October 29th, 2018 at 5:46 PM ^
Whoa...no shit.
October 29th, 2018 at 5:49 PM ^
There are Michigan fans who will treat this like the sporting equivalent of the Colombian government giving amnesty to the FARC and from a purely logical standpoint they're not wrong. But I think the vast majority of fans would love to just move on. Myself included. I hope other members of the Fab 5 like Jalen who've developed a rift with Webber feel the same.
Can't wait to see CWebb in the Big House this weekend!
October 29th, 2018 at 9:01 PM ^
Great job with the Colombian reference!!! We have friends who were a part of making that happen :)
October 29th, 2018 at 5:59 PM ^
Will be interesting to see how the crowd responds to the PA announcement. I hope he is greeted warmly.
October 29th, 2018 at 6:00 PM ^
If this event helps bring the two sides together more, I'm for it. I'm still not happy about what he did and how he didn't tell the truth to the Grand Jury. But in the grand scheme of things and all of the bigger corruption we're seeing in college basketball today, it's time to move on. I look forward to seeing him in the Big House again on Saturday.
October 29th, 2018 at 6:12 PM ^
Good for him. I think the fan base has been a bit hard on him personally.
October 29th, 2018 at 6:18 PM ^
Show cause is not a Biblical curse. Let's move on with life. Webber did more good for the program than bad.
October 29th, 2018 at 6:18 PM ^
I would have waited until Indiana (more relevant to basketball) and in the meantime I would have hoped that he would make some sort of statement. Probably an apology or remorse or something. Then if Harbaugh wants to do this, more power to him, he's kind of the emperor. In case you can't tell, my enthusiasm about this is pretty low.
October 29th, 2018 at 6:32 PM ^
I don't really care about Webber's remorse.
The issue is an explanation; wherein Webber could make it clear that it was all on him and Ed Martin. And that the blame heaped on Michigan as a program was misplaced. That his recruiting, and his academics, and his entire relationship with Michigan coaches and staff and faculty and alums was all clean.
And that numbers-racketeer Ed Martin (Ed Martin, who was never a Michigan grad, or a coach, or a player, or a staffer, or a faculty member) was the dirty one.
October 29th, 2018 at 6:49 PM ^
Weren’t there stories about Webber wanted to go to State but Martin steered him towards UM? And wasn’t Martin given tickets and such from Steve Fischer’s staff?
Im not saying these are facts, more or less asking for verification....
October 29th, 2018 at 6:59 PM ^
Yes; Ed Martin was given just enough "stuff" such that he qualified as a booster under NCAA bylaws. Which made Michigan liable for all of Ed Martin's sins. So yes; Ed Martin began with Bill Frieder, who knew how cozy Martin was with Detroit players. Ed Martin was given a kind of family/friends access to the program. My memory is hazy, but I recall Martin flying on the team plane a couple of times, either with or without reimbursing airfare. He also stayed in a hotel room that had been part of a mass booking by the athletic department (i.e., we booked 60 rooms and at the last minute Martin was given one of the unused rooms). Martin was given some tickets, but he also bought his own season tickets if I am recalling correctly, and season ticket holders can qualify as ''representatives of the university's interests." And they put that tag on Martin. And the sanctions on Michigan.
Edit. - You asked about Martin steering Webber to Michigan versus MSU; I don't think that is true, and I have never heard any evidence to support the story. We got Juwan Howard out of Chicago to start, which helped sway Jalen Howard (who was likely to come to Michigan anyway), and Jalen's commitment then sealed the deal with Webber. King and Jackson were from Texas. MSU recruited Webber like almost no one else; it was intense. The story (confirmed by Izzo, I think) was that Izzo cried when Webber committed to Michigan.
In Later years, a number of guys who were mixed up with Ed Martin when they were younger, went to MSU, Iowa, Missouri etc. (One year's Missouri basketball lineup got the nickname "the Detroit Tigers.") Mateen Cleaves was in the Ford Explorer that rolled over on M-14, that led to the school investigation that broke open the larger federal case. Martin was an equal-opportunity exploiter.
October 29th, 2018 at 7:48 PM ^
Webber was actually headed to Duke before he ended up at Michigan.
October 30th, 2018 at 11:14 AM ^
I think that's incorrect. For these reasons:
- I remember the recruiting battle at the time. It was clearly and exclusively UM vs. MSU as far as we knew. UM and MSU coaches think so, and have said so.
- What Webber has said about Duke was that it was his most fun visit during his recruiting, and that he "almost went there." I recall Chris saying that at the time that he was still estranged from Jalen and Michigan, and I think he was trolling Michigan. Which would not be a first. I'm sure that Duke was high on his list of schools. I feel just as certain that Duke, while attractive to Webber, was not #2 on a list that almost didn't have a 3, 4 or 5.
October 29th, 2018 at 6:54 PM ^
Everybody already knows this. Would it be nice if Webber walked out to midfield, took the microphone, and said,, "I'm sorry, Michigan"?
Sure. But I can live the rest of my life without extracting a pound of his flesh, as I'm sure most everyone can. So let it go. It's not like he beat or killed someone. He took some money.
