Fab Five, Michigan, one of the Top 7 Dirtiest Programs......
$280k to C-Web, WOW....6'10 with a twenty foot jumper and life is good.
http://www.esquire.com/the-side/feature/college-basketball-history-2009…
by Mitch Albom, and read in particular the passage where Chris Webber and Shonte Peoples are walking down the street, look in the M-Den and see Webber's jersey being sold and Webber complains, "look, they make $80 off of those jerseys and I don't have enough money for lunch," it all rings a bit hollow.
Putting aside the ethics or propriety of a university selling jerseys due to their scholarship athletes, the comment by itself, given what we now know, is shameless.
Wow, the Fab Five are having a reunion at The Motor City Casino. The irony, it burns.
Wait, is throwing a championship game to help your bookie/booster dirty?
I thought it was just street smarts.
Weber was dirty. So, were the next round of recruits.
The rest of the Fab Five is ok in my book.
March 19th, 2009 at 12:27 PM ^
You think he threw the game? Webber put up 23 and 11 against UNC. He was the main reason we were in the game. Most of the other Fab Five members played like crap.
Ever heard of him?
He was a great shooting guard for Arizona State in the mid 1990s. Anyway, its been documented--and he fessed up--to throwing games in conjunction with a local bookie, during his senior year. His coach, coincidentally, was Bill Frieder.
Why do I bring this up? Because in one the games he fixed, he set a school record for three-point makes in a game en route to a 30-point night. He had all the wise guys sweating, but he did just enough subtle things wrong to ensure that ASU did not cover the spread.
Forgetting the basic rules of the game twice--like travelling and calling a TO your team does not have--are not subtle.
Ed Martin was a bookie. He laundered money through Weber. Weber commits the biggest gaffe in tourney history (after the refs refused to call a blatant ridiculous travel) when his team has a chance to take the lead in the championship game. He appears broken up about it, but within days he's creating to TO Foundation.
Yeah, he didnt care about calling that TO.....he made cash off of it.
Conspricacy theory? Yes. But, Martin was a bookie, not a booster. It's not that big of a stretch, especially considering all the tactics Weber used to avoid being questioned on the Martin matter, when everyone else fessed up. Perhaps he was hiding a more sordid truth.
I like Chris Webber. I don't like hearing bad things about people I like.
Next thing, you'll probably try to tell me Tom Brady has an illegitimate child or something.
Umm, I dont know if this is a joke, but he does have a bastard child...
Kind of a crazy coincidence if it wasn't a joke though, right?
You're better than that.
You never know man, some people are terribly uninformed on the internet.
And its noce to know that you think im better than that. Its nice to know someone cares...
For the record, I don't even like Webber. I just don't think he threw that game. And in fact, the NCAA ruled both times it investigated him that there was no evidence that he or any of the other three fixed games.
Webber was a lot of things, but he wasn't a point-shaver and he didn't throw that game. He was a great player but a headcase under pressure and he choked. If he did throw the game, he should get an Oscar for being able to write that kind of disappointment on his face after the game.
If that's true, then Webber must be one hell of an actor, because he sobbed for hours after the game. I don't buy it. Besides, Webber turned pro a couple weeks after the game, so why would he be in such a hurry to make a quick buck right then?
As for "forgetting the basics of the game," players drag their pivot foot all the time, and most of the time they get away with it. See the video below. (Do you think Scheyer put money on that game?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3vtLevo44o
And as for calling the timeout (a mistake repeated by a Syracuse player one year later in the tourney), Michael Talley is said to have shouted "call a timeout!" on the bench as Webber passed by.
Is the Syracuse player we're talking about.
And, its just my personal conpsiracy theory.
I try to speak queitly about it around these parts, but I could not resist the jab (or the chance to tell the Stevon Smith story) in this forum.
It's all good.....either way, C-Web is a bit of a douche.
I still hold the other four close to my heart. Big fan of Jalen and Juwan.....and, I wish their legacy was not tainted so much by their teammate. Unfortuneatly, everyone now thinks the Fab Five is dirty.
March 19th, 2009 at 11:02 AM ^
>he (being CWebb) pled guilty to criminal contempt for lying about his dealings with booster Ed Martin, who gave Webber at least $280,000
...no where,in the article or the statement above,does Jalen,Jimmy King,Howard or Ray J are they mention in the same light as CWebbb. What I find interesting...no mention of Coach Fisher.
March 19th, 2009 at 11:03 AM ^
Shonte Peoples. A quality individual.
