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The musings of a Detroit-area sportswriter in the digital age.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

More to 'Melo


There were several different aftershocks felt from Tuesday night's deal:
Anthony appeared on Conan O'Brien's late-night show on TBS. As you may know, such programs are taped in the afternoon. The Carmelo deal didn't go down until the late-night hour. O'Brien offered Anthony an all-in-one jersey featuring stitches of Nets, Knicks and Nuggets jerseys.
Ever the journalist, Harvard grad turned comedian O'Brien tried to get the scoop on the impending deal from Anthony himself, to no avail.


Of course, joining a storied franchise like the Knicks is not a seamless transition when it comes to figuring what number Anthony, who wore No. 15 with the Nuggets, will wear. His old number was already retired by New York. He will reportedly will wear No. 7, while teammate Chauncey Billups will go to No. 4. (He wore No. 1 well with Detroit and Denver).

The new uni should also help Carmelo slip back into the ranks of best-selling NBA jerseys.

Stock in the Knicks franchise actually went down because of all the money the franchise through its owners, Madison Square Garden, are tied to between Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire and a renovation project.
Reports were that Anthony would start Wednesday for the Knicks, driving an already high courtside seat cost to nearly $12,000. In fact, the average ticked for the game has risen to $256, more than 2 1/2 times the original going rate. Some ticket brokers were urging fans to wait a couple weeks to go to Madison Square Garden to see 'Melo, as the demand should decline accordingly.
New York papers opted for the "Hello, Melo" headline. I also liked "
DOLAN IT OUT FOR MELO" and "YOU HAD ME AT MELO" suggestions that were floating around the Internet last night.
For more sports business news, follow Darren Rovell's blog on CNBC.
UPDATE: MSG shares finished up 1.4% for the week, according to Rovell. ... Also per Rovell, the Knicks are reporting Melo related apparel has moved 3,500 units.

1 Comments:

Blogger John Leach said...

Paul. Good stuff. I'm just glad the Lakers weren't a part of this. I can hear it now -- "they call me mellow yellow". Sung by that all-time superstar relation of mine named Donovan Leach, of course. LOL

February 24, 2011 at 8:20 PM 

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