It seems that Webber wants nothing to do with this. He's missing a golden opportunity for him, imo.
Webber had something on Twitter recently essentially telling people to not congratulate him on the Fab 5 documentary because it had 'nothing to do with him', but that 'hopefully he would get to tell his side of the story soon'...I find it interesting. Jalen has said in some comments that he and all the fab 5 members are still close, but I wonder how CWebb feels.
Could have something to do with the NCAA sanctions. Webber's not allowed to have any association with the basketball program until 2012.
That wouldn't qualify as association with the program at all. He's allowed to speak.
Right, of course. But it might explain why he's not in the ESPN documentary or out promoting it. Assuming UM is officially involved with the documentary (which I'm sure they are), that might have been enough of an association to keep him away. Maybe not by the letter of the law, but just generally giving a wide berth to one another.
I'm just guessing, though. Clearly it could be that he just wants nothing to do with rehashing a major embarrassment from his past or subjecting himself to a potentially very negative take.
The Freep article quoted Jalen as saying they thought he was going to participate at several points in the production, but Webber went back and forth on whether or not he wanted to, and ultimately elected not to sit for interviews. Had nothing to do with the disassociation. The ball was in his court, and he said no.
Huh, well, there you go. I admittedly only skimmed that article.
Any link?
...perhaps he's trying to protect his family. Recall that they were accused of (and admitted to) getting money from Martin, too. Part of Chris's plea agreement was that the charges against his father be dropped. Is it possible that further admittance of moneys would put his father/family in legal danger?
The statute of limitations has surely run out by now. Plus Webber's not the type to publicly admit any wrongdoing and there's no reason to think he would there. More likely, he doesn't want to be asked some questions that might come up.
...wants nothing to do with this for one simple reason: he has nothing to gain by rehashing this stuff. For him, remebering this entire episode is only painful at this point. Why would he want to go back and muck around with that?
Too bad for fans though....I would love to see all 5 of them together.
It really shouldn't be.
He grew up in Detroit. When you're in 8th grade and a man with a trunk-full of cash waves it at your family, you aren't thinking about future violations from a hypocritical bunch of stiffs known as the NCAA.
People who grew up in an environment like (I can only assume) Bando Calrissian may not get this. For him, university is on par with God and country. Those of us grown-ups with a thing called empathy know a little better.
The thing is, Webber didn't grow up in the inner-city. Unlike the other four members, he grew up in a middle class family. If there was anyone who would have been able to resist the money, it should have been Webber.
Yep, I'm sure Mayce didn't make the decision. The 8th grader did.
And how do you know Webber grew up in a middle class family? If any one of the five did, it was Jimmy, not C-Webb.
The thing is, Webber didn't grow up in the inner-city. Unlike the other four members, he grew up in a middle class family
You're confusing Webber with Jimmy King, who grew up in Plano, TX. Webber grew up in Detroit. He did come from a two-parent household, but they weren't particularly wealthy. His father worked in an auto plant.
Man, seriously, obsessed much? I hadn't even posted in the thread.
And yet people seem to agree with me.
You're amusing.
First time commenting, but since I didn't see anyone reply to comments they saw during the interviews, I figured I would give some insight, although not much, from what I did see. Jay even admitted, being from that school in Ohio, that he's looking forward to seeing the 30 at 30 doc. Who isn't though...from what I remember:
1) They talked about who and how the baggy shorts and black socks/shoes came about. Jalen said it was a team effort but Nike was throwing 20 pairs of shoes and money their way a week, so why not. Jimmy said they wanted to be comfortable while playing so they approached Coach Fisher to give the thumbs up for all their hard work on the practice court. The rest is history.
2) Talked about their hatred for Duke. Jalen made it very clear they will go after black kids, but ones that are from polished families, not the inner city kids because they assume they aren't smart. They discribed the hatred for Duke on the same level as Ohio State. Talked about how Duke had the better team that year, but how we were better than NC the following year. Jalen made it a point to say there is the game of basketball and then the game of life. Lets just say after the game both teams ended up at the same location. While they couldn't get in and had to stand in line, we were inside sitting in VIP.
3) Jimmy said all members of the 5 are still very close, keeping up with news of each others children and work. When asked if you could go back would you want to be part of the Fab 5 or a championship team, all 3 answered with the Fab 5, of course. Jalen made the point to add who won the NC 3 years ago....here we are 20 years later talking about the Fab 5.
I think that just about covers it all, although they didn't have much air time on First Take. Watching what I did only makes me want to fast forward time to Sunday, but then what fun would it be not dealing with the anticipation leading up to it.
Interesting hatred of Duke, but I guess everyone hates Duke for one reason or another. I bet they were happy when they came into Crisler and lost in '08.
After watching both the Mike and Mike interview and the First and Ten interview it seems like Rose is trying to tell their side of the story.
<br>He said he and Mary Sue Coleman are "trying to make some wrongs right" and that they never were able to "tell the whole story and the truth". Also he referenced Mitch Album's book in both interviews pointing out that Mitch followed them for 2 years and never found any of the violations they were "accused" of. I wonder if he is serious about restoring the Fab 5 dynasty and what that might be?
I truly hope that once the sanctions are over the team will be brought in and celebrated, and honored. Considering what programs are getting away with anymore - it's not right.
Bush gave back his Heisman but USC players still have rings. USC, with their pathetic petition, isn't going away. Ohio State players still have rings Clarett got for them. Who knows what will happen if allegations surrounding Newton can be proved. Programs now are getting away with things after a slap on the wrist, and I think the Fab Five is a reason why. The NCAA sees how close it was to the death penalty, and sees that the punishment had as much to do with old white guys pissed at the baggy shorts wanting to take the game back to the Jerry West golden years with shorts the size of vintage Stockton or Bird.
Realizing what those punishments have caused, I think the NCAA thinks long and hard about just how heavily punishments will come down - and they realize now that in spite of everything they preach, it's a business and most kids cash in somehow.
You can't just look the other way, but it's altogether too much to give them the treatment they gave UM.
Whether record books acknowledge it or not, this documentary is just another piece of the fact that something revolutionary in basketball - GLOBALLY - happened in Ann Arbor and 5 starting freshmen went to the championship game and repeated the feat the following year. As juniors, minus the biggest star of the 5, they lost to eventual champ Arkansas. With Webber, that may have been the championship year.
this is going to place pressure on Chris Webber to come clean. Coming clean is complicated by the fact that he has not done so before. I love Chris, but over time this has become obvious. Saying that his family was "middle class"--an idea that gets repeated a lot--doesn't really mean that they faced no financial pressure. Hell, most economists--most of US--know that most middle class people are a paycheck or two from the street.
But candor, and some expression of remorse. If--as the pressure builds--he fails to do this I will be disappointed.
I won't vilify him for taking money thrown in his face when he was 14. (His father might be another story.) But he's got to try to bury the hatchet now. All it'd really take is a simple line like "It was wrong, but at the time I thought it was justified because a lot of people were trying to make money off of us. I'm sorry it led to all these problems."
I don't think Webber needs to come clean on anything. He's already been through the federal court system, been suspended by the NBA and kicked out of the UM program. He just needs to start making amends with UM for the sake of himself and the program. I think DB is open to the idea of accepting Webber back, but Webber just doesn't seem to want to make a move.
so what was said on the show?
Scroll up a bit and find out...
as long as he denies wrongdoing, he won't be invited back into the fold.
for those interested.
http://espn.go.com/espnradio/player?rd=1#/podcenter/?callsign=ESPNRADIO…