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

Worked my usual shift at the Norristown (Pa.) Times-Herald during the worst summer of my life. Headed into Philly to see Joey DeFrancesco with Jimmy Heath at some art house. The chase was on the TV at the restaurant where I ate. Watched about five minutes of it before heading to the theater for one of the best concerts I've ever seen.

 

Was at a sports bar watching the NBA game with a sports journalist friend of mine and the OJ chase comes on. We had eaten dinner there and were just having some beers and hanging out. We stayed until the end because we both couldn't believe it. I agree with the poster who said they couldn't believe the prosecution didn't put the chase in the case and although I've read all the books about the trial I can't remember their reasoning at this point. But really, I don't think if they had video of the killings it would have mattered. That jury wasn't finding him guilty.

 

I was at Dad's Diner on Boylston St., great night.

 

I was in Mobile, Ala., for a cousin's wedding. It was the day/night of the pre-wedding dinner. I'll never, ever forget that as a result.

 

I was in Gulf Shores buying Jack Daniels on a fake ID when one of my friends said "Look at who's on the run!" on the little TV in the liquor store. We spent the rest of the night drinking with these girls we met at the beach, JD and Cokes. Good times.

I'm still stunned that OJ beat the rap. And I'm still stunned and angered by the reaction of some folks to the verdict, whooping and hollering when he went free. Seeing the celebrations for a murderer walking still makes me sick.

Now OJ will be in the pokey for a LONG time. Thank goodness.

 

I was in a newsroom working, but what I remember most is I eventually won $100 from a buddy when he was acquitted.
I was always perversely proud of how I read that trial

 

Visiting my then girlfriend in Philly. Watched the game on TV at a bar and we went back to her place because the bar wouldn't turn the sound on. I remember someone (maybe Costas?) saying that the result of the game wasn't important. Try telling that to a long-suffering Knick fan whose team hadn't been in the Finals in 20 years.

At her place, I flipped to ABC out of frustration and heard the famous prank phone call from the Stern fan which Peter Jennings took where the caller claimed that he could see OJ. At the end, he said "Baba Booey" and Al Michaels chimed in to say that the call was a prank.

 

We were at a pizza place with family members and, also, no volume on the TV.
I asked the waitress to turn on the volume. She said the owner (who I knew and was an asshole) didn't allow the volume to be turned up. I said, "This is U.S. history as it's happening, please turn up the volume. If the owner gets mad, tell him A CUSTOMER insisted."
She finally did.
And, the pizza place was not far from the 405. A very eerie evening, indeed.

 

I was covering a Micky Ward fight in a hotel ballroom in Lowell, Mass.

 

I had gone home to Ohio for the first time since my parents moved us to Kentucky 2 1/2 years earlier. I was staying with my best friend for her graduation party, and getting to see a bunch of people I SHOULD have graduated with. We were watching it with her folks, and we went outside and did a Ouija board (WE WERE 17 OR 18!) to talk to Nicole Brown Simpson. We came back in, and the Bronco was parked. The youngsters all went to the basement and I just remember thinking before I went to bed that OJ Simpson would be dead when I woke up.

 

I was working the Royals game that night, and I recall seeing a LOT of fans with Watchmen, not really paying attention to the game. I thought at first that they were keeping an eye on the NBA Finals, until some OJ-related signs started popping in the stands. That's when folks started filling me in. Very bizarre.