*At one point, Chris Webber and Jalen Rose were part of a winning group of athletes at the University of Michigan.
Nowadays, things aren’t as tight with the former “Fab Five” members as Webber is not a big fan of the ESPN analyst’s “30 for 30” documentary on the group. In his eyes, his noninvolvement in the film was due to the folks behind the film approaching him only a week before filming wrapped on the project.
“The reason why I didn’t do the documentary is because I got a call. There were negotiations going on in different places, Webber said during an interview Wednesday (May 13) on The Dan Patrick Show.” “I guess someone promised that I could be in the doc. Because they knew I probably wouldn’t, they called and said, ‘hey, we want you to be in the doc.’ I said, ‘heck yeah I’ll be in the doc. What’s going on?’ He says, ‘we’re wrapping up next week, we need to get you.’ I’m like, I’m not saying I was John Lennon, but my story’s pretty big in there.”
Despite Webber’s claims, another Fab Five member, Jimmy King, isn’t buying his former teammate’s version of events.
“That’s a flat-out lie,” King told Yardbarker. “There is no way we would have done this production — I’m going to tell you exactly how it went down. When it was proposed, it was sent out over email to all of us.”
As for whether or not Webber likes the Fab Five documentary, he didn’t leave much to Patrick’s imagination.
“I love the guys, but I just think there was so much missed there. I think it was OK, except … I think it was … it looked like … it looked like, you know, what happens, a lot of people, after they retire or when they’re looking for a job or when they want to be relevant, they go back in time and kind of make sure their importance is really known, Webber said.
“My thing is it’s always been about us five. So when one guy has a million highlights of himself, as if he was the leading scorer and all the stories are like embellished, it’s just a little hard for me. But I think it was entertaining, there was a lot of truth in it. I think it was definitely good, it was OK. Yeah, it was good,”
Despite his feelings on the documentary, Webber still carries love for the Fab Five. Nevertheless, the film has spawned a different view of Rose for Webber, who alluded to a broken bond among the group he thought would remain grounded.
“I made an agreement when I joined the Fab Five not to be above the group. There was a chance to be above the group. I have stated consistently as a member nobody is above another. It’s just disheartening when you pay attention to those rules for 20-plus years and somebody wants to be ‘Hollywood’ and make it about them,” Webber told Patrick.
“To hear people now … just to be famous. No one ever loved the Fab Five. So why would you use us to tell stories to get that fake love now? Our whole heart was in not being loved. … I was disheartened by whatever someone is trying to create our legacy. Don’t try to go back and act like you were smart and a martyr, don’t do that. Just tell the story and let people have fun.”
The dissolution of Webber’s bond with the Fab Five, according to Rose, stemmed from Webbers infamous timeout in the 1993 NCAA Basketball championship game against North Carolina and the punishment he received over the scandal. Since that incident, Rose said two years ago that Webber disassociated himself with the Five.
While he admitted to being a “big fan of 30 for 30s” not complaining or being upset about the documentary, Webber revealed to Patrick that he “wasn’t too thrilled with [the documentary].“
Webber added that he has been working on a book for five years, which he says will air his story.
“I hope that I can give full context to my story,” he said.
For more on Chris Webber’s situation with Jalen Rose and the Fab Five documentary, click here.
