It was the picture that launched a thousand shaky-camera-tripod jokes.
The picture showed up at World Star Hip Hop and was apparently put there by an ex of Greg's. It was yet another piece put on the Greg Oden pity pile. (Unless, of course, you were a reporter at the Willamette Week.) It had only been a month since Oden's injury (upcoming) and then he ended up like this.
This blog posited that perhaps Oden's picture wasn't the negative it was originally thought to be. I joked that Oden's penis was put out there by his publicist. Of course, that wasn't true. However, it still changed the image of Oden, added another facet to his public personality. He's more than the mopey injured dude. Now there's a little bit of Wilt in him, albeit with a million times more fouls per game.
What made it worse for Oden is that the picture hit at the most boring portion of the season, deep in the dark cold January doldrums. What are desperate basketball writers supposed to cover? The actual game? Where's the fun in that? What is there between Christmas and the All-Star Game? Just a lot of East Coast trips and quarter-filled arenas because no one feels like braving the gray snow lining the streets.
In the time since the photo was released, Oden has been redeemed a bit, simply in the fact that he was the first in a line of such pictures being released. Where before these pictures were the domain of actresses and singers such as Rihanna, Oden was the first man to be outed in this way. In a way, he's the Jackie Robinson of sexting. Later, athletes such as Mariners closer David Aardsma, George Hill, and Grady Sizemore have been caught exposing themselves.
Where are we now with this? The fallout from this story has been non-existent. Greg Oden isn't any less beloved around the city. All this story is at the end of the season is its funniest moment. It was one of the biggest media moments of the entire season, and that's why it's here in the top five.
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