Carmelo Anthony distributed meals at the Johnson Branch of the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Denver on November 16, 2009 in Denver, Colorado…not much more I can say about the hottest beast in the West except Melo needs to feed this blogger soon…oh, and Lala Vazquez was there too, yay.
Seriously, that’s about all I can manage to write without convulsing…except all photos are Copyright 2009 NBAE via Getty Images.
”We want them all over Los Angeles. That’s our goal right now. We are working with so many people to get this done and convince them this isn’t just some cookie cutter design like a tennis court but each is different and unique. Kids will go to these. Once we have them all over here we want to go to cities across the nation. Every community.” Rob Dyrdek in a recent interview on the Dyrdek/DC Shoes Skate Plaza Foundation/Safe Spot Skate Spot Program
When I take my eyes off the court or the field, I’m continually amazed at what some of these guys are doing…and I’m starting to think that the most impressive ‘charitable’ athletes belong to the world of surfing, skateboarding and anything X-Games related. Perhaps because the rules are less stringent or perhaps it’s because most of them have been on wheels or waves before MTV even existed, essentially giving guys like Tony Hawk, Laird Hamilton, Rob Machado, Andy Macdonald and Danny Way free reign to shape their sports.
After the TAG Signature Series Charity Challenge kicked off (which begs me to imagine the sweet scent of Carmelo) - I did a little more digging into Rob Dyrdek-who is also competing with Melo and Ludacris to sell the most TAG Body Sprays for a hefty donation to their respective charities.
And I gotta say, this Dyrdek stud is pretty amazing. From his website: ‘He’s had a long and successful career as a professional skateboarder, a TV star, a filmmaker, a serial entrepreneur, a marketing whiz, and a multi-faceted philanthropist dedicated to supporting skateboarding. Rob Dyrdek has leveraged his creativity, business savvy, and professional skateboard career in order to launch a long list of non-profit foundations, innovative businesses, and noteworthy productions in film and television. This includes the introduction of safe and legal Skate Plazas through the Rob Dyrdek/DC Shoes Skate Plaza Foundation, a children’s toy line, Wild Grinders, a feature film production titled Street Dreams, the widely distributed brands Rogue Status, Silver Trucks, and Reflex Bearings, and of course the wildly successful MTV programs Rob & Big and Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory.’
Now, I haven’t watched MTV since it stopped being about music (sorry MTV) but I did enjoy this delicious clip of Dyrdek…check out his “office” as he frolics with Carmelo Anthony and Ludacris in a preview of this weeks season finale when they stop by the Factory for a charitable wager….Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory airs on MTV this Thursday at 9 PM ET…
If you’re like me, after watching this video you may need more Melo…there’s a short Q&A in this months Esquire magazine…gotta say though, it’s not a great interview-it’s more of a fluff piece about how Melo doesn’t like to wear bowties-which leads me to say, once again, Melo, where’s my interview already? You dissed me once with a snub of my hug, and yet I’m still here, brimming with interview questions that’ll make my readers cry and highlight your humanitarian efforts like none other…and yes, you can sit behind safety glass if you’d like.
“Be more than what you were before, try to do more than what you dream of…be more of a better parent, more of a better human being, just be more.” Carmelo Anthony
Any excuse to indulge in my Melo obsession…and now the powers that be are actually asking me to smell Carmelo Anthony? Well, kind of…you’ve probably heard by now that Carmelo, Ludacris and Rob Dyrdek have teamed up with Tag Body Spray to release a Signature Series of branded scents, each of which bears the name and likeness of its respective celebrity co-signer…Rob Dyrdek: Makes Moves; Ludacris: Get Yours, and Carmelo Anthony: Stay Up…with visions of Melo in my head, I imagine Melo-er, Stay Up, smells like a dream…perhaps with undertones of vanilla, a hint of sweat, a splash of vodka and a whiff of marshmallows…
And to promote the new line, the beasts are taking part in Tag Signature Series Charity Challenge. For the challenge, Melo, Luda and Rob have each chosen a charitable organization to represent, and each charity will receive 10% of the net sales from the sale of their respective body sprays. Whichever hottie sells the most body spray between now and the end of the contest, November 2nd, will receive an additional $25,000 donation for their charity.
Carmelo is hoping to add an additional $25k to The Carmelo Anthony Foundation, a national organization dedicated to providing opportunities for underprivileged kids…Ludacris will campaign on behalf of The Ludacris Foundation, an Atlanta-based organization that empowers children to take control of their own destiny…and Rob will compete on behalf of The Skate Plaza Foundation, an organization that builds skate parks in developing communities.
The winning charity will be announced on www.Facebook.com/TAG on or around November 19. Now pa-leeze, Melo, commere and let me smell you…
The mystery is solved…in my previous post, I wasn’t quite sure how Carmelo Anthony ended up ‘Making-A-Wish’ or what was going on with the NBA and its check presentation…
The answer is better than I thought…the check presentation was part of the NBA and World Vision Taiwan’s partnership to support Typhoon Morakot relief efforts, which included money raised through an online auction featuring NBA player autographed items. In addition, Chauncey Billups, Danny Granger and NBA China CEO Tim Chen filmed a PSA as part of the partnership.
