BUFFALO , N.Y. -- Think about the nation's obsession with the O.J. Simpson murder case. Multiply it by 10. Only then might you approach the scrutiny the case has received here.
This is where O.J. played most of his professional football career, for the Buffalo Bills. Here he was more than the greatest running back of his time. He became western New York's ambassador to the outside world. He lent a sheen of Hollywood glamour to Rust Belt Buffalo while boosting the self-image of a city with a keen inferiority complex.
Now, authorities say this city's hero is a monster.
"I feel so sorry for Buffalo," says Carol Jasen, news anchor of WIVB-TV. "It's one more kick in the teeth for a city that doesn't have too much to cling to. People here loved O.J."
"I always believed in mom, apple pie and O.J.," probation officer Brian Ergort says. "Now I don't know what to believe. In my business, you see everything. Nothing shocks you anymore. But this - this shocked me to the core."
The mood here has shifted from shock to disbelief to anger. Some are angry at Simpson for letting them down, others at a news media they feel already has convicted him.
"O.J. put this town on the map when the only thing the world knew about us was snow," says Millicent Thomas, vice president of the Buffalo Urban League. "I don't believe he did it. I think it was a set-up job. The media put him up so high on a pedestal and now they are tearing him down and destroying his life."
WGR Radio takes calls on no other topic. "Most people were in denial last week," talk show host Rich Michaels says. "Some are still in denial, others have come to believe the unbelievable. But everyone has this morose, let-down feeling."
Partly because O.J. was a joy to watch on the field. And partly because he continued to pledge loyalty to Buffalo long after his playing days. Monday, Bills owner Ralph Wilson offered condolences to the families of those slain.
"I'm not able to comment on what happened in California the past week," Wilson said in the first comment by the team on Simpson's arrest. "But I am able to say that my experience with O.J. Simpson always has been most friendly. Both as a player and in the years that followed, he maintained a good relationship with our organization and with myself."
Simpson attended Mayor Tony Masiello's inaugural ball in January.
"This is where he made his name," Masiello says. "He's part of the Buffalo family. We're all still in shock."
Some want to drum Simpson out of their extended family. His was the first name to go up on Rich Stadium's Wall of Fame, but there is a clamor for it to be removed - or even covered with a black shroud until his case is decided. Such talk would have been heresy 10 days ago; now calls to WGR are running about even.
Peter Mulloy sells hot dogs in Cathedral Park and hears opinions all day. His own: "It feels so awful, like someone died." Two people did, Mulloy is reminded. "I mean, it felt like he died," Mulloy says. "As a hero, I guess he did."
The Bills have lost the Super Bowl four consecutive times. But losing Super Bowls is easy. Losing heroes is hard.
"You lose the Super Bowl, you get over it," lawyer Vince Tracy says. "There is always next year. But this is different. This hurts so bad you can't even describe it. And this will always hurt."
