JUNE 1994 PART 5

                                        THE AFTERPARTY & THE CHASE

    I rolled out of bed around noon on June 15 and went out to get a Ranger championship shirt. It was
hot as hell that day, even for June. But it didn't matter. I was still flying from the night before.
      Every radio station in New York was playing the clips of Sam Rosen's TV call (and this one will last a
lifetime!) and Marv Albert's radio call (something many of us thought we'd never see) New York was in
party mode.
      I wanted to turn my attention somewhat to the Knicks, but with the Cup in hand I was more into
celebrating that then worrying about the Knicks, especially since they were trailing 2 games to 1. I also
had worked my schedule out so that I'd have Tuesday off and work Wednesday, meaning I'd see Game
7 of the Cup and miss Game 4 of the NBA.
      But some other things were going on besides the Rangers and the Knicks. Although OJ Simpson
had been questioned and released, he was not ruled out as a suspect in the murder of his ex-wife and
her friend Ron Goldman. Also, I had heard he was in Chicago when the nurders happended, but now they
were saying he was still in LA getting ready for a flight to Chicago. Still, I thought, this had to be a
robbery or a rape gone wrong.

Then came Friday June 17....

    I dragged myself out of bed and back to the Sportswon store on Jamaica Avenue to get a Ranger
championship hat. Then I drove back and got on the train down to City Hall to see the Ranger parade. I
had been hoping to meet the Shelley's contingent and ride in with them, but I was too late.
      I watched down at City Hall, as Alexi Kovalev rode by, jumping up and down and waving his lucky
troll. He was impossible to miss because he was going crazy. Some of the other players rode by but I
couldn't tell you who they were. The next person I recognized was the coach Mike Keenan, his float
seemed to hang there for a long time.
    I went looking for the float that had Mark Messier and the Stanley Cup. I didn't find tHat, but I did find
the Shelley's crew. Brian Anderson, Buck, Espo, Pat Hunt, Steve Delgado, and one guy whose name I
can't remember. We stuck around City Hall for a bit, then we headed to the Stone Street Cafe. One of the
guys who owned Shelley's also owned Stone Street.
    I had plans that night, so I laid off the booze but the other guys pounded away. Then the chants
started:

            (Put any Islander name here) takes it up the a$$
            Do Da   do da
            (Repeat first line)
            Oh, a do da day
           
 Then there was the old Garden chant after Denis Potvin had been arrested for spousal abuse back in
1982...

            Beat your wife Potvin
            Beat your wife. (Bang table twice)

That went on till the TV's showed a picture of OJ Simpson

            Kill your wife OJ
            Kill your wife (Bang table twice)

    By now it was becoming apparent that OJ was not only still a suspect in the murders, but quite
possibly the main one. They were searching his house and his car. If I had only known just how close the
cops were to arresting him, maybe I would have altered my plans for that night.
    We left Stone Street about 4 PM and started walking back up the Canyon of Heroes, which as Espo
pointed out was now "The Canyon of Drunks" Some of the guys stopped in the bank, I went in there to
cool off. I noticed there was a big pile of flyers sitting there saying "Come celebrate the Stanley Cup
Champion New York Rangers at the Stone Street Cafe" I grabbed them up handed some of them to Buck
and said "lets hand these out"
    Buck went across the street and I stood outsdie the bank. I figured since the owner was a Woodside
man, I'd help him out. Of course most people looked at me like I was nuts.
    But that was before Brian and Pat came out and saw what I was doing. Brian grabbed them out of my
hand and started giving them out himself. Except he was screaming "Please Please take one!" When one
guy in a business suit pushed him out of the way, Brian ran back to him and screamed in his face
"You're an animal sir!"
    He eventually was down to one flyer, which he begged a six year old girl to take. When she did, he
raised in arms in triumph, and was mobbed by the other guys. It was hysterical.
I was I had e-mail back then, because I know there are things that happened that day that I'm forgetting, it
was such a crazy day. But the night is pretty clear.
    I went with my girlfreind to see the movie Wolf, with Jack Nicholson and Michelle Phiffer, and you
would think that a movie with two award winning actors like that would be a hit. It was ok, but what was
happening at home on TV was worth double the price of admission for any movie ticket.
    As I was driving home, already pissed that I had missed Game 5 of the Knick series, (they had won
Wednesday night to tie up the Finals at 2-2)  I was also hearing that OJ Simpson had been arrested, and
that when the cops came for him, he took off in his Bronco. When I got home, I saw the footage on TV. I
also heard later on, that NBC, televising the Knicks-Rockets, had gone to a split screen. OJ and Al (AC)
Cowlings driving down the freeway with 30 cops in pursuit on one, the game on the other. You want to
know when the reality TV craze started? That night.
    It reminds me of the Denis Leary routine on why we are obsessed with TV. "We were sitting around
one Sunday morning watching TV, when Jack Ruby killed Lee Harvey Oswald right there on TV" he said
in his 1993 CD, "and 30 years later we're still waiting to see something like that again man" Well he got it
on a June night 31 years later.

The Ranger parade, the Knicks one win away from taking it all, and an ex football star and actor, running
from the law all on TV. June 17, 1994, the craziest day in the craziest month.