Fifteen years ago today, O.J. and A.C. went for a little ride

Wouldn't have realized it except SportsCenter is doing its rare worthwhile piece on what an incredible and incredibly surreal day June 17, 1994 was in the world of sports. In addition to O.J. embarking on a low-speed chase televised live around the world, the following also occurred that day: The NY Rangers had a Stanley Cup parade in Manhattan, the World Cup began in Chicago, Game Five of the Rockets-Knicks NBA Finals was played in NY (and televised, of course, by OJ's employer, NBC Sports), Ken Griffey Jr. became the fastest player to reach 30 HRs in a season since Babe Ruth and Arnold Palmer played his last round at the U.S. Open.

The insufferable Neil Everett asks if we remember where we were that day. I do: At a drive-in theatre in my hometown. I can't remember what we were watching, except that we were waiting for the movie to start (and drinking beer and trying to grease the skids for some late-night action with the ladies in the area, I presume) and listening to the Knicks game when someone broke in with the news that O.J. was leading the high-speed chase. We were absolutely positive that it was going to end with O.J. either getting shot or shooting himself.

We eventually made our way to our friend's cottage in the middle of nowhere, where we tried getting one of the big three networks on a Watchman. O.J. was still in the standoff at that point. Weird, weird night, obviously, and it only got weirder from there.

So where were you the day O.J. and A.C. went cruising?

Edit: Of course, there is an ESPN tie-in. A documentary about the day is one of 30 docus in development by ESPN. Of course.

 

In the parking lot of Blockbuster (now Cricket) Pavilion in suburban Phoenix, listening to radio coverage as me and two friends waited to go inside for a Traffic reunion concert. Great show, by the way.

There was a clip of John McKay phoning an L.A. radio station begging O.J. to turn himself in.

 

I was at home back in England, watching and videotaping both World Cup games that day.

I laughed a lot when Diana Ross did her best impression of the absent Engish soccer team, and missed a penalty. Then the goal collapsed.

 

Oh man I remember that now. That...that was maybe the weirdest thing to happen the entire day.

 

I was at home watching TV with my dad. It was riveting stuff, but I was getting annoyed because I was trying to watch the Knicks game. That's probably the part I remember most vividly about it was that it interrupted the Knicks.

 

I was at the World Cup game, where the ceremonies started with Oprah Winfrey falling off the stage. It was some time during the day, wasn't it, that the LAPD announced Simpson was a suspect at large (or whatever the legal term is)? Word of that seemed to be floating around the Soldier Field press tent after the game.

 

Say what you want about OJ and the LAPD fuck ups and the jury nullification but remember this:

He spent a lot more time in jail than Donte Stallworth ever will.

 

Yeah but if he wasn't the stupidest fucker on the planet, he'd still be walking the streets, not looking for the real killers.

 

i was 9, little over a week from 10. watched every second of the coverage with my grandparents, who were glued to the tv.

 

In college but on summer break. Crazy day. Was delivering pizzas throughout the day and then, around 6, got off for the night and went to an outdoor bar. We watched the chase on a project TV on the bar patio. Bizarre.

Legacy -- I was 19 and my fake ID got swiped later that night. Ugh.

 

Worked most of the day. Wasn't doing baseball PBP because my team was on the road that weekend. Came home, planning to watch US Open golf and watched a bit of the chase scene instead.

I had heard about such things, but this was the first time I had seen one live.

 

I was at a restaurant and then a pub with about eight friends and my then girlfriend. We were riveted to the TV, though one friend kept bitching because he wanted to see the basketball game.

We were also disappointed the "chase" ended. We were hoping it would continue until the Bronco ran out of gas or last call at the pub, whichever came first.