<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">BALTIMORE - As twilight settles over the city, a young boy works on his basketball skills while walking down the middle of a quiet residential street. Crossover dribble. Between the legs. Spin. Jump shot. The sound of the ball hitting the pavement is distinct, and the echoes reverberate back more than 10 years. This used to be Carmelo Anthony. He was a street kid, but not that kind of street kid. Sports served as an important diversion from the violence and drug dealing that were pervasive in the housing projects a few blocks from his home. If Anthony and his friends Kenny Minor and Tyler Smith could not sneak into a gym, they would find a wooden crate to head to the nearest utility pole. "Take the crate, get yourself a hammer, get yourself the wood, make yourself a basket," Minor said. "We put it low enough so we could dunk, so we could show off like we were in the NBA already." When they needed a break from basketball, the boys tossed a football around in the street or suited up on Pop Warner teams. Baseball also was an option, and soccer was a last resort. "Everything was around sports because we didn't want to get into the street life," Smith said. "That's the alternative. You only got two things: street life or sports." This is where the Maturation of Melo began - in the streets of west Baltimore, Anthony's adopted hometown, after his family moved from Brooklyn, N.Y., when he was 8 years old. It is where Anthony honed not only his athletic skills, but his survival skills. "Every day I had to look over my shoulder not knowing what to expect the next day or the day after." It is where he learned the basics of business, using a Squeegee to earn enough pocket change to pay for entry into the Shake & Bake skating rink on Saturday nights. "I thought I was the man with $30 a day." It is where he formed his deepest loyalties and learned how to bounce back from his mistakes. "If you ain't got no loyalty, then you ain't got no trust." It is where he drew inspiration for the Nike "B-More" commercial that he filmed while asserting himself as the 22- year-old centerpiece of the Denver Nuggets. "I want to be the voice of Baltimore." That voice is growing in strength, not only in Baltimore, but nationwide. </div> Source
