Believe it or not, the now 70-year-old O.J. Simpson has been in prison for nine years.
Tomorrow, he is up for parole.
“The Juice” has been serving a nine-to- 33-year sentence for his role in a robbery of his own memorabilia in 2008 and all signs are pointing toward the former Heisman Trophy winner being released as early as October of this year.
Amazing how time flies.
I can vividly remember that Friday in June of 1994 when the infamous “chase scene” was being broadcasted on every television set in America. All eyes were glued on the image of a white Ford Bronco containing Simpson being pursued by a swarm of police vehicles. It was a moment I will never forget.
The Knicks had been playing at The Garden that night in the NBA Finals against the Houston Rockets and the scene was unlike anything I had ever seen before.
As the game was being broadcast on television, you could see the seats begin to empty up toward the concession stands. Eventually, the entire arena (excluding the Knicks and Rockets players, though Patrick Ewing might as well have been watching) had turned its focus on what was unfolding across the L.A. freeways.
Then in 1995, we had the murder case in which O.J. would inevitably be found not guilty of the murders of his ex-wife and her lover.
But he wouldn’t walk free for long.
Jump to Las Vegas in 2008, when O.J. was arrested and charged with armed robbery for attempting to get back some of his own memorabilia. There was no escaping this time for Simpson, and he was sentenced to nine to 33 years in prison.
Which brings us to now, his much-anticipated parole hearing.
And guess what? The media is still fascinated by O.J. so much so that ESPN and a slew of other television networks will be covering the hearing live.
I for one will not be tuning in to watch how the parole hearing unfolds. If the networks really wanted to pull an audience for this event, they would have the Kardashian clan doing live commentary from the nearest salon.
Think about this, if Robert Kardashian had not been involved in the O.J. murder case, would the Kardashians even be relevant today?
It still fascinates me how that family gained so much fame over the years. And for doing what?
By day’s end, I predict that O.J. will once again be a free man. Juice did spend nine years in prison, which doesn’t make up for the fact that he allegedly killed two people, but it has been nice to know he was suffering behind bars for some time.
