Fab Five: Basketball, Trash Talk, The American Dream by Mitch Albom

Fab Five: Basketball, Trash Talk, The American Dream Reviews

• 
  Holly Cline

  This is my favorite book. I've reread it so many times that the glue in the binding is beginning to wear out. I love basketball. I love college basketball. My brother and I were devoted fans of the Fab Five back in the early 90s, and sometimes when I read the NCAA tournament stories from this, I find myself thinking that maybe THIS time things will end differently. It's like I'm right back in front of that tv again.
  
  But every time I read Fab Five, the stories off the court are what I love most. Jalen & his Jack and the Box. Muhammad Ali. The Utah Utes. There's no part of this book I don't love, and I have been ridiculed by many a book lover over this fact.
• 
  Harry Costea

  because i watched the movie on these guys i knew basically everything that was happening and so i got very bored with it.
• 
  April

  I was a little disappointed. Hard to pinpoint why
• 
  Rebecca

  As far as college basketball books go, and I've read many, this is miles ahead of the pack. The story of the first two seasons of the Greatest Class Ever Recruited, the Fab Five of Michigan is incredible in and of itself, but somehow Albom manages to bring it to another level. The good times, the controversies and the legend of the class are all bought to life in this amazing book by a brilliant author. Albom brings another dimension to your average sports journalism, making you feel like you're there with them, experiencing the highs and lows of college basketball and the immense pressure on the Fab Five.
  
  Published not long after their sophomore season, Albom respects the intellectualism of the reader - you know the story, and he KNOWS that you know the story. He takes that on board and presents to you what you don't know, their lives growing up, experiences on campus and holidays, and candid moments that probably couldn't be captured while they were happening. Albom gives you a deeper understanding into the relationships between the Fab Five and everyone around them - coaches, family, teammates and the media - and makes you understand the special bond they shared. As Albom eloquently puts it, "The shame of this team was that it always seemed to be at its best when no one was looking."
  
  This is a riveting book that you never want to end, especially the way it did - you almost forget that this story has a place in history already, and start hoping that maybe what you know isn't right, and the story ends up different. The only thing I wish was different was that it was written a few years later, so we had more of an understanding of how this experience affected them - but I'm certainly not complaining.
• 
  Ben F

  This book was amazing,it is about 5 basketball players at the university of Michigan. The players names are Chris Webber, Jalen Rose,Juawn Howard, Jimmy King, and Mitch Albom. There were many scandals when they were playing there like they got caught with drugs, their grades were bad but they were still aloud to play, and they were being payed to play. I loved this book because it was so attention grabbing and detailed. It made me feel confused because why would you risk your career to do those things, I like the sports players who play because they love the game. I think basketball fans and fans of Michigan, and people interested in he topic of the Michigan scandal will love the book. I could compare this book to the price of silence it is a book about the duke lacrosse scandal and it is similar to the Fab five because it is also about a scandal. I hope you love this book as much as I do.
• 
  Paulo

  This is a story about extremes, originality, city meeting suburbs, veterans meeting rookies, white meeting black, noise meeting quiet. A story about the Greatest Class Ever Recruited in college basketball. With their bald heads, black socks, long shorts, coolness and highlight film style, Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson became American celebrities.
  
  This is an entertaining book on an iconic team, which was written right after Chris Webber left the team to go pro. I think some time was needed to correctly assess this team's influence as a cultural reference. Besides, years later we knew that the Wolverine basketball program was punished with sanctions due to violations to NCAA rules. As a result, coach Steve Fisher was fired in 1997 (subsequently, the NCAA investigation did not find him culpable of significant wrongdoing related to the scandal) and the 1992 and 1993 appearances in the Tournament both were erased. 1992 and 1993, just the seasons in which the Fab Five were part of the team.
  
  None of all this appears in the book, and it changes a little my vision on the facts narrated, especially those concerning the recruitment process. But of course, recruitment is a central part of the story. Without the further NCAA investigation this history seems to me a bit outdated, the book has aged badly. Not that I agree with NCAA policy's, that I am not because it seems to me an organization that takes advantage of athletes.
• 
  Tyler

  Title: Fab Five
  Author: Mitch Albom
  Genre: Nonfiction
  Rating: 5/5
  
  
  Fab Five by Mitch Albom. This book is the story of the greatest college basketball team ever assembled, and how everything fell apart. This book is a New York Times bestseller After a mediocre 1990 season, Steve Fisher and the Michigan Wolverines needed a bounce-back year. Instead of coaching up their current players more, Fisher went out and created what is now known as: “The Greatest Class Ever Recruited.” He got five high school phenoms, one for each position, to come to Michigan. These five stars would be dubbed “The Fab Five.” The Fab Five would be the kids who popularized being bald, wearing baggy shorts, wearing black socks, and trash-talk. This team would have many flashes of brilliance, but also flashes of ignorance. Would Steve Fisher be able to control these young superstars and win a championship?
  Furthermore, this book is very well written. This is a book about five basketball players who changed the world. They took the world by storm with bald heads and swagger. Any basketball fan would love this book, as it contains many stories of thrilling basketball games. You’ll never forget the names of the Fab Five after this book. You’ll especially never forget the genius trash-talk these kids managed to come up with, or the antics they pulled on the court.
  Fab Five is the story of five dazzling freshman that will leave you wanting more. I would recommend this book to basketball fans over 16. It’s a great book, but some of the trash-talk gets a little… colorful.
  
