Scott Schlaufman
Sloppy says

This weekend, I found myself in a bit of a dilemma.
Carmelo Anthony jersey in one hand, can of gasoline in the other; oh the choices.
On one hand, he should legitimately be credited for saving basketball in Denver, but on the other hand, he wants out of the city that he saved in a way similar to LeBron leaving Cleveland.
I was led to this dilemma over the weekend, when talks of Carmelo’s departure hit a full boil. I ignored the signs over the summer and kept telling myself, “Nah, ESPN’s guys are full of crap. Melo loves Denver and would never betray us.” Talk about delusional.
Looking back, it’s a shame how much LeBron had to teach us about a player’s loyalty to a team. He grew up in Ohio, was the state’s beloved son, the savior who would finally deliver a championship to a city who last saw one in 1964. That was an NFL championship before the Super Bowl was a yearly occurrence. Yet, LeBron still chose to humiliate the city on national television with “The Decision,” when he announced his plans to go to Miami.
Maybe this should have been the warning sign for Nuggets fans— no championship would have been as emotionally fulfilling for the city of Cleveland as that potentially won by LeBron. The hometown kid goes straight from high school to the NBA and wins a championship team for a city that has to cheer for the Browns. Five years later, there could have been a Disney movie that raked in millions as the legend of LeBron finally surpassed Michael Jordan in the minds of fans everywhere.
Instead, LeBron lost a ton of respect and will likely win a championship for a city that can still enjoy the glow of the 2006 trophy.
If the hometown boy is willing to ditch town for the models of South Beach, Denver means less to Carmelo. Melo grew up in Baltimore after being born in New York. His wife, LaLa, worked for MTV back in the prime of Total Request Live. He could be deemed Denver’s adopted son, but he’s ready to ditch these parents for the bright lights and never talk to them again.
To me, that’s scary. Maybe we took all these years for granted. Since we drafted Melo and switched over to the light blue jerseys, the Nuggets haven’t missed the playoffs. We had a hell of a run to the Western Conference finals in 2008-2009, and even had our team mocked by Vince McMahon when we double booked the Pepsi Center.
All of the success came after years of mediocrity. In the late 90’s, the Nuggets were so bad, they almost set a record for least amount of losses in an 82 game season. Our team could be summed up in one player­— Nicholas Tskitishvili. Similar to the Cavs, our future without that 2003 draft pick would have been bleak. Melo made this town a basketball town, and to see him leave would hurt.
But at the same time, it’s that knowledge that potentially lets Melo leave on a good note. He doesn’t want Denver to go through the same loss that Cleveland did with LeBron. While we can’t replace him, Melo is giving us the ability to at least get something back in return. He’s not airing dirty laundry, he’s not making it a grudge, he’s just putting himself in a situation that’s right for him. It sucks for us, but is it personal? I doubt it.
As long as it stays that way, I’ll set down the gasoline. If he’s not burning bridges, I’m not burning jerseys.
sschlauf@mesastate.edu