OT: Long CWebb Interview
Pretty extensive interview by CWebb on All The Smoke | Showtime Basketball podcast.
talks a lot about the NBA experiences and such, but pretty long portion on growing up in Detroit, his AAU/high school days, going to Michigan of course.
probably about 15-20 minutes on that early part of his life. Worth a listen if you are a CWebb fan
Thank goodness the MSU AD reported a handshake on a Minnesota visit to the NCAA.
Would it not make sense if Michigan and ESPN got together, found a Saturday night, take college gameday there and raise the banners next year? The beef is over IMO. 20 years is enough.
I was thinking that if Juwan's success at Michigan continues then the Fab Five Part 2 is going to be insane. Follow the NBA careers for 30 minutes then get into how successful Jalen, Chris and Juwan have been off the court to really get into that Michigan post-grad culture.
But yes to your point - when the pandemic clears let's pack Crisler, get the band back together and hang some fucking banners.
"... how successful Jalen, Chris and Juwan have been off the court ..."
I'll bet this displeases some aging Sparty fans. They were probably sure that at least one of the Fab Five was going to wind up as a train wreck. AFAIK Jimmy King and Ray Jackson have been model citizens, too. I don't know of any controversies.
My fault for not looking into them and then omitting them. Would love to learn more about them but the three that jump off the page are Chris, Juwan and Jalen. Hell, even Rob Pelinka is doing big things. Jalen said they kept him on the team for their gpa lol.
I don't think the Athletic Dept thinks the beef is over. Not until he comes clean that what he did damaged the program (for many years). He doesn't need to admit that wanting or taking money was wrong; most of us agree by now that the NCAA and universities have benefited off student-athletes, and change is coming. But he does need to admit that what he did damaged the program. To date, he's been unwilling to do that. I think they discussed this in the documentary.
See what shoes said, below.
That was an interesting listen. Thanks for sharing.
Fun, Insignificant Fact: On the way to my first Moderna vaccine dose (getting mine via work), I drove by Webber's high school alma mater - Detroit Country Day.
Also, fun insignificant fact. When my high school team played in a holiday tournament at DCD, their coach was like, "oh, that locker room is for the varsity teams" as we were walking in. Joke was on him, we were the varsity!
IIRC, it was Webber's enrollment that turned DCD into a sports powerhouse. Prior to that they had been like Cranbrook, an elite academic school with just middling sports teams. His going there was a shock to everyone.
I'm not sure this is true. Detroit Country Day soccer and football were already some of the best teams in the state at the time Chris Webber enrolled. It's more likely the reverse is true. Detroit Country Day's success in soccer and football may have made it more appealing to Webber and easier to build a basketball powerhouse.
That could be. I don't think they'd won anything in basketball specifically, though.
Their being strong in soccer makes sense. Back then it was completely perceived as a suburban sport.
I'm reading Mitch Albom's book on the Fab 5 for the first time and the part about MSU reporting a violation on Minnesota's part was fantastic.
Really enjoying the book so far.
I read it when it came out so my memory may not be 100 percent accurate, but 2 things are interesting in retrospect:
1) I recall Mitch referencing that Mayce (Chris's) father had been approached by Alabama (?), with an offer of $50,000 for Chris to go there. It seemed like a lot at the time and the inference was that the Weber's weren't interesting in taking money. When we learned years later of the amounts that Martin funneled to them, 50k didn't seem so big.
2) There were stories of Chris looking at the amounts charged for Michigan jerseys etc and that he was resentful that he couldn't even afford a pizza. Again in retrospect, we know that Chris had plenty of money for pizza.
I'm also struck by the fact that for a guy who spent so much time (allegedly) around Chris and the program then, that Albom apparently had no clue about Ed Martin's "interest", either that, or as a journalist he willfully looked the other way.
