Fab Five

ESPN's 30 for 30 series has produced some great documentaries, but I really must recommend Fab Five.  It's an amazing look at how Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson burst onto the scene with the Michigan Wolverines back in 1991 with the determination to change how college basketball looked, felt, and was played.  They influenced an entire generation to wear baggy shorts and black socks, to talk trash to other players, and to not regret playing with swagger.

Jalen Rose proved himself to be a Quote machine.  "Who wants to go to Europe? It's not Detroit."  "It wasn't a dope house. I know what a crack house is. Trust me."  "I didn't feel like a college kid anymore. I felt like a pro that wasn't getting paid."  "We were bigger than the scoreboard."

Another candid moment was the players' take on Duke.  They basically painted Duke as a place that didn't recruit ballers on the playground.  They only recruited black players from well to do families and called Grant Hill an Uncle Tom. 

Fab Five also touched on the exploitation of the players by Nike and the University of Michigan.  The players created a revolution in what cool looked like when playing basketball.  It was no longer John Stockton short shorts.

Finally Fab Five touched on Chris Webber, who asked not to be part of the documentary.  Webber's timeout in the National Championship game is memorable, but to see how much emotion he showed from it was moving.  It's hard to remember sometimes that he was still a teenager and seeing him after the game at the press conference was heartbreaking.

At the end the controversies surrounding Webber and a Michigan booster that eventually stripped those memorable teams of their wins was touched on.  I really think this was the reason Webber didn't want to be a part of the documentary.  I'm sure it's something he regrets and there's nothing more than he'd like than to be a part of the Michigan family again.

If you get a chance definitely watch it, DVR it, or buy it.