Fab Five

Jimmy King, Juwan Howard, Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Ray Jackson

Ahhh the Fab Five. Such an appropriate start to the my documentary chronicles. I didn’t know too much about this group, but I got curious and then one night instead of writing a paper I watched this Fab Five documentary. Absolutely worth the 1 hour and 40 minutes.

The most I knew about this group was the infamous Chris Webber timeout. But after watching this documentary I learned that they meant so much more to Michigan than I knew. They represented a culture, carried the school to the national stage and some of them went on to have successful NBA careers.

Not you Juwan Howard.

A few random thoughts about this documentary:

• Thank goodness Jalen Rose got his teef fixed.
• C-Webb was not apart of this documentary..I guess the wounds still cut deep for him.
• I hate the NCAA. Power hungry organization. So you’re a broke kid accepting money to play? I will never see nothing wrong in that it’s like he pulled a D Rose and got someone to take his SATs.
• C-Webb was hella good, never realized how good he was till I saw this #ignorance.
• Jalen Rose rippin on Grant Hill..they siced it, trash talk is a wonderful part of the game. Maybe it got a little personal, but whatevs.
• The creation of the Fab Five similar to the Miami Heat? except they were less well-known? They just wanted to win.
• That portion where they were rippin on Duke was unnecessary and seemed so forced, except for Jalen Rose lolol.
• It’s commendable that the rest of the team sort of stepped aside when the freshman came on, they just cared about winning as a team.
• Jalen Rose = one of the greatest trash talkers.
• Ice Cube is in this.

But some of the main takeaways from this video for me was through Jalen Rose. This documentary definitely made me appreciate him more as a person. He is so unafraid to speak his mind, kind of like Charles Barkley (a documentary for another time). The only thing that C-Webb did wrong was not owning up to what he did and trying to throw someone else under the bus. He did not acknowledge the fact that he was aware of what was going on, which is what kind of tarnished his image. The whole idea of being a college athlete, but not getting paid for your contributions to the program irks me. Boosters are officials that are associated with the university who provide monetary donations to the team promoting its athletics. But if it’s someone who is not associated with the institution then it’s considered an NCAA violation? Bullshit.

The NCAA is on its own power trip when it comes to an athletes eligibility, which for some people it is their only gateway to success. They have so many rules, so many stupid rules that just make it hard to play the game. I learned about the structure of college athletics in college (Sports Marketing class..professor was a bum though). DI schools are basically the minorities with the majority schools being DII and DIII. However, it’s the DI schools that get the TV time, have these tournaments and are allowed these extravagant scholarships to recruit players. It’s all a money-making business that the athlete never really sees. They could be making so much money but the profit goes to the school. They’re clearly compensated for it in other ways by the university, but compared to what they could be getting it is a small payoff.

Well it seems like I went off on a tangent there. I digress.

Regardless, this documentary is why I love sports. Basketball especially because it creates this camaraderie that cannot be duplicated. They always get me thinking, get me dreaming, I could do that. Not.

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