Hall of Fame, Jeremy Schaap acknowledge death of O.J. Simpson in very different ways

Shortly after the family of O.J. Simpson confirmed that the Hall of Fame running back had died at the age of 76 following a battle with cancer, the Pro Football Hall of Fame and well-respected ESPN personality Jeremy Schaap addressed the news in vastly different ways. 

As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk noted, the Hall of Fame focused mostly on Simpson's numerous on-the-field achievements that made him one of the greatest ball-carriers in the history of the sport. 

"O.J. Simpson was the first player to reach a rushing mark many thought could not be attained in a 14-game season when he topped 2,000 yards," Pro Football Hall of Fame president Jim Porter said for an official release. "His on-field contributions will be preserved in the Hall’s archives in Canton, Ohio." 

Schaap went in a much different direction and directly spoke about the horrific June 1994 murders of Simpson's ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. A criminal court jury controversially found O.J. Simpson not guilty of first-degree murder in 1995, but a civil trial jury later ordered Simpson to pay $33.5M to the families of Brown and Goldman.

"I think we have to keep in perspective here – yes, he was acquitted," Schaap said about Simpson's criminal case during a "SportsCenter" appearance, according to Kevin Harrish of Awful Announcing. "But anyone who has seriously looked at the evidence – anyone who saw Ezra Edelman’s brilliant film for ESPN about O.J. Simpson – would have to come to the conclusion that he was a murderer. And so, am I filled with sorrow today? I am not."