OJ T-shirt 2.jpg

(Twitter)

(File photo)

If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much is a T-shirt worth?

It appears it can be worth a lot of trouble as the Alabama-USC game draws near.

The Tide and Trojans kick off Saturday, Sept. 3 in Arlington, Texas, but before fans even check out their teams, there were clear messages sent across fan lines in the form of T-shirts.

Last week, the USC campus bookstore unveiled a t-shirt for the Alabama game. It simply says "Roll Tears Roll" and goes for $19.95.

On the heels of the release, a T-shirt - not affiliated with the University of Alabama - found its way online.

The shirt says, "Our OJ only killed Clemson."

The reference is, of course, to former Heisman Trophy-winning O.J. Simpson, who played football at USC, and Alabama senior tight end O.J. Howard.

When the USC sports media relations department was reached by AL.com on Thursday and asked if their department knew of the shirt, he replied, "vaguely."

He was then asked specifically about the O.J. Simpson reference. He replied, "I don't know about that."

The T-shirt was available on TeePublic.com, which is a site that enables users to upload their work, according to chief operating officer Adam Schwartz.

"TeePublic is an open platform that enables designers from around the world to host and sell their own artwork," Schwartz told AL.com this week. "We do not actively police artwork uploaded to the platform and we strictly follow DMCA laws, which outlines the take-down procedures we adhere to."

As it turns out, a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) was sent to the site, Schwartz later confirmed. A DMCA is basically when a copyright holder notifies you if a user of a platform has infringed on their rights with a work.

As it turns out, it wasn't the reference to Southern Cal, but Clemson that warranted the DMCA.

Joe Galbraith, the associated athletic director of communication, told AL.com Clemson didn't send the DMCA. Schwartz confirmed the notification came from the Collegiate Licensing Company because of the use of "Clemson" on the shirt.

The CLC confirmed it sent a take-down request to TeePublic, the website selling the shirt.

"The University of Alabama initiated the request to remove the shirt, and the request was supported by Clemson, since it's marks were being used without license or approval," Tammy Purves, senior Director of Communications and Creative Services told AL.com when reached. "While both universities often support rivalry and game-day designs in good fun, neither university approves of merchandise with distasteful messaging."

Schwartz said any information on sales of the shirt could not be disclosed, nor the contact information for the artist (known on the site as TheDeuce) who created the shirt.

On Oct. 3, 1995, a jury found Simpson "not guilty" for the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.

Meanwhile, Howard destroyed Clemson - killed it, if you adhere to the shirt's description - with five catches for 208 yards and two scores in a 45-40 win for the College Football Playoff national championship.