In the mid 90′s Dave Cirilli and Bill Simmons came up with the criteria for what they call the “Ewing Theory.”

The two main criteria is as follows:

A star athlete receives an inordinate amount of media attention and fan interest, and yet his teams never win anything substantial with him (other than maybe some early-round playoff series).

That same athlete leaves his team (either by injury, trade, graduation, free agency or retirement) — and both the media and fans immediately write off the team for the following season. (Ewing Theory 101)

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning was a classic example in his college career at Tennessee and the Ewing theorists listed his days as a Vol at number 2: “Tennessee Volunteers, 1998: Even more ballyhooed than Van Horn during his college career, Peyton Manning leaves UT without either winning a national title or beating Florida — and the Vols win the national title nine months later.”

Simmons thought that the Ewing theory would carry over into the pros for Peyton but so far it hasn’t.

On Manning: You can feel the “Manning goes down and the Colts rally behind James & Harrison” moment coming in the next few years, can’t you?

Of course that never happened and Peyton Manning did win a Super Bowl with the Colts thus defying the Ewing Theory at least in his NFL career.

Carmelo Anthony debuts with the Knicks

Who are some classic examples of the Ewing Theory today? How about New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony? As of this writing the Denver Nuggets won their first game without Anthony 89 – 75 against the Boston Celtics.

Carmelo Anthony fits the criteria for the Ewing Theory to a tee. Melo is a star athlete who received an inordinate amount of media attention in Denver (which he’s still getting) and fan interest while he never won the championship with the Nuggets.

Secondly, the Nuggets have been written off as a result of losing Carmelo Anthony via trade to the New York Knicks.

Only time will tell whether or not Melo can defy it.