Detroit Free Press

Bill Laimbeer entered the Pistons' front offices Wednesday morning thinking maybe he should quit. He told the ...

Fourth of five excerpts from from "Fab Five: Basketball, Trash Talk, the American Dream" by Free Press sports columnist Mitch Albom. "Fab Five" is published by Warner Books, 359 pages, $21.95.On a cold January night in 1973, Jeanne Rose felt the stirrings of her fourth child. She called her brother Len -- "Hurry up, I'm having the baby" -- to drive her to the hospital. He raced over in his green Fiat, helped her in and slammed on the accelerator. By the time they reached the hospital, Jeanne was deep into contractions."Hang on!" Len urged."I'm trying!" she said.

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 ...

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!

* Green Bay 20, New Orleans 19: Reggie White's a minister, the opposition's called the Saints, and the game is ...

It's the bye week again, and all across our city, football fans are preparing for the worst. Some are digging out ...