It’s not a good decade to be a Portland Trail Blazer apparently. First, former All-Star Brandon Roy, who was expected to simply be the team’s amnesty clause pick before he signed on elsewhere, announced that he was retiring because of his degenerative knee issues, and that sucks because he could have been great. Meanwhile, LaMarcus Aldridge will miss a few weeks after being diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which sounds cool-scary-bad at dancing. And then there’s poor, old Greg Oden.

Possibly feeling that he owed something to the team that drafted him, Oden signed a 1-year, $8.9 million deal with the Blazers, and everyone involved hoped that this would be the year that he at least cushioned the blow of that whole drafted-before-Kevin-Durant thing. Well, we’re going to have to wait a few months to find out, because he has suffered yet another setback in his own knee surgeries, hence the crutches in his recent team photo above.

And that photo has me wondering, is this the saddest thing you’ve ever seen or what? I’ve seen boxes of puppies left on the side of a road look happier than this. Poor guy, maybe he’ll finally be 100% when the Miami Heat sign him for a dollar next season.

As I’ve pointed out a few dozen times since July 1, whoever is running the public relations strategy for the NBA players union is doing a terrible job. But I’m also willing to bet that nobody is really in charge of the spin machine, as we’ve seen both the players and owners struggle to grasp reality during this entire lockout.

However, it’s worth pointing out that the players, despite coming off as greedy and arrogant at times (*cough, Dwyane Wade claiming he deserves $50 million per season, cough*), really do have their acts together for the most part. Sure, some of them are acting like they don’t give a crap about whether or not there is a season, but some of them are using their free time for the betterment of society and they’re not necessarily doing it so they can pose for the cameras.

Us basketball fans may be pissed, annoyed, frustrated, and flat out angry, but we’re also ignorant to the better efforts because a couple guys giving out Playstations to terminally ill kids doesn’t make a front page look as sexy as Wade telling off the league’s commish. Fortunately, I was doing some fall hard drive cleaning and came across a slew of images that proves that even the most robotic, soulless eventual billionaires like LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony have big hearts. They just don’t have good marketing teams.

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Portland Trailblazers star Brandon Roy has issued an apology for his appearance in a new rap video from “artists” Cali and Cavalli for their hit(?) “What They Want.” As you can see below, the video deals with some criminal elements and less than desirable behavior. I’m talking about wearing clothing that endorses Spain. This is America, Cali and Cavalli. Love it or leave it.

Regardless, Roy has apparently recognized that it’s not a good practice to openly associate with stuff like drug use and criminal behavior, even if it is just in a fictional artistic medium. Jamal Crawford also appears in the video, but he hasn’t issued an apology. Probably because there’s nothing to apologize for. Well, unless you’re Tipper Gore. *high fives 1980s political satire*

SLAM! Duuh duuh duuh, let the boys be boys, Fanhouse:

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