There's very little about the life of O. J. Simpson that could be classified as "under-reported." However, I can think of one element that totally is: His 2007 memoir, If I Did It. The existence of this book is deeply, vastly, hysterically underrated. My natural inclination is to try and compare it to something equally unusual, but I can't isolate a comparison. I want to write something along the lines of "If I Did It is as bizarre as _________," but no cultural minutia fits in that space. Roman Polanski would have to make a biopic about Charles Manson's music career.

Bizarre indeed.

I found it very interesting how Klosterman linked Kareem and OJ together as disliked black athletes. I grew up watching Kareem play ball and loved him. I never saw the unsavory side that he discribed. I didn't really know who OJ was outside of The Naked Gun movies until his trial in the 90's. When I heard OJ was acquitted, I was sitting in 9th grade english class. The teacher was playing the courtroom proceedings live on some tiny radio. You could barely hear what was happenning, but then the "not guilty' verdict came through and the class erupted in shouts and clapping. I thought two things at once: my classmates where a bunch of fuckwits and OJ Simpson had just gotten off for murder.