October 29th, 2018 at 7:08 PM ^
Again, I say; I don't care about Chris Webber being apologetic. I don't care about Chris Webber being publicly humiliated, or groveling for forgiveness. I really do not need a pound of flesh from Chris Webber.
What Michigan needs from Webber is a public accounting where he makes it clear that Michigan was not responsible for his wrongdoing. It is clarity that I want. Not peace, love and understanding.
October 29th, 2018 at 7:16 PM ^
Yeah. Would you be going around the country doing your great public service with everyone out there doing lot worse. Learn to let it go.
October 29th, 2018 at 7:24 PM ^
Michigan doesn't "need" anything from Chris. The event was more than two decades ago. There's not a single undergrad currently enrolled at Michigan that was even alive when the Ed Martin scandal went down (unless - of course - they are enrolled in the Van Wilder program).
If you "need" clarity, good luck. My guess is you aren't going to get it though because everyone else has let bygones be bygones.
October 29th, 2018 at 8:16 PM ^
About all the undergrads who were not even yet alive when Chris Webber played the two seasons between 1991 and 1993 and/or have no memory of when the Ed Martin scandal went down in 2002-03...
They would do well to listen to the people who do remember it all in real time.
October 29th, 2018 at 9:38 PM ^
Just curious, what involvement did you have with Michigan athletics during this time? Your posts seem to have some definite "inside" knowledge.
October 30th, 2018 at 9:55 AM ^
None. And I don't think that my posts are demonstrative of any insider knowledge. I am an attorney, so I follow the legal details more than most. And I was a season ticket holder for basketball through the entire Fab Five era, which only raised my natural interest in whatever news was published.
I was always interested in what WASN'T published about the Fab Five at the time. Mitch Albom did a book on them, and claims to have virtually lived with them, and he knew nothing about the money that Webber and Webber's family had gotten from Ed Martin.
Albom did a lot, to create the myth that Webber was a poor, hungry, underprivileged undergraduate. When financial records from Ed Martin eight or nine years later showed something llike $280,000 having gone to Webber and his family from Ed Martin and his numbers racketeering operation.
October 29th, 2018 at 8:20 PM ^
But I can live the rest of my life without extracting a pound of his flesh, as I'm sure most everyone can.
That's fair, and me too. I don't want or need Webber to be marched naked down the streets of Ann Arbor, followed by somebody ringing a bell and yelling "Shame, shame, shame!"
But frankly, I can also live just fine without Webber ever coming back to UM at all. I would rather concentrate on the basketball program we have now: the man running it, the success we have on the court, and the spotless reputation we have off of it.
I'll take what we have now over the Fab 5 any day.
October 29th, 2018 at 7:31 PM ^
"I don't really care about remorse", yet you offered another diatribe asking "where [Chris Webber] apologized and made a clean recitation of the facts" just a few comments above.
When will you apologize for being you, and just go away forever?
October 29th, 2018 at 6:52 PM ^
Eh, not the biggest fan of this move. Chris Webber made my college experience worse - the team was not great 2003-2006 while I was in school, in part due to the sanctions.
On the other hand, I can partly thank him for pretty much always getting bleacher room/ Maize Rage for all the games since not many srudent season ticket holders were competing with me for space! NIT win was decently cool, all things considered (early round home games!).
Overall slightly negative on this.
October 29th, 2018 at 7:35 PM ^
Eh, sanctions didn't make Michigan basketball irrelevant. It's the hiring to two coaches after that that made them irrelevant. Ellerbee shouldn't have never been hired to coach Michigan.
October 29th, 2018 at 7:10 PM ^
Welcome Back C-Webb
Go Blue!
October 29th, 2018 at 7:35 PM ^
He should know the stadium enforces a no sticks policy at the gate - it would do him good to take that one out of his a#$. Lighten up Francis, I mean, Killer.
October 29th, 2018 at 8:02 PM ^
Glad to hear it! Welcome home, Chris.
October 29th, 2018 at 8:33 PM ^
Bring it! I was a student during the Fab 5 years and loved every minute of it. It's great to see Webber back representing Michigan!
October 29th, 2018 at 9:16 PM ^
-11.5 point favorite and the virus is coming to town. If we lose, we know why.
October 29th, 2018 at 9:27 PM ^
Lock in the W!
October 29th, 2018 at 10:56 PM ^
Why is Mike Weber an honorary captain for our team?
October 30th, 2018 at 7:08 PM ^
Regardless of where you stand on his lack of repentance, can we all agree to at least NOT BOO him when he's introduced?
There will be key recruits there, with their families. They tend to take note of such things, and generally don't have all the subtleties in mind when they hear boos.
October 30th, 2018 at 9:12 PM ^
He played his heart out for the team. He was a kid. Let him come back to this community.
October 31st, 2018 at 1:31 PM ^
Sounds like i'm going against the grain of most posters, but i would boo him. I would change tune the minute he apologizes. I will forgive when he accepts responsibility for his actions or does he get a pass because he brought success to the program?