So I got the chance to sit down with Greg Oden a couple weeks ago and the majority of the conversation will appear in the December issue’s Backtalk. Having once covered athletes for a living, I tried to avoid all the jock-speak (you know, all the 100-percent giving and no-I-in-team stuff?). Luckily with Oden, that wasn’t difficult. We yakked about karaoke, comic books, movies, and yes, basketball. I even asked him about the time I saw him at a Justin Timberlake show in Columbus, Ohio (for the record, I was there for work. swear.) and he got booted for not having a ticket. Anyway, you can get the whole thing in the December issue but since the big guy is making his preseason debut on Tuesday I figured you might as well get a sneak peek.

ME: So after a year of living in Portland, what’s been your most awkward fan interaction?

ODEN: I was driving to a game one night last season, and there’s a carload of people behind me honking. I’ve got tinted windows, so I don’t know how they know it’s me. And they’re laying on their horn. I was like, “Is there something wrong with my wheels?” So I roll down my window to see what the problem is and they’re all, like, staring at me and giving me the thumbs-up sign. And I’m on I-5! On the turns! I thought I was about to die.

ME: What did you do?

ODEN: I just kept driving. Those people were crazy.