It was 16 years ago today that television viewers watched the bizarre police chase of Al Cowlings and O.J. Simpson in a white Ford Bronco on the freeways of Los Angeles. ESPN's documentary series, "30 for 30" brought back the haunting sights and sounds of that late afternoon rush-hour drama in it's well-conceived documentary "June 17, 1994." It was one of those moments when everyone can remember what they were doing at that time.
A particularly fascinating part of the "30 for 30" show was how the television networks had to keep interrupting their coverage of the NBA Finals, the World Cup soccer tournament and the U.S. Open golf tournament with live shots of the chase.
Two touching moments in the show come when a tearful Arnold Palmer, Simpson's friend and fellow Hertz car rental pitchman, and the late John McKay, Simpson's coach at USC, both plead for he and Cowlings to give up.
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The Dodgers begin their toughest part of the season with a weekend interleague series against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, followed by match-ups with the Angels and New York Yankees. The trip to Boston will feature Manny Ramirez's return to Beantown and he should get quite a reception from Red Sox fans.
If the season ended today, the Dodgers would win the National League West and the San Diego Padres would be the Wild Card team.
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add Ramirez: The Dodgers left-fielder is hot right now, smacking home runs in consecutive games against the Cincinnati Reds while lifting his batting average to .291. Also, both his defensive play and arm strength have improved. He held a runner to a single after quickly getting a line drive back to the infield that had bounced off the left-field wall, and he threw a runner out at home plate who was trying to score from second base.
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It's hard to imagine the Lakers losing to the Boston Celtics in tonight's Game 7 of their NBA Finals series. The Celtics will be without center Kendrick Perkins, who injured his knee in Game 6 Tuesday night. Without a Boston big body under the basket, the Celtics will be hard-pressed to stop Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum.
It's been reported that Coach Phil Jackson will receive a $2-million bonus if the Lakers win. That should be enough to by about 20 tickets for seats near the floor which are reportedly being scalped for over $100,000 each.
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add Celtics: Of course, if the Celtics shoot the ball as poorly as they did in Game 6, it wouldn't matter if Bill Russell were back in the pivot.
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