With the passing of OJ Simpson, many people have come out to offer condolences and send well-wishes to the Hall of Fame NFL star-turned-felon. Among them was Miami Dolphins legend Mercury Morris, a close friend of Simpson who chooses to look back fondly on his time with him.
According to Armando Salguero of OutKick, Morris has said that he passes no judgment on Simpson over the highly-publicized murder trial that started in 1994.
“What else can I do unless I get into the pre-judgmental conclusion conversation? And that’s where the media is right now. I can’t see it from that vantage point because then I would have to be judging him. I don’t want anybody judging me. Therefore, I can’t make a judgment on him.”
Morris made it clear that he never asked Simpson about the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown or of her friend Ron Goldman, who Simpson was accused of slaying.
“Because, number one, whether he did or whether he didn’t is none of my business. I can’t think of the girl’s name, she’s on [television] now, I can’t think of her name, and somehow, they want to try to bring that in as a little news tidbit,” Morris said.
“So, now that’s the center of the guy’s life. His football career was one thing, but that’s not all you’re going to say about him.”
Morris’ ultimate statement on Simpson is that he was “a great football player” who was fun to be around and liked to joke.
“Juice was a great football player,” Morris insists. “He was a good guy. He was a jokester. He was a person who, regardless of what may have been around him, he didn’t reflect that. He showed up as a regular guy.”
That’s not the way that most people will think of Simpson and probably not how history will remember him either though.