I still have ambivalent feelings about CWeb, but what has bothered me is that the other 4 were and to some extent still are, tainted by what he did and denied until Martin was dead and couldn't contradict what Chris said. The vast majority of the non Michigan public still assume that Juwan, Jalen, Jimmy, and Ray, were equally culpable when in fact they were not-at all (I know Jalen has acknowledged taking some pocket money from Martin). I'll say no, no, the others were Bullock, Traylor, and Taylor, not the fab 5, and they'll look at me and say, sure, sure ....
Yeah I went in knowing the book couldn't be perfectly accurate, especially since it came out in 1994 before the Ed Martin thing and everything else.
But it's still cool for me to see some of the behind-the-scenes stuff, especially since I was born in 1996 so my experience with them has all been retroactive.
Maybe it's because I was born after-the-fact, but I really don't have any issues with C-Webb or the Ed Martin stuff. That sort of thing has been happening and will continue happening in college basketball for years to come.
It sucks that it fractured the relationships for several years, but I'm hoping Jalen and Chris make public amends and they can have them all back for a game soon to raise the banners back up.
I basically agree with you. My issue with Chris more so than that he took $280 K or whatever it was is that he denied it and in fact basically didn't admit anything for years and then when he did, he threw the dead guy (Martin), under the bus. If he had been truthful earlier, it wouldn't have gone on so long, and the damage to the program may well have been much less.
As for Martin, there is no proof that he gave money to Chris specifically to go to Michigan, just that he liked being a big wheel around Detroit/ Flint area athletes (also he may have had real empathy for less advantaged kids, though Chris himself was solidly middle class). He may have assumed that he would be taken care of after pro contracts were signed, or maybe he just had so much money from running numbers at the auto plant, that he didn't care.
In fact he also gave money to Trent Tucker (who went to Minnesota), and probably several others who did not go to Michigan. Circumstantial evidence suggests that Mateen Cleaves was one of his last beneficiaries.
Keep in mind, the allegation is that the Webber family took that money, not just Chris. Both he and his father were mentioned in the FBI probe. I think this is the thing that is tough for him to deal with. It is not just about explaining his own actions but those of his parents as well.
That has always been my theory on this as well. Chris was a 19-20 year old kid. My guess is that his father or family negotiated the deal and took the money on his behalf, similar to how this goes down for many other prep star athletes. The difference here was Ed Martin got caught up in an FBI probe. Webber may not have been clueless, but I don't know how I would have been able to handle that at that age or being asked to rat out your father years later.
HANG ALL THE DAMN BANNERS!!!
this is such a great interview.
Watch it.
They have a great pod. I know most people already listen to too many pods as it is and their episodes can be pretty lengthy, but most of them are pretty entertaining. Barnes and Jackson do a great job.
My (hopefully) cool story, bro:
I went to a Country Day game during Webber's sophomore season there. They played a Saginaw team that had two all-state big men on it. Webber played great, including this memorable play: Just before halftime, he rips down a defensive board, brings it upcourt, does a 360 spin move around a Saginaw player at the foul line, then throws down a massive dunk as the halftime horn goes off. I was standing behind the basket, about 15 feet away. Awesome.
Saginaw High had some hellacious teams back in the day!
Sone of Webber’s HS highlights remind me of the rugby bit in Meaning of Life.
I never knew Webber was all in to MSU. I am not sure what to think about that. I wonder if he still ponders about "what if" playing for the little troll even though Izzo was an ASSistant at the time?
And this must have been the same reaction Izzo had when he saw the picture of Webber shaking hands with the Minny guy.
Quote from Izzo: "FUCK"
The best part of family spats....is putting them behind you. Welcome home C Webb....
Hang the damn banners! Better yet, do it next time Cow pays a visit to Crisler, since they are pretty much the only ones left who get all bent out of shape about it.
It was great CWebb took timeout to do this interview.
I kid, I kid, very good and informative thanks!
The interview would have to be long since everything that comes out of the guy's mouth is a run-on sentence.
Chris is still being run by his ego but he's talking like he isn't. He could have been a part of the doc but he apparently needs control of the narrative. I don't even understand what he was going on about on the issues between him and Jalen, but that's probably by design.