Is now the time to remove OJ Simpson from the wall of fame and HOF?

[purple haze]

6 hours ago, BarleyNY said:

Take him off.  The wall in the Bills stadium is a reflection of its fans.  It is a list of those we respect the most.  Simpson certainly was a phenomenal player, but that’s not the whole test for me.  He murdered people.  He’s trash and I don’t respect trash.  I don’t want his name up there.  Fans shouldn’t have to stand under it to cheer and good human beings like Lorenzo Alexander and Kyle Williams shouldn’t have to play under it. 

No it's not.  The wall is a reflection of the contributions of said players to the organization, whatever they may be.  Has nothing to do with the fans.

[Penfield45]

OP’s favorite confederate statue got taken down and the first thing he did was make a thread about how OJ needs to be removed now

 

even though it has nothing to do with what’s going on in America right now 

 

OJ is a top 3 player to ever play for this franchise he deserves to stay there. 

Edited June 9, 2020 by Penfield45

[ngbills]

6 hours ago, Nester said:

With the current race situation in America, it seems insensitive to bring up his removal at this time.

 

It may not be your intent, but timing is everything.

I think it is the intent. I am assuming but this has the looks of a "if your going to punish bad white people why not punish bad black people". 

[PromoTheRobot]

2 hours ago, Limeaid said:

 

Yes current issue is white on black not black on white (latter never sets off looting).

 

The OJ trial had a racial component for sure. But his being on the Wall is about his (alleged) crime.

[Mr. WEO]

7 hours ago, Paul Costa said:

I feel his body of work speaks for itself as a Buffalo Bill. He is a HOF player. He was involved in a horrible situation in California & Las Vegas was in high profile trials and even went to prison on a serious charge. Best case you can say he made some really bad decisions. Worst case you can say he’s a murderer that got away with a horrific crime. My take is I would keep his name there as part of history. If the Football HOF Decided to remove him then there would be a strong sediment to follow suit. 

 

 

"He was involved in a horrible situation"--that is certainly the most sublime euphemism for "decapitated 2 people" ever written.

 

I don't think the Bills should have to look toward the HOF for the proper sediment to remove his azz from that wall....

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

What if he admitted he did it, but noted it was in protest of systemic racism... that seems to make it ok from my understanding 

[Augie]

Where do you draw the line? There are a lot of people who have done bad things in the football HOF as well as other sports. They are in for their play, nobody said they were choir boys. Who is going to judge them? What is the criteria. Do they have to be convicted? Do we go after Ray Lewis next? It’s a slippery slope and gets too murky for me to mess with. If he were not in already and I was voting, it would come into consideration. 

 

He’s there, I leave him there. Everybody has their own opinion of him and in or out isn’t going to make a difference to me. 

 

 

.

Edited June 9, 2020 by Augie

[BarleyNY]

15 minutes ago, Augie said:

Where do you draw the line? There are a lot of people who have done bad things in the football HOF as well as other sports. They are in for their play, nobody said they were choir boys. Who is going to judge them? What is the criteria. Do they have to be convicted? Do we go after Ray Lewis next? It’s a slippery slope and gets too murky for me to mess with. If he were not in already and I was voting, it would come into consideration. 

 

He’s there, I leave him there. Everybody has their own opinion of him and in or out isn’t going to make a difference to me. 

 

 

.

That is such a BS argument.  Just because we can’t all decide exactly where a line should be drawn doesn’t mean that the vast majority of us can’t agree that certain things are way over it.

 

You are free to say that there should be no line, no moral component to special honors like this.  But just come out and say that.

 

Just out of curiosity, if the Bills move into a new stadium and OJ’s name doesn’t get put up again who’s going to be angry about it?

[Irish Dave]

He stays.  What he did on the field, the records he set, was all in the 1970s.  What happened  later in the 1990s has NOTHING to do with any of that. 

[RiotAct]

another way to look at it is, I doubt anyone

goes to themselves “man, I would really like to grab some Bills tickets and/or merchandise... but they have that O.J. Simpson guy on their Wall of Fame still, and that pisses me off so much that don’t think I’m gonna!”

[LABILLBACKER]

8 hours ago, Gugny said:

Your question is "Remove OJ?  Keep OJ?" and the choices are yes or no.  It's way too early in the morning for riddles.

 

I'll vote when it's framed properly.  But my vote is to remove him from the wall immediately.

 

The Hall of Fame is full of scumbags.  I personally don't care what they do.  But the Pegulas should have some class and get his ass off of that wall so they stop celebrating a murderer.

 

7 hours ago, OutOfBubbleGum said:

Keep him on the wall and in the hall. We have to keep football separate from politics in all aspects. When players kneel it divides the fans. We can't have unity when actions are made due to the current political climate. In my opinion political correctness needs to stay out of it as well. OJ was a great player and broadcaster until things unraveled for him, things that are in no way condoned anywhere. He made the wall and the hall with a stellar reputation, leave it alone.

