41-41: Not Just a Silly Prediction Anymore (with Oden Injury Video)

He acknowledged his mistake. He apologized. He even took it back.

But it was too late.

From the second Bill Simmons wrote it, the outrage among Blazer fans was palpable.

"Blazer fans went ballistic," he said. "They became really, really super, super crazy upset about it. Saying stuff like, 'You're crazy! You're the biggest idiot! Don't come here for your book tour!' It's like, 'whoa, settle down, I just picked you to go 41-41, it's not like I built a Brandon Roy voodoo doll or something.'"

Why the outrage?

Before the season, the Sports Guy dubbed the Blazers as the "You-Thought-We'd Take-Another-Leap, But-Instead-We-Went-Backward-Because-Expectations-Were-Too-High, We-Tinkered-With-Our-Chemistry-And-Our-Young-Guys-Tuned-Out-Their-Coach" Team.

Not something a city with only one professional sports franchise wanted to hear.

But with each passing day, Simmons' prophecy is gaining momentum— and casualties.

First, it was Nicolas Batum, then Travis Outlaw, and then another—LaMarcus Aldridge.

Bad luck? Sure.

But tonight, the world came crashing down on Blazer fans.

Greg Oden, the player they are awkwardly forced to love—despite not being anywhere as good as he was supposed to be, or the guy he was drafted in front of—came down with the most brutal injury in sports since Shaun Livingston's Achilles tendon exploded two years ago.

Simmons describes the phenomenon like this: "It's like watching 15,000 parents rooting for their kid, only all 15,000 parents fathered the same kid."

Except their kid drops three fourth-down passes, catches a six-yarder on 3rd-and-13, and then gets hurt in the game's final minutes.

The Oden injury is unfortunate for the Blazers, but even more of a dagger for the psyche of their fans. It's hard to get jacked up for a Joel Przybilla layup.

Even though I am a Warriors fan, the injury to Greg Oden is tragic.

For such a talented player, the adversity he's had to deal with already in his young career is unparalleled.

Here's to a speedy and successful recovery for Greg "Babyface" Oden.

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