I am not saying he looks old, but I bet if I were to shave off my grey beard, let my hair grow, and stand next to him, I could possibly pass as his nephew or son and I am 52 years old

On a serious note if he were really 30 years old, it would be one of the greatest hoax ever pulled off with both TBlazers and The Ohio State being duped. But medically speaking he could have degenerative gene that is causing the aging in his body as it relates to the way he looks and the medical issues....???

Oden's body is clearly older than 19. Sometimes due to genetics that happens. I wonder how old greg's mother is. Just watching him play and hearing him talk (he doesn't sound like a 19 year old). I think age wise he is 19, but his mind and body is probably around 30.

If he were 30, that means that he would have been 17 in 1st grade. I'm pretty sure they would have noticed that one of the kids was 7'0", 250 lbs.

You can probably trace his yearbook photos back if you went to his school.

I am not saying he is 30 years old, just that he is aging faster. He is a 19 year old man in a 30 year old body. Plently of people the aging trait.

I think the issue is that Oden looks old, and apparently has a worn body, as opposed to some kind of fraud dealing with his age.

It appears the Blazers bought damaged goods. Frankly, I would rather have Durant. That's a guy who will have a fast impact.

__________________
Momma was queen of the mambo, Poppa was king of the congo, deep down in the jungle, I start banging my first bongo
Every monkey like to be, in my place instead of me, cause I'm the king of bongo baby, I'm the king of bongo bong
-Manu Chao

Oden may have that affliction that Abraham Lincoln had. He was exceptionally tall and physically fragile.

So, knowing what you know now (that he will miss a year and may have health problems going forward) what # would you have picked Oden in the draft?

An interesting point of view on the subject from Kiki Vandeweghe. He talks a bit about the various degrees of this type of surgery and some of the players that have had it done.

ESPN - Vandeweghe: Oden, Blazers must avoid perils of rushing back from microfracture surgery - NBA

Both Oden and I grew up in Buffalo and I can tell you from first hand experience that they don't notice anything in the Buffalo public school system!!! LOL

Notice that the article doesn't say at what age he started school in Terre Haute. Knowing the Buffalo school system my guess is that they had to put him back about 3 to 4 grades when he started in the Terre Haute school system.

Greg Oden - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

How weird is this: Both #1 picks for the NBA and NFL more than likely won't play at all in their rookie season (Russell MIGHT, but doubtable).