My Road Trip

This past week i was a traveling man, something i should get use to, I went to Las Vegas and Portland, Oregon. It was a good trip I had a lot of fun even though I didn't get a chance to ride New York New York in Vegas. In Vegas I was at the USA National Team Press conference. It was just Kevin Durant and I we were not there for very long but it was good. He and I are pretty cool even though I must say my suit looked GOOD!!!! There is no competition between me and him we just do what we do, which is breathe, eat, ball, go out, and sleep (in that order lol). I feel the comparisions between me and him are ridiculous we don't play the same position, we have two different styles and personalities, and grew up in two different places. I guess since we are looked at as the two best prospects in this years draft we will always be connected. Back to the press conference really it was nothing a couple of comments from Mr. Colangolo then Kevin and Myself which was 10 mins at most. Then we had individual interviews which are nothing but fun and i like to say the tv once no matter what i said it wouldn't matter cause that suit looked GOOD, as anyone can feel now i really liked that suit. After Vegas I went to Portland to meet with Nike. Nike is amazing I loved my trip, meeting with the people there who are very good people, made my week. The Campus was nice to, just kidding, it was so nice very big though. The second day I was there when i went through all the presentations was amazing i got chills watching the Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods commercials they made my mom cry, which isn't hard cause she is very emotional, i will not be suprise if she cried if i was drafted first. Back to Nike, the things they did for me was like a college visit you see on tv, with all the picture of me over the campus. I saw a guy with a Ohio State shirt and I got hype I was like thats amazing someone who loves Ohio State then once i saw 30 more people with the same shirt I was like hold up not all these people like Ohio State, but its ok. Commenting on the city of Portland it is very beautiful especially when the sun is out, I heard it rains just a little bit there lol naw a lot but while i was there it didn't rain that much. The trees and mountains were very nice its a place that when I get older I would love to raise a family there. An my last spot about Portland Fred Jones is a real cool person.

61 Comments On: "My Road Trip"

 
Greg, love the blog. Tell the truth, the Badgers were your toughest opponent last year? Or was it the Badgers in Madison?

haha. You know it was Florida. Greg, you need a nickname though. I mean, everyone has one. You got any nicknames that we don't know about yet?

they were up there

Greg-

Do not let the endorsement money get to you. You are going to be the #1 pick, you will make your money using your true talents (playing ball), and signing with Nike for less than Durant will make with (probably) Adidas is worth it. I have a feeling that signing with Portland, OREGON and Nike, OREGON may be a nice combo.

who knows but thank you

Wow, that raod trip seems really cool. Does it wear you out being on the road? How tuff is it to ride in planes being a man of your size?

I have to be either exit row or first class or i cant ride but its not that bad because i sleep, im probally a sleep before the plane takes off it makes the flight so much faster.

Hello Mr. Oden
My name is jeremiah johnson, I am one of many hard core blazer fans I live in Warm Springs Oregon, once your in portland you may like to come and check out our resort...Kah-Nee-Ta it is a hotel/Casino/recreation area and is quite nice......anyway, I really hope that you would like to play for the Trailblazers, and am curious as to how you would feel about being teammates with Brandon, Lamarcus and company?...Do you feel you could bring our Franchise the Respect it has been so long denied?....I assure You that there are no better fan's in the entire world.....If you have any doubt you may want to check out the site www.iamatrailblazerfan.com We look forward to cheering for you....and congradulations!!!!

my bad it's www.iamatrailblazersfan.com .....with an s in there.......

It would be nice to play with those guys I heard nothing but good things about them just anxious to see whats going to happen

Can't wait to see you in a Portland TrailBlazers uniform!! What number do you think you'll pick when you're in the NBA?

I dont know i cant get 20 if i did go to Portland because its retired but the number isnt really that important to me so whatever i get isnt gonna mess up my playing.

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Portland sounds nice. Do they have dinosaurs? Are they even real? Did you see them in your childhood in 1962.

Well since I was born in 1922 I wouldnt know.

You have a great sense of humor espescially when it comes to questions about your true age. Yes, I agree you could pass for Lebrons father, but I find the whole scenario amusing. I feel honored as a Portlandian (yes that is correct terminology) that you will hopefully soon be playing for our our long suffering Trailblazers. I am old enough to remember the championship parade in 1977! In fact I was there on Broadway street as a 13 year old boy cheering along with the other 250 thousand fanatics. The thought of the possibility of that happening again in my lifetime really warms my cold apethetic heart! You will love Portland, and Portland will love you back over and over again. Thank you so much for your comments so far. We are honored to have the chance to call you as one of our own. Best of luck, Qbist43

I was already moved out by that time.

