by Kyle Golik
Orenthal James Simpson died yesterday. Some people cheered, some jeered. Some cried, some celebrated. Regardless how you feel about Simpson the football player, the criminal acts he is associated with that involves Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, there’s still something tragic about Simpson’s loss and it isn’t totally about Simpson and something we haven’t learned to deal with.
The power of football fueled him. Football was the engine and Simpson’s ability was the catalyst that propelled him to superstardom.
Throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s, we all saw O.J. run through the airport in Hertz commercials, on the silver screen in The Naked Gun movies, or on the small screen in the television epic Roots or on Sunday’s on NBC covering NFL football.
While Simpson’s star shined bright, what we all witnessed is how football enabled and molded Simpson’s persona. His highlights on the gridiron were numerous, whether it was running through the UCLA defense in the 1967 classic that gave Southern California the win in the all-time classic or his 1968 Heisman campaign.
With Simpson went pro he was the bolt of power running behind the Buffalo Bills “Electric Company.” He become the first ever NFL running back to gain 2,000 yards in a season, besting the immortal Jim Brown’s record. That only further entrenched Simpson in the popular consciousness of Americana.
The vibe you might be getting as the reader is that I might be framing football to blame for O.J. Simpson.
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To an extent I am and in some ways I am not.
Look at the collegiate game today, NIL opportunities are bringing sudden wealth to young people that is transformative in many cases. Simpson’s case was no different than what we see today.
When Simpson began his collegiate pursuits at the City College of San Francisco in 1965, he grew up in the projects, had many side hustles to earn a dollar, and was part of the street gang the “Persian Warriors” that got Simpson into trouble. It was his ability to guide the Rams to a Prune Bowl victory and the laurels of All-American honors at running back that attract recruiters nationally.
Simpson chose John McKay’s Southern California Trojans and followed Mike Garrett and was the next in line of the great Trojan backs that excelled in the “Student Body Right” scheme.
McKay was asked why Simpson had 47 carries in a game, he replied, “He doesn’t belong to a union. Anyway, the ball doesn’t weigh that much.”
Maybe the weight McKay missed wasn’t that of the weight of the football, but the punishment Simpson took throughout his career.
It’s hard to blame coaches and football medical personnel of the past that the science wasn’t available about the degenerative brain disease CTE but after news of Simpson’s passing many hope his family would allow scientists to examine Simpson’s brain to see if he had that disease.
In 2016, Dr. Bennett Omalu, who discovered CTE, said he would bet his medical license that Simpson was suffering from the disease.
In 2018, Simpson told The Buffalo News in an interview “I get concerned, I do recognize that it probably affects you in short-term memory more than long-term. I know with me, I have days I can’t find words. I literally cannot find words or the name of somebody I know. That gets a little scary. Those days happen when I’m tired.”
The cautionary tale that everyone involved with football has to realize is the men who are the engine of the game are disposable pieces that they are still people. When we turn our backs on these people, what pains or diseases that they are afflicted with don’t go away.
Fortunately the NFL is leading the way in funding the science to help reduce head trauma injuries to help reduce the chances its players get CTE.
The other aspect is NIL, I just want to emphasize I don’t want athletes to lose this ability because it is unacceptable for everyone else to make money off your name and you are forbidden to, the sudden wealth component.
The use case of a double murder is one that is the most extreme, but if we examine a more common use case of an individual who was coddled throughout their prep career and got to college that was handed significant money more than he has seen but again coddled throughout college because there is a lot of money on the line to ensure that athlete is on the field at some point that athlete has no concept of ramifications of their actions.
Also consider that throughout this journey, any need that athlete needs is met because they produce at a high level. But when they can no longer produce that athlete has no concept of working to figure it out.
Look at the recent case of former Oklahoma Sooners and Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, who earned over $100 million and now is facing financial hardships that include property seizures. Peterson also faced during his playing career a suspension for using a switch to discipline his children in 2014 and 2018 doubled down on he still uses it as a punishment tool.
Is anyone looking in on Peterson at this point? Peterson took the same physical punishment Simpson endured and now we are starting to see him lash out about his situation. The most obvious person with the CTE example is the erratic behavior displayed by former wide receiver Antonio Brown.
I am not here to change your mind on O.J. Simpson. Whatever you think of him, that has already been decided. Who I extend my condolences to are the ones who are hurting because of their loss to Simpson.
What overall needs to be taken more into consideration is the power and influence football has, very few things in life even match it. Football not only created the superstar that was O.J. Simpson, it was also football that was the recipe for the degenerative brain disease that very likely cost the lives of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
