Greg Oden Injures Knee, Out Indefinately

Inevitable.

In-ev-it-a-ble.

Blazers fans: you have no excuse if you're shocked. No right to be bewildered. These are the breaks when you play roulette with a young center with injury problems.

The house wins.

It's inevitable.

Go ahead: be angry.

I'm pissed. I dropped way too much scrill on 1/4 season tickets... I caught Blazermania worse than most. It happens.

But don't feign surprise.

You're better than that.

You knew it would happen all along. Of course I warned you. I warned myself. Doesn't matter... all of that doesn't take the sting away.

This was bound to happen.

When you draft a center with injury problems, you get what you drafted: a center with injury problems.

It's not just my mindless conjecture anymore: the man is now carrying the city on a bum knee.

Welcome to the jungle; welcome to the Sam Bowie Story Sequel. This is it.

Meanwhile: Young Kevin floats around the court like a gazelle, ghost-like visages of MJ twinkling around him in an ecstatic halo.

Will Mr. Oden come back a step slower? A half-step? A quarter-step?

Will his mind be right?

Will we as fans be left with nothing but memories of those amazing Orlando workouts -- where he rose taller than a mountain, ran faster than a speeding bullet, dunked harder than Daryl Dawkins?

Is this it? Is it over? Have our Blazers title hopes Sopranos-faded-to-black, already?

You know we traded Z-Bo right?

You know we passed on Young Kevin?

For this heartache.

This sucks.

Is this the end of the world?

No, sadly, this is just the beginning.

He hasn't even played a game yet.