June 17, 1994: NBC has a problem. Through its sports department, it is contractually obligated to show one thing. But its news department has a big story to cover, and it might be more dramatic than the sporting event in question.
This is no "Heidi Bowl" for the Peacock Network. And it certainly isn't for kids.
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In 1983, James Cameron was casting The Terminator. He wanted O.J. Simpson, an actor and one of the greatest running backs in football history, to play the seemingly unstoppable cyborg from the future. But focus groups told him that there was no way that O.J. would be taken seriously as a killing machine.
In 1994, Simpson had finished filming Frogmen, an action film about U.S. Navy divers, and had been interviewed on the set for Entertainment Tonight. He seemed enthusiastic about this film.
He was 46 years old, going on 47. He was dating budding actress Paula Barbieri. He was a member of the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame. He had a fabulous house in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles. He walked with kings, presidents and his fellow stars. He was rich, famous and popular beyond most people's wildest dreams.
Like Michael Jackson and Bill Cosby, he had transcended his status as a black man in a white-dominated society, to become one of the biggest celebrities in America, and he remained one even though he hadn't played a down of football in nearly 15 years.
But, as happened to Jackson the year before, and has happened to Cosby since -- and as had recently happened to white celebrities Pete Rose (also an ex-athlete) and Woody Allen (also involved in movies), his image was about to change in ways that we could not have possibly imagined.
Oh yeah: Frogmen has never been released. It remains in someone's vault, never seen by the general public. And O.J. has never been cast in another feature film.
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When we went to bed on the night of June 12, 1994, we thought of O.J. Simpson as one of the greatest football players ever, a good sideline reporter on NBC's NFL telecasts, and a decent actor. If he had been the one who died that night, by whatever means, it would have been sad -- as far as the public knew at the time.
And, as it turned out, a lot of people would have been better off. Himself included.
We knew he had been married and divorced twice. What most of us did not know was that he had beaten both of his wives. The 2nd wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, had repeatedly called the police about it. One of the times, one of the responding lawmen was a young Detective named Mark Furhman.
Nicole told lots of people that she believed O.J. would kill her one day. On the night of June 12, 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson had dinner with her mother, Juditha Brown, at Mezzaluna Trattoria, an Italian restaurant in the Brentwood section of the Westside (it's always spelled as 1 word) of Los Angeles, where a friend of hers, Ronald Goldman, was a waiter.
Nicole drove her mother home. When she got home to 875 South Bundy Drive, about half a mile southwest of the restaurant, her mother called, saying that she left her sunglasses at the restaurant. Nicole called the restaurant. The glasses were found, and Ron agreed to deliver them.
Both Nicole and Ron were murdered at Nicole's house that night, brutally stabbed to death. She was 35, he was 25.
The middle of June 1994 was a weird time in America. Republicans were pushing hard against the agenda, and indeed the legitimacy as President, of Democrat Bill Clinton. We were beginning to hear about something called the Internet. Nirvana bandleader Kurt Cobain committed suicide at age 27. The threat of a baseball strike loomed, a threat that was, unfortunately, realized in August.
And both the teams playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the NBA's New York Knicks and the NHL's New York Rangers, reached their sport's Finals. On June 14, the Rangers won the Stanley Cup for the 1st time in 54 years, defeating the Vancouver Canucks in Game 7. By that point, O.J. was already a suspect in the murders.
On June 17, Game 5 of the NBA Finals was played at The Garden. While the Knicks were on their way to beating the Houston Rockets that night (though the Rockets would win the series in Game 7 in Houston on June 22), NBC went to a split screen.
Because Al Cowlings was driving a white 1993 Ford Bronco, California license plate 3DHY503, on Interstate 405, the San Diego Freeway, with O.J. Simpson in the back seat, with a gun to his head, and the police were following it. It was one of the most surreal events in television history.
Nicole told lots of people that she believed O.J. would kill her one day. On the night of June 12, 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson had dinner with her mother, Juditha Brown, at Mezzaluna Trattoria, an Italian restaurant in the Brentwood section of the Westside (it's always spelled as 1 word) of Los Angeles, where a friend of hers, Ronald Goldman, was a waiter.
Nicole drove her mother home. When she got home to 875 South Bundy Drive, about half a mile southwest of the restaurant, her mother called, saying that she left her sunglasses at the restaurant. Nicole called the restaurant. The glasses were found, and Ron agreed to deliver them.
Both Nicole and Ron were murdered at Nicole's house that night, brutally stabbed to death. She was 35, he was 25.
