Don't lie, we know you have a Simpson theory

On June 12, I was sitting in the office of Ron Allice, head track coach at Long Beach City College and former Cal State Long Beach track coach, when an LBCC assistant coach entered the room to inform us that O.J. Simpson's ex-wife and her friend, Ron Goldman, had been murdered and that Simpson had been taken to the police station for questioning.

We all looked at each other in disbelief. It couldn't be possible, not O.J., anybody but O.J. He was an angel given to the City of Angels. An all-pro f ootball player with the Buffalo Bills and a Heisman Trophy-winning athlete at USC who parlayed his accomplishments into a broadcasting job with NBC and a somewhat successful acting career.

O.J. was O.J. There were and still are no color lines draw n. Everybody loved "The Juice." We all identified with him and wished we could be like him. Before wanting to "be like Mike" (Jordan), I wanted to be like O.J.

But folks, I can say it, as much as it pains me to do so. I think O.J. did it and I am n ot afraid to say so.

This puts me in the minority, if you believe a recent Los Angeles Times poll that said 57 percent of the people in Los Angeles County had not formulated an opinion on O.J.'s guilt or innocence. The poll proved once again that "figures lie and liars figure."

How could anyone in America, or for that matter the world, not have an opinion on this matter? Since day one, the subject has been dragged up, down and through newspapers and TV news programs, legitimate or not.

Just because you have an opinion doesn't mean you have passed judgment or convicted him prematurely. O.J.'s right to a fair trial should not circumvent my freedom of speech.

The mighty battle, O.J.'s Sixth Amendment rights versus my First Amendmen t rights. Where's Don King when you need a pay-per-view icon to market and promote a fight?

Opinions should not preclude one from serving on a jury. In fact, my wanting to believe that O.J. is not guilty is as much a bias as the fact that I think he did it.

I don't want to believe he did it, but the facts that have surfaced and are continuing to filter out indicate otherwise. As much as Judge Lance Ito despises these leaks, he knows he is powerless to stop them. Reporters are stubborn when it comes to protecting sources: Burn them and a reporter dries up like a cheap pen.

Whether the leaks come from the police, district attorney's office, the defense team, the coroner's office or the court itself, Judge Ito would make the little Dutch boy sticking his fingers in the dike to save the town look like a lazy bum if he tried to stop them all.

Responsible journalists do not just make these stories up, and tips are followed up and confirmed. Libel and slander insurance is expensive.

O.J.'s conviction for beating his ex-wife, Marguerite Simpson, and the 911 calls placed by Nicole Brown Simpson are not fabrications. Their "heated relationship" was not exactly a secret in the social circles of Los Angeles.

This is why Robert Sh apiro and Johnnie Cochran will eventually have a mortgage sale on O.J.'s Brentwood Estate. They get paid very well to plant reasonable doubt in the 57 percent of the public who have an unsculpted mind to work with. Either that or they could turn the ma nsion into a museum and charge admission.