June 17, 1994
Reading that date, I'm sure you don't have any true recollection of what was going on.
But you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing on that day. Need a hint?
The Juice is Loose.
Of course, today is the anniversary of when OJ took a slow ride down a California Highway after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Now you remember?
I was also on the highway. My brother Jeff, Pops and I were on our way home from a week-long vacation in Baltimore. The vacation started with a dip in the pool of a hotel where we didn't have a room, included three Yankee wins over the O's, encompassed around 700 beers, and enough belly laughs with Fluff and Rosie to last about 16 years.
The things that weren't happening then...
I wasn't married. I hadn't yet met my kids. I could still head out for a week with my best friends, a car full of beer, and a belief that the world was ours for the taking.
Hell, I still thought OJ was a great guy.
I didn't see the slow-speed chase down the highway, but I remember exactly how I felt. Jeff was driving, Pops was sleeping like a baby in the backseat, and the Rockets-Knicks basketball game was interrupted by Al Michaels calling the chase as if it were a sporting event of sorts.
"He's going to kill himself," I said, horrified.
"If he murdered those two, he should," Jeff answered. "It would be the prudent thing to do."
We laughed, but inside of me something was really wrong.
OJ was all of Buffalo's childhood hero. He was great as Norberg. He was in the movies, was always smiling, and had the world by the ass. He owed it to us to be a superstar all his life.
How naive and simple I was. How unstressed and uncomplicated life was then. That long, slow ride sort of signified the end of my childhood, you know?
I was 29 then, coming off a weekend of laughs. Feeling as if life was nothing but a long, fun ride.
There's been a lot of days when the sun has shined directly on my face since then, but it's a different sort of sun and it was one of the first times realizing that the sun can slip behind the clouds for long, long stretches of time. You know?
What were you doing back then?
And now OJ is a 10X10 wondering why.
He knows why.
But you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing on that day. Need a hint?
The Juice is Loose.
Of course, today is the anniversary of when OJ took a slow ride down a California Highway after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Now you remember?
I was also on the highway. My brother Jeff, Pops and I were on our way home from a week-long vacation in Baltimore. The vacation started with a dip in the pool of a hotel where we didn't have a room, included three Yankee wins over the O's, encompassed around 700 beers, and enough belly laughs with Fluff and Rosie to last about 16 years.
The things that weren't happening then...
I wasn't married. I hadn't yet met my kids. I could still head out for a week with my best friends, a car full of beer, and a belief that the world was ours for the taking.
Hell, I still thought OJ was a great guy.
I didn't see the slow-speed chase down the highway, but I remember exactly how I felt. Jeff was driving, Pops was sleeping like a baby in the backseat, and the Rockets-Knicks basketball game was interrupted by Al Michaels calling the chase as if it were a sporting event of sorts.
"He's going to kill himself," I said, horrified.
"If he murdered those two, he should," Jeff answered. "It would be the prudent thing to do."
We laughed, but inside of me something was really wrong.
OJ was all of Buffalo's childhood hero. He was great as Norberg. He was in the movies, was always smiling, and had the world by the ass. He owed it to us to be a superstar all his life.
How naive and simple I was. How unstressed and uncomplicated life was then. That long, slow ride sort of signified the end of my childhood, you know?
I was 29 then, coming off a weekend of laughs. Feeling as if life was nothing but a long, fun ride.
There's been a lot of days when the sun has shined directly on my face since then, but it's a different sort of sun and it was one of the first times realizing that the sun can slip behind the clouds for long, long stretches of time. You know?
What were you doing back then?
And now OJ is a 10X10 wondering why.
He knows why.
Comments