Where were YOU 20 years ago today?

[Dead Simmons]

I was playing in a poker Tourney in San Diego, craning my neck to see the Knicks/Rockets NBA Finals on the TV overhead. I remember that my 1st thought was: Oh no...he really did it.

 

[1992casey]

I was at home. I recall getting a phone call telling me to turn on the TV.

[LouisEly]

Let's be really, really careful with this thread. I was in New York, selling educational books door-to-door. Can't remember if I saw it on the TV at someone's house or back at the apartment with my roommates. Quite the summer.

 

I'm pretty sure that the 30 for 30 film "June 17th, 1994" is on this week, maybe today. Really good film about everything that went on that day (Rangers Stanley Cup parade, Arnold Palmer's last U.S. Open, the NBA finals, and... a white Bronco).

[jerichoholicninja]

I was 6. I don't remember a thing about it.

[ReverendBrewmeister]

I'm pretty sure that the 30 for 30 film "June 17th, 1994" is on this week, maybe today. Really good film about everything that went on that day (Rangers Stanley Cup parade, Arnold Palmer's last U.S. Open, the NBA finals, and... a white Bronco).

 

Really good film. Well worth watching if on this week. Lets the TV footage tell the story. A whole lot happened, as LouisEly mentioned. Opening game of the World Cup 1994 was even on that day.

[Invader3K]

I remember being at home alone, and for some reason catching the white Bronco chase on TV. To be honest, I didn't know much about OJ Simpson, other than knowing he was a retired football player, so I didn't really feel any connection to the case and ensuing media hoopla.

[young guns]

I was 9. Only thing I remember was watching at least some, possibly just the verdict, of the trial on tv at school.

[yoshii8]

My Mom threw a World Cup party, and we watched it in my basement. I remember it like it was yesterday.

[RobDeer 45]

I remember coming in to the basement, from playing baseball in the backyard. My mom had it on on the TV down there. I don't remember a ton, just the classic footage of the Bronco from above. I remember watching it. I probably remembered him most from the Naked Gun movies at the time!

[RockCoCougars]

I remember that day pretty vividly. Pre-internet, you'd catch all of your news on the radio if you weren't home in front of the TV, and there were all kinds of developments during the day while I was at work. Even though things had been building after the murder that week, it was a shock hearing the authorities say that OJ was a wanted man on the run. At one point, I'm pretty sure there was a rumor that OJ had committed suicide at the grave site. I was playing beer league softball at the beginning of the chase. I remember getting hearing updates during the game and heading straight to a friend's house to watch. I'm almost certain it was a Friday.

[AZBrewCrew]

I was 11 at the time and we were out to lunch at the Hudson Golf Club with my grandma when CNN broke in with the chase. Like others here I didnt know much about OJ other than he used to play pro football.

[hawing]

On the day that the "white Bronco" chase happened (June 17, 1994), we were in our car with a friend, with the Brewer game on. That was the game where we heard the following Uecker home run call, which has since become a hawing household classic: "Get out the cheese and crackers, fans! It's a grand salami!" Later we got home and saw the non-baseball news unfolding on TV.

 

Here's the Retrosheet boxscore from that game: Boxscore Dave Nilsson hit the salami vs. the Yankees.

[Outlander]

I remember being really into the NBA at the time as it was kind of the Jordan era still even though he wasn't playing at the time. Excited for the NBA Finals and was annoyed that the game kept on getting interrupted. Looked like Ewing would finally be getting a ring as the Knicks went up 3-2 in the series.

[davego]

What I remember is that is was hot that day and I couldn't keep up with all the happenings on TV. I ended up having a few beverages in a local watering hole and trying to understand what was going down.

[adamb100]

I remember watching the chase on TV while I was young (like 7 years old).

[bacon06]

I was in my dining room playing with matchbox cars on the floor and wondering why it was still light out on TV when it was dark at home.

[narwhalattack]

20 years ago today, I wasn't even born.

[pretendastronaut]

I worked at the concession stand at our local baseball field that summer. I had dropped off the money box to the lady who operated it that night and she had it on the television.

[Point Beer Is Best]

I would have been 13 years old. My dad and I were probably listening to the Brewer game in the barn as we were milking the cows, and caught some of the footage on TV when we got back to the house.

 

I was a huge fan of SNL at the time, and the subsequent "Trial of the Century" provided some of my favorite moments from the show. Only years later (thanks to the internet) did I realize that Norm MacDonald ultimately lost his job because of how unrelentless he was in his pursuit of portraying OJ as a murderer in his Weekend Update bits.

 

I also remember being coralled into the school library for the verdict, which at the time seemed weird, but maybe they wanted it to be a "remember where you were when this happened" moment (mission accomplished). I think several schools did the same thing with the George Zimmerman trial last year. I just thought it was weird at the time since it was a murder trial, not the assassination of a sitting president or something of that magnitude. But at the time we didn't understand all of the racial undertones, which was a completely foreign concept at our school since it was nearly 100% white kids, in a nearly 100% white town, located at the heart of the whitest congressional disctrict in the U.S. The closest thing we had to a racial divide was how we (the Scandinavian & German Lutheran kids) didn't care much for the Polish Catholics that lived in the next town over.

[thebruce44]

I was 13 and at summer camp. No TV, didn't hear anything about it until I got home.

 

Here's the kicker, June 17th is my birthday. So I've got this to remember it by.

[fondybrewfan]

The only "I know where I was moment" was 9/11. I was only 10 win OJ happened so I wouldn't have realized what was happening or why it was a big deal.

[valpocrewsader]

I was 15 and a friend came over to the house and told me OJ murdered his wife. I thought, "Oh no, that nice lady from the Cosby Show?" ...Yeah, I had OJ Simpson and Ahmad Rashad mixed up.

[RightFieldCoder]

I was at week long Boy Scout camp and heard about it later. I didn't understand why everyone cared so much about a sideline reporter. It wasn't until later that I found out he actually played in the NFL.

[sdcheezhd]

I was at the Del Mar (San Diego Co) Fair. He was originally heading south towards Mexico so I was wondering if they would close the 5. Then he turned around and we were home before it all ended.

[craigharmann]

I was at a friend's house playing volleyball until about 11:30. I watched the 30 for 30 and completely forgot all of the things in sports going on at that time. Rangers won the cup, Arnie's last US Open, the OJ drama, World Cup and NBA finals.