Carmelo To Chicago Bulls: Real Fans Create Real Legends

As the Chicago Bulls continue to be the frontrunners for the services of free-agent stud Carmelo Anthony, I decided to write this opinion piece that I've been wanting to write for a long time regarding the way the new generation NBA stars market themselves.

When Carmelo Anthony dons the red, white, and black of the Chicago Bulls uniform, he will become a basketball legend. Guaranteed.

Michael Jordan had all the skills to become a star, and the Chicago fans were the ultimate fans to make him a legend.

While other players spend big money on airtime on cable television to announce their decisions, big advertising campaigns to repair their image after said bad decision, grand gestures to the hometown they left behind, and shady collusion deals to play together with their friends, and even shadier deals to be given their two NBA championships, NBA stars fail to see that it is their fan-base that makes them legendary.

And there isn't a better fan-base in the NBA than the one in Chicago.

Here are fans that were selling out the United Center in the Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler years.

These are also some of the same fans that wait til next year for a Chicago Cubs World Series Championship.

Chicago fans are knowledgeable, passionate, and love their teams. And they have great memories and will pass along their stories to anyone that will listen.

That is why even young Chicago sports fans know the names of Butkus, Singletary, Ditka, Payton, Sayers, Banks, Sandberg, Grace, Carey, Santo, Thomas, Kerr, Gilmore, Pippen, Grant, and Jordan.

There is precedent for the magnitude of status that the Chicago Bulls fan-base can elevate a player. The greatest player to ever play the game was a Chicago Bull.

Michael Jordan is a once in a generation NBA player who fought and competed every night, and it is with the same conviction that the fans of Chicago will maintain for the rest of their days that MJ was the greatest of all time. You can't buy fans like that.

Melo, get ready to join future Chicago Bulls legends Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose.

And soon, Melo will be the newest and most anxiously awaited member of the club.

Prepare to become a legend, Melo.

Do you think that the Chicago Bulls fan-base is the best in the NBA? Why or why not? Tell us what you think in the comments below!