Greg Oden is already known as a quirky big man. He’s eco-sensitive, openly campaigned for the president-elect before he even had the Democratic nomination and is all to happy singing horrible karaoke. Still, new developments may push him right up into the stratosphere currently occupied by only Brook and Robin Lopez: Oden watches Gossip Girl.

(Greg Oden’s Monday night: Just add popcorn.)

That’s right, folks. The show that your girlfriend keeps trying to rope you into unsuccessfully is a staple on the Oden television set. How do we know he’s into the New York City exploits of Serena van der Woodsen and Blair Waldorf (They had to name a New York-based character Waldorf? Really? They couldn’t come up with something more subtle?)? Well, as THE BIG LEAD first pointed out, Oden brings it up himself in his YARDBARKER blog:

Then in New York i just like it, me and Steve Blake went out to dinner and i got to see some of the places that were on this weeks episode of Gossip Girl.

Think about that sentence: Me and Steve Blake went out dinner and I got to see some of the places that were on this week’s episode of Gossip Girl. That is a ridiculous sentence for anyone to utter, but it’s much stranger coming from a 7-foot-1 man-child of a center who’s expected to resurrect the last remaining professional basketball team in the Pacific Northwest.

(Can’t you imagine Oden in the second row after his guest apperance?)

And from that entry we can tell Oden’s not just a casual fan; he watches every week! He’s specifically referencing sites from last week’s episode. What happens if the characters take a trip to Miami? Will Oden be distracted when the Blazers play the Heat?

Look, Bill Walton was a strange cat. This guy is outright bananas. It’s one thing to watch Gossip Girl, it’s another thing entirely to out yourself as a fan of the show on your own blog.

Walton might not mind. After all, Walton’s eclectic enough to spin chic show fandom as Oden’s attempt to “re-connect with his inner self, now that he’s away from his mom,” or some other line of psychobabble crap. Other big men? Something tells us they wouldn’t take the concept of Gossip Girl fandom with such a laissez faire attitude. Think about it: Shaquille O’Neal is a cop in his free time, where he enjoys handcuffing criminals and shoving them to the pavement. Oden? He watches Gossip Girl. And why isn’t this in his personal bio on the Trail Blazers’ page?

Oh, and this also means he doesn’t watch Monday Night football. We thought that was built into male anatomy. Evidently not.

So many questions, so few answers. That in itself might be the essence of Greg Oden., and that’s more than enough to make us big fans.