Carmelo Anthony: Melo Learns the Hard Way to Keep His Phones in Safe Place

Last week, Carmelo Anthony's Melo League team beat Kevin Durant's Goodman League team 149-141 in a charity game in Baltimore.

It was a good outcome for Melo's team, which included fellow NBA All-Stars LeBron James and Chris Paul. Perhaps he would have liked to call a few friends and family members after the game to tell them just how good it was.

But he couldn't. At some point shortly after the game ended, somebody stole both of the phones Melo had brought with him to Morgan State University.

So claims a report in the New York Post. According to a source—yes, an actual source—things were a little wild after the game wrapped up, and that's when Melo's phones got jacked.

“Fans bum-rushed the court to get close to the guys after the game,” said the source. “Carmelo’s phones were stolen during all of the chaos.”

If the chaos really was that bad, that would have been a great time to pull off some old-fashioned thieving. One wouldn't have to be a genius to assume Melo would be carrying at least one phone, and it also wouldn't take a genius to track them down.

Am I implying that Melo deserves some blame here for having his phones stolen? Maybe a little. He probably didn't expect to get robbed, but he should have at least prepared for the possibility by putting his stuff in a safe place and/or putting it in the right hands. No doubt the guys from To Catch a Thief would agree with me, and they probably could have set Melo up with a portable defense grid to ward off all would-be burglars.

If there is a bright side to this story, it's that some fans started a kind of grassroots campaign on Twitter to locate Melo's phones. It didn't work, but it was a nice gesture.

Alas, I fear that Melo's phones are probably lost forever.

At least until they show up on Ebay.