Mary Sue Coleman against Fab Five banners going up in 2013

Lets see, Webber ended up getting run on a laundry list of charges, including lying to a federal grand jury (the icing on the cake).

The feds also found money orders from Martin to Traylor in one of their raids.  White was also charged (but those charges were later dropped after he cooperated fully with the FBI).  Other players were also called before court.  

Then of course you have Taylor and Traylor in the SUV (with high school recruit Cleaves and Martin) returning from the party featuring drugs, booze, and strippers.  

If Martin hadn't died and the FBI had time to grill him, I hate to think what they'd have found.  Nothing good to say the least.  

No banners, ever.  No association with them, ever.  They're one of the most shameful periods of our athletic history ever.  Yost's racism is likely the worse, but this one is solidly in the top five.  

I LOVE the Fab Five...I believe they were victim to a system, I think they were great for college basketball...I will always side with them.

However, what happened, happened. Time doesn't change that. Welcome them back, even put their faces and pictures in wall murals and other projects. But no to the banners. If the NCAA doesn't acknowledge them, we shouldn't either. The fact is...it didn't count.

But I should still see clips, faces, pictures, etc. when I walk around Crisler.

The games didn't count...but don't tell me for a second that they didn't exist.

The only way they go back up is if Webber comes forth and talks openly and honestly about it.    That way, they can clear the air, and allow for forgiveness.  And eventually Webber would be welcomed back, and they'd be able to find a way to properly honor the Fab Five, be it by raising a few banners or doing something else, like a monument or something at Crisler.

That will probably never happen.  Because Webber will never talk.

If they point shaved they never come out. If they took "pizza money" put them back up. They did neither and the university had some culpability too. That said, I am a " put them I the hallway" guy. I think that is fair and balanced approach, plus incidentally not bad for recruiting to be able to talk about the most exciting thing besides the running Rebs to hit college basketball in most our lifetimes.

of taking them out of storage and putting them someplace where people can see them... But not in Crisler, with the legitimate Final Four banners.  I think they need to be up to serve as a reminder of both past glories... and the price of disobeying the NCAA.  Another idea that would probably be harder to pull off well, might be to dedicate a home game a year, where they bring the banners out during half time and say something both about how well those teams played, but also something explicint reminding people why they aren't hanging with the rest of the banners.  But I think that's very hard to do tastefully and harder to do tastefully in a different way each year.

The Fab Five happened.  All of it, the good, the bad and the ugly.  I think it's ridiculous to hide the banners away forever and try to forget all of that ever happened or to only ever talk about it as what a bad thing they did.  Because for all of that, they won a lot of games and earned the banners with their play on the court.  But I also think that you have to treat them somewhat like the tainted goods they are.  Accept the glory, but also accept the blame.  I think there is a way to be proud of the accomplishment without condoning the actions.

The documentary made me a little sick when the players were complaining about "not getting their cut" in jersey sales. Someone should have explained to them why they were at Michigan. 1) Path to the NBA 2) Get an education, be a part of something really special (NCAA Basketball), have a great time and have a guaranteed job upon graduation. You don't take money.

Win them the right way.... Let's put some up coach B

We, as fans, can't ride our high horses about other schools that cheat and then make excuses for Chris Webber.  If we do, we're no better than those we profess to detest.  

Webber did exactly what Ohio State's football team did under Tressel.  He cheated, lied about it, and never admitted to anything that the FBI hadn't already found.  He has never demonstrated anything close to contrition.  Instead, he has acted as though he was entitled to cheat, and that those who would hold him responsible for his actions are the "bad guys."

Worst of all, Chris Webber made it "cool" to take Ed Martin's money.  If Webber hadn't taken it, neither would the next group of players.  What Chris Webber did was against everything the University of Michigan stands for.  

The bottom line: Chris Webber did exactly what we make fun of SEC football players for doing.  He is the biggest stain in the history of University of Michigan athletics.  His transgressions caused all of us as fans to suffer through ten years of basketball hell.

Banners from the time he cheated should be burned.

You can't really expect that the Fab Five will want to be welcomed back, if some of their primary achievements are not hanging from the rafters for all to see.

Not a fan of MSC.  Not a fan of less than forthright athletics, either.  So ...  I guess they can stay where they are.

220am and posting on mgoblog.  I do not have a problem.  I can quit anytime.

Otherwise it isn't happening anytime soon

Final Four

1993

Thank God for MSC.



You don't celebrate the greatest embarrassment to the university in any way, shape, or form.

I loved the Fab Five.  Lived and died with every win and loss.  Fact is, though, they underachieved during the regular season, never won a Big 10 Championship, and while their 2 tournament runs were epic (especially the win over Kentucky) in the end they didn't win anything.  Even as a kid I could tell I was seeing a group of supremely talented basketball players who didn't bring 100% every game, didn't really focus until tournament time.  So this group, who I loved, never won anything, and while winning nothing contributed to bringing down our basketball program.  Makes me feel pretty conflicted when I think about the Fab 5.  I still love 'em, but I don't want to see their banners in our house.  This is MIchigan, fergodsakes.  Not the SEC.  Not Ohio.  So I remember the good stuff, accept the punishment for the bad, and live with it.  

Put them up in a display case in Crisler Center. With posters describing the team, the run, the issues and the vacating. There's no reason we can't celebrate the on court accomplishments while showing the errors that happened. No need to hide our history, put it on display and learn from it.

Well maybe all the season ticket holders should get a refund from the games they paid for during that era.