Fab Five

[Real Talk]

Theyd didn't revolutionize jack squat. It wasn't like these guys came up with this stuff and everybody followed. This film was totally revisionist history.

Oh, and that team kept getting its head handed to it by Indiana and the great Bob Knight. That's all I cared about.[/quote]

Bob Knight's one of the best coaches in history...no one said UMs style was a superior brand of bball. But ask me who played on IUs team back then and I need to google it...as wld 95% of people reading this.

Check UMs bottom line around those years...and then check IUs. Anyone rockin the candy stripe pants, short shorts and nameless jerseys anymore? What wasthe pregame music like in gyms before then...how about now? Im sure the blue hairs (funny) didnt request LilWayne and Waka Flocka.

I was in high school when the fab5 took off...and I can guarantee it changed the game. Champs, Foot Locker, Finish Line took off during the UM days! Black socks, shoes, UM gear...I was never a UM fan...but if you wanted baggy you bought UM! Dont see that blue and gold around as much anymore, eh?

[RGV Pony]

Champs, Foot Locker, Finish Line, baggy shorts = MJ

[Real Talk]

Again...MJ gave the fab5 the idea...they didnt originate it...but they took it to the next level. MJ started wearing baggy in 84-85. Ive seen pics of Kato Armstrongs and Gerald Lewis' shorts...not baggy at all. But check the shorts circa 1993...notice a difference?

And MJ was conservatively baggy...just above the knee. UM went below the knee...which is what started the ruckus (and the saggin' trend people hated so much). People werent saggin because they wanted to show their underwear...they were saggin cuz they wanted their shorts to look longer cuz you cldnt find them anywhere!

I can give you a history lesson...but itll fall on def ears. (how lack of baggy shorts led to those ridiculously long shirts to cover up exposed underwear)

Oh...and about my previous post...I didnt mean to infer SMU accepted cheating (although they and 80% of every other universities still do it). Its the old pot callin the kettle black thing.

[Mitch McConnell]

Theyd didn't revolutionize jack squat. It wasn't like these guys came up with this stuff and everybody followed. This film was totally revisionist history.

Oh, and that team kept getting its head handed to it by Indiana and the great Bob Knight. That's all I cared about.

Bob Knight's one of the best coaches in history...no one said UMs style was a superior brand of bball. But ask me who played on IUs team back then and I need to google it...as wld 95% of people reading this.

[/quote]

That would be because basketball is a team game where the sum should be emphasized - NOT the parts.

What I will bgive the FRAUD 5 credit for is creating a revolution for making the game more about the selfishness that's been a part of this game for the last 15 years. They can say how they loved each other and played for each other.

Fine. I'm sure they did.

IMO, the perception they created painted "It's all about me" mentality.

They wanted to be the lighting rod. They got it.

[Real Talk]

You are absolutely right...they pushed the 'me' mentality to the forefront. But that wasnot based on their play. Webber is one of the best passing bigmen to ever play the game. Ask any of the 2000 teammates Juwan Howard had if he was a selfish player. Jimmy King/Ray Jackson got their careers cut short because of their sacrifices to the Fab5...so the selfishness wasnt in their game.

The 'me' mentality was an unintended result of the 'poorer players' increasing the revenue of the richer schools. (much like super Agent Smith was the unintended result of Neo in Matrix Revolutions) it was inevitable.

Now...the NFL and NBA are about to lockout because the players understand their power and want their fair share. Dont think for a second the NCAA isnt taking notice. NFL players want a bigger piece of that revenue pie...and owners dont wanna share. The NCAA wont make the same mistake and will never ever share power with the underlings.

[ponydawg]

DISAGREE...... Sweet River Baines did more for the movement than the FAB 5 ever could have....

http://hoopsu.magnify.net/video/Sweet-R ... es-Profile

[skyscraper]

http://msn.foxsports.com/collegebasketb ... son-031511

Read the entire Whitlock piece, but this is the first part of it:

With the help of the Worldwide Leader, Rose took baggy shorts, black socks, bald heads and trash talk and created the illusion the Fab Five were some sort of transcendent, revolutionary freedom fighters cut from the same cloth as Jackie Robinson, Jim Brown, Arthur Ashe and Muhammad Ali.

It’s laughably untrue.

The legacy of the Fab Five is that they were on the cutting edge of America’s unashamed embrace of style over substance.

When Rose ended the documentary waxing about how no one knows the names of the starters on North Carolina’s 1993 national championship team and everyone remembers Rose, Webber, Howard, King and Jackson, it dawned on me the Fab Five were the original Charlie Sheen.

