Maurice Taylor to reconcile with Michigan; Brandon: "Door is open"
ESPN had an interesting article about the sanctions being lifted. At least one of the three living players will reconcile by evidence of this quote from Maurice Taylor
"This morning, I felt really good about the dissociation being over and having the opportunity to reunite with the University of Michigan," Taylor told The AP on Wednesday. "I'm excited to talk to Mr. Brandon and coach (John) Beilein. While I had some success in the NBA, there was a void in my life because of the circumstances. I had three of the best years of my life there and I love that school and all that it stands for."
Here is DB on the three-
Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon insisted the door is open.
"I've never met any of those guys, and I am looking forward to meeting them," Brandon said late Tuesday night in an interview with The Associated Press. "If any of those guys are interested in meeting with me, that would be great."
...but it's been posted repeatedly.
The one thing they didn't say is when all of the quotes were taken. For example, Jalen's comments are vastly different than what he was saying during the Final Four. It makes me think that they could be old.
Anyway, it's over and I think DB saw the positive reception the Fab Five had this year. I think he also witnessed firsthand how fractured the football community was pre-"THIS IS MICHIGAN."
In the end, it was forever ago, they were kids, everyone paid their dues, let's come together and move forward. Just like football. Rich Rod is gone, there will always be stats, pictures and memories, but it's over. Just shake your head or your fist and cheer even louder for the current Wolverines.
A lot of us don't realize that the guys joining the Michigan basketball team in this day and age weren't BORN when this happened. That's how much it is over.
Lastly, we were in the Championship Game this year. Our program is great hands. It's not like we're SMU where they still haven't recovered and they've missed out on the Big XII and no longer the power they were during the "dark years." It took us 20 years, but we did bounce back and we're arguably better. This is Michigan. That is SMU.
We'll be fine, let's keep it moving (forward), embrace the positives of those days just like we embrace Denard Robinson even though he was a product of the Rich Rod era.
Those Jalen quotes came from a Detroit News story published yesterday.
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130508/SPORTS0201/305080302/1131/s…
"A lot of us don't realize that the guys joining the Michigan basketball team in this day and age weren't BORN when this happened. That's how much it is over."
Thanks for making me feel old, jerkface. /s
It's not fair to compare any of those guys to Denard. Denard was an awesome student-athlete who had a great attitude, stayed for four years despite a coaching change, and supported his fellow students at other events. I'm in favor of keeping the door open for the guys mentioned in this article, but they don't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Denard.
Your rant about Denard was completely pointless.
I didn't compare them to Denard. I said, we embrace Denard even though many of us hate/regret/etc. the Rich Rod era. That is what I compared them too, the Rich Rod era.
However, without Rich Rod, we all know there is no Denard.
The point was that you can find something to respect, cherish, or whatever even in a shitty period in history.
Don't do what you just did. Not cool.
IMHO what he did was more reprehensible than anything Webber did. Ed Martin had known Webber since he was in middle school and built his relationships with Webber's parents as much as with Chris, whereas Bullock did not know Martin prior to coming to UM. The fateful SUV rollover involving Cleaves was in February 1996, yet Bullock was taking money from Martin after that, even though there was no question it was illegal. Bullock couldn't blame it on being "just a kid in middle school."
Yep. Bullock was doing it while the investigation was going on. He was blowing right past the signs hung in the locker room with Ed Martin's picture on them and the caption "DO NOT ASSOCIATE WITH THIS MAN." And he even came from an affluent family to begin with, if memory serves.
Not from Detroit, no previous connections to Ed Martin, still collects a five-figure paycheck.
Guy may have had the sweetest jump shot I've ever seen, but talk about dumb...
His family would've been considered upper-middle class, but him and his family was still fine financially. He was just greedy and as you say, dumb.
If you were on campus at that time, you may remember that a lot of the basketball players were flaunting big SUVs and nice jewelry. Even Ron Oliver(!) was over at South Quad regularly in a mysterious new ride.
training table was at South Quad where I lived as a freshman and a sophomre (96-98) and I remember some real nice cars out in the street...
