Playing the Field: Fun with cereal … and Carmelo Anthony’s wife

One of our favorite cereals growing up was Honey Nut Cheerios.

It’s sweet, but not too sweet. It’s healthy, but not too healthy. And it’s circle shape is fun to swirl around the bowl. Sorry for that quick trip down memory lane. Actually, no we’re not.

Anyway, the nostalgic cereal grabbed national headlines earlier this month when Kevin Garnett allegedly told Carmelo Anthony that his wife, La La, tasted like Honey Nut Cheerios. (This is La La Anthony … insert your own NSFW joke here). After the comment, Anthony confronted Garnett outside the Boston locker room and security guards had to intervene.

On Thursday, Anthony and the Knicks were in Boston and the staff at TD Garden wasn’t taking any chances. The building was a cereal-free zone.

According to various Twitter reports, 150 items referencing Honey Nut Cheerios were confiscated, including boxes of the iconic cereal. We understand all the fuss. The Celtics didn’t want to feed (see what we did there?) the drama or, worse yet, see it escalate. Still, we can’t help wonder why General Mills, the company behind Honey Nut Cheerios, wouldn’t want to capitalize on this.

So we reached out to a few company employees for comment.

» Buzz Bee didn’t return our calls. Apparently nobody can say no to Honey Nut Cheerios, but they can say no to anybody.
UPDATE: Buzz later sent us a text message saying, “buzzzzzzzzz_off.”

» Lucky, or the leprechaun former known as Lucky Charms, gave us a quick comment after we flashed a photo of La La. “Nice marshmallows … they’re magically delicious!” Then, Lucky quickly burst into song and hung up.

» Tony the Tiger, who works for rival company Kellogg, said this (via a tiger interpreter): “We would love to have Carmelo and La La join our team. They’re Grrrrrrreat!!!!!!” He also winked and left a number scribbled on raw steak, then awkwardly mumbled, “Give this to La La.”