O.J. Returns, and so do I

After several weeks of general chaos of preparations for various May Madness events -- three birthdays and Mother's Day -- I finally have a bit of time to write.  So naturally, I'm going to write about O.J. Simpson's appearance in a Vegas courtroom as he attempts to get a new trial in his robbery case on the basis of incompetent counsel.

Naturally, because the media coverage of Simpson's murder trial -- some of you young people might think that he only starred in some tv movie playing a man accused of killing two people, but kids, it really happened -- became very much my academic work for about seven years.  It was the subject of my dissertation, entitled, "Framing O.J.: Allegories of Knowledge Production in the O.J. Simpson Case."  Though I've moved on to other things, I still grab the tabloids when O.J. makes the front page, which is usually every six or seven months.  And considering all the things going on, what needs to be said about our continued fascination with Simpson, when his mere appearance in court prompts the two competing New York tabloids, the Daily News and the Post , to put his photo on the front page:

As you can see, the papers are having fun reporting that Simpson has put on a little weight.  I'd already seen for myself because of this CNN video showing O.J.'s court appearance.




I remember watching and thinking how pathetic Simpson looked, big, old, eyes bloodshot.  I didn't need to read any articles like the one in the News about how Simpson no longer worked out and pretty much ate junk food.  You could see the pain; his arthritic knees must be killing him.  This clip is just of him entering the courtroom, no news-anchor narration to explain what was going on. That made it much easier to just watch this aging con who once was as fluid a running back as ever played football, and as large a media personality in his time as Michael Jordan was in his. 

I must also confess that I imagined Colbert pointing out that this video was proof that O.J. could not have killed his ex-wife and her friend.  Colbert is good for that kind of twisted logic. 

Dare I dust off the aged dissertation, completed when by thirteen-year-old was a mere babe?  Nah.  Just another minor aftershock to the final Trial of the Century that was the 20th.