OJ Simpson was back in court today, or so I have been told. In case you haven't caught this story over the last month or so, the man who was acquitted of double murder in the "Trial of the Century" was arrested and charged with a variety of crimes, essentially amounting to armed robbery. Simpson and his cohorts allegedly broke into a hotel room in Vegas, to take back some of OJ's sports memorabilia that Simpson claims was stolen from him by a dealer. The preliminary hearing was today, and so for the first time OJ got to hear the full case against him. Let's keep in mind, this whole thing was caught on tape, and a couple of Simpson's co-defendants have already rolled on him and pled out. Why OJ has let this go so far without just pleaing out, I'm not sure.
But all of that is really beside my main point. One of my biggest pet peeves about the sports media is coverage of stories like this - high profile sports figures who get involved in legal trouble. These are not actually sports stories, but rather legal/court stories. That, of course, has never prevented the sports media from giving their best college try at covering them. I was only 14 when the first OJ trial happened, and didn't have cable or listen to sports talk radio, so I have no idea how the sports media functioned back then, but I can only assume it was similar, though perhaps on a smaller scale. From the second OJ trial, to Michael Vick, to Kobe Bryant's rape case, and so on, we've had many opportunities to watch the sports media try to tackle an arena they just aren't equipped to handle.
Fortunately (in a manner of speaking), these kind of stories are coming around frequently enough these days that the sports media is learning, albeit slowly. Mainly, they are getting help in their coverage - enlisting legal analysts and others who actually know what they are talking about. And yet, if I hear another ESPN anchor or sports talk radio host try (and fail miserably) to speak intelligently about legal proceedings, sentencings, and the like, I may have to put my foot through the TV/radio.
2 months ago
3 comments:
Hmmm, sounds like an expensive way to vent your frustrations, Scott. Perhaps trying talking with someone first.
:D
As Red Foreman would say..."How would you like my foot up your speaker?"
I don't watch this stuff on TV very often anymore, so it's likely I'd only be destroying the 20 dollar radio I have in my cube at work.
But I appreciate your concern.
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