Speaking of suits.. what brand is your favorite type of suit? You have any idea what you might wear for draft day? I think.. Black suit.. White shirt.. Red tie... wonder whose colors those are? J/K but seriuosly I hope you end up in Oregon because it is a wonderful place. You are 100% right when you say it's a great place to raise a family

Personally Greg, I'm a big fan of pinstripes on suits. It's not boring like the other suits cuz the rest all look the same. Maybe a little flashy-ness and representing OSU (even though I'm not a huge fan of the school) and go with the red pinstriped suit. But PLEASE don't wear a boring, old suit. Wear something flashy and exciting. Now I'm not saying go Damon Jones/Craig Sager on us, but be different.

I got you I will look nice.

You'll look nice no matter what you wear cause you'll be in a Blazers hat.

Hey Greg its Greg, nice name by the way. Im a huge buckeye fan from cleveland and I was wonder how temping it was for you and mike to come back to osu and try n get a ring?? Thanks for the memories man. GO BUCKEYES

Greg, what are you going to miss most about OSU?

hi greg. i am so glad you liked portland. it is the most beautiful city in the country and yes it does rain a bit here, but the rain is way over exagerated and the springs, summers, and falls are just gorgeous... as well as seattle i might add, but it rains quite a bit more there than here...lol. congratulations and good luck on the upcoming draft and might i say that whichever team drafts you you will be a franchise player. i do have a strong feeling that you will be coming to portland tho and we are very excited about having you. i suggest that you come back and spend a week or two with your family and take in rose festival that starts this weekend and runs for 2 weeks and see the sights here. lastly but certainly not leastly, there is a lot of scuttlebut here in pdx that kevin pritchard is working very hard to secure a high enough draft pic to bring mr. conely jr. here to. whats your feeling on that and would you maybe perfer to play AGAINST mike rather than with him for a change. what a thrill?? he'd probably take you to task tho!! lol! oh well greg good luck in the upcoming draft and if it turns out that youre coming to portland welcome and
GO BLAZERS!!!!!

Hey Greg,

From a huge fan of basketball I have to tell you, when we got the #1 pick we were seriously jumping up and down and hi-fiving everyone around. I am about 99.9 percent sure that if you arent picked #1 the city of Portland will go into an absolute meltdown. I can't wait for the #1 pick to be called out and see you holding that jersey. We have been waiting years to be competitive again, and now it is coming. A big man is what we have been missing down low and while everyone in Portland loves Pryz, you are an upgrade by far. Pryz will be a good mentor for you as well. With the youth of the Trailblazers and you to come, we will have a team that will be a force for years to come.
A question for you I have is while you were in town were you hounded by people or was it pretty low key? We have a really cool city in that you can walk around and no one really messes with you. Hope to be seeing you on the streets of Downtown Portland Oregon real soon Bro...

Marcus

wusup greg!!!!!!

osu grad here (94-99)....great year you guys had....made ALL buckeye alums proud!!!!!!! that tournament run probably took 10 years off of my life but it was all good

do well in portland........#1 pick fo sho........i'll definitely be cheering for you when you visit the staples center to play the lakers and clippers........you'll love the west coast.........

aiite man, stay up and go bucks!

Cool bog, will be chekin in on a regular basis. I spent my first 24 years of my life in Oregon and am a huge Blazer fan. I watch every game the Blazers play on NBA League Pass down here in Texas where I coach high school football. Look forward to watching your NBA career flourish.

GO BLAZERS!

Oh yeah, Greg, as an amateur, young player like myself, I wanna know if their is any music you listen to before a game to get you ready for the game. I know your not listening to "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" before games, right? lol

Greg, I seen you play at Conseco 2 years ago, much success for whatever life has in store
represent Naptown d00d

I heard your favorite movie's The Crow ....lol



";{;;;;F

Let me be among the first to welcome you to your new NBA home, Portland!
We look forward to seeing you on the Rose Garden floor with Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and the rest of the crew.
If you play hard and stay out of off court trouble, I don't think you will find too many fan bases that will love you more than the Blazer fans. We have a history of loving Big Guys that play the game the right way - Luke, Walton, Buck, Sabonis.
Glad you liked your visit. You are right, it does rain a lot, especially during the season. But that is better than a bunch of snow!

Greg:
I just can't wait for the commissioner to walk to the the mike and say,

Greg: I can't wait for the commissioner to walk up to the mike and say. "with the first pick in the 2007 draft, the Portland Trailblazers select Greg Oden from Ohio State University. I'm glad that Portland was sunny for your visit. It gets better - especially with 20,000 Blazer fans in the Rose Garden. The fact that you are an exceptional person makes you being a Blazer even more special. In twenty years when someone mentions the best big man to wear a blazer uniform, his buddy will say "Bill who," our best big man ever has been Greg Oden. Learn from Luke and stay away from choping wood.

Greg, I've lived in Oregon my entire life and have followed the blazers since Clyde, Porter, Kersey and Co..... We've been terrible for so long, and now with you and Roy, LA and whoever else gets put around you....It's ust going to be a real pleasure to watch you play man... I'm getting married this summer and I'm gonna force my wife to fall in love with the Blazers and your going to be a HUUUUGE help! Good Luck!

