Chris Webber now in the film industry, book coming out this summer
Didn't see this posted. C-Webb's documentary is "almost done", his book is coming out this summer and now apparently he is an executive producer for a movie.
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2015/01/chris_webber_jumps_in…
Here's a sneak peak at the movie trailer
It's time to let Chris Webber start hanging around the program again. His connections would be great for recruiting as well as program cache.
Webber did imesurable damage to the program, has never admitted his culpability and has shown no remorse.
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Refusal to reconnect with Webber basically amounts to shooting ourselves in the foot. I'm not sure about you, but I typically try to avoid doing it.
Dear lord I thought we killed off that Bagheera guy. Or whatever reincarnation you are.
No, it isn't equivalent to shooting ourselves in the foot. I'm positive there are fairly clear steps that Webber has been "encouraged" to take as part of this and showing remorse would be one. He hasn't done that. I don't expect the university to go groveling to Webber. The program has succeeded just fine without him being around in Beilein's tenure. It'd be disappointing if they never made up, but hardly akin to shooting anything.
Easy to do when the team is finally good again after you contributed to screwing up the program for years. Yeah I'm in a hot take mood today.
It definitely wasn't all Chris Webber, your point is correct. There were other factors as to why the team was bad for a while. State getting Izzo as a coach and subsequently getting good didn't help either.
But four years of probation, a docked scholarship every year, two year ban on postseason play (yes the NCAA rolled one of those years back) I would say is fairly serious. And he and Ed Martin were the central figures in the scandal at least in the public eye.
I think it would make the university and program look weak and foolish, and do a disservice to the players that came to Michigan anyways and succeeded, to bend over backwards for Chris Webber. It's not about publicly shaming the guy either. Just something brief about your regrets, an apology, and what you'd like to contribute going forward would be enough. I have faith it will happen. But that's on Webber, not on Michigan. If he doesn't feel like doing it right now, no skin off my back either way. Like I said I hope it happens someday, but I also don't see the huge benefit some people do...it would be a nice story if they made up.
Webber was the first one on the take, since junior high, took the most by a substantial margin, and was far from needy. His father worked at a GM plant and his mother was a teacher, and he had a scholarship to Detroit Country Day HS. He had the audacity, while on the take, to whine that the players should be paid for the amount of money that basketball was making for the University.
Of the $616,000 that Ed Martin laundered through his "loans", Webber received $280,000. Taylor received $160,000, Traylor $105,000, and Bullock $71,000. Only Traylor paid Ed Martin back.
Webber made $176M in his NBA career, only paid Ed Martin $38,000 back, and has never given back to the University in any way, shape, or form.
He does have some sort of foundation, its claim to fame is that it provided 3000 tickets to underprivaledged youth to Sacramento games.
Screw him!
Compare him to his Fab 5 compatriot, Jalen Rose.
Made $100M in his NBA career.
Current sports analyst for ESPN. Current spokesperson for the Retired NBA Players Association. Is known for his philanthropic activities including the founding of the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy in Detroit in 2011. Produced 2011 documentary on the Fab 5.
Who would you rather embrace?
Martin scandal, but other than that I think you've got it about right.
The NCAA is. The court system is in the process of making it official and undeniable that the NCAA is and has been at fault. Webber was just a guy who didn't kneel to the establishment.
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I don't see why he should have cooperated with the NCAA's investigation. And isn't lying to the grand jury at least partially explained by the NCAA's gun to his career's head?
We're gonna blame it all on Webber? What about the other guys that took money after shit hit the fan in the mid 90s? (Bullock, Taylor, Traylor)
Not to mention, UM fucked it all up with HORRIBLE coaching hires.
We should have hired Brian Dutcher instead of fucking Ellerbe OR forked over the farm for Rick Pitino when we had the chance after Ellerbe tanked the program. Instead we hired Amaker... not even mentioning the shitty facilities.
Cmon people! Other schools have had violations and recovered. Considering that UM was raking in Kentucky-esque recruits at the time, there is no way we would not have recovered before Beilein if we made the CORRECT hires after Fisher was fired.