[ponyte]

Pretty [deleted] Rose et at.

[HB Pony Dad]

Grant Hill really enjoyed being called a "[deleted]" and "Uncle Tom" in the "Fab Five"...

Grant’s Unedited Response to the Fab Five’s Documentary

and some responses reported by the Wall Street Journal

Former Duke star Grant Hill responded with an essay in the New York Times and a longer version online. (He got an assist from NBA Legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who tweeted “Very well stated – Grant.”) Then former Michigan star Jimmy King weighed in with comments to the Journal’s Daily Fix blog, and said on his Twitter page that “Wall St Journal just asked me how i feel abt grant hill writing an article in NEW YORK TIMES…i got 99 problems and a grant aint one.” On his Twitter page, Rose wrote “I didn’t say anything in the doc that I didn’t say to a players FACE” and then went on to say “For those MOANING about how something or someone was portrayed in the doc note that it was FRAMED from 1991-1993 not 2011 #quit crying.”

[Real Talk]

Agree...they were def more style than substance. And Im not here to defend the Fab5. But to deny their lasting cultural impact on the game is just plain revisionist.

Were they right? Were they the best? Were they the product of the new 'hype' generation of AAU 'stars' and street agents? WHO CARES!

I dont like the new brand of "hiphop" music...doesnt change the fact that Souljah Boy has changed the game forever...good or bad.

And for the record...every black person that didnt attend Duke thought they were b1cches. Same goes for every Celtic team of the 80s. Doesnt mean we dont think Grant Hill was the best player ever at Duke...or Bird isnt the best SF of all time. It also says nothing about our opinion of the way they played the game....the 'hate' comes from how they were portrayed. THATS what Jalen Rose was saying.

[hoopmanx]

Agree...they were def more style than substance. And Im not here to defend the Fab5. But to deny their lasting cultural impact on the game is just plain revisionist.

Were they right? Were they the best? Were they the product of the new 'hype' generation of AAU 'stars' and street agents? WHO CARES!

I dont like the new brand of "hiphop" music...doesnt change the fact that Souljah Boy has changed the game forever...good or bad.

And for the record...every black person that didnt attend Duke thought they were b1cches. Same goes for every Celtic team of the 80s. Doesnt mean we dont think Grant Hill was the best player ever at Duke...or Bird isnt the best SF of all time. It also says nothing about our opinion of the way they played the game....the 'hate' comes from how they were portrayed. THATS what Jalen Rose was saying.

My friend, you are giving the Fab 5 way too much credit. They weren't even the most influential team, on the court, or socially of that era. I'll take UNLV 10x out of 10 for that. Baggy shorts were on their way in already, just like grunge didn't invent plaid shirts for white folks. Beyond that, there is a timeline disconnect between the AAU generation and the Fab 5. I know, I helped start an Adidas flagship in the mid-late 90s, and remained on 3 Stripes payroll for many years, before moving to other apparel companies. Street agents were around in the 50s, as were handlers etc. They were just neighborhood dealers & heavies, not associated w/AAU. Now those same guys have AAU credentials, it's actually less like the Wild West now, we just have new media to blow crap out of proportion.

IF those guys were so influential and could move product, why didn't they ever capture retail as endorsers? There are so many contributing factors as to the direction of current day hoops, that doc was laughable w/regards to it's self-importance. I'm a hip-hop guy, cheered for both UNLV & the Fab 5, but have also earned much of my life's earning in marketing and basketball. Much like the Fab 5, that doc was all hype.

[RGV Pony]

just like grunge didn't invent plaid shirts for white folks.

right. Joey Lawrence did.

whoa!

...agree w/ you about UNLV. Revisionist history how people skim over just how dominant UNLV was and their influence.

[Mitch McConnell]

ESPN just screams louder than anyone else and so that makes it OK to think their version is reality.

Utter garbage.

Anderson Hunt, Greg Anthony (I went to Las Vegas Western and he went to Las Vegas Rancho and I saw him dunk on our butts constantly) Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon and Moses Scurry.

Now, that team accomplished something. The Fab 5 didn't even win the Big 10.

Heck the UNLV era really began with the 1987 Final Four team. If you recall, they rallied from 22 down in the West regional final against Iowa to win that game and then fell short against The General in the semifinals.

[RGV Pony]

don't forget

[Mitch McConnell]

Sometimes, he was known as George Hackles.