A Sea Of Red

All of you whipper-snappers who weren't watching basketball yet in the early 90's, you need to watch the ESPN 30/30 episode on Saturday about the Fab 5. I don't know if it's done well, but the Fab 5 is required knowledge for any basketball fan.

Though not all of them made it in the NBA, they were all superb college players. And as a Michigan fan, I absolutely loved watching them play.

The 30 for 30 series as a whole is very well done. I'm excited to see this, because the Fab 5 were some of my earliest memories of college basketball. I know some quotes that have been released regarding their thoughts of Duke have been viewed as controversial so it seems to have some sizzle. Jalen Rose by the way is a outstanding analyst on ESPN.

What time's it coming on? I'm staying at a friend's and want to set the DVR.

For the record, Jalen's production company produced the documentary so it comes from a players' perspective. I wouldn't expect salacious details on the Fab Five's misdeeds. But the Brother in Smack indicated on Rome the other day that Michigan would be taken to task for the way they handled the entire ordeal.

Technically it would be an add-on of the 30 For 30 Series.

It comes on Sunday night at 9pm.

Looking forward to watching this as well.

I was always a big Webber fan. Looking forward to this.

The "Fab Five" The Miami Hurricanes of College Basketball. (But with out the championships)

Already heard about Jalen's comment about Duke being "uncle toms"...

Yep, that was the controversy I was talking about. I heard it on a radio show, but they did say that Jalen said that when he was young. We'll see if that is accurate or not.

I love when Duke wins just because of the angst it causes people. Everything about Duke is villified, and it is just sad. Don't we want our kids to strive to go to great schools, and be good citizens? I know they are perceived as a bunch of rich kids but still.

Let me be clear, I don't like duke. But I have all the respect in the world for coach k, and their respect for the importance of academics. They forgo on so much talent in order to only recruit those who take college seriously. Those are some principles that every other college has sold out to.

Thats why its so impressive. Stanford football the past couple of years has been the same way and you have to respect that. They don't cut corners and they relize they are a elite university first. People get mad that these programs don't take guys who are rough around the edges but why should they? They want a higher caliber student athlete.

Its the same thing with BYU a couple of weeks ago. Everyone throws a fit when athletes get away with everything yet when a school tries to have and maintain a standard people cry over it. You can't have your cake, and eat it too.

Based on the comments from Rose that I'm seeing float by on twitter, I have no desire to see this.

I really thought the Fab 5 was well done. I really enjoyed it, but then again I'm a sucker for pretty much any basketball documentary, especially one with some good Duke bashing haha.

i'm watching it now. so far i think its great. its bringing back alot of memories of watching them with my father.

a great team that i think would of put together another run at the championship had webber not left....

rough couple of years for my dad as a wolverine fan and a bills fan.

pbow wrote:...especially one with some good Duke bashing haha.

Yeah, that's really my problem with this. Maybe I need to see it in context, but the comments I've seen from Rose about Duke hardly qualify as good. They're anything but good bashing. You can talk smack without stooping to the level that he did. It's mostly the "Uncle Toms" comment that gets me. It's so ignorant and misguided.

El Scorcho wrote: You can talk smack without stooping to the level that he did. It's mostly the "Uncle Toms" comment that gets me. It's so ignorant and misguided.

I 10,000% agree. It's time that successful African Americans weren't demonized in their very own community for caring about their own education. I went to a majority AA middle school, and it's a sad thing to watch.

jbock13 wrote:

El Scorcho wrote: You can talk smack without stooping to the level that he did. It's mostly the "Uncle Toms" comment that gets me. It's so ignorant and misguided.

I 10,000% agree. It's time that successful African Americans weren't demonized in their very own community for caring about their own education. I went to a majority AA middle school, and it's a sad thing to watch.

