OT: Jalen was advocating for the Fab 5 reunion last night at Mock Rock
Jalen MC'd the Michigan Mock Rock last night at Hill. He made a few comments regarding the Fab 5 returning to Michigan. He said that all of the Fab 5 love Michigan and love the Michigan fans. He said that this team could be good enough to cut down nets and if they do he wants to watch from the seats with the other 4 of the Fab 5.
He was a pretty good MC. He brought out Jimmy King at one point and Hardaway and GRIII for a few seconds. Hoke was there and Jalen thanked him for bringing Michigan football back.
I realize that the Fab 5 are a touchy subject for some Michigan fans but I'm 44 and remember bumping into the Fab 5 at the Spaghetti Bender back in the day! You are old school if you remember the Bender. I'm a fan of all the Fab 5. Even CWebb. I don't get a vote but I say bring em all back. It was over 20 years ago.
February 5th, 2013 at 2:30 PM ^
Exactly!
I hate that everyone tries to blame the entire 10 years on the Fab Five. There was so much more involved.
February 5th, 2013 at 1:28 PM ^
Bring them all back and hang the banners. Stop the self flagellation.
February 5th, 2013 at 1:34 PM ^
Seems like there is a news article every other day about him demanding the university to invite the fab 5 back. Instead of making demands of the university, he should be asking Webber to just apologize already.
Until Webber makes a public apology, I do not think he should be invited back. All he has to do is say, "I was young, stupid and selfish, and I'm sorry." In some ways, it's hard to blame a 18 or 19 year old kid for taking fistfuls of cash from Ed Martin. I would like to say that I wouldn't have done so, but I was never in the position to make that choice. The problem is that Webber will not accept that what he did was wrong even now.
Also, the banners should never be hung. First, they will always be tainted. Second, even though the Fab 5 were exciting and revolutionized the game, they never won any championships, big ten or NCAA.
February 5th, 2013 at 1:37 PM ^
I will always love the Fab 5! To see them all together again at a Michigan game would be awesome, even if they didn't raise the banners back up. I grew up to those guys and have a lot of great and sad memories. If you don't know them personally then don't judge them, everyone makes mistakes, just not always that big of one.
February 5th, 2013 at 1:57 PM ^
No, you're old school if you remember the Village Bell !
February 5th, 2013 at 1:59 PM ^
February 5th, 2013 at 2:23 PM ^
February 5th, 2013 at 2:23 PM ^
The least they could do is auction the old ones off or display them in the PDC practice courts.
February 5th, 2013 at 2:19 PM ^
February 5th, 2013 at 2:23 PM ^
The scuttlebutt on Webber I've heard is that he took the money and immediately gave it to his parents, not keeping it for his own use. If that were the case, I can understand why he's spent 20 years not talking about it. It's not his own pride or reputation at stake, but that of his family.
If it's true. It could be total BS. But rumormongering is what the Internets are for.
February 5th, 2013 at 2:38 PM ^
I have always heard the same thing even back before it came out that he lied to the grand jury. His dad took the money and Webber very much respects his father and wanted to protect his reputation. Like you said, could be bullshit but it seems like a reasonable possibility.
It seems to line up with all the facts. Everyone around him at the time has said that if Webber himself had the money, he certainly didn't spend any of it until after he left.
February 5th, 2013 at 3:41 PM ^
February 5th, 2013 at 3:49 PM ^
Recognizing or celebrating Chris Webber in any way, shape, or form is a zero-character, no-win move for the University. A Chris Webber apology in 2013 means next to nothing after his decade of silence, preceded by several years of public deception, criticisms of the Athletic Department (does WDFN still have his calls on tape somewhere?), and his total lack of remorse. If it had meant anything to him, he would have told the truth in the first place and owned up to his mistakes when it mattered. Instead, he perjured himself and let Michigan take his punishment for him.
Chris Webber at center court of Crisler is just about the last thing this program needs. Especially when we've come out the other end of the dark ages with a coach who does things the right way, players who do things the right way, and an excitement around this program entirely separate from the legacy of the Fab Five.
The Fab Five with Chris Webber can have their "legacy" and recognition on someone else's dime. Not Michigan's. We've moved on.
February 5th, 2013 at 4:56 PM ^
I can still taste the tear gas as the crowd on South University was disbursed both times the Fab Five made the NCAA final game - heady times!
But while I have a soft spot for many of the Fab 5, J Howard in particular spent a lot of time at Motts, Webber really does need to hold himself to account. It would have been one thing for a kid who grew up with nothing, like Rose, to take the money, but the Webbers could have waited until the draft.
At this point Chris is in a similar position as Lance Armstrong, everyone knows he did something wrong and he made a mess of things in defending himself.
February 5th, 2013 at 5:00 PM ^
Personally I feel as if Jalen is becoming rather unclassy with all these Fab 5 references. Everytime someone says "Hey Michigan basketball is great" it seems like Jalen appears to say "You know would be awesome? The Fab 5 reunion to watch this team. You remember the Fab 5 right? We were awesome. Well up until the part where Webber when in front of the grand jury." Shut up and MC the benefit event for the hospital, don't go bringing up topics that are controversial to the University at such an event and when you're been invited to be the MC. He has plenty of other venues to bring up the issue.
February 5th, 2013 at 5:30 PM ^
February 5th, 2013 at 7:30 PM ^
I'm old enough. I cheered loudly. And then I stuck around for the Ellerbe and Amaker years and saw what the scandal wrought.
Did you?
February 5th, 2013 at 5:40 PM ^
February 5th, 2013 at 5:47 PM ^
I really hope your affiliation with the University isn't a close one. I'd rather scrap the athletic department altogether than have my degree associated with "bending/breaking rules" or a "who cares" attitude.
February 5th, 2013 at 6:23 PM ^
February 5th, 2013 at 7:28 PM ^
The idea an amateur athlete should be absolved of having to know that it's wrong to take money from an adult who lavishes their families with gifts of liquor and cakes (as was Ed Martin's MO) because they're basketball stars is laughable to me.
And then there's the fact that the guys at the tail end of the scandal (Bullock, Traylor, Taylor) had to look every day at big pictures of Ed Martin in their locker room captioned "DO NOT ASSOCIATE WITH THIS MAN," and -still- took cash...
College stars don't take money because they don't know it's wrong. They take money because they want the money. And given the nature of the NCAA, the university is the one who gets dinged when they do it. Lucky us.
February 5th, 2013 at 7:34 PM ^
Fisher forging Perry Watson's name on passes for Ed Martin unfortunately took our scandal to a higher level. It's not fair to call it a Fab Five scandal since only one of them was implicated. To my mind the bigger culprits were the players who came along later who had been warned to stay away from Ed Martin and especially Fisher and any other coaches in on it.
February 5th, 2013 at 5:49 PM ^
The sad thing is that this is how the Buckeye fans feel about their football team. To hell with the rules, they were fun to watch and they won!
February 5th, 2013 at 5:43 PM ^
I just got a boner and wanted to puke at the same time. Oh, the memories.
February 5th, 2013 at 8:16 PM ^
While I understand Jalen wanting Webber back in order that he (Jalen) can more fully bask in the good feelings he is entitled to concerning his stellar career here, Chris Webber embarrassed everyone associated with the University.
I'm disinterested in an apology and would simply prefer that he just stay away.