My freshman year (95-96), it was a who's who out there. The basketball players, football players and guys from the black fraternities were out there with the groupies. That's when I had an upperclassmen point to the girls out there with them and said, "Those women don't care about you unless you have a number on your back, Greek letter on your chest or a car." Somehow that pitch didn't get me to pledge.
players that did not end up at Michigan so I think its very possible some money went to players who ended up at Sparty. I'm not saying that to excuse what happened at Michigan or to label the Sparty hoops program as dirty, but to remind people that the Ed Martin scandal went beyond Michigan.
When George Raveling coached Iowa in the 80s, he regularly hooked up Ed Martin with tix. He helped out kids who went to State, but none of their players got busted rolling off the side of the road in a new SUV.
I really did not like this quote in the article:
"Traylor died in 2011, when police in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he was playing professionally, found him dead in his oceanfront apartment."
It was in a section discussing the players' improprieties and Ed Martin's run ups with the law. It made it sound like Traylor was involved in some kind of illegal activity when he died.
He died of a heart attack. Why leave that detail out if you are going to all the trouble to mention where he died and how he was found?
If you did not know he died of a heart attack, the article makes it sound (purposely?) like he died of a drug overdose or a gang murder.
you are reading too much into it. I think they were trying to strike a balance between explaining the circumstances and not turning it into an article about his death. They just said a little bit too much and not quite enough at the same time. Personally, this was the first time I really read about the circumstances of Traylor's death and I did not take that quote to be suggesting foul play, etc. Poorly written, but I don't think underhanded and/or malicous.
C-Webb can be your "plus-1"...
for this to be over with and for the wounds to heal, time to move on...
Go Blue
I never saw that dude on campus without his nose stuck up in the air. He was an arrogant douchebag.
People can talk about what the Fab Five didn't accomplish, but that second "Fab Five" was extremely talented. They played like they didn't care. Maybe getting paid by Martin made those guys lazy and took away their motivation. Those years always felt like a period of wasted potential.
Is my memory going bad, or did Taylor reprise the Webber timeout in the tournament in like '96?
We made a basket to cut the lead down to two or three and he called a timeout, so we could set the defense.
At least Jerod Ward has a decent senior year. But Willie Mitchell? OMG that dude was a huge bust. Funny thing, he used to always come up to our floor in South Quad to see some girls. He had a friend with him all the time. That friend? Tyrone Butterfield. Possibly the worst performing Mr. Basketball in Michigan history and the worst player to wear the #1 jersey since A.C. together. Some things just can't be made up.
"I don't see much movement and I don't see the sense of urgency at all," fellow Fab Five member Jalen Rose told the Detroit News.
"It's not on Chris; it's on Michigan," Rose said. "They can choose to acknowledge what we accomplished regardless of what he does.
"If it's not something that affects their bottom line, they're not going to be in a rush to act." -Rose
"I think it was a little harsh that we were punished for such a long period of time for what we did as kids." - Taylor
"You can't think of Michigan without thinking of us," Webber said in a 2007 interview with the AP.
These are all direct quotes. These are the types of comments I'm sick of. These reek of self pride vs. school pride. To me, the great thing about college sports is the name on the front of the jersey is more important than the name on the back. In the words of the great Pop Fisher (from The Natural) "they come and they go Hobbs, they come and they go". If this was all about Michigan and how to make Michigan better, I think most people would be on board with full reconcilation. As long as some of the former players are simply looking for recognition for what "they" did, I'm not that eager to have them "associated" with the current program.
Webber has apparently never felt he did anything wrong by disgracing Michigan, so I am indifferent as to whether he ever reconciles with the school. The others have expressed regrets for what they did, so i welcome them back to the family.
the fact that a simple, well stated apology seems so elusive to Webber makes me just wish he would fade away. No apology = ambivalence, Apology = integrity, and it is so damn simple to do.
" Money, so they say, is the root of all evil today"- Pink Floyd, 1973.
I don't trust David Brandon, nor do I agree with most of his policies, but at least he can be trusted to handle this one right. To me, it's the same as it should be with Webber. If the athletes admit to their wrongdoing and show contrition, they should be allowed back. If they don't, they should take a long walk on a short pier.
My guess is that Brandon will require a statement from either taking responsibility for his actions and apologizing to the school and its fans. If that happens, I will be thinking something I don't think often: that David Brandon is right this time.
I was kind of indifferent on the whole apology subject even though I went to school during the Fab Five era...but this whole portraying CW as the victim is starting to agitate me.