March 19th, 2009 at 11:18 AM ^
The problems with the Michigan program certainly preceded Fisher and Webber, although they obviously came to a head during his tenure.
The following is from the much longer October 12, 1997 article in the Ann Arbor News that was written by former sports reporter John Beckett. He wrote the article in the aftermath of Fisher's firing.
"After the 1989-90 season, I had a talk with Fisher. After five seasons covering U-M basketball, I was moving on to other things. Before I did, I told Fisher that one of his players had told me that "golden handshakes" - boosters slipping players money after games - were sometimes happening in the Wolverine locker room.
I didn't have enough on-the-record sources to write about it, but this player was one I trusted, and I thought Fisher should be alerted.
Fisher's reaction was mildly angry disbelief. He would never believe U-M boosters or players would do such things, he told me.
An example of Steve Fisher's naivete? I don't think so. Steve Fisher was not that naive. Steve Fisher is an intelligent man. More likely, I think, was that if Fisher didn't know about such goings-on, he was perfectly content to continue not knowing."
March 19th, 2009 at 11:27 AM ^
What did Howard, Rose, King, and Jackson, or anyone else on the team do to be called "dirty?" Webber was dirty and made it "cool" to take Ed Martin's money.
Four players took money overall; that does NOT CONSTITUTE A DIRTY PROGRAM.
I sat next to Ed Martin at a UM game before he became a "celebrity." I had no idea who he was, but he knew more about Detroit basketball players than anyone I had ever met. I asked him "where are they now" questions about every player I had watched in the previous fifteen years and he knew where every single one of them was and what they were doing.
Ed Martin was not a UM booster; he was a Detroit basketball booster. He "helped out" a lot of other players who didn't go to UM, too, but they never came under scrutiny.
Also, why isn't Tom Izzo ever taken to task for his role here. He "encouraged" one of his players, I think it was Mateen Cleaves, to turn UM in, but isn't known as a "rat" like Bruce Pearl is.
Tom Izzo turned UM in to gain a competive advantage and it worked. He profitted for the next ten years while UM was in scandal limbo. He participated in negative recruiting and used UM's scandal to "build a wall" around the state, especially the Flint/Saginaw area.
Unlike in football, you CAN win national championships with kids from Michigan, and Izzo did, because of the advantage he helped create by turning UM in. But he is seen as a sportsman, a clean coach, etc.
Hopefully, this year means UM is back. Hopefully, we will very soon see that Izzo isn't all that great when he has to compete on a level playing field for instate recruits. Hopefully, in a few years, MSU loses enough edge that their fans start calling him "Izzold" and call for his head.
And hopefully, UM finally starts getting its share of big time recruits again.
March 19th, 2009 at 11:44 AM ^
is one of the best coaches in the country, and michigan would love to catch him cheating.. It is not wrong to demand that other teams play fair. I dont like msu, i dont like izzo, but his ability is second to almost none.
March 19th, 2009 at 12:06 PM ^
So you are accusing Tom Izzo of turning in Michigan? this comes off as baseless rubbish. Produce the links to those articles, or STFU.
When a Explorer full of scholarship athletes rolls over on M-14, there is going to be an investigation. Mateen Cleaves was in that vehicle. If your reasoning is that by being a crash victim he turned in Michigan, you made quite a leap.
Your comment is crap. In the future, please spend more time considering what you are writing before hitting "Save" as this comment has lowered the level of content here today.
March 19th, 2009 at 12:09 PM ^
Your post is crap. In the future, please spend more time considering what you are writing before hitting "Save" as this post has lowered the level of content here today.
Holy cow man. Take a pill. You can disagree with his comments and leave it at that.
March 19th, 2009 at 12:12 PM ^
if you are going to make a comments stated as fact accusing someone of something the is being portrayed as underhanded, back it up with facts. Its a completely reasonable standard.
To be clear, I was not making the comment to the OP, rather to Tater's comment about Izzo.
March 19th, 2009 at 12:31 PM ^
His beliefs are based on a core set of principles that were ingrained in him at an early age:
1 – All programs that are not Michigan are dirty. If they include “State” in the name, the argument can be irrefutably advanced by replacing the “S” in the acronym with “$”.
2 – Facts are irrelevant. See e.g., the demise of Barry Sanders under Ross.
3 – Threet has been destined to play at Adrian since birth.
But most of all, we must remember that Tater is not an accredited sports commentator or journalist, nor has he played in any sports at any level. He is simply an enthusiastic young man with a sixth-grade education and an abiding love for all of Michigan athletics and a hatred for anything not Michigan. Share his love (and hatred) today and every day with a glimpse inside Tater’s Maize/Blue World.
