In the spirit of disclosure, I must confess I graduated from Syracuse University, so I’m not exactly an impartial observer of Carmelo Anthony, who led the men’s basketball team to its first NCAA title in 2003.
Carmelo’s victory was a vindication for long-suffering Orange fans like me. I have many happy memories of screaming at the top of my lungs in Manley Field House before men’s basketball moved to the Carrier Dome. I was in Manley for the very last men’s hoops game in 1980, when Georgetown ended a 57-game home winning streak for the Orange.
To be sure, it hasn’t always been easy being a Syracuse hoops fan. It was a real heartbreak when the Orange lost the NCAA championship, 74-73, to Indiana, in 1987. In my house, the TV ended up on the floor — though thankfully in one piece — after Keith Smart hit a 16-foot jump shot in the final seconds of the game.
But all was forgiven in 2003, when Jim Boeheim finally took the Orange all the way and Carmelo Anthony was king of the court. I loved watching Carmelo play and even drove up to Syracuse in the middle of winter to do it. What won me over was “Melo’s” sheer joy while playing the game and that beautiful smile, which graced the cover of Sports Illustrated.
I don’t know what time he was born, but I’d guess that Carmelo has a Cancer rising. Why? That moon face and being a self-described Mama’s boy. This lunar countenance could also be produced with a Taurus Ascendant and the Moon rising. If anybody knows when Carmelo was born, please let me know.
No one, except maybe Carmelo’s mother, Mary Anthony, was sadder than me when this young man sucker-punched Mardy Collins of the New York Knicks in December, 2006. Was this the same guy who was a darling of the 2003 NBA draft season?
Now comes the news that Carmelo, 23, was arrested early in the morning on Apr. 14 for driving under the influence after leading the Denver Nuggets to victory over the Houston Rockets the night before. What gives? Is Carmelo the new Allen Iverson? Iverson, now one of Carmelo’s fellow Nuggets, became synonymous with thug behavior in the NBA during his days as a Philadelphia 76er. Here’s a picture of Melo and bad boy Iverson: http://www.dotspotter.com/photos/76385_Nuggets_Anthony_and_fiancee_have_baby_AP
On Apr. 16, in his first game since being arrested, Carmelo scored 17 points as the Denver Nuggets beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 120-111. It’s the first time in two decades that the Nuggets have won 50 games in a season.
O.K., so Carmelo’s run-in with the law didn’t hurt his team — this time. But it’s definitely hurt his fans, his family, and Syracuse University. The school is building a brand new sports practice facility with Carmelo K. Anthony’s name on it. What’s next? The Carmelo K. Anthony School of Drunk Driving?
What kind of example is Carmelo setting for the college kids up in Syracuse by being arrested? Maybe those multimillion sports contracts should have morals clauses the way the Miss America pageant does. If you don’t behave, you get dropped, and the next hopeful gets his chance.
Note to Carmelo: You wanna party after the game? No problem — have a limo or a taxi take you home. It was reported by Denver police that Carmelo’s fiancée LaLa Vazquez refused to come pick him up after he was arrested. However, she later released a statement to the Rocky Mountain News contradicting these reports: “I want to make sure the public understands that I fully support my fiance, Carmelo Anthony, and stand by him through this ordeal. I will always have his back and never refused to pick him up from the police station. In fact, they offered to bring him to me,” she told the paper.
Mmmm. Sounds like there’s a little trouble in paradise. A new baby has changed the dynamic. He was born on Mar. 7, 2007 and his name is Kiyan. Like his dad, Kiyan Carmelo Anthony has a great smile. Here are some pictures: http://hiphop.popcrunch.com/first-photos-of-carmelo-lalas-son-kiyan/
Carmelo certainly isn’t the first guy to start acting out when he becomes a father. Fatherhood is a big responsibility, no question about it. Becoming a parent can bring up all kinds of unresolved issues from childhood. (By the way, I know Carmelo had a little drama in his life, courtesy of LaLa, back in 2004. But I was willing to cut him a break then because he was new to the NBA, the big bucks, the hip-hop crowd.)
Let’s look at Carmelo’s chart. He was born May 29, 1984 in New York. He’s a Gemini, which is symbolized by the Twins. We all know about the evil twin. With Gemini, he really does exist. He’s the one who thinks it’s O.K. to drive buzzed. He’s not the good guy at the charity fund-raiser. (When Carmelo got to Denver in 2003, he chose Family Resource Centers, a Colorado organization dedicated to family and children’s services, as his community charity.)
Since I don’t have a time of birth for Carmelo, I’ve cast the chart for noon. Here it is, courtesy of Astrodienst:
http://www.astro.com/cgi/chart.cgi?rs=3&btyp=w2gw&&cid=41laaaa19347-s971800598&nhor=211
When Carmelo led the Orange to the Final Four championship on Apr. 7, 2003, his progressed Sun and progressed Venus were conjunct within a half-degree, at 26 degrees of Gemini. What a winning combo! And it was making a nice trine with Melo’s natal Pluto, which is at 29 degrees of Libra. In terms of transits, the North Node in Gemini was close to his natal Venus/Chiron conjunction.
My interpetation? Melo redeemed himself that day along with Boeheim’s Orangemen, who had never gone all the way to a national championship, as well as the city of Syracuse, which doesn’t have a pro sports team and has been economically depressed along with the rest of Upstate New York, for years. Chiron, as you astro folks know, is the wounded healer. The presence of the North Node made the healing a group experience.
Right now, Melo’s progressed Sun, Mercury, and Venus are all in the very early degrees of Cancer (interesting that he’s recently become a parent) and transiting Pluto in Capricorn is opposing that, while sitting on his natal Neptune. Obviously, there is a lot of wealth and beauty surrounding Carmelo, but he’s confused and overwhelmed by it all. With the arrival of the new baby, there’s lot of pressure to settle down, but I don’t think this young man is ready for that.
He’s got transiting Saturn squaring natal Venus so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Carmelo and LaLa part ways quite soon. The pregnancy may have been an unconscious — or conscious — desire to pin him down. Isn’t it always? With all this Neptune around, Carmelo could benefit from a spiritual adviser of some kind. Someone older and wiser needs to give him some guidance before he spins out of control.
With the NBA playoffs on the horizon, Nuggets fans are willing to forgive Carmelo. Me? I’m worried this is the beginning of a downward spiral. Dude, get some help! You’ve got so many great years ahead of you; don’t mess them up by getting drawn into a gangsta lifestyle.
Astrology Mundo 