No More OJ, Please! By Catherine

It was a little over thirteen years ago that I was following the OJ saga. I was obsessed. First of all, i didnt want to believe that OJ Simpson could have committed a double murder. It seemed too unreal. My husband and I watched the slow car chase. He was so angry because it broke into the NBA Finals. David Hasselhoff was angry becuase it upset his pa-per-view singing event (oh pluuuuuuuease!) I was literally glued to the tv. I was glued to the tv for next year or so. Watched the courtroom shananigan's every day after work. Watched nightly updates on Geraldo's cable show. I knew every cast of characters. Bought every book. My goodness. My poor husband thought I was having some kind of strange OJ meltdown. I couldnt wait until the very end and hear the verdict. It was like a long soap opera. The day of the verdict, my-co workers and I had to hear it. They were obsessed as well. My friend Lisa snuck out of work to get her television set from home. The boss found out and made us take it out of the office. This was before internet so we could only gather around a radio. There were about twenty of us, all women, gathered around a small radio and hovering. And then the verdict came. Not guilty. We screamed. Cried. We just knew he would be found guilty. And then across the hall from us, there were sounds of joy and celebration. No way, we thought. We were determined to make our case known and when we saw the revelers in the hallway celebrating OJ's non conviction, we had to make our point and tell them he was guilty. They also made it known to us that he was not guilty. Hmmm...it was like a warzone on our floor for a few weeks until all cooled down. All because of OJ.

And now, years later. My mind takes me back to that place years ago. Gathering around the radio with my co-workers. Fighting with the OJ lovers and being obsessed over what? OJ Simpson? He, of couse is in trouble again this week. Armed robbery charges. My husband says he will be be going to prison. I think he will not. But needless to say, the news coverage once again is turning again to this obsession with OJ. All weekend the breaking news was OJ. Hey, don't we have a war going on? Wasn't last week the 6th anniversary of 9/11? What about Bin Laden's messages from last week? Oh no, this stuff is all old news I guess. For now, it's OJ. Once again.

I just want to scream: OJ go away!!! Enough already. Actually, I did scream in the car this morning and was throwing a fit. My husband quickly turned the radio onto the 60's station to try and calm me. I am just hoping that this OJ stuff goes away quickly. Fast. Blows away like the leaves from the trees. If I have to live through another OJ trial...I will just go out of my mind.

Catherine