Does Greg Oden need to "man up?"

by hurryup09 on Feb 27, 2009 3:01 PM PST Comment 39 comments

Reasonable people can differ about whether GO has game, or whether he's injury-prone. (For the record, my view is that he obviously has plenty of game, and that the sample size is still far too small to conclude he's injury-prone.) But now I'm seeing a lot of posts and comments to the effect that GO lacks toughness or desire: that he's unwilling to "man up" and play thru an injury. Sorry, but this is NOT something that a reasonable person would say.

Folks making those "manly" statements might have--or should have--noticed that everytime GO has gotten hurt, going back to his college days, he's tried to play through the injury--even to his detriment.

E.g., back in college, GO came back from his wrist injury early and played essentially one-handed for the remainder of the season. Some felt that, as a result, the wrist never did heal properly. During Greg's rookie year in the NBA, he grew impatient with the endless rehab and snuck out (against doctor's orders) and played at 24-Hour Fitness. Then this season, when GO injured his ankle on opening night, he stubbornly played on, dragging his leg up and down the court until it became obvious that he was a liability out there. Same thing recently after Greg chipped his patella in a collision with Cory Maggette. He gimped it around the court until halftime, refusing to listen to what his body was telling him.

Hello! Anyone with eyes can see that this guy is DYING to play, and it clearly kills him when he has to sit out. How anyone could suggest he's dogging it mystifies me. No wonder some athletes feel that fans just see them as pieces of meat.

If Greg Oden ultimately elects to play out his rookie contract and go help another team win championships, Blazer fans will be getting what they deserve. No doubt they'll while away the playoff season every year writing angry fanposts about how the Blazers blew it by letting their franchise center get away. But sports historians will write about how the city of Portland looked the ultimate gift horse--the 5.3% miracle of the '07 draft--squarely in the mouth.

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Odin help us...

If Greg gets disenfranchised, and does the unthinkable (leave Portland). I admittedly have increasingly significant doubts about Greg’s ability to become the big man of our dreams if we stick behind him as one of the faces of this franchise. That said, I have no doubt that if we let him get away he will proceed to dominate the NBA for the next 10-12 years.

I heart taxes.

by everett on Feb 27, 2009 3:07 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

That's funny and telling

The same fans who can’t visualize Greg Oden helping the Blazers win a championship know in their BONES that if GO ends up with another team, that squad will championships up the ying yang. Some psychology grad student could write a thesis on that topic.

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Feb 27, 2009 3:16 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

It's called "I hope I don't get drafted by the Clippers or Kevin McHale"

That can change careers for the worse.

Proud Odensheeple

by Norsktroll on Feb 27, 2009 9:14 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Nothing personal hurryup,

but this topic is like witnessing a moose getting run-over on your daily commute, then having to watch the remains decay over the course of several months.

by MiledAnimal on Feb 27, 2009 3:07 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

vivid image, MA

But I’m not seeing the connection with the question of GO’s alleged lack of toughness. Sorry, but you’ll have to spell that out.

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Feb 27, 2009 3:10 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

But I do have a moose-getting-run-over anecdote

When I was in Norway, the guy driving us from the airport to a ski lodge was proceeding very slowly thru the woods. When we asked why, he explained that when you hit a deer, the front end of your vehicle gets damaged. But when you hit a moose, thanks to those stilt-like legs the torso of the beast comes right thru the windshield and squashes you like a bug.

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Feb 27, 2009 3:23 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

And the moose is always right according to traffic laws, even if it jumps right in front of your car or sleeps on the street

Proud Odensheeple

by Norsktroll on Feb 27, 2009 9:15 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Dave’s Fanpost Reminder: Duplicating Topics — to which you felt the need to defend your fanpost here — says it well enough.

A glance at the fanposts right now shows the following GO and his injury threads:

Greg Oden Support Thread
Patience is a Virtue
Durant vs Oden Reversed
Blazer medical staff has got me thinking…

Plus Ben’s posts on Oden being out Sunday.

All I’m saying is, too much is enough.

by MiledAnimal on Feb 27, 2009 4:31 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

If you read my comment at Dave's post...

…then you know what my take on that is. Namely, I feel this post addresses a new, specific criticism of Greg Oden that’s been rearing its ugly head @ BE and elsewhere: that he lacks the necessary heart or toughness to play thru an injury.

I know that in the minds of some fans this issue is all bundled up with others—whether GO has game, whether he’s injury-prone, whether the Blazers’ medical/ training staff is competent, whether GO is being properly utilized by the coaching staff, whether Durant will be the better player, etc., etc. But bundling unrelated issues is an indication of emotional—rather than rational—thinking. E.g., if a guy’s body is fragile, he must be mentally weak as well.

In my post, I’m attempting to separate those other issues and whatever merit (or lack of same) they may have from this new criticism of Greg Oden, which to my mind is obviously off-base and objectionable.

