O.J. Headed to Jail

I remember June 17, 1994 very clearly. I was 14 years old at the time. Before that famous Bronco chase, O.J. was a universally liked celebrity. He was one of the greatest running backs in NFL history and after he retired from playing football, O.J. was an NFL sideline reporter, he was in those Hertz Commercials, and he had parts in the ‘Naked Gun’ films. So even though I was too young to remember him as an active player, I was very aware of who he was. As it turns out, neither myself or anyone else knew the real O.J. Simpson.

The trial was the driving news story every day until October 3, 1995 when the jury acquitted O.J. of murdering Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. Nothing in my lifetime outside of 9/11 seemed to consume people in this country as much as that trial did. Nothing divided people in this country like it did either. The trial came on the heels of the Rodney King beating and the L.A. riots that followed. The whole situation felt like another powder keg waiting to blow up. I remember very clearly being at school the day the jury was going to deliver the verdict. The teacher had a TV in the classroom and he put the event on TV. There were a few guys in the class who made it very clear to anyone within earshot that if O.J. were to be convicted, they were going to “get” the white boys after school. Being one of only two or three white boys in the class, and knowing that these were the type of guys who would live up to their word, I’m pretty sure I had a nice little ass kicking coming my way if justice was served.

Still, I can’t say that I felt any relief when the verdict came down. As the trial wore on I felt it was very, very, clear that Simpson was guilty. The most uncomfortable thing about the immediate aftermath of the trial was the split amongst blacks and whites upon the verdicts. I didn’t know any black people who thought O.J. was guilty and I didn’t know any white people who thought he was innocent. It was the first time in my young life I realized that America viewed life through racially tinted lenses. It was not a pleasant revelation.

If he was smart, O.J. would have disappeared after the trial. He didn’t. O.J. had no problem playing in golf tournaments or going out to dinner or just generally carrying on with his life as if nothing ever happened. I suppose his acquittal afforded him those rights. In 1997, he lost a civil suite to the Goldman family that found him liable for the death of Ron Goldman. Ironically, this was the beginning of the slow end for “The Juice”. The lawsuit stripped him of much of his wealth and arguably caused O.J. to wind up in the predicament he was in this afternoon. His latest trial was a result of him trying to reclaim some property which he said was stolen from him.

This time there is no threat of rioting in the streets. The start contrast in the interest in this trial compared to the murder trial is not all that surprising since nobody died as a result of his latest crime. O.J. may be all over the news tickers today and possibly even on some front pages tomorrow morning. But being that the trial was going on the same time as the election (I’m not sure if the trial was even on TV) I don’t think that anyone was following it too closely. The news networks don’t even seem to agree on how long he has to spend in prison. I’ve heard that he has anywhere from 6-9 years minimum if he is paroled and a maximum of 15-33 years if he serves a full sentence depending on the source. Although I do find it interesting how a person can go from being one of the most polarizing figures in society to a story that everyone will forget in a week.

O.J. was a completely pathetic site in the courtroom today. He looked like a completely broken person. What a waste of a life.

Knicks swap Randolph for Mobley

The New York Knicks send Zach Randolph and Mardy Collins to the Clippers for Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas. Now the Knicks have 2 guys with heart problems!

A Throwback Game

First, let me just say that it was a lot of fun being at a Dolphins game that felt important from the moment we pulled up to begin tailgating. There was a buzz in the air that has been missing at that stadium for too long. Fans for both teams knew what a big game this was, the weather was perfect, and nobody knew for sure what to expect. Where the Dolphins for real? Were the Patriots still in the hunt? Would drinking a half a case of Natural Ice before the game cause me to hallucinate? We would indeed have all the answers soon enough.

My biggest fear Sunday was the Dolphins history of failing in those “statement games”  like they had in the past. But if I was being realistic, I should have just been happy to be in that position to begin with. Lets be honest, nobody expected the Dolphins to be 6-4 heading into yesterday’s game. This season has already been a success on so many levels that harboring any negative feelings, regardless of the outcome, seems a little short sighted. But fans, including myself, rarely live outside the moment. At 1pm yesterday nobody on the field or in the stands was thinking of anything but now.

The Patriots opening drive was not only a sign of things to come in the game, but a reminder of the way things used to be in seasons still not forgotten. It was apparent right away that the Patriots knew the Dolphins defensive weakness, and in typical Belichick fashion, they exploited it throughout the entire game. Despite having the league’s leading sack artist in Joey Porter, the Dolphins lack of a consistent pass rush has plagued them throughout the season especially against pass happy teams like the Cardinals and Jets earlier this year.

But the tactics the Patriots used to expose this weakness actually resembled those of the Jets in years past, when they were coached by Bill Parcells and of course Bill Belichick (who was the Jets Defensive Coordinator during that time). The Jets Offensive Coordinator during a few of those years was Dan Henning, who is now the current Offensive Coordinator for the Dolphins. Back then the Dolphins had a ton of talent on Defense. Jason Taylor, Zach Thomas, Trace Armstrong, Sam Madison, Patrick Surtain, Tim Bowens, Brock Marion, amongst others all had big years at one time or another. Running against the Dolphins was difficult. The Dolphins basic strategy for victory then was much like it is today: Stop the run when on defense. Run the ball and don’t make any stupid mistakes when on offense. So what the Jets would do is pretty much forgo the running game all together. Instead, they would empty their backfield a go with 3 or 4 wide receivers and split Curtis Martin and maybe even a Tight End out wide and pick the Dolphins defense apart through the passing game. Vinny Testaverde was the Jets quarterback through most of that era but Chad Pennington would later take up the mantle. Those old Jet teams would try to make the Dolphins play catch up, nullifying the Dolphins running game and forcing Jay Fiedler too keep up in the passing game. The interception prone Jay Fiedler was all too often incapable of keeping Miami in the game.