I love how people think murdering someone is a political act. How embarrassing. 

[Jauronimo]

15 minutes ago, Irish Dave said:

He stays.  What he did on the field, the records he set, was all in the 1970s.  What happened  later in the 1990s has NOTHING to do with any of that. 

I think we should still count the 80s and OJ's contribution to cinema.

[Augie]

21 minutes ago, BarleyNY said:

That is such a BS argument.  Just because we can’t all decide exactly where a line should be drawn doesn’t mean that the vast majority of us can’t agree that certain things are way over it.

 

You are free to say that there should be no line, no moral component to special honors like this.  But just come out and say that.

 

Just out of curiosity, if the Bills move into a new stadium and OJ’s name doesn’t get put up again who’s going to be angry about it?

 

So we disagree, perhaps. It doesn’t make it a BS argument. As I said, if he were not already in and I were voting, I might look at it differently. I never said there was no moral component. I asked where the line is. Sure, he was found guilty in civil court, but should it be required that he’s found guilty in criminal court? Do I think he did it? Of course. Might his son have done it? Maybe? I’m certainly not saying he’s innocent of anything or a good person. But he’s in based upon what he did on the field. 

 

Where do you stand on Ray Lewis? Throw him out, too? Or is the line somewhere in between?  

 

You may disagree, but it appears at this moment 76% of votes agree he should not be removed, for whatever reason. 

[Chandler#81]

Why does this ridiculous topic continue to rear its ugly head here??‍♂️

[Augie]

8 minutes ago, Jauronimo said:

I think we should still count the 80s and OJ's contribution to cinema.

 

THIS might be where I have to draw the line! Can we throw him out for THAT?   

[ghostwriter]

I think everything shouldn’t be so white and black in terms of judgment. If a man does something wrong it shouldn’t erase all things he’s done right in his life. 

[LABILLBACKER]

7 hours ago, Nester said:

With the current race situation in America, it seems insensitive to bring up his removal at this time.

 

It may not be your intent, but timing is everything.

This is an unnecessary thread. The probable murder by OJ had nothing to do with police brutality or racism. His acts after football should matter. Especially if it involves a multiple murder.  I'd have no problem seeing his 32 replaced with Kyle or Fred. But the bottom line is OJ's true punishment will take place when he's gone. There's no golf courses in hell.

[first_and_ten]

7 hours ago, bigK14094 said:

OJ was great in Buffalo.  His troubles were much later.  Leave him on the wall, not worth the effort and the bad feelings to remove.

 

I agree with this. This celebrates his football achievements as a player for the Buffalo Bills. There would be too much hassle to take his name down. 

[BarleyNY]

6 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

So we disagree, perhaps. It doesn’t make it a BS argument. As I said, if he were not already in and I were voting, I might look at it differently. I never said there was no moral component. I asked where the line is. Sure, he was found guilty in civil court, but should it be required that he’s found guilty in criminal court? Do I think he did it? Of course. Might his son have done it? Maybe? I’m certainly not saying he’s innocent of anything or a good person. But he’s in based upon what he did on the field. 

 

Where do you stand on Ray Lewis? Throw him out, too? Or is the line somewhere in between?  

 

You may disagree, but it appears at this moment 76% of votes agree he should not be removed, for whatever reason. 

It’s a BS argument to say “we can’t agree on where the line should be so we can’t use a line”.  “I don’t think there should be a moral component” or “the line should be here” are valid arguments, however.  That holds whether or not I agree with them. 
 

I’m embarrassed to have OJ on our Wall of Honor.  I’d be embarrassed to have Ray Lewis, Aaron Hernandez or a number of other people on there too.  As you point out, 3 out of 4 people voting in the poll don’t have a problem with it.  That’s their opinion and while they are welcome to it, it doesn’t quite jibe with the outrage I see so often for players on other teams for doing almost nothing comparatively.  I mean, how do you complain about Brady deflating some footballs when you’re cool with keeping a dirtbag like Simpson (armed robbery and kidnapping convictions on top of that double murder thing) on your wall?  I can’t bring myself to do it.  I’ll just leave my part in this conversation at that. 

[1ManRaid]

9 hours ago, Gugny said:

Your question is "Remove OJ?  Keep OJ?" and the choices are yes or no.  It's way too early in the morning for riddles.

 

I'll vote when it's framed properly.  But my vote is to remove him from the wall immediately.

 

The Hall of Fame is full of scumbags.  I personally don't care what they do.  But the Pegulas should have some class and get his ass off of that wall so they stop celebrating a murderer.

Also the poll is actually a different question than the thread title.  A general "Remove OJ?" is a different subject than if NOW is the time to remove him.  The title presupposes that he should be removed, and puts emphasis on specifically the timing of it.