Fab Five Movie Open Thread
Seems like an odd time to talk about the past when there's finally so much in the present to talk about, but we're under an hour away from the movie premiere on ESPN. If anyone has any thoughts on their Fab Five experience, to get us warmed up for the movie, let's hear them. And then we can pop the popcorn, and cozy up for the broadcast, which should be interesting, if nothing else. Like I said somewhere else here, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.... And it's time to relive them, or experience them for the first time.
I kind of wish this were on HBO. I know not everyone could see it then, but I can only imagine how much better the dialogue would if it were not on cable.
Damn, there are a lot of things from this movie trending on Twitter right now.
That Cosby thing is hilarious
I love Jalen. Despise OSU.
The white guys on this team definitely did not have the same swag as the Fab Five.
Pelinka gave us quality minutes and James Voskuil was maybe the best shooter on the team. That team went 8 or 9 players deep.
March 13th, 2011 at 10:22 PM ^
Oh I know that they were great players, there's no way in the world five freshman could make the NCAA final alone.
I remember watching this like it was yesterday. Watched it at church cuz it was the biggest screen around.
This hurts right now b/c we know what's going to happen.
Hill killed us. Couldn't do anything to stop him on the baseline.
Just great stuff. Very candid (as much as you can be on ESPN) and truly a revolutionary squad.
If you guys want to know pain, I was born the day we lost the NC vs. Duke. That was the first sporting event I ever watched.
I think everyone is going to be in extreme pain before the next commercial break...
March 13th, 2011 at 10:00 PM ^
Is that I'm fucking old.
Any chance there is some high schoolers watching this right now who want to come to Michigan and emulate their heroes?
March 13th, 2011 at 10:01 PM ^
Me, but I'm a slow, very unathletic, 6'1" white boy who can't shoot.
March 13th, 2011 at 10:00 PM ^
Webber was not happy after that game...
March 13th, 2011 at 10:00 PM ^
Jalen is a UM hero, but after this doc, I think he should be a UM legend of the highest order - top five of any sport. That's just me, but I love what this movie says about him and UM.
March 13th, 2011 at 10:01 PM ^
all these people talking about never seeing these guys play are making me feel old. It wasn't that long ago!
March 13th, 2011 at 10:04 PM ^
I know, right? I don't want to believe that I am probably in the older percentage of people on this blog.
March 13th, 2011 at 10:18 PM ^
I was a frosh the same year as the fabbers. What a great time it was!
March 13th, 2011 at 10:03 PM ^
"We Can Play" T-Shirt. :-)
March 13th, 2011 at 10:08 PM ^
That royalties graph is obscene.
March 13th, 2011 at 10:10 PM ^
A little of that had to of come from Desmond winning the Heisman that year. Not as much as the Fab Five, but a little.
March 13th, 2011 at 10:08 PM ^
Can we get all this Retro UM gear in the mgostore, i want it all.
March 13th, 2011 at 10:13 PM ^
Can we get it on the players this weekend?
March 13th, 2011 at 10:20 PM ^
I would explode in my pants if they came out in those warmups. Daaaaaaaaaang.
March 13th, 2011 at 10:08 PM ^
Wow, the Fab 5 didn't get shit from merchandising. That's 10 mill. 10 mil!
Wow. Just wow.
March 13th, 2011 at 10:12 PM ^
Nobody "exploited" any of these guys. Spare me.
March 13th, 2011 at 10:09 PM ^
Sigh.
March 13th, 2011 at 10:10 PM ^
Wow...Bill Walton...HAHAAH
March 13th, 2011 at 10:11 PM ^
And if i didn't hate bill walton before he's sealed the deal...
March 13th, 2011 at 10:11 PM ^
Ahhhhhh fuck you Bill Walton
March 13th, 2011 at 10:11 PM ^
Go fuck yourself
March 13th, 2011 at 10:12 PM ^
And his hypocritical vendetta. He probably got more money than Webber.
