My View, from Fox 13's John Wilson

O.J. Simpson is once again doing what he seems to know best -- he's got our attention again. 

This time, he will have to answer to the state of Nevada for some serious felony charges in connection with a very bizarre armed robbery.  His legal team will hack into these charges (and the thugs he was with) like a buzz saw, and if there is any sense of legal 'payback' in this, they will find it and convince the jury that he not only didn't know about the gun but was there to recover some personal things that belonged to his mother.

Many people don't even remember him now as one of the most famous running backs of all time.  His coach at USC called him the greatest player who ever lived.

His murder trial lasted nine months and he paid his dream-team lawyers $4 million.  That was before FOX had a real network then, but we carried every day of the trial here on WTVT.  That was more than a decade ago.

Since then, he's paid back thousands for stealing cable TV, written a book about how he could have killed his wife and Ron Goldman, gotten thrown out of a restaurant, and was forced to sell his prized Heisman Trophy.

I met O.J. Simpson in 1979, his final year in the NFL, he was playing for San Francisco and was in St. Louis to play the Cardinals.

I was driving my family around Busch Stadium there before the game and saw him just walking along the sidewalk, alone.  I stopped the car, said hello, and he came over to the car, stuck his hand inside and spoke to our boys -- Mark, Paul, and Patrick -- shook their hands, exchanged small talk, and signed an autograph.  My wife remembers he was wearing gloves.

At that moment, O.J. Simpson was the greatest football player ever.  But how the mighty fall from grace -- CEOs of big companies, politicians, religious leaders, even judges, lawyers, prosecutors, entertainers, and even an astronaut.  Kids looking for heroes have to look very hard these days, don't they?  

The media loves celebrities because it gets viewers and readers.  But no profession is exempt, even journalism.  I know three television news anchors who went to prison for committing crimes, and the first chapter in freshman psychology, comes to mind: we are all products of our environment, our families, our friends (or people we think are friends) and where we grow up and how we learn to be an adult.

The media loves comeback stories and heroes, but the media also loves a good story, and when they fall from grace it's an even bigger story.

But take no joy in watching O. J Simpson stumble through life now, we all played a part in it because of our fascination with fame.  There are much more important things for us to be talking about. 

That's My View.