March 19th, 2009 at 12:39 PM ^
sorry CPS, I forgot to read his manifesto.
March 19th, 2009 at 12:41 PM ^
I was leaving that for Dex, but you handled it quite nicely.
March 19th, 2009 at 12:45 PM ^
Brian Fellooooooooooows, Safari Planet
March 19th, 2009 at 12:26 PM ^
"Top 7 dirtiest programs" is redundant. It should be "Top 7 dirty programs" or "Seven dirtiest programs."
But anyway, these rankings are dumb because the NCAA is totally random with its enforcement, and doesn't have subpoena power anyway. It's an open secret that Wooden's UCLA teams were bought off by boosters, but they were never investigated. Are we dirtier than them just because we happened to actually be put under the microscope?
"Top 7 dirtiest programs" is redundant. It should be "Top 7 dirty programs" or "Seven dirtiest programs."
Are you serious...?
March 19th, 2009 at 12:38 PM ^
How does one player make it the dirtiest team? He did this for UM and UMass and for Memphis State you talked about thugs... Hello? The U? Ring a bell? Also, he's not guilty yet, but he will be; Reggie Bush got a million dollar house. He just picked random teams.
March 19th, 2009 at 12:40 PM ^
A better article can be found on Slate: http://www.slate.com/id/2213975/
It's 7 things the writer hates about this year's NCAA tournament. Last on the list is Jay Bilas, and Brian's post on his differing opinions on what constitutes a clean or dirty elbow is linked.
The box full of money that busted open at a FedEx office designation...Kenny *Skywaker* Walker's father. Along with the other shenanigans that were going on there which led to Eddie Sutton dismal and the hiring of Pretty Ricky Pitino.
the response by a few of the posters shows the "arrogance" that sparties love to bring up.tater's post, on the other hand, shows an allegiance to all things maize and blue including a distaste for the guy who had his starters in with a 50 point lead a few years back.that kind of behavior is why those of us who have been through the good and bad,anyone over 30,has a very bad taste in their mouth caused by izzo bile.
"the midget" may or may not had anything to do with michigan's demise but the word was,back in '97',that he did. this came from speculation by both michigan coaches and sportwriters as to whom would most benefit.
lay off tater!!
Michigan and Michigan ALONE was responsible for the demise of its basketball program. Tom Izzo had NOTHING to do with it no matter who he may have ratted out. You and Tater are the perfect examples of the "arrogant ass" Michigan fans that so many people despise.
I'm sorry I offended you with my excuse filled,holier than thou,I am a michigan alum diatribe that did not contain 1 excuse and even a hint at arrogance.
Its funny how those of u who had the parental support to attend the University of Michigan and have the least in common with the typical Michigan athlete come on these internet blogs espousing the attributes of these young men while showcasing your absolute superiority and utmost disdain for the walmart wolvie's.
I realize that superior genetics and upbringing along with zero athleticism gives u supreme right to bring ur holier than thou attitude to these sport blogs and I will rather than challenge you to meeting me in alley behind my home of 20 years----------------------------
http://maps.live.com/#JnE9eXAuMTUwOTMrc2FyYXRvZ2ErZGV0cm9pdCttaSU3ZXNzd…
refrain from reading the true arrogant and snide remarks of all too many of those who post here.
Challenging someone to a fight over the internet? Really? I mean, is this really happening? Why don't you reread your first post. You implied if Izzo ratted out the UM hoops program, then he had a hand in its demise. Nothing could be further from the truth. It doesn't matter whether or not he tattled on Michigan to the NCAA. He had nothing to do with the corruption that was prevelant within the program! To tell you the truth, I really don't give a shit that the program was dirty. I don't care that players took money from Ed Martin. It just proves that Michigan is like virtually every other big time NCAA athletic program. That's the difference between the way guys like you & Tater view Michigan and the way I see it. Michigan is not exempt from these things, nor are they morally and ethically superior to any other school. None of these athletic programs are 100% clean, Michigan included.
The issue is that Izzo had nothing to do with Fisher looking the other way and extending tickets to Martin. Izzo was not in the Explorer that rolled over coming back to AA from an illegal recruiting party. Cleaves didn't need to squeal to anyone to get the fire started under the investigation, because the car accident was the ignition point.
To cast blame on another institution or individual for the illegal acts going on at Michigan is showing an incredible amount of bias.