Nothing dogged the Fab Five's reputation more than trash talk. And never was there more trash talked than in the Michigan-Cincinnati game during the 1992 Final Four in Minneapolis.The young Wolverines were already famous for jawing, and the Bearcats were pretty damn good, too. Cincinnati's entire roster was made up of transfers or junior college players, which meant that -- unlike the Fab Five -- most of the Bearcats were not highly recruited. They were the leftovers. And they had something to prove. They flexed. They boasted.They talked.
In "Fab Five: Basketball, Trash Talk, the American Dream," Free Press sports columnist Mitch Albom chronicles the triumphs and disappointments of the five University of Michigan freshmen who shocked the college basektball world with their talent and their braggadocio. Today's excerpt, the first of five in the Free Press, deals with U-M's desperate pursuit of high school stars Juwan Howard and Chris Webber -- and others' questionable attempts to get Webber to play elsewhere. "Fab Five" is published by Warner Books; 359 pages, $21.95.Rinnng! Rinnng!
Khhlmmphph!Thought I'd parachute into this column.And now, sticking with that theme, allow me to parachute into your charitable thoughts, the way "Fan Man" -- that's what he's calling himself -- came parachuting into the ring Saturday night in Las Vegas. (In the old days, by the way, a guy interrupts a big fight, they beat him up and leave him in the street. Today, he goes to the hospital and gets a Movie of the Week.)
Mitch Albom writes about running an orphanage in impoverished Port-au-Prince, Haiti, his kids, their hardships, laughs and challenges, and the life lessons he’s learned there every day.
