Chris Webber Weighs In on U-M's Tourney Run
No. 4 was on the Rich Eisen Show today talking about our run to the Big Ten Tourney title.
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/201…
“And whether it’s a school that for some reason doesn’t embrace you and you did everything you could for them, you still look at those kids and you go, ‘Man, I cannot wait to see them guys fulfill their dreams,’ ” Webber told Eisen.
I loved the Fab Five . . . but I think we know what that "reason" is. It's not really a mystery. The 2002-03 team sure knows what it was.
He needs to take a time out for some self introspection.
Because I think he and the others did nothing wrong taking money. Total victimless crime that shouldn't be a crime. I know this is a minority view but...
March 14th, 2017 at 10:31 AM ^
Just wondring.
March 14th, 2017 at 12:41 PM ^
For me, the taking money part is not a bad thing, but considering it was against the rules, and we subsequently had our basketball program ruined for 10 years because of his and a few others actions, I think anyone who holds ill will towards Chris is perfectly justified in their beef. All we have ever asked of Chris is that he publicly acknowledges and apologize to us. It's not even asking that much and this jack ass still wants to be stubborn about it all. Rich Eisen should have gone in on him honestly. At this point, the ball is in Chris's court, what he needs to do is simple, and if he can't do it, then he can go off to whatever he is doing now, and I won't think twice about him.
from him or anyone in that situation. Admitting it meant a sure punishment for the team.
I think its pretty absurd that fans would dislike a kid for doing something to help his family. There are also the hundreds of racist letters from UM alums all the fab five received.
Free ride to Country Day
Free ride to Michigan
Sure-fire NBA career loomed.
He took thousands of dollars because he's a selfish "me" teamer. Still is.
Almost like there's much more to the story.
I've wondered for some time if this wasn't a Cam Newton-type situation, where his father was the one taking most of the money. Webber is alleged to have taken more money than Taylor, Traylor or Bullock, but he didn't seem to flaunt it the way they did.
He also came from a stable, two-parent household. My understanding is that his family, while not wealthy, was getting by OK. Compare him to Jalen Rose, whose father (an NBA player, no less) was a complete deadbeat.
Jalen's been quite mature about the whole Martin affair, explaining on one hand why so many kids took gifts from Martin, while also acknowledging that this unfortunately got the school he loved in hot water. I wish Webber could follow his example.
Webber's father apparently had some dealings with Martin (he also had to testify before the grand jury) and I've wondered if some of Chris's obstinence is due to him wanting to protect his dad's reputation.
March 13th, 2017 at 10:05 PM ^
Jon, you actually gave me a contrary viewpoint that I can appreciate. I think this is a very rational explanation for how Webber has acted and why. Still think he is an asshole, but your post made me think. Thank you.
March 13th, 2017 at 10:20 PM ^
I will say that Fisher's own denials are not helpful. I wonder if he'll ever come clean.
THIS ^^^^^
Your answer may be in your post. I wouldn't call Mitch Albom a talentless hack, but self-promotion has always seemed *very* important to him. Maybe he understood what was going on but didn't want to take any risks related to future sales, etc.
March 13th, 2017 at 10:29 PM ^
Add to all of this the fact that every single time Michigan basketball manages to get itself in the news, he also manages to get himself into the news. Why is that? Why do we never hear from Chris Webber on August 23 or whatever? Or why don't we hear from him after Michigan loses in the Big Ten quarterfinals?
No, only if Michigan wins a championship do we hear from the remnants of the Chris Webber Publicity Machine.
The fact that people still hold hatred or resentment towards Webber or any member of the Fab Five blows my mind.
Get over it, it was 25 years ago!
As people, we let so many things go over time, but for whatever reason...for some people, this, this is the one thing they hold onto.
I'm not saying you have to like the guys, you have to be happy about the era, but for some of you. Let. It. Go.
I've watched hatred for the FREEP fade, something I never thought I'd see. Yet, some are still holding strong against Webber and/or Rose. It's the weirdest thing.
