simpson could face lifetime in prison without the opportunity for parole.
All the while O.J. is apparently acting like none of this is anything to worry about. He?s whistling happy tunes, (?If I only had a brain? if you can believe it) and cracking jokes about ?what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.?
This, in a way, does make morbid sense since in his criminal life he has been, thus far, untouchable.
Yet again this time, things are different. If this goes to trial Simpson will be the societal pariah instead of a celebrity victim. There will be no sympathetic jurors. And his star attorney Johnny Cochran is dead, and even if he were alive, O.J. probably couldn?t afford him.
So maybe O.J. was right. What happens in Vegas will stay in Vegas.
Hopefully he stays in Vegas for a very, very long time.
Cheers - Gavin McDougald - AKA Couch
Bet on the NFL here!
