The Self-Destruction Of O.J. Simpson

CLEVELAND - For a person that overcame so much adversity, it remains one of the great mysteries as to why O.J. Simpson chose to destroy his charmed life. He was once considered the American dream and a great role model, yet he willfully ruined the public's perception and will forever be loathed with passionate intensity.

What a waste.

Today marks the 16th anniversary of Simpson's transformation from hero to hellion. His ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman were both savagely murdered at her condo in Brentwood, CA on that evening over a decade and a half ago. O.J. didn't get formally charged with the crime until days later, but suspicions swirled about him almost immediately. Of course, Simpson famously went on trial for the murders that he denied committing and the televised courtroom proceedings dominated conversation and media for months.

That turned the trial into the biggest spectacle in history.

Eventually, O.J. was stunningly acquitted in the autumn of 1995, an occurrence that divided the nation along racial lines. It was obvious that he dodged a major bullet in the trial by being set free, but he lived his post-trial life with a stupefying arrogance and reckless behavior. After being ordered to pay over $33 million to the victims' parents in a 1997 civil trial, Simpson decided to stonewall the judgement and vowed never to pay it. Many years later, in 2006, he wrote a book which featured a controversial chapter detailing how he would have hypothetically murdered Nicole and Ron if he had been the "real killer." The unbelievable gall and insensitivity he showed in that endeavor outraged the public and a year later, Goldman's family successfully won the rights to publish the book themselves and profit from its sales.

If all that wasn't enough, O.J. masterminded an armed robbery and abduction caper in Las Vegas in 2007 and a year later, was found guilty on several criminal counts. He was sentenced to a prison sentence of at least nine and at most 33 years. Many observers contended that Simpson's harsh sentence was essentially "payback" for "getting away with murder" back in 1994.

O.J. Simpson was born into a poverty stricken family and was afflicted from birth with a leg disease called rickets. His impoverished neighborhood and absentee father only made matters worse, but he recovered and became a superstar football player. The pinnacle of his college football career at USC may have been when he won the Heisman trophy in 1968. Five years later, he set an NFL record for rushing yards and was fast becoming America's favorite son. He became a Hollywood figure as well as he starred or appeared in numerous minor films during the 1970's and '80's. Also, his career as a commercial pitchman for several companies flourished after he retired from the NFL in 1979. By the time his marriage to Nicole Brown grew contentious enough to warrant divorce in 1992, Simpson was also a successful television commentator on NBC.

The charmed life disappeared the night his blood ended up at a grisly crime scene and the victims' blood ended up on his vehicle and on his driveway. Apparently, O.J. lost his cool in a huge way and allowed his lack of control to force a very bad choice that destroyed his good name forever. Either way you look at it, the saga of O.J. Simpson is equal parts riveting and tragic.

Has it taught anyone else a valuable lesson?

2000's In Review: 5 Celebrity Stories That Demanded Attention

CLEVELAND - We are just 5 days away from a brand new decade, so now is a perfect time to recap 5 major events in pop culture that demanded widespread attention during the 2000's. Of course, this is just according to me.

As always.

1. The Death of Anna Nicole Smith/February 8, 2007: I had been an Anna Nicole fan in one form or another for years. First in the 1990's, I admired her beauty and delicious curves. Then in 2002, her preposterously irrelevant E! television series tickled my fancy. But when she stunningly died at just 39 years of age, still blonde and beautiful, I was baffled. She had become increasingly strange and loopy in the last few years of her life, but she never seemed to be at risk of dying. The wall-to-wall media coverage of her mysterious death was both surprising given the fact that she wasn't a legend, and expected given the fact that the details of her final months and death had a tabloid salaciousness to them.
2. Aaliyah Dies In Bahamas Plane Crash/August 25, 2001: I fell in love with her singing voice as soon as I heard her 1994 hit "At Your Best" on the radio. And by the summer of 2001, singer Aaliyah seemed to be rapidly ascending towards her "best" work. She was so talented, so seemingly sweet and stunningly beautiful that her shocking and tragic demise at just 22 years old seemed unfair and cruel on those reasons alone. The news was beyond comprehension, and the music video that she was in the Bahamas to film that fateful weekend ended up being one sad and final reminder of what we lost.
3. O.J. Simpson Found Guilty/October 3, 2008: I was so emotionally invested in Simpson's historic 1994-95 murder trial that even when the fascination faded, he still was able to catch my attention. O.J.'s epic arrogance and idiocy reached a new low in 2007. That's when he masterminded an armed robbery and kidnapping plot to retrieve, by force, many of his belongings stripped of him by the courts to help satisfy the infamous civil judgments against him. This reckless event eventually led to his arrest and another criminal trial. After the way he shockingly evaded prison in 1995 on double murder charges, one would think that O.J. would've lived like a saint for the rest of his life. It never happened. On the 13th anniversary of his legendary acquittal, O.J. was sentenced to prison for between nine and 33 years. I was once again hoping for the man to beat the charges, but his luck finally ran out.
4. Janet Jackson Super Bowl Debacle/February 1, 2004: Just two weeks after her iconic brother Michael was arraigned on charges of child molestation, Janet stole his negative media press. Performing with singer Justin Timberlake during a Super Bowl halftime show, Jackson crooned and sauntered her way back and forth across the stage as she and Timberlake sang. Towards the end of "Rock Your Body," Timberlake snatched away part of her shirt which was allegedly supposed to reveal something other than what it did. As it were, Jackson's right breast was briefly exposed on national television which set off a firestorm of controversy. Janet was investigated. The FCC handed down heavy fines and censorship hasn't been the same since. Inescapable was the noticeable difference in public sentiment towards Timberlake as opposed to Jackson.
5. Kobe Bryant Charged With Rape/June 30, 2003: It seems silly now, but it was a major shock in the summer of '03 that a star pro athlete with a squeaky clean reputation could commit a major misstep. Such was the case with Bryant, who at the time was viewed as a wholesome and happily married young man and basketball superstar. When he had an ill-fated sexual encounter with a Colorado hotel clerk, his image soon absorbed a catastrophic blow. Days later, the woman went to the media and claimed that Bryant raped her. Within weeks, the Lakers star was forced to publicly admit that he committed adultery, but he maintained that the sex was totally consensual. Court proceedings ensued, but Bryant ultimately escaped with his freedom. Nowadays, the dark episode is little more than a blip on his still ascending legacy.

