What About Carmelo Anthony?
With the gold medals draped loosely around their necks, and the global respect of basketball enthusiasts back in a choke hold, U.S.A. Basketball has restored faith and attention to the United States’ ability to compete in international basketball.
But one of its best players has not received the credit he has deserved from his hometown media. Carmelo Anthony, U.S.A’s fourth-leading scorer and fourth-leading rebounder as a starter, was among the members of the bronze-winning team in the 2004 Summer Olympics that rededicated themselves to team play and a singular approach to international competition.
But if you were to count on the Baltimore Sun’s coverage of Anthony, bylines for stories that followed his Olympic exploits had more wire around them than Marlo Stanfield; an unfortunate circumstance for a reporting cadre that had two of the most famous athletes in the Olympics, but focused much of their energy on one.
Anthony had a mission of redemption for U.S.A. Basketball, and that mission was accomplished. Unlike Phelps, that mission was one that had been built up through four years of simmering angst and outward criticism of the team on the local and national levels. I won’t bring the Washington Post into the discussion, as they are far more regarded as a national newspaper than the Sun, and are not in the backyards of the Baltimore Olympians.
Michael Phelps, in all of his eight gold medals, Frosted Flakes glory, found time to cheer on Anthony, but it would seem like many of the Sun bloggers, including my favorite Kevin Van Valkenburg, caught a Phelps fever for which no prescription could be found in Beijing.
This is not to diminish what Michael Phelps has done for the sport of swimming, because nothing could accomplish that feat. This is not to decry the coverage of Anthony, coverage that while minor in comparison to Phelps and Katie Hoff has been relatively good.
But for Carmelo Anthony to be largely neglected for Phelps mania is not only sad, but irresponsible on the part of Anthony and Phelps’ hometown paper.
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Well….I won’t rest until Phelps does a “Stop Snitchin’” parody (with ‘Melo his man) on Saturday Night Live…..whenever he hosts.
[...] before the conclusion of the Olympics, I mentioned that the Baltimore Sun was doing Carmelo Anthony a disservice with its disparate coverage in favor of Michael Phelps and Katie [...]
[...] before the conclusion of the Olympics, I mentioned that the Baltimore Sun was doing Carmelo Anthony a disservice with its disparate coverage in favor of Michael Phelps and Katie [...]
[...] before the conclusion of the Olympics, I mentioned that the Baltimore Sun was doing Carmelo Anthony a disservice with its disparate coverage in favor of Michael Phelps and Katie [...]