INTRODUCTION

I woke up this morning to the news that a Las Vegas Jury found O.J. Simpson guilty on all twelve counts of robbery and kidnapping related to the incident of sports paraphernalia related to his career. The judge in his case sentenced him to 15 to 20 years with possible life imprisonment.  The judge also denied a motion from the defense lawyer to allow O.J. Simpson to resolve whatever problems that were pending in Florida. O.J. Simpson is to remain in prison until formal sentencing. 

O.J. Simpson was found NOT guilty in a previous trial involving the murder of his wife in 1995. While I will allow the legal experts to determine what will happen, I have to answer the burning question of why do certain sports personalities suffer a meltdown and others do not.

PERSONAL MEMORIES

While I like all sports, I still remember as a child of the late 1960’s and early 1970″s [I was six to ten years old at the time] that I once looked up to O.J. Simpson and Joe Namath. I remember how O.J. Simpson played for the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco as well as his triumphs such as the Heismann Trophy. I also remember how he participated [as well as Joe Namath] in the Ovaltine Commercials of Early Saturday Morning Cartoons. I remember how O.J. Simpson once said: «My Old Pal Ovaltine» and how I would buy Ovaltine [I still drink it at times]. I also remember the Hertz Commercials when he would run in the airports and jump over seats [this was 1971 and 1972] and I even did that briefly. I also have a memory of how O.J. Simpson would participate with the late Sports Announcer Howard Cosell. I look at the sentencing and the previous trial of the 1990’s. My reaction has been like it was a long time ago, my idol had failed me.

PERSONAL REFLECTION

I am of the thinking that maybe O.J. Simpson was a victim of his success. He did not know how to handle fame, fortune, and success. Fame, Fortune, and Success are good but can become a toxic combination when a person who does not know how to handle it has it. We have seen sports personalities like Dan Marino and Joe Montana who have been able to handle Fame, Fortune, and Success and remain down to earth. We have also seen sports personalities such as O.J. Simpson, Jose Canseco, and Diego Maradona who have Fame, Fortune, and Success only to have it cloud their judgement. 

O.J. Simpson made many serious errors in judgement such as not remaining silent after being acquitted in the 1995 Murder Trial, writing/publishing a book on how he would have killed his wife, and then going to a Las Vegas Sporing Paraphernalia Shop to steal paraphernalia related to his career with the mentality: «It’s mine… It’s mine…». O.J. Simpson should have gone to court to resolve the issue or at least by back the paraphernalia that supposedly belonged to him. Regardless, the toxic combination of Fame, Fortune, and Success [as well as Superiorty Complex which masked an Inferiority Complex] did him in.

O.J. Simpson will spend a long time in a correctional institution [possibly even life] reflecting on what he did or what could have been done. Will he learn when the doors of the correctional institution slam behind him? I do not think so.