Simpson's Lucky Day Later Became His Worst

CLEVELAND - O.J. Simpson was once the luckiest man on Earth. With overwhelming evidence suggesting he murdered two people, he was stunning acquitted of all charges 14 years ago today. Alas, the universe shifted and he was sent to prison on the same day, 13 years later on different charges.

Karma or coincidence? Who knows?

Simpson, once a revered pro athlete and successful businessman became persona non grata in most of the U.S. following the stabbing deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman on June 12, 1994. Based on an agglomeration of evidence pointing directly at him, his alleged guilt in the heinous crimes seemed highly apparent. Lengthy court proceedings ensued, including an historic, high-profile criminal trial that lasted nearly nine months and culminated in a completely unexpected (and very divisive) "not guilty" verdict on October 3, 1995.

America's reaction was largely divided along racial lines. Blacks celebrated and Whites were infuriated. It became a popular opinion that Simpson literally got away with murder, and plagued him in the coming years. He was found liable for the two deaths in an early 1997 civil trial, but publicly declared that he'd never pay the judgement which totaled close to USD $34 million.

Simpson's lack of contrition and carefree lifestyle heavily contributed to the already searing anger and frustration of Fred Goldman, father of murder victim Ron. The elder Goldman became determined to legally pursue O.J. at all costs to force him to pay the judgement. He successfully won the rights to Simpson's planned 2006 book, If I Did It, which detailed his life with Nicole and included a very controversial, hypothetical account of the infamous murders. The Goldman family halted its release, then made a few subtle alterations while keeping Simpson's own words in tact. They modified the title to, If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer.

The book was released in September 2007, just days after Simpson got involved in a convoluted kidnapping and armed-robbery caper in Las Vegas. Apparently, O.J. sought to reclaim "stolen" memorabilia that was once his by using force. The kidnapping charges were the most severe and ultimately led to a 2008 trial of Simpson and his co-defendant.

On October 3, 2008, O.J. was found guilty of all charges.

The incredible irony of the guilty verdict being issued on the 13th anniversary of his legendary '95 "not guilty" verdict was not lost on anyone. Many felt that O.J. finally got what he had coming to him through karmic intervention. Others felt that he was unfairly convicted, and was simply being forced to pay for what many consider to be his transgressions back in 1994.

Two months after the verdict, Simpson was sentenced to nine to thirty-three years in prison. Who knew that holding hostages at gunpoint for stealing one's "former" belongings could result in so much prison time?

I just wish that O.J. would have learned his lesson after being on trial for such serious crimes back in 1995. The fact that he was acquitted in spite of such damning evidence should have made him live a saintly, humble and anonymous life, instead of a shameless, unapologetic and hedonistic one.

O.J. didn't learn anything from his experiences. But I sure learned a lot.

Emotional Simpson Sentenced to Many Years In Prison

CLEVELAND - O.J. Simpson's great fall from grace continued today as he was sentenced in the same Las Vegas courtroom that he stood in two months ago when his latest trial came to an end.

He will serve a minimum of nine years. A max of 33.

Simpson, 61 was found guilty in October of a host of charges stemming from his masterminding of a 2007 armed robbery and kidnapping caper in a Vegas hotel. Simpson had rounded up several henchmen to take back (by force) his memorabilia which essentially make up the valuable artifacts of his celebrity life.

The football Hall of Famer reportedly brandished a gun during the confrontation which was surreptitiously audio recorded by Thomas Riccio and was the genesis of the prosecution's case against Simpson.

Judge Jackie Glass sentenced both Simpson and co-defendant Clarence Stewart after both men gave spirited soliloquies on their own behalf. An emotional Simpson mentioned that he was "sorry" and that he "didn't mean to hurt anybody, he just wanted his property back."

Glass didn't budge.

She told Simpson that she believes that he is both ignorant and arrogant and is only remorseful now after having spent the past 64 days behind bars. This after a brilliant preamble given by Simpson's attorney Yale Galanter, who also filed last ditch motions for Simpson's possible release on bail, which were denied.

Simpson went from achieving the American Dream to achieving infamy when his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman were killed in a posh Los Angeles neighborhood in 1994. After a highly publicized and historic murder trial, Simpson was acquitted in the fall of 1995 to the dismay of many who felt him to be guilty. 

Murder victim Goldman's father and sister were present in the courtroom and were very happy with the sentence. "It was bittersweet, but that S.O.B. is where he belongs now," said Fred Goldman. Did the public perception that Simpson was guilty but got away with a double homicide in his murder trial contribute to the verdict and the sentence? The judge says no.

I strongly disagree.