RingSide Report

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O.J. Simpson: Enough Already!

OJBy Elder Hugh “Holy” Tarrer

As a long-time lover and cable subscriber of the World Wide Leader in Sports ESPN the Exclusive Sports Programming Network, I am usually incredibly excited about the upcoming 30 for 30 episodes that they announce. The concept of the 30 for 30 stories is stories that shaped and impacted sport and ESPN for the last 30 years. Some of my favorites include; Broke, You Don’t Know Bo, The Bad Boys, and The U & the U Part 2 just to name a few. As someone who came of age watching sports in my early years and a virtual cable TV latch key kid. I feel that people around my demographic and passion level can gage just a great deal of what sports stories really captivated the hearts and imaginations of fans world-wide.

Which is why this latest 5 part series on O.J Simpson somewhat bewilders me. We all lived through the trial of the century, Marcia Clark, the books, the interviews, the tell-alls the tabloids, and the made for TV movies. Why would ESPN possibly reheat this proverbial soup to devote a 5 part episode on this topic, all the while two of the most historic and dynastic teams from the most popular sports in the country has not been done yet. I am speaking of “Camelot” The 80s and 90s San Francisco 49ers, and “Showtime” the 80s and 2000s Los Angeles Lakers.

I don’t want to be a homer or anything, but if were talking about since 1979 and sports and sports programming. With the exception of Michael Jordan these names and teams shaped the entire landscape and formed paradigm shifts the likes of which has never been seen in team sport. In terms of greatness just consider these names; Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Bill Walsh, Ronnie Lott, Steve Young, Eddie DeBartelo Jr, Deion Sanders, Dr. Jerry Buss, Magic Johnson, Phil Jackson, Shaquille O’Neil, & Kobe Bryant. Every name mentioned is or will be a hall of famer in their respective sports. Not to mention in the time span of ESPNs existence there are 15 World Titles between these two franchises.

Which brings me back to my initial point: Why are we re-hashing, re-heating, and redoing O.J Simpson again? There was a 30 for 30 in season 3 called “June 17 1994” that depicted the day in sports when the infamous Ford Bronco chase took place, all the while Arnold Palmer was teeing it up for his final US Open and the NBA Championship Series was underway between Houston and New York. It maybe the nostalgia of a fan, but ESPN is missing the mark on this one.

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