For Better AND Worse, OJ Simpson Will Forever Be a Part of the History of America

Robert Riger. Getty Images.

Let's begin with the obvious. OJ Simpson is being mourned by people who cared about him:

There's also a one in 57 billion chance the third blood sample found at the scene where his ex-wife and her friend were found brutally stabbed to death belonged to someone other than him. Meaning the odds he didn't cut the throat of the mother of his children all the way back to her spine are, statistically speaking, zero. The jury in his criminal trial saw it differently. The jury in his civil trial found him responsible. These are facts not in dispute. Regardless of what prism you choose to view the crime itself, the police, the investigation, the insane, endless, national drama that was the criminal trial, the prosecutors, the defense, the judge, the jury or the verdict. 

In a much larger, Google Earth view of OJ Simpson's life, it's hard to overstate his impact on our culture. And impossible to tell the story of the history of America over the second half of the 20th century and the first quarter of the 21st without taking a deep dive into him. If someone were to write a "We Didn't Start the Fire"-like song today, Simpson would get an entire stanza all to himself. 

I mean, try to name another human being in the century and a half of sports and pop culture in this country who has been even remotely like him. From bursting into the national consciousness with one on of the most impactful plays in college football history on his way to a Heisman 57 frigging years ago:

To setting a new standard for athletic excellence six years later:

To establishing himself as a handsome, appealing, charming, TV star with massive amounts of crossover appeal:

Culminating in a regular gig as NBC Sports studio football analyst. And ultimately a major role in nothing less than the greatest comedy movie trilogy ever. Why couldn't he have died in one of these ways?

And in spite of it all, or maybe because of it, he became a symbol for the wretched excesses of celebrity culture. An instructive, cautionary tale out of a Greek tragedy about the dangers of hubris. Or an Aesop's fable, maybe. One that's meant to teach us about how appearances can be deceiving. How a life that looks like it's all about fame and adulation, money and influence, can be a horrifying nightmare of anger and violence behind the scenes. 

Like I've said, OJ's story is also very much about us. How we elevate our public figures into godlike status. And then get perverse joy out of it when they get exposed as terribly flawed humans. No better than the rest of us. And sometimes much worse. So we can smugly tell ourselves our lives might be one long struggle in obscurity. But hey, at least we're not that trainwreck. 

Simpson's trainwreck played out under floodlights and in slow motion. As he became the butt of some of the greatest comedy of modern times:

He then became the main character in the Trial of the Century, that played out on live TV across the nation, became the obsession of millions of lonely shut ins for months, and essentially gave birth to the court television industry. Followed by his acquittal. 

Which ushered in the weird Freak Show portion of his celebrity life. The disgraced accused murderer who beat the rap. A million magazine stories about his fall from grace. I remember reading one in SI about how Simpson was showing up to some low rent municipal golf course, the parking lot filled with shitbox cars. putting his ball in to the slot hoping to hook on with some threesome looking for a fourth. How no one really wanted him to join them. The waitress at the 19th hole would refuse to let him flirt with her. The whole point of which seemed to be how sad and pathetic his life was. Until I realized that what they were describing there? That was my life. That's a good weekend for me. I plan vacations that sound exactly like that. So stay on the straight and narrow, kids. Or you'll be sentenced to living Old Balls' life. 

Then came the books. In time, the documentaries. The docudrama series. Ultimately, he ended up in actual prison for a relatively minor charge. Served his time. Got out. And did what everyone in America does, established a ridiculous presence on social media. Once again, demonstrating that the story arc of his adult life perfectly mirrored that of our whole modern culture. A story as strange as it is unbelievable. 

RIP, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Whether the same can be wished for OJ Simpson is up the individual. I know where I stand.