Now -- likely as a result of the NAACP's determination -- the Johnson family has hired legal counsel in order to manage their best legal interests. And they've hired a firm with pretty large national exposure, The Cochran Firm, founded by late O.J. Simpson defense attorney Johnnie Cochran.
"There has been so much speculation in the community surrounding the circumstances of the death of one the most respected high school athletic stars in the area," says Jerome Carter, with The Cochran Firm Mobile.
"The family cannot understand why their son would take his own life with such a bright future ahead of him," continued Carter. "They are looking for answers."
All of this isn't to say that something related to foul play happened, but as I said before, it would have been shocking if the NAACP conducted their investigation, determined suicide wasn't the cause of death and then just moved on.
And unless there is some striking evidence to counteract the NAACP's conclusion, you can almost rest assured that there will be plenty of noise surrounding the resulting autopsies and investigations.
As you probably know by now, O.J. Simpson was sentenced for what could be 33 years in prison today. Just before he heard the sentence from Judge Jackie Glass, Simpson made a plea for leniency that made no sense.
He spent five minutes choking back tears as he begged for mercy. It sounded like a desperate man at the end of his rope. While he repeatedly said he was sorry for what happened in September 2007, he also tried to explain why he did it and that he didn't mean for it to go that far.
Obviously the judge wasn't buying it. Not only did she throw the book at Simpson, she even said she found him both "arrogant" and "ignorant".
"When you take a gun with you and you take men with you in a show of force, that is not just a 'Hey, give me my stuff back.' That's something else and that's what happened here," the judge said.
NFL.com is widely known for some pretty stringent practices regarding what customized jerseys it will allow to be made. For instance, you most certainly cannot make a "Ron Mexico" jersey. No how, no way.
The newest name on the computer's banned list? "Harris Smith," Plaxico Burress' Applebee's alias (and an early runner for "2009's Most Widely Abused Fantasy Football Team Name"). At least that's what NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told Central Main Sports in response to their "Why can we still purchase a Rae Carruth jersey?" question.
"There are a number of jerseys that fans may not order online, including the ones you cite below (Michael Vick, Harris Smith, Ron Mexico, Lawrence Phillips). Those names are blocked immediately by a computer program which (unfortunately) is not all inclusive and may miss names from time to time. So a fan could type in names on the screen which would make it appear that he/she could purchase it. However, if a fan followed through with an order and attempted to purchase the jersey of a player like you named, we would catch it manually and would not make the jersey or ship the order. The fan would receive a notice that the order would not be fulfilled. Bottom line, you would not be shipped a jersey with the names you cited (Rae Carruth, Art Schlichter, OJ Simpson)."
So, yeah, the NFL is pretty lame AND predictable. Frankly, I'm of the opinion that it shouldn't really matter whatsoever if you want to put a convicted criminal or a fake herpes name on the back of your jersey that costs $200 freaking dollars to order. And I'm not even the poor, real Harris Smith who just wants a No. 17 Giants jersey.
A Las Vegas jury has found Orenthal James Simpson guilty of all 12 counts for which he was charged. The charges stem from an armed robbery and kidnapping of sports memorabilia dealers in a Vegas casino hotel last year.
A somber Simpson released a heavy sigh as the charges were read Friday in Clark County District Court. He was immediately taken into custody.
The verdict comes 13 years to the day after Simpson was acquitted of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in Los Angeles.
Co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart also was found guilty on all charges and taken into custody.
When the verdicts were read, Simpson just sighed and nodded his head. As he arrived at the courthouse for the verdict, he told a CNN reporter that he was "apprehensive". He now faces life in prison when sentencing begins on December 5th.
Again, this verdict came exactly 13 years after the day that Simpson was acquitted for the murder of his ex-wife and Ronald Goldman. You can only imagine the emotions of those families this morning.
The hype surrounding the Buffalo Bills is accordingly less this week, after they squeaked by the Raiders (besides, everyone's all a chatter about Lane Kiffin anyway) but that doesn't mean we shouldn't recognize their efforts anyway.