Greg,
My family and I moved to Portland two years ago and we have loved it. The people and the scenery are beautiful. I was excited to read that you are a character guy, I hope you can keep that up (with the money and everything). Our youth could use another good role model so I hope we draft you #1.
Rob

PLeASe save our city!!! Come to Portland and play! Save our team!

Wow! Looks like the word is out in Portland that Greg Oden is on Yardbarker. A ton of Portland-ites have been in the Yard since you came along Mr. Oden.

P.S. If you get to this Greg, please let me know, do you have a real myspace or is it all just people pretending to be you so they can get a lot of friends? I've wanted to know this for a while so

Greg, I enjoyed watching you play at the San Antonio site for the sweet sixteen. i was lucky enough to some how get 1st row tickets behind your bench through my school(A&M).
Do you ever hear the guys that heckle you from the stands? Because I had this one drunk as hell guy from Tennessee behind me who was yelling the whole game

Hey Greg, Can't wait to see you dominate in a Trail Blazer uniform. I am originally from Portland but now live in Los Angeles....what can I say the weather is great down hear in california, but the people are awful. You'll Definatly love the people in Portland.
I get goose bumps daily thinking about you, LA, Roy, even you and Randolph. Wow. Awesome.
I am a Physical Education teacher in the poor part of Los Angeles. if you ever wanna stop by and surprise these Students let me know:
j33003300@yahoo.com
by the way, what is your offical vertical leap? I have read anywhere from 36 inches to 40 inches.
Thanks for being a cool dude
Jeff

Greg - We are pumped to see you play here. You will love Portland. We got a lot of hotties, less stuck up then the Cali women too. Good eats all over town, Italian, mexican, etiopian, thai..whatever your 7 feet want to scarf down. And if you like seeing rock/pop music live, we got that in droves, i doubt it but you never know. we are working on getting more of a hip-hop scene going in town. Our fans are crazy too. Check out some videos (youtube) of the 1977 championship or home games from the early 90's or early 2000's. we love a winning team here - like maniacs!
The rain sucks though. No doubt about it.

Greg,
Having a 15 year old son, and being a lifelong Blazers fan, my biggest hope is for a good player to come here. Many retured Blazers still call Portland home. It's very much a smaller town, but the people here will treat you with respect. Character and integrity are so important to us, and being a father of an impressionable teenager, I pray that what I've read about you is true. I hope you and your mom come to stay here a long long time. We will welcome you with open arms. God bless you and your family as this exciting time approaches, and no matter what, remember integrity and humbleness will carry you well as you start your career. I am SO thankful we have the chance to draft you.
Larry

Greg...it's Keller...I saw Topps was making your website. I bought gregoden20.com for a couple years when I registered yougotodenated.com. If the people from the other sites are trying to get thousands from you get my number from Mark and hit me up...it's like $15 I think. I'm always going to be ranking this thing thumbs down, you understand.

Welcome to portland greg, you will ove the city and the people. Cant wait to see you hold up that blazers jersey!! Good luck with team USA! im sure you will dominate. GO BLAZERS!!

Got an idea for your road trip, take an xbox or xbox 360 along with you, get a live account and play online. Kills time when you have some downtime with nothing to do and most hotels have free internet service. Just an idea. Good luck.

Well Greg, you are a truly lucky person, you've been given so many gifts in life. And I think that you'll soon find out that Portland landing the #1 pick is also a gift to you. You will be amazed at what a cool, hip place Portland is. The air is fresh, the vibe is young and energetic, and the fans are serious about basketball. My hope for you, is that you will get out of Tualatin, west Linn and "Lake O," and explore some of the truly finer things of Portland/Oregon/the Great NorthWest (i.e, Bagdad Theater on Hawthorne, Last Thursday on Alberta, concerts in the zoo, why all those bumber stickers say "Keep Portland Weird," the DugFir, Mt Hood back country, windsurfing in Hood River, all the great produce from the Columbia valley, fresh crab and salmon on the coast, the great snow pack on Mt Bachelor, or the other 100 cool things to do in and around Portland). There's a reason so many young, educated, spirited people move to Portland in droves, consider yourself lucky to land in one of the greatest of all the US cities… -JBird

Sure hope we draft you here in Portland Greg. THis city is getting really excited about the prospect of you in a Blazer uniform.

And with the number 1 pick in the 2007 NBA draft Portland Trail Blazers choose........ Center from Ohio state GREG ODEN! sounds really good cant wait see you June 28th.

Good to finally see a player get into the NBA (with as much hype as you have) that seems to be a decent human being. It sounds like you have a lot to thank your mom for over the years, she sounds like an amazing person.

So on to something more fun... I was watching the Rocketeer the other day, and noticed quite the striking resemblance between you and Lothar (the big guy who folds people in half). So I researched it and found out it wasnt you who played the part, but another 7ft basketball player from the 60's. I was bummed.

WELCOME TO PORTLAND, GREG!!!

Portland is actually a mild climate with only 6 months of the year over 3