P.S. I STILL don’t get your dead moose analogy. Unless you think GO’s build, with its long legs, resembles that of a moose, that is. But whatever: as long as the analogy works for you, cool.

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Feb 27, 2009 5:52 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Okay, the sturm-und-drang about whether Greg

should or should not play, and the endless discussion about whether he is mentally, emotionally, and physically able to go on with life in the NBA, is the moosekill that is being run over by every car (dozens of BEdgers) that pass that way every day. I’d go into greater detail, but my wife just yelled at me to get to bed.

by MiledAnimal on Feb 27, 2009 11:27 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Oden is the rookie with more double doubles, and couldn´t play 12 games?.

Sergio + Rudy = 16
Sergio + Bayless = 16
Batum 8+8=16

by amlmart1 on Feb 27, 2009 3:12 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Oden is the cat's meow

The real deal. Even realer than Joe the Plumber.

The only good things happening on Wall Street are the dogs that piss on it daily.

by vavoom on Feb 27, 2009 3:28 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Oden needs to man down.

Or maybe woman over. Or beast around.

by pualo on Feb 27, 2009 3:45 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Give me a break

This is NOTHING compared to what the fans of any other team in the NBA would say if he were on thier team after what he has done so far.

by Planet29 on Feb 27, 2009 3:55 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Agreed--there's knucklehead "fans" in every town

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Feb 27, 2009 3:58 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I am totally calm about Oden.

I happened to catch a segment on Canzano’s show where he interviewed a psychic just before the trade deadline. I don’t put much stock in fortune tellers but she DID say she sensed a trade and Chicago. She didn’t say a trade WITH Chicago, just that she sensed Chicago. Enter Ruffin.

Then she said it’d take Oden longer to get back from this injury than people think and THAT’s come true. So far she’s been bang on.

She also said they’d make the playoffs and create some excitement but insinuated not a lot of wins. She added that Oden would play a big part in their success next year.

She’s been as accurate as anybody and I might as well choose to believe her as long as she’s getting it right rather than worry about what other nudnicks here have to say.

Spanish Main: The point of departure for enormous wealth in the form of gold, silver, gems, spices, hardwoods, hides, alley-oops, assists and three pointers.

by LaughingJon on Feb 27, 2009 4:05 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

This is good enough for me...I'm in for another year!!

It’s funny that the “really smart sports broadcaster guys” get a free pass on predictions that turn out to be as bogus as any psychic. They never get called on what they said a year ago.

Oh, and try this sometime….go to any Chinese restaurant, demand to see the manager, pound on the table and say, “I have not met any mysterious strangers!”.

The cowards never started
The weak died along the way
Only the strong survived
They were the Trailblazers

by lukeyhere on Feb 27, 2009 4:22 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Great, we're pinning our hopes on a psychic now.

by MiledAnimal on Feb 27, 2009 4:23 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Far better than pinning them on John Canzano...

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Feb 27, 2009 4:29 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Oh great, lets make some predictions on that level of credibility

Looking in my crystal bowl and murmuring some stuff I saw on Charmed, I see the following right now that I feel confident to predict:

Martell Webster will not make a significant impact on our regular season
Brandon Roy will be tired in the playoffs, but still help us a lot
Nicholas Batum will create some excitement next year
Rudy Fernandez will create some excitement next year
Greg Oden will create some excitement next year
Rebecca Haarlow will leave the Blazers and take a job with the Bulls or a major network in the future
Then I see something about Kevin Pritchard smiling on draft day, but that image is a bit fuzzy

Proud Odensheeple

by Norsktroll on Feb 27, 2009 9:22 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Oden is fine

The MSP needs to man up. – Elgin

Blazers win BDL 2 on 2 tournament!
Skeets: i’ll close it down now … congrats. you bastards

by 22baylor on Feb 27, 2009 4:33 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

when baseball pitchers try to keep playing while injured

they make the injury worse and often hurt another part of their body while attempting to compensate. if something hurts, your body will involuntarily try to adjust so as to minimize the pain, and this in essence throws everything out of whack.

sometimes players try to “tough it out,” play lousy, then a month later or something say “well, i was hurt.” but at some point the actual injury has to be faced, whether this means surgery or a long rest.

lots of nba big men have had trouble with injuries early in their career and then settled down. look at cleveland’s center, ilgauskas. he had foot surgeries and all inds of trouble for 2-3 years. (yet he was so unknown here, and has such a dfficult name, there was very little attention paid to him.)

andrew bynum has now had bigtime knee trouble two years in a row.

nene has had all kinds of problems. he was playing reat this year, however, until recently he “knocked knees” with someone and was on crutches after the game.

if greg oden needs another knee surgery, hopefully it’ll just be arthroscopy and the recovery time will not be very. lots of players have their knees scoped several times and it’s no big deal.

ignacio

by ignacio on Feb 27, 2009 5:11 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

That's correct

When my knee was reconstructed, I was warned that I could expect future problems with my hips, shoulders, neck, etc. That’s because when one major joint isn’t functioning 100% correctly, it will cause stress on others. In GO’s case, if he favors the newly-injured knee, he’s going to expose the surgically-repaired knee to unusual stress. Obviously, that’s a very bad idea.