Especially the continually emerging Trent Edwards, who despite not being incredibly efficient, won again Sunday.
The Bills second-year signal caller has now posted wins in eight of his 12 career starts for a .750 winning percentage, making him one of just three active NFL quarterbacks with a winning percentage of .750 or better.
Edwards also set a career-high with 39 pass attempts and finished his third straight game with a completion percentage over 60. The Bills are 6-1 when Edwards completes at least 60% of his passes. He also posted a passer rating of 81 for the game and Buffalo is unbeaten when Edwards passer rating is 80 or above (6-0).
Now, that first stat is certainly a little misleading -- (Ed. Note: EDIT and I told my brain to kill left sided cells this weekend, sorry) Because IT'S WRONG. 8/12 < .750. Of course the good news is that now the only active quarterbacks with that winning percentage are Philip Rivers and Tom Brady. Still though, Edwards is showing some legitimate potential, and at least justifying Buffalo's decision to sit J.P. Losman.
The other day, I was sitting in the breakroom at work when that show 'Jail' came on (it's on MyNetworkTV). It is a lot like "COPS", which stands to reason since they are both produced by John and Morgan Langley. The twist is that the show basically shows weirdos getting booked on all kinds of charges.
Well, tonight (Tuesday, February 12th), "Jail" will have quite an interesting show. It will have video of O.J. Simpson being booked at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas following his January 11th arrest for violating the terms of his bail agreement. He was out on bail following an arrest for an armed robbery charge from September of 2007.
You can see more of O.J. discussing how professional the people of the Clark County Detention Center are by going here.
Thumbs up on the hair, Al Michaels, and I loved you as Larry on Three's Company. Also good to see O.J. Simpson in his element, talking incoherently about football, no doubt offering inspiration to future utterly useless sideline reporters like Eric Dickerson and Lisa Guerrero.
At halftime of Super Bowl XIX, and with the 49ers leading the Dolphins 28-16, the Juiced offered this nugget: "The 49ers are notorious for becoming somewhere LETH-AR-GIC after they've built up an early lead." Predictably, San Francisco would outscore Miami 10-0 over the final 30 minutes.
Man, this is going back. The Titans were the Oilers, there was no AFC North, and both Pittsburgh and Houston routinely battled for the division title. Here's the commercial pimping their Week 9 AFC Central matchup.
Remember that, when O.J. Simpson wasn't a psychopath? Anyway, both teams entered the game with 5-2 records. Pittsburgh had won their Week 1 meeting 29-24, and (SPOILER ALERT!) they would sweep the regular-season series, thanks in part to Neil O'Donnell throwing for over 200 yards, and Barry Foster rushing for 118 more. Good times.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell sure is a puritan. Or at least he wants you to think he is, anyway. Last week, he sent out a memo banning all cheerleaders from "warming up" in front of the visiting teams' locker room, but stopped short of just doing away with them altogether. You know, because of the children.
Anyway, since things will never be the same, After the jump, a pictorial history of what cheerleaders have meant to the NFL.Sorry, No Photos (Note: O.J. did not kill anyone in the above photo ... that we know about.)
O.J. Simpson's bail was set at $125,000 today when he appeared in court on charges including burglary, robbery and assault in connection with an incident with a sports memorabilia dealer at a Las Vegas hotel last week.
Simpson, who has been in jail since his arrest last week, appeared tired and confused. The judge asked him at the outset if he had received a copy of the complaint, and he seemed unsure until his lawyer told him he had.
Simpson was ordered to surrender his passport and have no contact with witnesses, victims or co-defendants. The judge told him he's going to strictly enforce the "no contact" rule, meaning, "If you see them walking down the street, you're to cross the street."
Simpson, who lives in Miami, can travel freely within the continental United States while he's out on bail.
The photo shows one member of the crowd outside the Clark County Regional Justice Center. The guy's T-shirt features the mugshot that was taken of Simpson when he was arrested last week.
Billey Joe Johnson's recent and mysterious death has generated a ton of national attention. First, the NAACP stepped in with an independent investigation, circumventing the normal police process, and determined that Johnson's death was not a suicide.
