Jabroni Free Sports: Portland Trail Blazers

Monday, August 22, 2011

NBA Lockout: Greg Oden Will Benefit From Time Off The Court

The "Glass Man" still has All-Star caliber talent.

Day 53 of the NBA Lockout.

Enough cynicism. I, for one, am hopeful that the owners and players will reach an agreement by November. "Hopeful", note the word choice. If you checked out Bill Simmons' "chat" with David Stern on the B.S. Report podcast, you'd hop on the "hope" train too. A little optimism can't hurt. JFS is here to turn negatives to positives. Let's take a look at a particular player who stands to benefit from some time off the court.

About the Authors

Dean and Gabe started Jabroni Free Sports in the summer of 2011, a couple of weeks after they both graduated from Wesleyan University in Connecticut.

Dean has two years of experience blogging about topics in sports and music. He interned for the Yale Sports Publicity Department in the summer of 2010. A history major, he wrote his senior essay on the "image problem" and racial dynamics in the NBA in the 1970s and 80s. He aspires to earn his stripes in digital or broadcast sports media.

Jabronies have been Dean's pet peeve since he first saw the word printed in a since-forgotten issue of Sports Illustrated for Kids. He dedicates this blog to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, a lifelong crusader in the effort to rid the world of its posers.

Like many other lifelong residents of Connecticut, Dean is caught in a veritable no-man's land of fandom between the diametrically opposed forces of Boston and New York. So, in addition to his undying loyalty towards UConn basketball and harboring an irrational belief that the Hartford Whalers will eventually return, he roots for the Knicks, Jets, and Red Sox.

Gabe is a budding sportswriter, whose work has been featured on CNN International, and CNN's World Sport. He runs Managing Madrid, a Real Madrid blog on SBNation and is a featured Real Madrid columnist on Bleacher Report.

He grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, so he loves the Packers, the Bucks, and the Badgers with all his heart; and he lived in Boston for a year in 1996, so naturally he loves the Yankees.

His life ambition is to be yelled at by ex-Real Madrid GM Jorge Valdano during a press conference for asking him an uncomfortable question, and then being removed forcibly by security. (He did meet Valdano when he lived in Madrid, but never got to say anything questionable to him because he was too afraid of being kicked in the face. True story.)