And exactly what was Melo doing with the young Make-A-Wish boy? Tearjerker alert…15 year-old Ah Yu was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy when he was just 1 years old but he’s a huge NBA fan and like myself, has always dreamed of meeting Carmelo Anthony…so, through the Make-A-Wish Foundation and NBA Games 2009 Taipei partner Cathay Financial Group, Yu received a courtside seat at the Taipei Arena for his first-ever NBA game and met Carmelo Anthony afterward. Doesn’t get much better than that does it?
Carmelo Anthony in Taiwan “I’m pretty sure the fans here are all as loud and crazy as fans in Denver,” said Melo.
The Indiana Pacers were victorious over my Melo and the Denver Nuggets in the first NBA preseason game ever played in Taiwan…but you all know I don’t really concern myself with stats and scores unless its for the greater good…after a bit of scouring, I found some love hidden between the games…
Pacer Danny Granger, Sean Lien, NBA Commissioner David Stern, Hank Du, NBA China CEO Tim Chen and new Nugget Chauncey Billups presented a check at halftime…from what I gather its an NBA Cares donation, but as usual, this isn’t something that garners headlines and therefore lack of info is scarce…
More importantly, Carmelo Anthony took the time-to deliver some love to a Make-A-Wish kid…which doesn’t surprise me. The fans adore Melo in China and he always stops to smell the roses when he’s overseas. Now only if I can get him here to grant my wish…
Carmelo Anthony’s Syracuse Basketball Center Opens
Last week, after years of construction, the Carmelo K. Anthony basketball center officially opened its doors to the Syracuse men’s and women’s basketball teams. “I would never in a million years think I would be sitting here today six or seven years after winning a national championship, doing the ribbon cutting for my building,” said Melo…
Melo’s 54,000 square foot Center – located adjacent to Manley Field House and smack dab in the middle of my libido- includes: two practice courts, a strength and conditioning room, an athletic training suite, locker room facilities and offices for both the men’s and women’s coaching staffs…but the best thing about it (aside from the name of course) is that fact that it’s a LEED building. (The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), provides a suite of standards for environmentally sustainable construction.) Melo’s building is designed to use 30% less water than a typical new building…it’s designed to use almost 20% less energy than a typical new building…more than half of the construction and demolition waste was recycled or reused…approximately 20% of the materials used in the building are made from recycled materials.
“We ask our student-athletes to be champions on and off the field, that is one of our missions here and it’s very important, Carmelo Anthony epitomizes that,” said Dr. Daryl Gross, Director of Athletics, “When you think about Carmelo being a gold medalist, Final Four Most Outstanding Player, national champion, and then what he does outside of basketball. He gives back to the community and donates his time, then as one of the few student-athletes in the country to make such a significant donation, to give back to his alma mater, that is outstanding, it’s wonderful and Carmelo we thank you.”
And for those who are unaware, precious Melo kicked in $3 million toward the construction of the facility. “I’ve been ready to cut this ribbon for about two years now,” said Melo, “I want to thank the Syracuse community for allowing me to come back here to my second home, I take great pride in this city. I want to thank the men’s basketball team and the women’s basketball team, Coach Boeheim and I were saying hopefully we can be in the top five recruiting class for both programs next year. Once again I just want to say thank you, I’m proud to be opening this building with my name on there and when I’m dead and gone this building will be here for generations after. Thank you, and let’s cut this ribbon.” A full transcript of the speech can be found HERE.
Seriously, this is beyond ridiculous but I gotta chime in…Melo’s baby mama/fiancé, LaLa Vazquez was thrown out of the American Airlines Center Monday Night while enjoying the visual of her stud muffin hooping it up against the Mavericks. Allegedly, a couple of Dallas fans sitting behind her made racist remarks towards her and her son-the cutest kid in the world, Kiyan Anthony- before chucking ice cubes at them. The altercation was caught on tape and footage begins moments after she and Kiyan were verbally attacked.
But what really happened? One woman, Peggy, claims she was “there” and the incident started when LaLa’s bodyguard turned around and insulted ‘her’ first. I’m not sure I believe this…why would he out-of-the-blue turn around and insult ‘Peggy’ for no reason? She goes on to claim that other fans jumped to ‘her’ defense and it escalated from there and the only time ‘any Mavs fan touched Vazquez was when a girl in Peggy’s group accidentally brushed against her while reaching for a purse underneath her seat.’ “Don’t you ever (beep) touch me again!” Vazquez yelled as she flicked soda on them. (LOL note to LaLa, JuJubes work better and have the sticky factor going for them)
LaLa issued a statement which reads:
LaLa Vazquez became distressed during a heated playoff game, after being verbally attacked by some opposing fans, who were using racial slurs, calling her child crude names and throwing ice cubes. She sent her son home early and was preparing to leave herself when she was physically pushed. Although shaken, she left the premises on her own will and is happy to be at home with her fiancé and child. “Obviously the play-off games bring out the best and the worst in fans but what happened on Monday night with the racial slurs/threats, verbal attacks on my son and physical attacks to myself by irate fans was unacceptable,” states LaLa. “The fans were totally out of control. What the cameras captured was me defending myself and didn’t show the abuse that was taking place.”
