Every time I see an ant hill, I can’t help but think back to when I was in high school. I was a sophomore. Maybe a junior. All I know is there must have been a couple hundred ants crawling all over me and I hated it.
It was in Nebraska. I was working with my dad trying to repair a driveway culvert at the feed and seed lot one of my older brothers and my dad ran. The culvert had a hole in it. I was selected to try and fix it. Had no choice actually. My dad – likely after a long day of work in the hot summer sun – asked me to lay down on the gravely driveway to see about a hole in the culvert.
I laid down, discovered the hole and stood up to tell my dad about it.
As I did, I got a tingly feeling all over me. I had rested right on top of ant hill. I was covered with ants. Covered with them. They were on my legs, my arms, my neck. I was freaking out.
I imagine news of Greg Oden’s latest gimpy knee problem has hit a lot of people in the same way. If nothing else it is part of his injury prone legacy.
Oden missed the NBA rookie-sophomore game last night after experiencing some swelling on his left knee. The MRI revealed a chip fracture on the patella. Now every Blazers die-hard or Oden fan across the league suddenly has this creepy crawly feeling all over them. It’s like every time you think this kid is healthy, you are swarmed with discomfort.
Makes it even worse after Kevin Durant did what Kevin Durant does.
I mean, forget the ants. The injury bug feeds on this guy like he was Old Country Buffet – the wrist, the knee, the ankle, the knee.
But let’s look at the big picture here. Had Oden played Friday night in Phoenix, it would have been the back end end of a back-to-back-to-back outing. If anyone needs a break in Portland it is this kid. What truly matters is that he get some rest and be healthy for the second half of the season, not go-down in an exhibition game that doesn’t count.
No need to freak out.
As I stood there covered with ants, I’ll never forget how calm my dad was. He simply walked over to me, told me to stand still and started brushing the ants off of me. Felt like a lifetime. But it was over before I knew it.
That’s all Oden or his fans in Rip City can do right now.
Remain calm, brush it off and move on.
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The Latest: When All-Star weekend always rolls around, I can’t help but be envious of those other writers who take advantage of their three-day-weekend. No such luck for me. While I didn’t make the trip to Phoenix, we have a strong HOOPSWORLD contingent on the ground.
Luckily, they are spooning me some interviews.
Stay tuned….will have a feature story on Kevin Durant and Michael Beasley, as well as one on Atlanta Hawks center Al Horford running later today.
Enjoy the weekend.
pic via: brouser
thank you, w.m.
they chose participants w/o personality for HORSE/GEICO, wrong move…wrong move. the game is about trash talking. i’m heading out for a sandwich.
you are taking it to a whole different level right now glen….HORSE-trash talking- sandwiches….i take it you had a long all-star weekend.
In an interesting coincidence, I was a wrestler in junior high, high-school and for 3 years in college. I had myself a little chip fracture of my patella when I banged my knee into some guy’s noggin … hurt like hell for about a week and pretty sore for about another two after that, but certainly nothing to freak out about.
WM, your mentioning of ant-hills had me thinking of various people making them into mountains, which certainly seems to dovetail with some of the freaking out I’ve seen on various message boards about this incident.
I guess it’s possible Greg’s knee is in rough shape, but part of me wonders if the Blazers just wanted him to get the rest and used the collision with Maggette as an excuse to get him on a plane to Indiana a day sooner?
Anyway, love reading the blog, good stuff as always.
Seriously, I’m so glad I get my Blazer news here.
hey reid…..
thanks for getting at me. and if you – for some odd reason -have to look elsewhere for your blazers fix – which hopefully you won’t have to – at least you know you can always find random stories about kids from nebraska and “social insects” here.
right on nj….know i’ve said this before, and i will say it again.
it’s readers/writers like you that make this “online journal” (because blogs are so last year) run…..seriously. always appreciate the takes.
and yes, that was the heart of the story. i know because this is greg oden and we all know his injury history, that his current knee pain is another red flag.
but the blazers can’t do anything right now. the choice is simple: put greg out there or let him sit and get healthy. the thing is, i’m not so sure greg will ever be completely healthy.
everytime he falls, bangs knees or gets a “boo-boo”, people will make it out to be more than it really is.
there is cause for concern if greg says – ‘you know what. i can’t do this. i get hurt too much. my playing days are over.’
until then – in my eyes – he’s another player that has to deal with the injuries that come with the nba.