You guys definitely need to watch it for some context. He was saying what the common perception of Duke was at the time and his own personal feelings, especially how he contrasted his own life with Grant Hill's. In his head he was playing the victim, and it didn't sound like he was validating it at all during the special. They also talked about how going into the first Duke game they all thought Christian Laetner wasn't very good and was overrated, and then he destroyed them. It's just storytelling.

I really enjoyed watching it, mostly for all the memories it brought back. I wish they would have done a little more of what happened on the court, but seeing all those players again was fun (Ohio St, Duke, UNC, Kentucky, etc). I remember hating Jim Jackson and Lawrence Funderburk as much as the Michigan players did.

I was a little surprised that it was basically all about Chris Webber, and then they spend 10 of the last 15 minutes throwing him under the bus. If I am remembering things right, Juwan Howard was much more of a force for the team than was portrayed. And Jimmy King made the comment about himself that I've always thought, he was one of the best college basketball players that never made it in the NBA.

But I thought they did an excellent job of showing the emotions of these guys that we never would have seen, especially Webber after those losses.

El Scorcho wrote:

pbow wrote:...especially one with some good Duke bashing haha.

Yeah, that's really my problem with this. Maybe I need to see it in context, but the comments I've seen from Rose about Duke hardly qualify as good. They're anything but good bashing. You can talk smack without stooping to the level that he did. It's mostly the "Uncle Toms" comment that gets me. It's so ignorant and misguided.

he was a freshman kid raised in the ghetto in detroit. back then in detroit, you better not be a rich black kid...its probably still this way today.

his dislike of grant hill was as he put it in the documentary, complete jealousy.

ALUmnus wrote:I really enjoyed watching it, mostly for all the memories it brought back. I wish they would have done a little more of what happened on the court, but seeing all those players again was fun (Ohio St, Duke, UNC, Kentucky, etc). I remember hating Jim Jackson and Lawrence Funderburk as much as the Michigan players did.

I was a little surprised that it was basically all about Chris Webber, and then they spend 10 of the last 15 minutes throwing him under the bus. If I am remembering things right, Juwan Howard was much more of a force for the team than was portrayed. And Jimmy King made the comment about himself that I've always thought, he was one of the best college basketball players that never made it in the NBA.

But I thought they did an excellent job of showing the emotions of these guys that we never would have seen, especially Webber after those losses.

yeah, jimmy king would of been a star elsewhere in college. and yeah, they showed very little of howard on the court.

i agree they threw webber under the bus but to be honest, deservedly so. that press conference was so bs.

RubberMallet wrote:

El Scorcho wrote:

pbow wrote:...especially one with some good Duke bashing haha.

Yeah, that's really my problem with this. Maybe I need to see it in context, but the comments I've seen from Rose about Duke hardly qualify as good. They're anything but good bashing. You can talk smack without stooping to the level that he did. It's mostly the "Uncle Toms" comment that gets me. It's so ignorant and misguided.

he was a freshman kid raised in the ghetto in detroit. back then in detroit, you better not be a rich black kid...its probably still this way today.

his dislike of grant hill was as he put it in the documentary, complete jealousy.

Bobby Hurley had some strong comments on Colin Cowherd this morning. He basically said if Jalen could have made the grades to attend Duke, he wouldn't have played many minutes (if any). I disagree completely but interesting to hear a Duke player respond. I'd love to hear Grant Hill's comments.

Uh yeah, Bobby.

Incidentally word has leaked out about another upcoming 30 on 30 ... Bartman.

I've only seen half of the documentary, but what i've saw is fantastic. You do have to know the context of what Jalen said before jumping to conclusions. It's funny how Duke incites such anger amongst people. I still don't get it unless your a LU fan!

haven't been able to see the whole thing, but Jalen was talking about how he felt about Duke back in the day not how he feels presently. I am sure he still hates duke, but we all had strong opinions at 18 for not exactly all the right reasons, so I don't think any of us can really criticize.

with that said I love all of these espn documentaries, they are pretty much the only non-sporting event programming I watch on there these days