OJ Simpson (AP Photo/File).
During Tailgate Update’s True Crime segment this week, we discussed my feelings about OJ Simpson being fully cremated. Some things need to be said and written, and this is an example of that. For some of my other controversial takes, look here.
OJ Simpson’s Family
Simpson decided that not all of his family members would grow old. But he still has five children, one of whom passed away as a toddler in a tragic swimming pool incident.
OJ had three children with his first wife, Marguerite Whitley. His oldest is Ms. Arnelle, a daughter who was born the same day he won his Heisman. Two awards for OJ in one day! His second-oldest was Jason. The couple’s third child, little Aaren, passed away at 23 months old.
Nearly 20 years later, after his first child was born, Orenthal James started his family with Nicole Brown-Simpson. They had one daughter, Sydney, and three years later, his last child, Justin.
There is controversy regarding how OJ’s assets (if he has any) will be allocated, although not between his children.
Obviously, we don’t know everything that is going on behind the scenes, but it’s good to see unity from the outside looking in. Conflict can arise often when a parent passes away, and it’s unfortunate.
The center of the controversy is that the Goldman and Brown families are attempting to get a portion of the estate because Simpson passed away without paying the majority of the $33.5 million judgment awarded by a civil jury in a wrongful death lawsuit roughly 30 years ago.
I generally have very little to say about the situations that are left for the people left floundering in the wake of Orenthal James Simpson’s life. Especially the people, like his four kids, who didn’t get to choose who their father was.
But then his family made a choice I couldn’t get behind, and I am cranky about it. Assuming they actually made it, and it wasn’t his over-controlling lawyer.
An Unfavorable Choice by OJ Simpson’s Family
The family (or his lawyer) decided to cremate OJ, with no public memorial services. Logical choices that are none of our business and that the family made.
A memorial service open to the public would probably end in no good. A public resting place for OJ Simpson would need to be permanently monitored by guards, or it would be defaced immediately.
My gripe is that the family (or the lawyer) chose not to donate Simpson’s brain to science. I want to reiterate that it’s difficult to hold any real frustration against children punished by a dad like Orenthal James, but I am miffed. Allowing researchers to study his brain would have been one of the least selfless things OJ could do with a life that was mostly used to harm.
Just to make my hot take even less likeable, I feel the same way about Jeffrey Dahmer’s brain.
Research Matters!
No, you can’t do all the research that needs to be done when someone is alive. Most things need to be seen, and they can’t be evaluated with just scans or tests.
Also, technology continues to expand in neurology. What we can do now is vastly different from what we could do when Jeffrey Dahmer passed away, and in 10 years we will probably know that much more.
Donating brains to science matters!
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Epidemic
What’s especially upsetting is that OJ Simpson talked frequently about possibly having CTE and thinking some of his other former teammates had CTE. He understood the consequences of the disease.
Former teammates expressed hope that the family would donate his brain before the news came out that they wouldn’t.
Michael Militello remembered OJ complaining of headaches after the game and talking about concussions he sustained in high school. Allegedly, Simpson would need to recover for days after each game with debilitating headaches.
Militello believes that his brain could benefit all football players, and I agree with him. His former teammate still struggles to reconcile the man he knew during his football days with the person he became later in life.
Mental diseases like CTE can’t fully explain or justify a person’s problematic behavior. However, the presence of the disease does not help. If we can figure out CTE, we can improve the quality of lives and possibly even save them.
CTE is the formation of tau protein in the brain that appears to impair the function of neurons. The symptoms, according to Boston University, include memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, anxiety, suicidality, parkinsonism, and, eventually, progressive dementia.
345 out of 376 former athletes have been found to have the disease, according to research done at Boston University.
The disease is an epidemic affecting current and former players, and one of the best things that can be done is the donation of brains to combat it. Part of the secret could have been in his skull, and now we will never know.
