Late Wednesday night, the Portland Trail Blazers announced guard Brandon Roy will undergo arthroscopic knee surgery on Thursday to repair a tear in the meniscus of his left knee. Roy underwent an MRI on Tuesday which revealed a tear in the meniscus.

That same day, the Blazers held an open session for the Portland media to get a first-hand glimpse of the return of Blazers center and microfracture survivor Greg Oden to the practice floor. Even then, bloggers and reporters raved about the promise of Portland's season with Oden in the middle. Now there will surely be fears of Roy - who averaged 19.1 points per game last season -missing significant time with the start of training camp seven weeks away.

While Roy prepares to go under the knife – an operation performed by Blazers team physician Dr. Don Roberts – the Blazer faithful await more answers as to Roy's eventual return. Right now a timetable is said to be set following the arthroscopic surgery.

In general, meniscus tears are a common knee injury. What is uncertain however on Roy's injury is if the tear is on the inner or outer menisci and the size of the actual tear. These pending factors will explain just how long Roy will be on the shelf.

Miami HEAT guard Dorrell Wright suffered a meniscus tear in early March, and after surgery wore a straight-leg brace for a month before starting rehab. Right before Washington's Gilbert Arenas underwent microfracture in late November 2007, doctor's performed surgury on a partial tear of the meniscus and Arenas began practicing in March and returned to the court in April. By the end of last season however, the Wizards guard only played in a total of eight regular season games. While Arenas' opertation was an extreme situation - a double surgery to repair a tear and perform microfracture -  the "M" word (microfracture) has yet to even be mentioned in Roy's case.

This will actually be Roy's second meniscus surgery, however. He underwent the same procedure as a junior at the University of Washington on his right knee, and returned to game competition in three weeks. But that was then. This is now. Roy has played a lot of basketball since his days at Washington, and he's certainly had his share of injuries: he missed a total of 33 games last season, four of those due to knee injuries.

Right now the billboards around Portland read "Imagine Oden Next Year" . No one wants to see them changed to say "Imagine Roy Sitting Out" . But could that be the reality?

News of Roy's surgery will dampen spirits in Portland when the masses wake to read the headline in the local paper or online. Right then, another successful offseason in Portland- securing guard Jerryd Bayless and forward Nicolas Batum via the NBA draft, the addition of Spanish import Rudy Fernandez, Oden's return to the practice floor – could all but be forgotten until word spreads of Roy's full status.  

Even then, all may not be right with the red, black and white.

While it may be a bit premature to launch into the "sky is falling" mentality, those who are well-versed in the Blazers recent knee surgery history can see how one might jump to that conclusion.

Next month – almost to date of the announcement of Roy's pending surgery - will mark the one year anniversary of Oden undergoing microfracture surgery and news arriving he'd be sidelined for his entire rookie season. Will that be the case for the Blazers All-Star guard?  Not likely. At least no one need think along those lines, particularly with such a promising season looming.

The "Rip City Revival" tagline may currently be the new black in Portland. But with the second knee surgery to another Blazers superstar in as many offseasons, "Rip City Recovery" could soon replace that mantra.