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I had the best of intentions for a memorable weekend. I had plans. I had places to go. It’s Thanksgiving, right?

None of it transpired the way I expected. I spent the weekend in track pants and a t-shirt, eating copious amounts of junk food while not leaving my apartment. Here’s why.

On Friday, after work, I picked up a copy of Joe McGinnis’s “Fatal Vision”. I had originally read the book in 1983 and felt it was a classic, comfortably deserving a spot with The Executioner’s Song and The Onion Field as brilliant examples of the “true crime” genre. Thanks to the Internet I had stumbled on the fact that Jeffrey MacDonald, the convicted killer of his wife Collette and his two young children, Kimberly and Kristin, and the subject of the book, had continued to profess his innocence and was touting “new” exonerating evidence. I had been a junkie about case details in the 1980’s but had not thought of the murders for years.

Now, when the book was first published it did not contain any photos. Outside of text, it contained only a crude diagram of the military apartment in Fort Braggs where the killings took place. As a result, at times it was difficult to envision fully the case against MacDonald. Could he, as his supporters claim, really be innocent?

I sit down, start to read and begin to get very interested. I “Google” the case and hit a treasure trove of photos of the family before the cursed night. I’m reading and surfing, and Collette and the little girls are becoming formed in my mind. The Christmas celebrations, the Halloween costumes, joyful moments with family, the girls riding a pony etc. The processes of becoming absorbed in the case are completely different than the realities of research in the 1980’s. It’s now early Saturday morning. I plough on.

I find photo’s of the street where the murder occurred, the entrances and exits of their residence at 544 Castle Drive, the rooms of the apartment, shots of the bedrooms and living room. I’m compelled to read through the trial transcripts and began to really understand the complexities of the case against MacDonald. Confusions that had bothered me 25 years ago are being clarified.

It’s now late Saturday afternoon. I’ve drank over two litres of coke, eaten a quart of ice cream, chips and popcorn, all the while promising myself just one more hour before sleep. I notice it is geting dark outside. Somewhere the Leafs are getting underway. I want to watch the game. Doesn’t happen.

I come to the crime scene photos. People I’m now familiar with are shown bludgeoned. Then the autopsy photos. Taking it all in. It’s early Sunday and I’ve found raisins, probably a year old, at the back of my fridge. I read on. In a fluke of incalculable irony, the victims all have different blood types. It is possible to re-create the path the killer took through the house. The killer is Jeffrey MacDonald.

Sunday at noon I stagger to the shower. I’ve read a 600 page book, Article 32 transcripts, Grand Jury transcripts and, finally, 1979 trial transcripts. I’ve walked through the apartment while the family was enjoying a Sunday dinner, and I’ve tip toed around pools of blood while the victims lay dying. I’ve had all my questions answered. And I’m balancing feelings of disgust, sorrow and terror. I want a shower so badly. I want the NFL. I want a beer.

The sheer mendacity of the human being is laid bare while unravelling the case. That a father, beyond a shadow of a doubt, could butcher his family is appalling. That he would then refuse to admit his guilt for decades, and instead offer one idiotic theory after another, shakes me to the core. How well do we really know each other? Who can we trust? I’d advise anyone NOT to re-read the book, NOT to take the journey I did. He is guilty as all hell and deserves nothing but the jail cell where he currently rots…

GRID IRON..an S I poll of NFL players queried, “Who is the most overrated player in the league?” The results were interesting. Brett Favre came first, Tony Romo second and Terrell Owens third. The results were completed just before the start of Week 2. While Favre has certainly answered his critics, Romo and Owens are in the midst of desperately poor seasons…the Jacksonville Jaguars were stout in a defeat of the Tennessee Titans in Week 4. They were blasted by Seattle yesterday. I find it interesting that the inconsistency with the Jags is being blamed, as it was last year, on mysterious “off field” issues. I’ll keep digging in attempt to understand what exactly is contributing to the Jaggies frustrating irregularity…punters are roaring through their Suicide Pools with a plethora of terrible teams making picking relatively straightforward. The drums, however, are starting to beat as the pool of remaining teams becomes constricted. This week I’m looking at Green Bay (at home with an improving Detroit) in my winner’s pools and Oakland (playing host to a sold Eagles squad) in my loser’s pools…nope, never, ever seen a QB go 2 for 17 and win a game. Derek Anderson, QB of the Cleveland Browns, moves into the Meridian Hall of Infamy for his ignoble accomplishment…what a tremendous stat for new Denver Bronco defensive coordinator Mike Nolan; the Broncos have held opponents to a stifling 2 of 30 third down conversions in the last two quarters of their first five games. The implication is a defence making half time adjustments that completely obliterate opponent’s offensive flow…against New England on Sunday, and this is fairly ominous for Pats fans, the adjustment consisted of rushing Tom Brady with five men instead of four. Brady is wilting in the face of aggressive pass rushes. Unless he can began to torch defenders again with long balls to Randy Moss (remember him?) or develop some kind of relationship with speedball Joey Galloway, Brady is going to be submereged by a cacophany of crazed blitzers for the duration of 2009…