Greg Oden Blogs: Review of the NBA's #1 Draft Pick's Blog

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Greg Oden is a blogger!

The NBA Draft is on June 28^th, and former Ohio State Center, Greg Oden will most likely be the number one pick. Worst case scenario he's the number two chosen player in the draft behind AP player of the year, Kevin Durant.

I know that some athletes occasionally blog, and there are a number of different reasons to do so, all of which I usually enjoy reading. Mike Conley Jr. (Oden's OSU teammate and fellow anticipated #1 draft pick) and John Lackey (Anaheim Angels Pitcher) also blog on yardbarker. (Note: Make sure you notice who the verified bloggers are because there are some people impersonating others, and it's pretty obvious they're not the real person).

Reasons why Pro Athletes Might Blog

Perhaps the athletes want people to know the real them, to see them as an individual just like anyone else. Maybe they just enjoy discussing their particular craft (i.e Todd Jones) and enjoy showing the general public insider information and their own opinions and valuable insights into things and events that affect their everyday life.

Maybe Oden is doing it to increase his fan base and his chances for more endorsement deals or maybe his agent just wanted people to see the real Greg Oden to help him develop a following going into the NBA instead of getting relatively forgotten about like I did with J.J. Reddick and Adam Morrison.

Greg Oden's BlogEither way, Greg Oden has made 6 posts chronicling varying aspects of the days and events leading up to the draft including an afternoon playing hoops in a pool with Josh McRoberts from Indiana. It was really interesting to delve into the life of someone who is famous and about to be worth a LOT of money when Portland selects him with the number one pick of the draft. Watch out Zach Randolph, your spot might be in jeopardy soon.

Oden articulates himself very well, especially when discussing how he doesn't like the comparisons between himself and Kevin Durant. I'll let you read it for yourself, but it definitely makes a lot of sense. He showed more charisma and humor than I thought he had too when he talked about air balling a three point attempt at the combine and then dong his best Along Came Polly impersonations after the first day was over.

I must say that I'm one of those people that believe that sports celebrities are the same as everyone else. They put their pants on one leg at a time, etc. This probably comes from playing baseball with quite a few of the guys that are either in the show, soon to be in the show or are hanging out in the minors right now. Anyway, despite this I really found myself getting immersed in Oden's blog because it really did explain the process of going from college to the NBA and the ways in which you have to learn to be a man and grow up and do things on your own without a coach's itinerary.

It was neat to see all of the events he was apart of in such a short period of time, as well as the emotions and reactions he had to those events. If you enjoy sports culture as much as I do and want to read Oden's blog, check it out here: Greg Oden's Blog