With the news of O. J. Simpson’s conviction of kidnapping and robbery charges we can finally close the book on a great Trojan but also a terrible human being.
I heard this on ESPN the other day and it couldn’t be more true…
O. J. lost the benefit of my sympathy a long time ago…way before his arrest and acquittal of double murder charges. He lost it in my eyes when he was accused of beating his first wife.
I was way too young to ever see O. J. play in person so the aura of his being a Trojan to me is tempered. Rational people are able to separate O. J. the Trojan from the O. J. the NFL star from O. J. the human being. Others (you know who I mean) will simply and collectively rail against everything about O. J. simply because he is a former Trojan. That is simple minded and shallow but we shouldn’t be surprised.
I do not consider O. J.’s post USC troubles to be a black mark on USC. They happened a long time ago…long after he left the university and it is ALL about O. J. the human being first than it is about O. J. the player. Of course he will always be linked to USC. Every major college program has their malcontents. We recently saw former Nebraska star Lawrence Phillips sentenced to 10 years in prison but the difference is that Phillips never had the career that Simpson had and he wasn’t involved in "the crime of the century".
So, to me the matter is closed. O. J. will be punished for his crimes and we can all move on. O. J. deserves his spot in Heritage Hall but he also deserves his spot in society…