Sorry for the disappearing act Friday and Monday, both days I accidentally closed the Firefox windows that held my posts, costing myself a couple hours of work with two clicks. I then ran out of time or motivation to retype the posts. But I'm back, and making sure to type everything into WordPad before posting it. You'd think I'd have learned that in my 15 months of sports blogging, but I guess I'm a slow learner.

Anyway, have you been wondering why Greg Oden has struggled in the NBA's Summer League? Turns out the problem may be his tonsils, which have apparently swelled up so much that they're obstructing his breathing. The Oregonian's Jason Quick (who has become one of my favorite beat writers in the time I've been reading about the Trailblazers) got a look at the offending lymphoid tissue and was slightly freaked out (HT: The Fanhouse):

It all becomes clear. Oden, already tired and short on practice due to media obligations, has to deal with the added issue of a tonsillar bottleneck, and struggles. If you look around the internets (and probably on TV), you'll see various pundits praising Oden for blaming his trouble on his tonsils or anything else. The guy admits they're a problem, but takes the blame for his struggle in the Summer League, and I have to admit that that's pretty good. Off the court, the guy has yet to take a misstep. He's always saying and doing the right thing. I'm starting the movement now: Greg Oden for President. He'll be eligible to run in 2024, giving us plenty of time to get the campaign going. We have Indiana, we have Ohio, we have Oregon. We're 47 states away from a Greg Oden sweep of the country. Let's get to work.