Athletes nowadays are always looking to expand their celebrity powers well beyond the playing field. For years, Payton Manning has been commercial gold, from plugging Papa John’s Pizza to etching the State Farm jingle into our brains (“Chicken parm you taste so good”).
Current NBA stars have created a sneaker flu epidemic in our schools. Just about every teen male owns at least one pair of LeBrons, which come in more makes and models than the General Motors lineup. In fact, while coaching a game this winter, I noticed that an opponent appeared to have splattered some paint on his $150 sneakers. My players quickly informed me that the kid was wearing a pair of LeBron ‘Friday the 13ths’…
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Other stars, such as Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, and Steph Curry, are also fighting for the feet of America’s future. But to make you old-timers feel better, these classics are more popular than ever with the teeny-boppers…
Athletes have always looked to make some extra bucks through endorsements and other means. But the idea of an athlete creating a brand for himself and becoming a multi-media star is a relatively new idea. Michael Jordan established the this modern blueprint beginning in the mid-1980s, with his iconic shoe line, clothing, commercials (‘Be Like Mike”), and even movies (remember Space Jam?).
Prior to that, I can quickly think of only two jocks that became megastars beyond their sport. The greatest of course, was ‘The Greatest’…
Is there any other jock that could co-headline a comic book with The Man of Steel? Ali was all over the media. I can even remember watching watching episodes of this Ali cartoon on Saturday mornings as a kid.
That other athlete I had in mind was a Heisman Trophy winner, an NFL Hall of Famer, and possibly the most visually entertaining running back in NFL history ( Barry Sanders and Gale Sayers fans may disagree)…
Outside the gridiron, he became an iconic TV commercial pitchman…
A prominant sports broadcaster…
And was both a television and movie actor…
O.J. Simpson charmed the pants off American for almost three decades.
Then came the night of Sunday, June 12th, 1994.
I can faintly remember hearing getting the news the next morning about the brutal murder of O.J.’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, along with her friend, Ron Goldman. At first, I, along with much of America, didn’t initially consider O.J. to be part of this vicious crime. But as more information came out during the week, a strong case against ‘The Juice’ was starting to appear. Then came the infamous highway chase that gripped an entire nation…
I remember spending about four hours glued to the TV on that Friday night with friends and family, watching a little bit of the Knicks-Rockets NBA finals game and a lot of a slow white Ford Bronco driving through Los Angeles.
The cable network, FX, is in the midst of an 11-episode series entitled The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. Watching the first four episodes, it quickly brought me back to this unique cultural moment in history that seemed to mark an explosion of the 24-hour celebrity news cycle. One could argue that all of the O.J. hoopla also provided the springboard to the growth of reality television that now dominates the airwaves. Names long forgotten like Marcia Clark, Johnny Cochran, Mark Fuhrman, and Robert Shapiro quickly re-surfaced in my mind.
The acting performances have been tremendous. John Travolta has been impressive portraying polished, yet mercurial original lead prosecutor Robert Shapiro…
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Sarah Paulson nails the intensity and drive of Marcia Clark…
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And the intelligent, calming strength of star defense lawyer Johnny Cochran is fully embodied by actor Courtney B. Vance…
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There are many other strong performances in the large cast of characters for years gone by. My only complaint would be in the casting of O.J. Simpson himself…
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Cuba Gooding Jr. is a fine actor, but he doesn’t fill the enormous stature and presence of O.J. And his high-pitched voice –think of his ‘Show me the money!’ in Jerry Maguire— doesn’t come close to matching the rich, power baritone of Simpson.
Like Titanic, this is a production where you know the stunning final outcome. But the familiar journey includes many details that very few of us where aware of. Nowadays, we carry worlds of information in our pocket. 1994 were the prehistoric days of big, clunky car phones, which the internet being an unexplored rumor to most.
I hav one personal memory about that trial verdict. I can remember turning on my classroom TV to let my 8th grade math class see this historic cultural moment when the jury gave its decision. What stunned me most was that many of my students not only thought O.J. was innocent, but that he was covering up for who they perceived was the real killer–O.J.’s son!
As any parent can attest, teenagers are definitely in their own, very different world!
The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story airs Tuesdays at 10 pm on FX. There are moments of strong language.