On This Day in 1994...

Who can forget what went down on this day 16 years ago? Talk about time flying by. I spent that afternoon in Manhattan, catching the tail end of the New York Rangers parade celebrating their Stanley Cup victory, the only one of my lifetime. We then met up at a friend's place to watch Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the Knicks and Houston at MSG later that day, only to be interrupted by the O.J. Simpson slow speed chase and all that followed.

According to ESPN, which has produced a documentary about a fascinating Friday 16 years ago, something other than O.J. Simpson's low-speed Bronco chase happened on June 17, 1994.

Apparently Arnold Palmer was playing his final round at the U.S. Open, the New York Knicks were battling the Hakeem Olajuwon's Houston Rockets, the World Cup was kicking off in Chicago, and the New York Rangers were basking in the glory of their Stanley Cup victory with a ticker-tape parade in Manhattan.

But especially for those of us who were living in Los Angeles at the time, there was only one event that we will remember about that day, and that is the strangely unforgettable "chase" where Al Cowlings drove his friend O.J. Simpson for two hours through the city with an impromptu escort by the city's finest.

Times television critic Robert Lloyd describes the documentary as something unique for the small screen. "The film, which premieres Wednesday as part of ESPN's anthology series "30 for 30," is made entirely of archival news footage, some of it in raw, unmediated form, never meant to be seen; there are no talking heads, no present perspective apart from a few final title cards briefly sketching subsequent events."

So do you recall where you were that evening when this madness unfolded?

Here's a review of the ESPN program.