2007 NBA Mock Draft

Greg Oden, Former Ohio State Center and Future NBA Star, Launches Blog at Yardbarker.com

Emeryville, CA (PRWEB) June 19, 2007 -- Greg Oden, widely considered one of basketball's greatest big man prospects, has launched his personal blog at Yardbarker.com, the premier destination for unfiltered sports commentary by fans and bloggers, it was announced today.



Oden, who earned All American honors as a freshman at Ohio State, will share his daily life experiences and answer questions from fans as he prepares for the 2007 NBA Draft as well as competes during the 2007-08 basketball season. He has already written about the WNBA, eating hamburgers poolside with NBA prospect Josh McRoberts, learning the tricks of the NBA trade from legends like Bill Russell, Bill Walton and Bob Lanier and how much he'll miss college life.

"The idea of connecting directly with fans made the Yardbarker opportunity very appealing to me," Oden said. "No matter what happens in the draft I will be going through some dramatic changes in my life. I thought it would be fun to share those experiences with the fans and learn a little bit more about them too."

Despite playing the 2006-07 season with an injured right hand, Oden established himself as the most dominant post player in college basketball, leading Ohio State to a 35-4 record, a Big Ten title and a berth in the national championship game. With his intimidating presence on defense, Oden has often been compared to Hall of Fame center Bill Russell.

"Greg Oden is pioneering the next wave of sports media," Yardbarker Co-Founder Pete Vlastelica said. "The intimacy and sincerity of what he writes, and the access he gives his fans by actually responding to their comments, are unprecedented in professional sports. Greg is going to make it very difficult for anyone who reads his blog to root against him. We are very proud to be working with him."

"We recommended the blog to Greg as part of an overall digital strategy," said Bill Sanders, VP of Marketing at BDA Sports Management. "He understands the importance of connecting with fans and participating in the digital world. He's very much into technology so this makes great sense for him."

About Yardbarker Inc.
Yardbarker is a sports web site that allows fans, not editors, to post, rate and discuss the best sports content available daily on the web. Yardbarker's sports bloggers are blazing the trail for a new kind of sports journalism: witty, interactive, multimedia, refreshingly biased, and generally able to talk about sports in the language that sports fans find most engaging.

Contacts:
Kirk Reynolds
Yardbarker
408-592-4955

Chris Talbott
BDA Sports Management
310-573-7380

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