I don't think anyone hates the other 4 guys. Webber is the one that seems to be holding a grudge. He doesn't even talk to the other 4 anymore.
He didn't even sit with them at the title game in 2013.
March 13th, 2017 at 11:21 PM ^
i wasnt the one on the rich eisen show bringing up shit that happened 25 years ago...
Get over it, it was 25 years ago!
Well, he played here 25 years ago. But the program has been dealing with the repercussions from that scandal a lot more recently than that. It wasn't some random coincidence that we basically de-emphasized men's basketball for a decade. Even now, it's clear that the school does not want its basketball program to play the dirty game to land top recruits anymore.
For those fans who are mad, it's not because of what he did 25 years ago, it's because of how he acts today - continuing to portray himself as the victim and failing to consider the consequences his decisions had on the program he played for.
But I think most people have moved on. The problem is more at his end. Even the other four members of the Fab Five don't understand his stubborness.
I don't hate Webber, but more than anything, I just wish he'd go away. Yes, I know - he was the linchpin of one of the most famous athletic teams in college history, one that made a cultural splash as well.
That's fine, but here's what else he was: a central character in the biggest scandal that our university's athletic department has ever seen. Not even the whole Freep-driven Clockgate (or whatever the hell it's called) proved much more than RichRod's staff couldn't tell when it was time for practice to end. That was nowhere near the real scandal that was Ed Martin and the Fab Five. It was was on the level of the SEC bagmen we like to sneer about.
In short, it was the first time I was ever embarrassed about my school - and I hated that feeling.
So Chris, just run along. The University of Michigan is doing fine without you.
It might help if Jalen Rose would just shut up about it for a while. Frankly, I get sick of him bringing up an embarassment to the university all the time just because it's what made him famous. He had a decent career as a pro- though people forget him being a dickhead and refusing to play anything but point guard when he first got to Indiana--and has been successful as a talking head for a while. He doesn't need to belabor his glorious college years at every opportunity.
Please let me know the timeframe when I should start liking Joe Paterno again. Apparently there is a statute of limitations for every "discretion"?
Partially salivating at the thought of KG playing for Michigan had he gone to college instead of the NBA...
I don't get Webber tho. If he just admits that he did something dumb as a young kid, we probably have the Fab Five banners back hanging in Crisler. The school even recognizes him now on Crisler's walkway!
No wonder the rest of the Fab Five is salty towards him.
Come on man!
He keeps doubling down and then playing the victim.
Just admit you made a mistake as a young kid. Half of the guys in the NBA (probably more) did the same thing Webber did . . . took money from a booster.
OK, so be it. In another decade they will pay the players anyway.
Clearly he's hurt inside and wants Michigan to embrace hiim again. The path to that is easy and not really that painful.
Do it, Chris.
He didn't make a mistake. There is no wrong doing to admit.
to think Webber didn't make a mistake in judgement to accept money and believe there were no consequences for his actions. Adding to that, he lied about it to a Grand Jury. Please stop defending him. His actions and lack thereof led to the lost decade of Michigan basketball.
So dicking over the program for over a decade was just no big deal? All that matters is that Webber made it to the NBA?
I don't expect much in the way of substance, rational thought, or positivity in any of your posts, but this is pretty horrible. Hint: it doesn't matter one shit that amateurism is a farce. Webber broke the rules and lied about it knowing it was going to have consequences for people other than himself.
Webber is the reason the program got penalized, but don't blame him for Michigan not being able to climb back to the top. That happened due to AD incompetence with Goss n co.
We could have had Rick Pitino as coach at one point. Who knows where we would be as a program if Martin wasn't caught by the FBI.
You do have a legit point. We were well past any actual NCAA sanctions in a couple of years.
The rest was self-inflicted. It was not the NCAA that hired Ellerbe.
Schools like Kentucky and Louisville go on and off sanctions as a matter of routine. They rebound quickly. They have gotten pretty good at it.
It shows that this kind of thing is truly not us. We had no idea how to recover from it for a decade.
whorehouse? C'mon! "We coulda had Rick Pitino?" For real?