Pitino would have represented the university well... maybe we could have gotten Calapari. Hell... Tark was still alive, coulda gotten him!
Pitino cheated on his wife and then was extorted for cash... Yeah he's the real devil. Please. Not to mention those actions occurred after he would've been hired. So we don't even know if it would happen in A2.
If UM actually shelled out for Pitino, the program would've been right back on track competing nationally while recruiting at a high level about a decade and a half sooner.
Anyone with a brain would take that trade.
His book will be called "Nothing's Ever My Fault."
Sorry, but if C Webb wants to be part of the University of Michigan program again, all he has to do is provide a mea culpa and an apology. If he just apologized and then said "I took the money because I felt I deserved it and never thought I would get caught.," I would be fine with it.
Players do deserve the money. But they put their programs at risk when they accept it under the current system. A contrite or at least honest C Webb would be great, but the same old arrogant, entitled, delusional shit he has spewed for the last twenty years isn't enough for me. I would hope it's not enough for the school, either.
Are you suggesting that Chris Webber wants to "hang around the program" but someone is preventing him from doing so?
If so, who would that be, and why?
March 12th, 2015 at 12:31 AM ^
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A man does not stay dormant for 20 years and not talk to his friends for no reason.
I hope he knows what he is doing with this book. It very easily could double the damage of he didn't handle this right.
I admire a man for sticking up for his rights but hope he realizes that he needs to target the bad individuals and not the school.
He's already back in Crisler. I do think the banners will be back some day.
He should have taken part in Jalen's documentary to let his voice be heard. Instead he's showing how petty and self righteous he is on top of having too big of an ego. And this comes from someone who doesn't blame him as much as others.....
March 11th, 2015 at 10:18 PM ^
Man, the Fab 5 were awesome bad-asses. Their game was a sight to behold. They should be celebrated, but instead we have this murky bullshit purgatory embarrassment that we put ourselves through. It didn't have to be this way. What a colossal clusterfuck.
I wonder what, if anything would have been different if they had won a NC?
March 12th, 2015 at 10:43 AM ^
Man I have so many fond memories watching CWebb play in A2. I wish things were different.
We did not have to totally and shut down our program for so long.
I remember there was a situation were Baylor had a guy that killed someone on the team and there was a bunch of other really messed up stuff going on and the coach knew about it.
There were back up and running like two years later.
We made idiotic hires because the AD back in the day wouldn't consider any employed coaches because that was "not gentlemen" like. We handicapped ourselves thanks to an out of touch with reality/college sports athletic director.
And don't get me started on Jamal Crawfords bullshit case.
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March 11th, 2015 at 10:27 PM ^
He and I are among a small group of investors in 2 feature films to date - 'Unexpected' and 'Digging for Fire,' both of which premiered at Sundance in January. I'm friends with his production partner, Peter Gilbert (Hoop Dreams, Prefontaine, At the Death House Door), which is kinda how I got involved.
In person, he's a really nice guy. He was there with his wife, in addition to (former MSU LB) Julian Peterson and his wife too. CW and I bonded over all things Michigan....the turnaround and success of the hoops team, our excitement for HARBAUGH, our love of the school and Detroit, etc. We did not discuss anything else - I know he and Peter have been working on their mutual project, and I did not want to pry.
So I don't know, maybe there are reasons beyond our understanding why things have been awkward between him, the other Fab 5's, and the school. Before we write him off, we should let him tell his story - I think he at least deserves that opportunity.
was code for something else and gonna lead to a totally different discusion thread. With pictures. Not sports pictures. Okay, a different kind of sports. And pictures. Oh, nevermind.
Webber can win an Academy Award for his film and Pulitzer Prize for his book and I won't read/watch either. He's had plenty of time to come clean about his role in nuking Michigan basketball. But at this point, who cares any more. The program is in great shape, well-coached, and actually won several Big Ten Titles - something Webber and his teammates never did.
The people making the book are the same scammers who caused us to take a massive loss on HTTV last year (and utterly wiped me out).
I don't care much for Webber either.