Ok so let me first clear something up.
BlazerMulletMan. I owe you an apology I've behaved like a prick towards you out of frustration with your position. For that I am sorry.
Bgrantfan/PapaG after all your behavior on this forum, there is simply no way I'm going to apologize to you as you don't deserve it. Taking the moral highground as you like to do now and then is simply laughable.
OldManGrouch, I respect you even if I vehemently disagree with your Oden stance.
Look I've been a blazer fan since 77' when my father rushed into the street carrying me going nuts over the Championship. I was right there in the crowd being bouyed by the exuberance and reportedly clapping and saying Blazers over and over. I've been a fan since my age was measured in months not years (I was born in spring of 1976 FWIW.) So I'm as old school a fan as any of you oldsters and as a portion of my life I surpass most of you. I used to say "Two just like that" and "Two for Larue".
With that established here's why I am driven so nuts by the Oden "critics". It's not the guy's fault. He didn't draft himself. KP and PA made that decision so Oden vs Durant is THEIR FAULT, not Oden's. Oden may have hyped himself coming off a frustrating loss in the NCAA Finals and honestly believing he could deliver on his youthful exuberance. It was KP and the media both local and national that pumped this guy up into a once in a lifetime center. Yes, he added to it but come the fuck on he was 19 and had the national spotlight on him. Since then it's been one injury after another and I've watched that bright shiny exuberant kid turned into an increasingly hardened young man. Under the constant scrunity and criticism of media AND THE FANS, he has become withdrawn, guarded with the media and only happy on camera when it's from afar and he is unaware or uncaring.
I remember when he first got the MF surgery on his blog a bunch of people absolutely trepanned the guy. All sorts of major assholery was evident and personal attacks galore as though he had somehow shit in other people's cereal and enjoyed the plummeting crash from stardom and agonizing rehab. Some fans turned on him instantly in an aha GOTCHA kind of way, especially those who correctly picked Durant as the pick (I still feel this is yet to be decided, but many want to write history in advance). After being a small minority, the Durant camp went absolutely nuts. Thanks to asshole pieces of shit like Simmons, the Bowie meme spread as
Simmons successfully made everyone forget that he PICKED ODEN OVER DURANT! Simmons being the piece of shit flip flopping shit head that he is, wanted Oden when he thought Boston would get the pick and then proceeded to jump ship once Boston got screwed. None the less, his national megaphone put the Bowie vs Jordan 2.0 meme out there, and it stuck.
People being mindless sheep that they are, ate this up with a spoon never bothering to compare the types of injuries, the patterns or all the ways in which Durant is NOT Jordan and Oden is NOT Bowie. I won't go into that here as it's been rehashed endlessly. The point is this is stupid in the box thinking of a narrative sort that people just can't seem to climb out of much like the old lady who has fallen and can't get up.
So what has Oden done wrong? Well he took a picture of his dong and txt'd it to a girl. I'm sure he is one of MILLIONS of guys his age who has done the same thing. Young people's sense of privacy is downright insane to me, but on the other hand that's their business...until it's leaked to the media by a petty person. Was this embarrassing to the franchise? Yes. On the other hand it's more joke fodder then a return to the Jail Blazer era. So has Oden done anything wrong by the team? No! He has done everything the trainers and medical staff (another group that might share in the blame along with KP and PA) have asked of him. His sole mistake in my opinion was the 24 hour fitness fiasco. Now that was STUPID! However, it showed he loved the game and wanted to play along with what we now know is a pattern of poor judgement out of innocent youth. B-Roy being equally stupid with the rap video thing, but who cares about that EITHER.
So then why criticize Oden? Sour grapes over Durant?
Sure plenty of that!
Why else? A desire to be right? I think this is true as well for some folks.
Why else? A desire to continue to have a victim mentality as a fan of a Franchise that has WILDLY fluctuating fortunes (we've done damn fucking well as a small market franchise thank you very much) it's hard not to be a bit manic-depressive. Definitely some folks who lived through crushing disappointment (Jordan, Walton's injuries, Game 7 of WCF etc.) almost feel more comfortable steeling themselves for certain doom then trying to look at things objectively.
So lets look at some facts. Has Oden disappointed everyone who isn't his mother? I would say definitely yes and I include myself here. Is it his fault? No! Definitely not! Any fault lies with the following in order of importance: PA, KP, the Media, the Blazers medical and training staff, HCP for putting together awesome mixes that always have us drooling for next year.
So when you criticize Oden and say "Oh woe is us, we're doomed he will be a loser, cut bait CUT FUCKING BAIT!!!" You are giving up on a guy who is key by any RATIONAL estimation to getting a ring. If you are giving up on Oden, I would say you are giving up on the Blazers. While we are at it, why are folks so non-chalant about Roy's injury history which, and this will sound crazy to some, is FAR more worrisome then Oden's. Why? Well his injuries are all soft tissue, muscle related and foot related. Those are the injuries that NEVER heal completely and NEVER go away. Roy has accomplished a ton, and certainly far more then Oden, but I believe his injury history is just as scary if not more so then Oden. I also believe Oden will still be playing when Roy is done. You can disagree with this last Oden injury vs. Roy injury all you want and I'm open to that debate.
What I'm fucking sick of is the CONSTANT, RELENTLESS drumbeat of Oden hate. And it is ODEN HATE, make no mistake. If people are upset about not getting Durant direct that hate at PA and KP where it belongs! Oden is doing the best he can and I support him and WILL continue to support him because to me Oden is the single most important player on this team in regards to potential championships. This was true last year and is 10x more true after the three headed Monster team in Miami was created.
So for god sakes get off Oden's jock and start supporting him and the team. If you see Oden phoning in a game (and we know he's healthy) or you hear reports ala D Miles that he is phoning in rehab then go to town. But until then please, PLEASE get off his jock, besides have you seen that thing? That's like being a Romania soldier during the time of Vlad Ţepeș, you're just asking to get impaled!
In closing lets go after players who by statements or actions aren't showing their best effort (Rudy for example) or McMillan. Guys who are giving it their all every night whether rehabbing or playing shouldn't be criticized they should be supported as long as they wear the Black and Red.
