What I'm Watchin Wednesday: O.J. Simpson

I was absolutely obsessed with the O.J. Simpson trial.  Why would 15 year old me care about this trial?  That summer nothing else was on the TV.  My soap (Guiding Light) was preempted by the trial.  I can so vividly remember being in our kitchen making lunch and watching the trial on our tiny antenna TV.

The night of the famous Bronco chase?  I remember it like it was yesterday.  It was a Friday night.  I was pouting about something upstairs in my room.  (After slamming the door, I'm sure.)  Mom came up and consoled me.  Told me to come downstairs.  She had ordered pizza for dinner and there was a police chase on TV I should come watch.  O.J. Simpson was on the run. O.J. who?  I had no idea who he was at the time but I learned pretty quickly.

Do I think he did it?  Absolutely yes!  Why?  Because the evidence is there.  His blood was at the crime scene.  It all points to him.  Who else did it?  Who else?  He had a bad temper and I think that got the best of him.  I think he went over to try and talk to Nicole and he thought Ron was her new lover.  His temper got the best of him and he killed them.  I think he convinced himself and others that he didn't do it.  And still to this day I can't believe he got away with it.

Need proof on how I felt back then as a 15 year old?  Check out my diary pages. I knew when I wrote this in my diary, someday I would look back on my entries.  Aren't I a nut?  I wrote in a diary from maybe 8 until I was 17.  Mostly about what I ate that day.  LOL!

**Dear Kitty.  If you ever read the Diary of Anne Frank, she always wrote Dear Kitty in all her entries.  It was the name she gave her diary.  She wrote it as if she was talking to a friend.  I was obsessed with Anne Frank and learning all about the Holocaust.  Thanks to my 8th grade English teacher, Mr. Ford!

 October 2, 1995    10:05pm

Dear Kitty,

Will American sleep tonight?  I know I won't.  Tomorrow we will find out the LONG AWAITED question.  Is O.J. guilty or innocent?  I believe he is guilty!  After one day the jury decided.  I will write tomorrow and catch you up on what I have been doing.

Megan

October 3, 1995

Dear Kitty,

Well O.J. was convicted not guilty!  We all know that deep down.  So O.J. got off the hook.  We all know that deep down he did it and when he does it again we will know he did it.  Stars always get off.

Megan

 (The rest is just talking about what I had been up to.  Boring 15 year old stuff.)

Photo from FX

When I heard about the show, The People vs. O.J. Simpson, you know I added it to my DVR immediately.  It is a 10 part series that takes you from the night the murders happened, to when O.J. came home after the verdict.  This is by far one of the best mini series I have ever watched.  The cast was amazing!  Not only in the acting but they looked exactly like the real characters.  Cuban Gooding as O.J., Sarah Paulson as Marcia Clark, John Travolta as Robert Shapiro, Nathan Lane as Lee Bailey, David Schwimmer as Robert Kardashian.  Just to name a few.  Just outstanding.  I learned details about the case I didn't pick up on the first time around.  Like O.J. flew to Chicago after the murders occurred. I also learned he had written a suicide note before he went on the Bronco chase.  If you need something to watch this summer, please check this series out.  It is available on Amazon.

Photo from ESPN

I just finished watching another series O.J.: Made in America.  It is a 5 part ESPN series that can be found On Demand.  I will be the first to admit I am not a big sports fan.  I don't really understand football.  My Dad told me O.J. was one of the best football players of all time.  After watching the series, wow.  I had no idea.  His 'good' stardom was before my time.  I have to admit, I am impressed.  And on top of football, he was a track star as well.  What can't he do?!

Every time I watch these shows about O.J., I keep thinking the verdict will change.  He will be found guilty.  He won't get away with it.  But he does.  It is a little funny that he is sitting in jail now for attempting to rob someone in a Vegas hotel.  Trying to steal O.J. memorabilia from a dealer.  Not too smart.  That is karma for you.

Why do I think he is guilty?  The overwhelming amount of evidence against him.  O.J.'s blood at the crime scene, Nicole and Ron's blood at O.J.'s house, in his Bronco, and the infamous glove.  His lawyers somehow charmed the jury enough to see right past the evidence.  Even the terrible domestic abuse between Nicole and O.J. is proof enough for me.

I ask you, if he didn't do it........who did?  Where is this person?  Why have they never been caught?  I truly believe O.J. was able to convince himself that he didn't do it and those around him.  He has some kind of mental illness that can just block out what he did.  Just like when he would abuse Nicole.  He would just black out and become someone else.

In all of this, we need to remember the families of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman.  They are the ones who have really suffered in all of this.  They don't have the answers and justice they need.  They will never be able to find peace.  Nicole's children grew up without their Mom.  Ron never got to see his family again.  That is the real tragedy.