March 13th, 2011 at 10:15 PM ^
And nobody touched them in the Pac 10. I think that's what Walton is talking about. The UCLA run of success.
March 13th, 2011 at 10:18 PM ^
Had ten times the players on the take ad Michigan ever had. They had their own Ed Martin. They just act all holier than thou over it rather than regretful. And Walton was more full of it than any of them.
March 13th, 2011 at 10:24 PM ^
The Fab Five were a great team; I am not doubting that (and maybe Walton was); but the Fab Five Michigan teams never won a Big Ten title, or a National Championship.
I know those stories about UCLA, too. Bill Walton would be on thin ice if he had been on Michigan about that.
March 13th, 2011 at 10:29 PM ^
For their style of play, for not doing it like Wooden did...when he knew they were more alike than different. Walton was more low character than any of them in school...he was just a hippie pothead.
March 13th, 2011 at 11:26 PM ^
Walton didn't rip on Webber for taking money or smoking pot. (I suspect that Chris Webber smoked more pot than Walton, btw.) Walton, in this film, was assuredly not talking about Webber getting any under-the-table money, either.
Walton's film clip was from the time, when Michigan had been good in the Big Ten, but hadn't blown anybody away.
I personally think that the Fab Five proved Walton wrong. But his statement in the film had some poignancy. We had a hell of a lot of tough games and our share of losses in the Big Ten. I was there, and I saw them. I saw how the team played.
He was aware of everything everyone was saying about the Fab Five at the time, you seem woefully ignorant of all the trash Walton would talk about Michigan and the way they played the game at the time. He was brutal. And clip aside, it was often on not doing it the right/read Wooden, way.
March 14th, 2011 at 10:39 AM ^
Bill Walton was, at the time, making a living off of being a basketball commentator, and his schtick was to say provocative things. He was the Jay Bilas/Charles Barkley/Digger Phelps of that time. They paid him to stir things up on broadcasts. To be edgy.
You really think that Walton, in saying that a team that never won a conference, tournament, or national championship was "overrated," is somehow more offensive than current-day commentator Jalen Rose, saying that the black players on Duke were "Uncle Toms"?
“one of the most overrated and underachieving teams of all time…who epitomize a lot of what’s wrong with a lot of basketball players.”Tell me that's just about them not "winning enough". And not completely hypocritical considering what kind of program he was at, and the type of player he was and played with. And not everyone agreed with it.
Might Walton have been right? Were they just a bunch of overhyped losers? If you ever ask Vitale that question, be ready to duck. “It is absolutely absurd for people to criticize the Fab Five as underachievers or failures because they didn’t win a title,” Vitale says. “College ball is not the NBA. It’s one game and there’s a lot of luck involved. Many great teams don’t win titles, but we unfortunately live in a world where if you don’t cut down the nets, you didn’t achieve anything. That’s a ridiculous perspective.” And no team proved that point more than the Fab Five.Doesn't make Vitale any more right. Just another opinion. Any more than justifying bad behavior with other bad behavior. But the idea that Walton wasn't throwing bombs at the way the Fab Five acted and played, not just what they accomplished, in the days before media was all online at a click is just faulty memory. He trashed them every chance he got. And considering all he did was win more in a REAL pay for players regime, it makes him an ass. http://www.slamonline.com/online/college-hs/college/2009/04/original-ol…
March 13th, 2011 at 10:23 PM ^
Seriously. Wooden's a great guy, but how does he instantly go from mediocre to pulling in the best recruits in the country? Something was extremely dirty there in Westwood.
March 13th, 2011 at 10:21 PM ^
UCLA got to play almost every tourney on their home court and they had their own bag handler just like Ed Martin. His name was Sam Gilbert. NCAA has been hypocritical for a long time. Walton got paid just like the Fab Five and he knows it.
Edit: Beaten by the boss.
Google "Sam Gilbert UCLA" and you'll get all you ever needed to know about the dirty underside of the Wooden UCLA program.
March 13th, 2011 at 10:13 PM ^
Go smoke some weed bill walton! Fuck off!