It's been a long time since that snowy day in 1973 when OJ Simpson became the first running back ever to rush for 200 yards in three games in one season. With that performance against the New York Jets, Simpson handily crushed the total yardage record held until then by Jim Brown and he peeled away the 2000 yard season barrier, which had stood mocking pro football running backs ever since they began keeping statistics for the game.

The man became an icon, excelling in every endeavor he pursued. In my opinion he strode right past wearing the label of legend because his accomplishments were so timely and tangible. So what happened to this meteoric star who wore the hats of athlete, spokes person, broadcaster, actor, producer, and family man? Did he burn out and slip into drugs? Did he get arrogant and stupid? Perhaps he sold his soul to the devil?

To me it makes no difference what the reasons are for the rapid decline into destruction that has become the life of Orenthal James Simpson. What has happened to him cannot in any way be shrouded in the filmy faux veil called victim. He's lived his life, made his mistakes, and bent into an ugly pretzel the golden scepter of opportunity that the world had placed at his talented feet. By my figuring OJ Simpson is now in debt approximately $34,969,162.17, not including interest and penalties on back taxes.

Finally, Fox did something I can applaud. Today Fox's parent News Corporation (NYSE:NWS) announced that it was canceling the OJ Simpson book If I Did It, and corresponding TV interview. The project was so vile, so immoral, that even the media's most whorish member bowed to universal disgust and kaboshed the thing. So much for its Sweeps week zinger.

"I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project," Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. chairman said in an Associated Press report. "We are sorry for any pain that this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson."

Books have been pulled out of contract or off shelves when there are questions of accuracy, but it's almost unprecedented, thanks to the First Amendment, to pull a book solely due to objectionable content. Certainly this may be the first time such a high-profile book has been pulled this close to publication. The only book that springs to mind that spawned such widespread vitriol from publishing circles was Brett Easton Ellis's "American Psycho" in 1991.

It's not surprising that Fox's affiliates, many of whom bear the mantle of Conservatism proudly, would protest loudly. How many of its Christian-family- values" audience want to see this sort of content on the tube? As for bookstores, Borders Group, Inc. (NYSE:BGP) one of the nation's largest, said it would donate any profits resulting from the book to charity.

Absolutists on the First Amendment might disagree with the decision to pull the project from public consumption, preferring to let the marketplace decide for itself, but in today's world, that's going to happen anyway. The book is now officially a collectible. And eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) is there to make sure there's a market for it.

The Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch gave in to public pressure and his News Corporation (NYSE:NWS) book operation, Harper Collins, will not publish the OJ Simpson book If I Did It. A TV special related to the book was to run on Murdoch's network, Fox.

Australia is a former penal colony and perhaps Mr. Murdoch was worried that his US citizenship would be revoked and he would be returned to his island home.

The US has a long history of banning books. Catcher In The Rye was kept out of schools off and on for years. Ulysses by James Joyce, perhaps the greatest novel of the 20th century, was banned by the US Customs Office for fifteen years. The wonderful thing about banning books or blocking their publication is that, once the process begins, it has no clear end.

Mr. Simpson's book is a hypothetical account of what might have happened if he had killed his former wife and one of her friends. How could it be that Mr. Simpson has no First Amendment rights? OJ may be a jabbering horror of a human being, but he retains the right to write and publish as he see fit.

Murdoch may have wanted to appear the apple polisher to the public, but has done his industry a great disservice.

Douglas McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.