It's amazing. From out of the blue, the traffic to these pages will sometimes abruptly double or even triple. It always puzzles me at first. But very shortly I almost always learn the reason why: O. J. Simpson is in the news, again. In this instance, he is reported to be a suspect in an "armed robbery" case.
It amazes me because I have not spoken with Mr. Simpson since 1998; and I have not published anything concerning O. J. in the commercial press for at least as long.
It seems that the Simpson sordid saga is somewhat akin to The Arabian Nights--a story without end. For those who still care about it, you will find an article from The New York Times excerpted and linked to below.
Sports Memorabilia Dealer Implicates O.J. Simpson in Hotel Room Robbery
By STEVE FRIESS Published: September 15, 2007
LAS VEGAS, Sept. 14 -- O.J. Simpson, the former football star who was acquitted of murdering his wife, was under investigation Friday in what the police said might have been an armed robbery of sports memorabilia from a room at the Palace Station Hotel-Casino here.
Mr. Simpson denied that any crime had taken place. Instead, he told The Associated Press, he and some people he had met at a cocktail party staged a "sting operation" on Thursday night intended to retrieve memorabilia, including Mr. Simpson's Hall of Fame certificate, from a dealer he said had stolen it.
Capt. James Dillon of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said that Mr. Simpson, 60, was cooperating with investigators and that charges, if any, would not come until at least Monday, after the Clark County district attorney's office reviewed the case. The investigation "is in its infancy," Captain Dillon said.
Captain Dillon would not describe the items involved other than to characterize them as "sports-related products." Some, he said, were in police custody.
The dealer, Alfred Beardsley of Glendale, Calif., told detectives that Mr. Simpson and four other men, including two with guns, entered his room at the Palace Station around 8 p.m. Thursday and left with a trove of memorabilia including photographs and books signed by Mr. Simpson, lithographs of the San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana and Mr. Beardsley's cellphone.
"I couldn't believe it," Mr. Beardsley told TMZ.com. "For him to come and do this sort of thing, I don't know what's wrong with O.J."
Of course, Mr. Simpson has a much different story of events; if you wish to know more, please continue reading at The New York Times.
P.S.: Is it only a coincidence that the alleged "robbery" and the selling of O. J. memorabilia took place on the same day that the book "If I Did It," which the Goldman family was successful in wresting away from O. J. and repackaging towards their view of things, was released? I must note that nothing, absolutely nothing, surprises me any longer in this story that never ends.