The middle of June 1994 was a weird time in America. Republicans were pushing hard against the agenda, and indeed the legitimacy as President, of Democrat Bill Clinton. We were beginning to hear about something called the Internet. Nirvana bandleader Kurt Cobain committed suicide at age 27. The threat of a baseball strike loomed, a threat that was, unfortunately, realized in August.
And both the teams playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the NBA's New York Knicks and the NHL's New York Rangers, reached their sport's Finals. On June 14, the Rangers won the Stanley Cup for the 1st time in 54 years, defeating the Vancouver Canucks in Game 7. By that point, O.J. was already a suspect in the murders.
On June 17, Game 5 of the NBA Finals was played at The Garden. While the Knicks were on their way to beating the Houston Rockets that night (though the Rockets would win the series in Game 7 in Houston on June 22), NBC went to a split screen.
Because Al Cowlings was driving a white 1993 Ford Bronco, California license plate 3DHY503, on Interstate 405, the San Diego Freeway, with O.J. Simpson in the back seat, with a gun to his head, and the police were following it. It was one of the most surreal events in television history.
It was surreal in part because it didn't seem to be all that fast a chase. The Bronco averaged about 45 miles per hour. It was also surreal because there were people on overpasses, cheering O.J. on, as if they believed he was innocent, and being unfairly persecuted by the cops.
Some time later, on the talk show The View, panelist Star Jones, a former Brooklyn prosecutor, defined friendship this way: "Who do you want driving the Bronco?" In other words, if you're in as much trouble as O.J. was in, who do you want to help you attempt to get out of it? Frankly, I think a better definition is, "For whom would you drive the Bronco?" As in, for whom would you risk your own criminal prosecution?
But since, by that point, everybody knew "A.C." not as a former football player, but as O.J.'s yes-man, Star did not have to explain her point. We all knew what she meant.
A.C. drove O.J. back to the house, where he was arrested. The ensuing legal process, including the "Trial of the Century," has been blamed for everything from the ruining of the American criminal justice system to the worsening of American race relations, from the dumbing down of American culture through "reality TV" to the rise of the Kardashian family. (One of O.J.'s "Dream Team" lawyers, and one of his best friends, was Robert Kardashian Sr., ex-husband of Kris Jenner, and father of Rob, Kourtney, Kim and Khloe.)
The infamous '93 Ford Bronco is on loan on display at the Alcatraz East Crime Museum, in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, 25 miles southeast of Knoxville, and 4 miles west of Dolly Parton's Dollywood theme park. It sits next to serial killer Ted Bundy’s 1968 Volkswagen Beetle and bank robber John Dillinger’s 1933 Ford V-8 getaway car.
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June 17, 1994 was a Friday. The Knicks won that Game 5, 91-84. They were up 3 games to 2. But the next 2 games were at The Summit in Houston. (That arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.") The Rockets won Game 6, 86-84; and Game 7, 90-84. Hakeem Olajuwon had lost to Patrick Ewing in the 1984 NCAA Tournament Final, when Ewing's Georgetown beat Hakeem's University of Houston.
Now, Hakeem had revenge, and the Rockets had their 1st NBA Championship. Still, with the Rangers having won the Stanley Cup, this gave the 1968 version of Madison Square Garden a status it still holds: The closest any arena has ever come to having the NBA and NHL Champions at the same time.
Football was out of season. These Major League Baseball games were played that night:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-1 at Yankee Stadium. Mike Stanley hit a solo home run, but Cal Eldred allowed only 2 other hits, a double by Danny Tartabull and a single by Pat Kelly. Scott Kamieniecki didn't make it out of the 5th inning for the Pinstripes.
* The New York Mets lost to the Florida Marlins, 6-5 at Joe Robbie (now Hard Rock) Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Montreal Expos, 10-8 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Minnesota Twins, 9-2 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Cal Ripken went 1-for-5 with an RBI.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-5 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers, 4-2 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Rickey Henderson went 0-for-4, but did draw a walk.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox, 8-1 at Jacobs (now Progressive) Field in Cleveland.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-4 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.
* The California Angels beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-3 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-4 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Seattle Mariners beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-1 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Ken Griffey Jr. went 1-for-5 with a solo home run.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros, 3-2 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.
* The Colorado Rockies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 13-5 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Barry Bonds went 0-for-3, although he did draw a walk.
This was also the opening day of soccer's World Cup, the 1st to be held on American soil. Luckily for NBC, and for American soccer, it was ABC and its sister company ESPN that had the rights to that. There were 2 games played on the day. Germany beat Bolivia, 1-0 at Soldier Field in Chicago. And Spain and South Korea played to a 2-2 draw at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
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