In Sundays game Matt Cassel played the Testaverde/Pennington role. He had more then adequate cast members as Randy Moss filled in for Laverneous Coles/Santana Moss. Wes Welker was a dead ringer for Wayne Chrebet. The Patriots did a really good job of isolating Moss on Jason Allen for most of the afternoon. And while Allen actually did pretty well in staying with Moss for the most part, Randy Moss doesn’t really need to be open to be… uh, open. Just being one-on-one for Moss is usually enough for him to make a fucking one handed catch or something equally as demoralizing. Moss even gained the almost magical ability by the end of the game to shove defenders in their back and have the referee throw the flag against the defender. Or maybe the Natty Ice had just fully kicked in at that time and I was seeing things.

The rest of the season seems to be a succession of must win games for the Dolphins who are now 6-5. With the AFC playoff picture shaping up the way it is you might have to win 11 games to make it in as a Wild Card. Games against the 49ers, Chiefs, and Rams certainly seem winnable. But the Dolphins will have to go on the road to beat the Bills and the Jets in cold weather. The loss to the Patriots on Sunday will serve as a blueprint to their near future opponents on how to beat Miami. The Patriots showed that sometimes past is prologue.

Will this time be different?

For lifelong Dolphins fans, it’s the 1990’s (and early 2000’s) all over again. During many of those seasons, the Dolphins would find themselves in position to finally meet the high expectations that they had heading into the year, only to fail in some gut wrenching, devastating, and all too predictable way.  And while this season has really been more of a pleasant surprise then one whose expectations were high in the beginning, those knots that we used to feel in our stomachs are churning once again today as the ‘Fins get ready to take on the Patriots.

But first a little bit of (brief) history:

- 1990 Season: Lost to the Buffalo Bills 44–34 in the divisional playoffs.

- 1991 Missed the playoffs in an overtime loss to the New York Jets during the final week of the season, losing the AFC’s final playoff berth.

- 1992 Defeated at home by the Buffalo Bills 29–10 in the AFC Championship.

- 1993 Team starts 9-2, Marino blows out Achilles tendon, Scott Mitchell takes over, hilarity ensues.

- 1994 Dolphins go 10-6 and beat the Joe Montana lead Chiefs in the first round of the playoffs. But in the second round they gave up a 15-point halftime lead and suffered a heart-breaking 22–21 loss to the San Diego Chargers. Pete Stoyanovich missed a 46 yard field goal on the last play of the game.

- 1995 The team finishes 9-7 and makes the playoffs as a wild card, losing to Buffalo in the first round. However, this is the start of a long line of seasons where the Dolphins start the season strong, and then falter in the winter months.

- 1996 Team starts strong, finishes poorly. 8-8 Missed playoffs

- 1997 Miami stumbles late and backs into the playoffs with a 9–7 season, losing to the Patriots in the Wild Card round.

- 1998 10-6 (another season where the team finishes poorly late) Stomped by Denver in the second round of the playoffs. In all fairness, Denver was pretty unstoppable that year.

- 1999 …62-7

- 2000 The Dave Wannstedt era begins. Dolphins finish a solid 11-5 but are destroyed by Oakland in the second round of the playoffs.

- 2001 The Dolphins lost in the first round of the playoffs 20–3 to the Ravens.

- 2002 Team starts the season 5-1 and stumbles late thanks in part to Ray Lucas. In week 17, they could have gained a playoff spot by by beating the Patriots in New England. However, despite dominating the New England Patriots for most of the game, the Dolphins blew an 11-point lead late in the fourth quarter of a devastating loss. Due to a tiebreaker, both the Dolphins and Patriots lost out on the playoffs as the Jets took the AFC East title.

- 2003 Late season Losses to the Patriots and the Eagles ended Miami’s postseason hopes. Miami finished 10–6, but was still short of a playoff spot.

- 2004 Ricky Williams “retires” and the team falls apart. This was the end of the Dolphins relevancy in the NFL.

There is no doubt in my mind that many of those seasons, especially late in the 1990’s and early this decade, were greatly affected by the seasons that came before it. When the team would go through its annual late season slide, there was always that feeling of “Here we go again” at the first hint of danger. It wore on all of us. Bill Simmons even once dubbed it the Dolphins annual “Hanukkah Collapse”.

The reason I bring this up is that this game today reminds me of so many games that took place during that time. The Dolphins have a chance to really put themselves in the hunt for a playoff spot or maybe even a division title with a win today. In the past, the Dolphins would loose this game and maybe or maybe not find a way to eek their way in the playoffs, only to be trounced in the first round if they did make it. A win today would be a huge step forward not only in the standings, but in the psyche of franchise. Sure, they would still need to finish the season strong and find a way to beat the Jets in New York. But just getting to that point would be a victory in and of itself.