Hang Five

image

photo via Macaroni Tony

image

photo Paul Sancya (AP) via ESPN

So from the recent comments of Mary Sue Coleman and Dave Brandon, rest assured that the ‘92 and ‘93 banners will remain on the shelf at the BHL evermore. But DB opened the door to honoring the controversial quintet in some other way:

Are there (different) banners we could put up, though? Yeah, there are," he says. "I’d love to celebrate the Fab Five. Are there conditions on which that has to happen? For sure. But we’ve been very open and vocal about that, and there’s just nothing new on this subject.

Brandon’s conditions are tied to Chris Webber admitting to taking money from Ed Martin and apologizing in some form.   Don’t hold your breath.

Based on the calls to WTKA I’m guessing most of you would just like to see nothing happen and move on.   I get that.  I’m ok with leaving the banners at the BHL but I would like to see these guys honored in some form or another.  (I openly admit my huge bias—I was at U-M during the heyday of the Fab Five).

A suggestion—when the time is right, why not retire #5 as a ceremonial nod to the group and a not-so-subtle tribute to Jalen (who wore #5 and was the leader of the crew) for all he’s done in the community?   You could drop each guy’s name on the back and send it up to the rafters:fab five jersey

It would of course be splendid if the announcement were tied to some donation or foundation created by Webber (a la Griese-Hutchinson-Woodson) to benefit U-M.   And while were on the topic of smiles and rainbows, it’d be even splendider if we all got a free pizza out of the deal.

All this said, I don’t blame anyone for being entirely sick of all the jersey honoring/retiring/#1-ing/Legending talk.   Those who read this site know I write about this kind of thing now and again and even I’m growing weary. 

Follow MVictors on Twitter

3 Comments

  • Kool Breeze

    GD, C-Webb doesn’t deserve a sniff from UofM! Howeva, J-Rose, J-King, J-Howard and Ray-Ray do. Can’t hang the banner, but we can honor these fella’s very easily.

    By the way, watch out for the Crazy Canuk next year, kids a baller! Looks like the Ice Man playing for Diamond! Have my Stauskas jersey on pre-order!

  • guanxi

    I don’t recall that Webber was the only person who did wrong. Other people do what Rose does and don’t get banners in Crisler, and money doesn’t buy redemption. Unless we are a school where winning and money are all that matters, then the Fab Five are a failure; they hurt the program, their coaches, and their teammates, and embarrassed the school. But it’s ok as long as they win, right? They should be used as a reminder of what not to do.

    Again, I don’t know the details of who did what. I see the angry homer mob saying that only Webber did wrong, but that only persuades me that there must be something they are trying to cover up.