People again migrated and piled into a small space for an unannounced Q&A session that definitely surpassed expectations. Carmelo Anthony came through the House of Hoops by Foot Locker in Town East Mall on All Star Saturday, and his fans were definitely excited to see him. People packed in tight from all sides, leaving less space than Friday’s Dwyane Wade’s appearance. Carmelo wore an unreleased colorway of the AJ 2010′s, and even with my extensive searching, to my knowledge, it’s not planned to be released. (Oh, to be a Jordan athlete. . .) He stayed for a little over a half hour, and even when it was time to go, he stuck around and answered some more for the kids. There were a few lucky ones in the crowd this evening as well, as Melo autographed some shoes that got handed out to a few lucky trivia winners.
It might be my own personal bias as a Syracuse fan, but I really enjoyed my short time with Melo. He was definitely engaged (especially with the kids), intelligent and well thought out with his answers. He was overly candid with his aspirations: “I really couldn’t see myself doing anything other than playing basketball. I gave it my all.” and was enthusiastic when talking about his fellow teammates “[Chauncey] deserved to be here before the injury replacement” and his National Team experience: “Those practices made the games easy, they were fierce!”
He was remarkably honest, saying that his trainer, Idan Ravin, pushes him harder than anyone else; and that he’s got a special edition playoff shoe coming out, along with more colorways. He relived his experiences at Syracuse for the crowd, letting them know that although they worked hard to get where they were, they also got a little lucky in winning the National Championship. Just like I worked hard all week preparing, but in the end, I got more than a little lucky in having this opportunity. Thanks, Foot Locker!
