First, it was heard on sports radio.  This morning the local news channels were airing the transgressions from a member of the Portland Trailblazers.  Some may have thought “Here we go again.”  Fans were hoping gone were the days of team members being pulled over driving home from a game with so much marijuana smoke rolling out of the vehicle that it reminds one of the scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High where Spicoli and his stoner buds tumble out of the VW van in the school parking lot.  Or that we won’t be hearing about any more dogs being left to die in an alley because they don’t fight very well.  The questions I’m sure came fast and furious.  What terrible thing was done this time?  Naked pictures of Greg Oden were surfacing on the internet.  Really?  That’s it? Don’t get me wrong.  Oden has done a lot and continues to do a lot with kids in the area.  He’s a role model and takes this work very serious.  While it’s true the organization doesn’t want this sort of publicity let’s take this for what it is, a dumb kid doing something that wasn’t the best thing to do.  If this is as bad as it gets we should all be thankful.  Everybody should try and remember what it was like when they were 19.  If this is worse than anything any of us did back in those days, well, I want to see the halo over your head.At 19, a young man’s hormones are raging out of control.  Oden stated the pictures were meant for a girl he was “in a relationship” with.  19 guys always think that the girl they’re with is “the one” and also think they’ll never break up.  For a person as sensitive as Greg Oden is it is very easy to see this was more than likely how he felt about her.  I mean, he’s a superstar college basketball player and undoubtedly has his choice of women who pass his way, but there must have been something special about this one.  So much so that he felt the need to send her some pics of him is his altogether.  Must have been quite smitten.  Now, over a year later, the scorned woman is getting her revenge.  I wonder though, how much of this “story” really is a story?Given the past slips by former Trailblazer players this is just about the last thing management wanted to have occur.  I think we all need to give the kid a break.  “Sexting” is such a phenomenon these days that there have been arrests for child pornography of those who have participated in this practice.  People all over are way too uptight.  Now, I’m not advocating the exchanging of naked kid pictures, but these were two consenting adults and one just happens to have turned out to be a celebrity seeking turd.  Not you Greg.  Not the best judgment to be sure, but far from a malicious act.  I’m also sure that when these images came to the attention of Blazers’ brass they advise Oden to get out in front of this to minimize the impact.  Try and make it a non-story.  While I can understand they’re line of thinking I also feel that they brought the attention to the matter and helped to make it a story. Greg Oden and the Blazers will recover from this.  Just a minor blip on the screen.  For those who want to chastise the kid, do so if you’ve never cast the first stone.  Climb down off that cross and use the wood to build a bridge and get over it.  As for Oden, he had made statements that he’s embarrassed over the pictures.  I’ve seen the pictures, and dude…..you’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 3:56 pm and is filed under NBA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.