I have a lot of sympathy for Chris. And he has repeatedly asserted he's gonna lay it all on the line. . . but has not. I worry that he wants to play it both ways, insisting he's been screwed on one hand but not coming out with his side on the other.
I get that he might feel, resentfully, that he doesn't owe anyone anything. But there's no way the public can be expected to remain sympathetic to him given how he's played it.
March 13th, 2017 at 11:04 PM ^
March 13th, 2017 at 10:47 PM ^
For example, I dislike Steve Fisher because I think he's full of shit for his denials of responsiblity. We regularly cuss out coaches like Saban who clearly have players taking money, but people on here do backbends trying to justify MBB doing the same thing.
that timeout call too.
March 13th, 2017 at 10:21 PM ^
For every Webber there are 10 Donnals.
Webber knew the rules and didn't follow them.
F him. Great basketball player but a lousy human being.
It's never a gamble for football factories you totally incorrect human! What are you talking about? It's a numbers game and the ones that pan out pay the bills. The bills are going to be paid. The TV contracts are paying on time, not a gamble. Selling tickets and shirts and everything else at M, OSU and the like, not a gamble.
He knew the rules were bullshit, morally and ethically criminal, legal only through illegitimate laws from a corrupt system. He knew the rules are why his people even exist in this country in any great numbers, and that everything that has flowed from that, and continuing and perpetual rules are what put and keeps most of his people in the outrageously disparate and unjust conditions they are in.
He knew the rules were set up for him to have to make millions for one school or another in order to have the best chance to get paid later by the league. He knew the rules were that the colleges get paid to be a free minor league for major pro sports, that the league makes the enormous money of not paying for their farm system.
The major, gigantic and systemic criminals and cheaters are the schools, leagues and everyone else who scoops up all the money the players produce.
Those major criminals wrote the fucked up should be illegal rules and KNEW they were unjust and exploitive when they wrote them and that they still are as they break their own rules themselves and yet perpetuate them. FUCK THEM!!!
March 13th, 2017 at 10:40 PM ^
Man 1: Hey! That slave just escaped, catch him, beat him, shoot him, then lynch him!
Man 2: He didn't do anything wrong, he is human, leave him alone, let him be free like you and me.
Blind and inhuman Man 1: That's just patently false.
But hey, BIM 1 has a point, he clearly broke the rules, ergo he's the bad guy, who gives a fuck where the real crime is, right?
I don't hear you crying for an apology from the whole community of wealthy college sports pimps who get rich off the backs of the only people in the entire multi billion dollar enterprise who aren't allowed to make a dime of the money they produce.
How dare Harbaugh not apologize? How dare Nike, the networks and all the other advertisers and profiteering pimps not apologize and use their money to repair and rebuild and fix the neighborhoods and people they exploit and contribute to the existence of and conditions in, in the first place?
Webber took gifts and or loans from a guy with money that he knew since childhood, having nothing whatsoever to do with going to Michigan. Martin was a guy that gave money to many Detroit kids, including ones that weren't athletes or good athletes.
Well off white kids from white suburbs get money and loans and gifts and cars and jobs from all sorts of well off family, extended family, and family friends, and probably even good Samaritans in their neighborhoods, and nobody says shit about it if it wasn't for the purpose of recruiting to a particular school; It's expected. it's normal.
Webber got nothing for going to Michigan or being a Michigan player. He got what he got for his talent and potential, the guy was a gambler and gambled that Webber would strike it rich and pay him back with interest or perks. He would've done the same if Webber had gone green. There was no competitive advantage to Michigan, no cheating, no money from Michigan.
The Glasgow's bought a house on State St. for their kids to live in during school. Why is that ok, why is it better, where is the outrage, where are the apologies?
An accident of birth to the $ side is good for golden geese, but an accident of birth to the victims of a criminal system to the bad on the $ side condemns you to not being able to get the same kind of benefits from the accident of birth that put you in Martin's circles. How is he different from a rich uncle or family friend?