The Best of Neil's Sports Watch

Melodrama is big box office

The Knicks' acquisition of Carmelo Anthony sparked an 89-percent rise in average ticket prices on the secondary market, from $206 to $386 as of the middle of this past week, according to TiqIQ.com.

That was the greatest leap by far for any of the NBA teams that made big, trade-deadline moves.

The Nets' deal for Deron Williams? Not so much. Their tickets were down an average of 5 percent in the week following that trade.

(At FanSnap.com, tickets to Wednesday's Warriors-Nets game in Newark were going for as little as $2 as of Friday morning.)

Sir Charles disses Knicks

When I asked TNT's Charles Barkley, one of TV's foremost Knicks skeptics, in January about the team's renewed relevance, he mostly dismissed them and said this:

"If you get Carmelo, you have a really good team. Then you really become relevant. Right now, they can't win a round of the playoffs. But if they get Carmelo, it would be interesting here.''

As you might have heard, the Knicks did add Anthony in February.

Sure enough, Sir Charles hasn't exactly been gushing about the pickup. On TNT on Thursday, he threw two darts the Knicks' way.

There was this: "I'll tell you what, [the Nuggets] have a better team than the New York Knicks; I can promise you that.''

And this: "Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e [Stoudemire] are great offensive players, but when it comes to defense and rebounding, both of them are going to struggle. I've seen this situation in Phoenix when you're trying to outscore.

"When I go to a movie and I know the ending, I'm not going to go see it again.''

Musburger is a sports 'junkie'

This will come as a shock to my fellow old-timers, but Brent Musburger, 71, has been at ABC/ESPN for 21 years, longer than the 17-year stint at CBS that made him famous.

How long does he plan to keep at it?

"Until I stop having fun or they kick me out," he said. "From my standpoint, there is nothing better than being around competition. I still enjoy it, no matter what the game is or whatever we're doing.''

Musburger described himself as a sports "junkie'' who would watch even if he weren't working. But he still likes the working part.

"I love the fact ESPN does so many games and keeps an old guy like me busy,'' he said.

Doesn't he get tired?

"I know a lot of the [Transportation Security Administration] people by first name now, so I don't let travel bother me,'' he said. "You learn how to deal with it and you just don't get mad at people. You just keep going.''

Van Gundy doesn't feel draft

The media highlight of my recent swing through Florida was listening to Magic coach Stan Van Gundy's entertaining, post-shootaround rant about sports fans' and media's obsession with the future over the present.

I wrote about that the other day but didn't have room to include the part in which Van Gundy veered off into a tangential discussion of ESPN's fixation on the NFL draft - months before the fact.

Enjoy: "It's like ESPN, every day, with hours and hours of coverage of the NFL draft. People get so excited. They're more excited about where people might be going than they are about the games.''

(Sarcasm alert.) "I have to check every day to see if anybody's moved up or down Mel Kiper's draft board. I mean, that's really exciting to me.'' (End sarcasm)

"All this speculation over it, I mean, where's [Blaine] Gabbert going in the draft? How high? First round? Second round? Third round? Who cares? I just don't get it.''

I was a sportswriter Rebel

The statute of limitations probably is up after 20 years, so at last I can confess: When the buzzer sounded on Duke's victory over UNLV in the 1991 NCAA semifinals at the Hoosier Dome, I pumped my fist, right in the front row at the press table.

That sort of thing is very much frowned upon, but I was not rooting for Duke. I was rooting for myself after having guaranteed in print before the tournament that UNLV would not win it.

To understand why that prediction was considered foolhardy at the time, watch HBO's latest documentary, "Runnin' Rebels of UNLV,'' which premieres Saturday night.

It efficiently covers the phenomenon that was Jerry Tarkanian's program, especially its effect on Las Vegas' sense of community. But it is a little light on the details when it comes to the precise goods the NCAA had on Tark.

One highlight: Farmingdale star Jim Graziano tells the story of Frank Sinatra calling his house to recruit him on behalf of UNLV.

When Sinatra identified himself, his mother said, "And I'm Ella Fitzgerald.'' Then she hung up.