  “This is my favorite book. I've reread it so many times that the glue in the binding is beginning to wear out. I love basketball.”---- Goodreads reviewer
  “Albom is a very consistent author and continues to uphold his reputation with this book.”---- Goodreads reviewer
• 
  Matt Moran

  Entertaining book on an iconic team. Albom struck while the iron was hot and published this book in 1993, only shortly after Chris Webber was declared for the draft. More distance would be needed to really understand the Fab Five as the cultural sensation that they were. There are a number of questions that Albom touches on but doesn't really do anything with:
  
  - Was Fischer the write coach for the team?
  - Were they really that GOOD or just original?
  - Why were they so polarizing and what element did race play in this?
  
  
• 
  Dave Cottenie

  An absolutely exceptionally written work that peeked inside the Fab Five. A pleasant surprise was the coverage of players outside of Webber, Rose, Howard, King and Jackson. Albom’s coverage of Reiley, Pelinka, Talley and others and the effect of the Fab Five on them. Of course the natural climax of the book is the ill-fated timeout called by Chris Webber in the National Championship game, the final game of the Fab Five. Albom’s description, second by second, is sheer brilliance.
• 
  Jennifer

  Loved this book. A favorite author paired with a favorite topic, college basketball.
• 
  Adam Davis

  Loved it
• 
  Favian

  An absolute treat for anyone with an inkling of interest in the Michigan Wolverines and why they became a cultural revolution in American collegiate basketball. Mitch Albom's masterpiece.
• 
  Joanna

  I am a Fab Five enthusiast.
• 
  Bert Bennett

  Great book and brought back memories of watching them when I was in High School in the 90's.
• 
  J.A.

  For my third Cinco de Mayo reading I returned to Mitch Albom and the circus act known as the Fab Five. I have only seen portions of the documentary that Jalen Rose produced for ESPN recently, but I have read much of the commentary on the controversy it stirred up. That turned my attention back to Albom’s book. Of the three books discussed here (and the three books by Albom I’ve read recently) this one was easily my favorite. That’s to be expected, considering my personal connection to the subject matter.
  
  I was a freshman in high school the same year that the “Fab Five” freshmen – Juwan Howard, Jimmy King, Ray Jackson, Chris Webber, and Jalen Rose – came together at Michigan, and I idolized them. I adorned my bedroom wall with their photo clippings arranged in a giant block letter ‘M’. I taped the games on national broadcast. I didn’t run out and buy the extra long baggy shorts, but I did start wearing #4 like Chris Webber. He was an animal on the court, with the primal prowess of a big black cat. In the first meeting with Duke he had 27 points, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks … and 5 critical fouls which allowed Duke to tie the score and go on to win in overtime. Albom quoted Duke’s Grant Hill as saying afterward “We escaped today, pure and simple.” Contrary to what his teammate Bobby Hurley has recently told the media, Hill went on to say “They’re the best team we’ve faced in two years. They’re better than Vegas.” That was in December, before all five freshmen were in the starting line up together. When March Madness rolled around I saw a tournament bracket on my English teacher’s desk and informed her that Michigan would face Duke in a title game rematch (back me up on this, Mrs. Hunt).
  
  As a tall, intellectual white kid with Ivy League aspirations, one might have expected that I identified with Duke’s star player Christian Laettner, but I couldn’t stand the pretty preppy boy. He was too picture perfect – as Albom pointed out, he even sweated neatly, like a model who had been misted. When he followed up his perfect shooting game against Kentucky with 7 turnovers in the first half against Michigan, I was thrilled. Then Duke broke the game open in the second half and ran away with it. That was the least competitive of the three meetings between the two teams, although it had the most at stake.
  
  Duke would defeat Michigan again (without Laettner) in 1992, but this time there would be no championship rematch. In the Blue Devils’ place was their arch-rival, the North Carolina Tarheels. Once again the championship slipped through the Fab Five’s fingers as Webber signaled for that ill-fated timeout the team didn’t have.
  
  Albom captures it all in his book, from The Greatest Class Ever Recruited to “T” is for the End. He covers the improbable championship run of 1989, and how that success led to a sudden exodus of Michigan players to the NBA. In that wake came the Fab Five: first Howard from Chicago, then King and Jackson from Texas, and finally Webber and Rose, the two local players from Detroit. Albom also looks at the heralded players they reduced to reserve roles: Michael Talley, Eric Riley, Rob Pelinka, James Voskuil, and Jason Bossard, without whom Michigan would not have made it to back-to-back championship games. He does a fine job of balancing the perspectives of the players, coaches, and the media. It is an all-inclusive view, right down to the postures of the players on the plane. There’s even a mention of the only team to start four freshmen and win an NCAA title: the Utah Utes, back in 1944. The only omission is the scandal involving booster Ed Martin, which forced the university to vacate the Fab Five’s Final Four appearances (among other sanctions). That wasn’t uncovered until three years after the book was published.
  
  Perhaps the most telling quote in the entire book is found in the epilogue. It comes from the most loquacious member of the group, Jalen Rose. He said “Even though we never won a championship, they’ll be talking about us for 20 years.” Would you call that a self-fulfilled prophesy, mister executive producer?