As for the possibility of GO needing the knee to be scoped, that would be another black eye for the Blazers’ medical team. Namely because, in that scenario, he will end up having missed several more games than had he had the knee scoped on Day 1.

But that’s a topic for another Fanpost—e.g., Blazerbeliever’s medical staff post. In this post, I was attempting to specifically address GO’s supposed failure to “man up” and play thru injury.

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Feb 27, 2009 6:04 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

yeah, i was just (with typos) saying that playing with an injury is a bad idea

playing with some bruises is another matter entirely.

but those who think oden should “man-up” when his knee hurts just don’t know what they’re talking about.

ignacio

by ignacio on Feb 27, 2009 7:38 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Yada, Yada, Yada........

by JmarcL4 on Feb 27, 2009 8:27 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

yes he does.

I thought these guy’s were like present day gladiators, and that’s why we paid them so much…..the injury possibility element of the game…. I mean who wants another 12 million dollar corps?

The Faith don't panic, the faith freaks out burns out farms and torchs small villages in the name of The Faith.

by faith on Feb 27, 2009 10:25 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Uh, that's football you're talking about

Baseball players make big bucks too. Do you think they’re “gladiators”? Of course, if you were joking, then never mind.

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Feb 27, 2009 10:32 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

yup....I was serious.

I just can’t seem to justify their salaries if not for the risk of injury….whether it be by fame and a psycho stalker or the fluke on the court injury…. he has an obligation to “preform”.

I of course don’t mean that he should go out of his way to jean claude van dam out, as in a Kickboxer scene, “kick the tree”, “little palm tree”…. but I do think that if cleared to play by the otherwise crack smoking medical team of monkeys…..yeah he needs to G up and get back out there and give as well as he takes.

The Faith don't panic, the faith freaks out burns out farms and torchs small villages in the name of The Faith.

by faith on Feb 27, 2009 10:37 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

You know, I always had a problem with tennis players' salaries

But now that I think about it, the element of danger from rabid fans (e.g., the infamous Monica Seles incident) justifies those big bucks. Now: if only someone would take out a golfer, I could feel OK about them making all that money also.

But as for GO, no that’s illogical. There’s a time for toughing it out and a time for sitting it out. A broken wrist (e.g., Przy’s) is one thing. But knees that are stiff and sore shouldn’t be played on. Certainly not when you’re a young player whom a franchise has invested millions of dollars and a #1 pick on.

I can’t believe that any competent medical staff would give GO the go-ahead to play on that knee when he can’t even run normally on it. Full court basketball is a much more rigorous test.

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Feb 27, 2009 11:02 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

oops--of course this was intended as a reply to faith

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Feb 27, 2009 11:03 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

k..but that'll just get a ...

when has greg ran normal?

I stood up at work and nailed my funny bone….sure it hurt…damn near had me thinkin I might need surgery…shoot i wondered if I’d ever bend my elbow normal again…but I typed my way through it. and guess what my productivity didn’t suffer …my employeers were happy…and I was …cleared to work ;)

So our medical staff is incompetent and have no idea what they are doing?

Or Greg’s a weenie and don’t wanna get another boo boo?

His coach is confused!! that’s not a good sign of what’s what and who’s making the decisions.

The Faith don't panic, the faith freaks out burns out farms and torchs small villages in the name of The Faith.

by faith on Feb 28, 2009 12:16 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I have to say this.

Oh good grief.

"Aneurysm".

When Outlaw wins a game on a last-second shot, it’s called an "annthefaneurysm". QualityPie

by annthefan on Feb 28, 2009 8:11 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I've written about BE's armchair tough guys; now I read this and learn I was oh, so accurate

Typing with a funny bone zinger compared to playing NBA ball with a chipped patella…I love it!

BTW, when Nate watched GO trying to run in practice, he was no longer confused. One look at that and he said GO wouldn’t be playing for awhile.

The only concerning thing in all this is that if the medical staff did indeed clear GO to play prior to his leaving on the road trip—leaving the timing up to him—they they screwed up. This is the same staff that cleared Webster and Blake to clear before THEY were ready. So something may be wrong with that decision-making process. Specifically, the medical staff may be prone to telling the coaching staff what they want to hear instead of using their best judgment.

But 1) we don’t really know what the decision-making process has been in ANY of those cases, and 2) again, this is a topic being covered in blazerbeliever’s tread. The subject of this tread is Greg Oden’s supposed need to “man up.”

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Feb 28, 2009 11:04 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs