The Fab Five's impact on you
With the 30 for 30 coming out, I got to thinking about the Fab 5, and remembering how much they impacted me as a teenager, and since. I only really caught on to them after their first year, but they had a huge impact on me - I still wear black socks when playing ball, etc. They were, as much as Ty Wheatley, the biggest reasons I became a Michigan fan. I wore my shorts like them, the socks, the black Nikes, etc. The excitement they brought was a big part of why I got excited about basketball. I followed their careers (the good, bad and ugly) and still follow them now as their playing careers have wound down. When considering it all, I concluded that as athletes, they made more of an impact on me than any other player or players (unfortunately, I never had 1/100th of their game). I got to wondering however - how many of you were also caught up in the hype/fame/notoriety of the Fab 5?
Impact? In a word, huge. I remember the word spreading like wild fire in my dorm freshman year that Webber committed. Then I got to watch history for the next three years. Say what you want about off the court activities. On the court, it was excitement on an epic scale. It's a shame they never won a title (BT or national) but what a ride.
as Freshmen then as Sophamores. I think that counts as winning something.
Ask Purdue. They would have gladly traded all their run-of-the-mill Big Ten championships of that era for what the Fab 5 accomplished.
As a 40-year old suburban white guy, I still wear black shoes, short black socks and knee-length shorts when playing basketball at my weekly open gym.
when the Fab Five arrived in 1991. Lived in 5250 Bush House, across the hall from Shonte Peoples, and neighbors with Todd Collins (man, he was stupid) and some defensive end whose name I don't recall.
Every other day or so, when I'd be outside in the hall talking on the phone with family back home, Chris Webber would walk down the hall and go into Shonte's room and close the door. Within seconds, the first few wisps of smoke would be billowing out from under the door :)
Their first run to the Final Four was, to me, more memorable and exciting (on-campus) than the second.
Across from Shonte? I hope you safely avoided the gunfire.
Shonte was a nice guy, despite the persona. He asked to borrow my Poison Clan tape (a Miami rap group put together by Luther Campbell) and he said I could borrow whatever he had, but I never did.
I can't stress enough how dumb Todd Collins was/is.
One bad decision has Shonte labeled for life--all yahoos like me know is what we read in the papers. It's surprising to hear Todd Collins could be a dummy--he's survived as a QB in the NFL for what, 16 or so years now? Honestly, it is really interesting to hear from people who knew these guys as people and students, not just as a jersey and a helmet.
Looking at the 1991 roster, I think it was Steve Morrison.
I, too, was a freshman in '91. I lived in 7816 Huber, and four of the five also lived on the 7th floor Huber--I think it was either the 77 or 79 hall, can't remember. I didn't have a whole lot of interactions with them, but I do recall that Jalen used to enjoy a game of Nintendo Tecmo Bowl every now and again with an acquaintance of mine who lived on Jalen's hall.
Ray Jackson lived with someone on the 8th floor; I always felt a little bad that he was the one relegated to a different location.
Juwan was a really friendly guy, seemed to be smiling all the time. I don't remember any interactions with the other four.
They immediately made my high school basketball team photo far more embarassing than it had been when it had been taken, only three years earlier. Now I'm cursed to have a photo of me, wearing late '80s nut huggers, on my parents wall at home. My wife and kids laugh at it every time we visit.
Simmons had the genius idea for improving the NBA All Star game of having the losing conference wear 80s throwback shorts the following year. Would totally work...
Forcing the losers to wear throwback small shorts uniforms the next year would be awesome. I might actually bother to watch the game if that were the case.
Not good.
Of course, she might be laughing at the mullet.
As an '08 grad I don't remember the Fab 5 playing, but I wish I had. Us youngsters were left with what some of those guys left behind.
But yea, I'm still looking forward to the 30 for 30.
My son's basketball shorts reached an inch below his knees a few weeks ago. On his direction I had to go to Dunham's to buy him longer shorts. Dads outside of the area may have had a go at their kid, but I just rolled with it and made sure he remembered why he needed them long.
Long shorts, long live...Fab Five!
I still have the original fab five Nike shorts. Got them at Moe's back when it was on State St. I believe. Don't kill me if was a different street. I went to Steve Fisher's bball camp in 1992 and again in 1995. Best time of my life as a youth.
You're not wrong. Moe's used to have a second, smaller shop on South State just south of the Packard intersection. It closed a few years ago (it's now a Subway). The main store on North University is still there, of course.
I still have the original fab five Nike shorts.
Impossible - the originals were Russell Athletic.
He may have been referring to THE original Nike shorts that one of the members wore during the 1993-94 season. Nike came on the scene during their sophomore year, if I recall correctly. My buddy bought a pair of Webber's warmups at the Athletic Department garage sale in 1995 and they were most definitely Nike. So, not so fast Mr. jmblue.
By 1993-94 the Fab Five had broken up, so by definition those were not Fab Five shorts. Besides, those were definitely not the iconic shorts that everyone had. The Russell ones were distinctive - they had this sheen that the later shorts did not have.
Nike came on the scene after the fact and tried to sell Michigan jerseys with "WEBBER" on the back (they could do that since he was now in the pros), but they didn't sell the ones when he actually played here. (I think they did make the warmups, though. But how were C-Webb's warmups still sitting there in the AD garage sale two years after he left?)
The garage sales were outstanding. But they were not held every year and, as such, the Fab 5 gear like Webber's warmups were available even though he had left the school. My buddy bought the XXXXL pants and top for like $50. We had to get in line the day before it started to get first pick. My other buddy bought Mercury Hayes' cleats and I purchased Daydrian Taylor's winter jersey (with pockets).
If memory serves that is the sports store that Mr. Webber talks about in the Albom book. The scene where he is "scrounging" for enough money to buy a big mac at McD's and across the street he can see "his" jersey being sold for what seemed at the time a rather high sum.
Of course now we know that he was lying through his teeth since I'm not sure how someone who got that kind of cash from Mr. Martin could have been searching for a nickel or two to afford a big mac.
Effect on me. I was a student from the fall of 88 to the spring of 93. So I saw the national championship as well. 4 of the Fab 5 were awesome, no complaints with them. I really dislike Chris Webber for taking the money and Steve Fisher for looking the other way. There were good times, but now that time is colored by the lasting impact it has had on Michigan basketball. Almost 20 years on and Michigan is still recovering. Nothing is worth the years in the wildnerness that the program and it's fans have been through.
I've said it before, but I wouldn't trade the Fab 5 years for anything. An esteemed colleague pointed out that it wasn't necessarily Webber's bad deeds that brought the program down. So, there's that.
That part in the book is proof that Albom is an idiot. Here he's supposedly covering the Fab 5 so comprehensively but yet he doesn't notice Webber having a ton of cash? Then again it might be a sign that Webber/Martin's actions weren't nearly as far out of line with everything else going on in college bball in the early 90's.
Oh and I don't think it was the State street Moe's that would have been referred to in the book. No McDonalds in that area...more likely it was the M-Den that used to be on South U. Or even more likely it was just another thing Albom pretty much pulled out of his butt.
Jeez, age sucks, you're right I was thinking MDen.. not the Moe's... didn't read the op's post correctly.
I still think that Albom was with Webber w hen it happened, and I bet Webber did say that it was awful having to scrounge up some money. Remember Webber's the same guy who screamed "You come to the ghetto to only recruit me..." Right Chris Webber, in the Ghetto. Much like Elvis was in the great late 60's movie.
Webber was a liar and a cheat. The rest of the Fab 5 seemingly weren't. At the end that's what I'll remember...
I'm trying to convince my son to wear nut huggers in his next tournament just as a distraction. Whomever is guarding him will be laughing too hard to play basketball.
...He's not buying into it.
I was a sophomore in HS and went to the Palace to watch the Fab 5 play Iowa State - the best basketball game I ever attended. Michigan blew 'em out but it was a dunk-a-thon, highlight film game...will never forget it.
Was the hottest girl you dated whom smashed your heart but a memory you think about quite often. I wonder if theyre on Facebook??
Major part of my life. They had swag for sure! Every game was awesome. I remember watching the first Duke game, freshman year. That's what put them on the map and let the country know they were for real.
The semi-final Kentucky game was great, but my favorite was the UCLA regional. One of the best comebacks in Fab Five history and probably tourney history. They were down like 20 or so and just remember the feeling as they came back to win on a last second tip in. Goosebumps....
That UCLA game took five years off my life...
Game IIRC. We were a #1 seed and UCLA was a #8 or 9.
I just watched that game on youtube. I watched it live back then too, but I was like 9 or 10 so, very vague.
The 1992-1993 baskeball team (Year 2 of the Fab 5) had a limited edition team trading card set that was sold by the Athletic Dept. I got one - its still sealed, never opened it and sitting in a shoebox full of basketball cards.
I have those, too. Go ahead and open them - it's not worth keeping them sealed forever.
They did that for the football team, too, as I recall. There were a couple series of them around 1993 or so, I think I have an autographed Wheatley card sitting in a box somewhere at my parents' house.
Assuming you are pulling a leg or two on that, but I will say that I have two kids in middle school in Ann Arbor and there are a disproportionate number of Jalens and Juwans in their classes, including a set of twins who are Jalen and Juwan and a pair of brothers (not twins) who are Chris and Jalen...these are kids who were born in the 1997, 1998, 1999...so I'd say there is a link.
They gave kids everywhere belief in themselves. You could do things that had never been done before. It was unheard of to compete at that level with five freshmen against teams stacked with juniors and seniors.
I remember J Rose saying he wanted to start a record label called Madd Lute.
ancient....just kidding. I'm only 21 and grew up watching CWebb play for Sacramento...but right after my dad taught me the words to "the Victors" he always told me stories about the fab 5 on the way home from school some afternoons.
On another note,
was being a twenty-something in the early 90's as glamorous and carefree as Dante and Randall made it seem?
Is true.
Can I get a gatorade?
I remember sitting in my girlfriends room at Georgetown screaming at the TV watching the Duke NC game. She thought I was nuts, but she should have known better after just having witnessed me at Gtown games all year. I remember being proud of how these freshman had handled themselves all year and couldn't wait for the team next year (Gtown had just lost Mutumbo in 91 and Zo in 92 so I was reverting to my childhood team for a minute).
No matter how great it was to see the fab 5, going to a Dead show at Crysler Arena and then watching Michigan win the NC the next week was great (or was it the other way around? It's all foggy now)
They taught me that sometimes you just
Pretty much every young person in the state of Michigan was obsessed with them. (Their parents weren't always, though.) By their sophomore year, every high school team had reordered its shorts to be long like Michigan's. It was awesome. I don't know if I was just older and more of a diehard, but their runs to the Final Four seemed like a much bigger deal than the '89 team's. I remember hearing in the spring of '93 that Webber would go pro and that was one of the saddest moments, knowing it was all over.
I remember opposing fans going "but they never won anything", and it was like "would you trade your last few years of basketball for the Fab Five?" and it was alway Yes. They were the Rock Stars of basketball, a national phenomenon. Of course, they finished like a VH1 behind the music too.
The 89 team was not just another champion.
If they feel the same way. It was big for Michigan, but no one ranks them as one of the all time greats. Everyone around at the time remembers the Fab Five.
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<br>And the fact Rumeal has basically said they were dirty too takes that elevation away from them too (and that's the least of his problems).
as well when they were there. I played pick up ball on the outside South Quad court with Ray Jackson once. He was down to Earth, but could jump far far off the Earth.
Your screen name and mention of playing hoops on the SQuad court brought back a ton of memories. Outstanding!
my sophomore year and I remember watching fools get pwned by Ray Jackson on the South Quad basketball court. I also remember seeing Dugan Fife there as well (or was it Dane, can't remember). That dude could stick the outside jumper. Granted, 5'11" students were guarding him.