So what really happened and who is telling the truth? I, for one, couldn’t care less. (But obviously, I’m biased towards all things Melo.) Regardless, it seems to me that if LaLa took issue with some moronic Mavs fans taunting her (if in fact they did), she should have called security to handle the situation. If, on the other hand, she simply flipped a gasket because someone brushed up against her, then I feel its in Melo’s best interest to find a nice, red-headed-even-tempered-blogger-to make his next baby.
Game One of the Western Conference Semifinals goes to the Nuggets who beat the Mavericks 109-95…the Mavericks are 0-5 against Denver this season, so I hope this series is a lock…that’s all I have to say about the game…because Carmelo Anthony had his son Kiyan at the press conference…and I’m speechless so I’ll let Melo talk and call it a day. “The second half, we buckled down on the defensive end. Everybody manned up, played team defense (and) got in the passing lanes. Our bench did a good job to come off and give us that spark,” said Melo before calling his PR firm to tell them he’d be happy to interview with Delinda at his next charity event.
Two athletes I wouldn’t mind contracting swine flu from are David Beckham, and of course, Carmelo Anthony. I’ve covered their charity work but today my libido is in dire need of some non-essential objectification of our hotties. After all, this girl can only take so much…
First, Sir Golden Balls-who will be celebrating his birthday this weekend- caught my attention in the new Motorola Aura TV ad…Beckham is hawking the new mobile device, which retails for $2k and has a 62 Carat Sapphire Crystal Lens…
…props to Beckham’s camp for effectively, and continually, using one of the worlds sexiest men to endorse products. If others followed lead, I’d imagine we’d have quite an active ‘stimulus’ plan…speaking of stimulus plans, Carmelo Anthony and his baby blue aura once again have me forgetting my own name.
The Nuggets captured their first playoff series since 1994 after spanking the Hornets 107-86 Wednesday night. After Melo landed a 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter, he turned toward the camera and screamed, “This is my house.” Dear god this kids gonna be the death of me…what else can I say? His career playoff-high of 34 points is certainly impressive but I can only hope that when the Nuggets play the Lakers (exhibition game) this October in San Diego, I will be sitting courtside, trip him ala Larry David to Shaq on Curb, and have him land smack dab on top of me…If not, then perhaps I’ll finally get word from his PR people (a-hem) that Melo would be thrilled to give me an interview about all his amazing work with the kids. And just for the record, I can, in fact, conduct an interview while handcuffed to a chair.
It is my goal this year to interview Carmelo Anthony. I mean, come on Melo, how much love I gotta give before I get some back? Don’t make me camp out in front of ‘Studio 51,’ because if I could, I would-especially on Thursdays. And it wouldn’t be in efforts of just a chance meeting with you, it would be to see your work-product. And by ‘work-product’ I mean happy people. Happy-needy-people to be exact.
Melo, through his aptly named Carmelo Cares Foundation, is giving away free haircuts to 15 Denver residents in need. Calling it his ’15 on the 15th’ program, the initiative utilizes Carmelo’s Studio 15 barbershop to provide haircuts to disadvantaged children and underserved adults.
On the 15th day of each month, 15 kids or adults from a community group are chosen by Melo’s Foundation to receive free haircuts at Studio 15. Most recently, folks in need from the Family Resource Center, Denver Children’s Home and Excelsior Youth Center have all benefited from the first three events this year. If you’d like to support the “15 on the 15th” program by sponsoring a month in 2009, please contact the Carmelo Anthony Foundation via email at info@CarmeloCares.org for more details.
And I’ve gotta take a minute to give thanks to the amazing team from Maroon Public Relations. They’re the ones who secure sponsors as well as spread the love about Melo’s latest charitable endeavors.
In the latest edition of Maroon PR’s ‘Insider eNewsletter’ they did a quick 5 question Q&A with the Nuggets Director of Media Relations, Eric Sebastian. For obvious reasons, I chose to reprint one of the questions…
Maroon PR Asked: It seems that the media’s focus, at times, is strictly on a professional athlete’s game performance, and less on the positive impact they have on the community out-of-uniform. How do you think more attention can be brought to an athlete’s philanthropic efforts, especially in a market like Denver that has a team in each of the four major sports?
Eric Sebastian Answered: “Well, I think a good deal of the burden rests on the players. The player really needs to be committed to his community. He can’t be half-hearted in his efforts or just think that attaching his name to something is going to bring him recognition. He can also go a long way towards getting the media to cover his philanthropic efforts if he has a good rapport with them. As a PR person, I can only do so much. I can bring attention to programs a player is involved in, but if he doesn’t appear to be genuine about it or if the player doesn’t treat the media with respect, they aren’t going to do him any favors by covering him. There are just too many other athletes in Denver that the media can choose to cover. (Los Angeles Clippers center) Marcus Camby was as adept at this as anyone I’ve worked with. He made time for the media every day – win or lose – and was incredibly involved in the programs he started through his foundation. As a result, the events he did for his foundation received a great deal of coverage and his image was impeccable in town.”
