March 10, 2011 – Kevin Burke

Do yourself a favor: don’t make any plans for Sunday night. You’re going to want to be free to catch ESPN Films’ “The Fab Five” Sunday night at 9pm ET. Trust me. You’ll be upset with yourself if you miss it. Last night, I represented The Hoop Doctors at the Tribeca Cinemas in New York for the pre-screening and the film was nothing short of incredible. It honestly gave me chills at certain points.

If you’ve never been to the Tribeca Cinemas, it’s more intimate than your average movie theatre, however it was perfect for such an event. But before the pre-screening actually began, there was a cocktail hour for people to relax and get ready for the film. I was one of the first to arrive and at the time, the reception area was rather empty. However, before you knew it, it was so packed in there that you could barely make it past the spread of hors d’oeuvres to the Jose Cuervo Platino open bar. I’m not usually a mojito kind of guy, but their Platino Grapefruit Mojito sounded too good not to try. I’m now a believer.

Eventually, as showtime crept up on us, the reception area slowly started clearing out which provided a better vantage point to see the various ESPN “The Fab Five” signage scattered about. They displayed an old photo, just from waist down, of Jalen Rose, Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson standing next to one another on the basketball court donning their patented knee-length maize colored Michigan shorts, black socks and black sneakers. Classic.

Jalen Rose was executive producer of this film and was also in the building for the pre-screening. But most people, myself included, didn’t see him until right before the film was about to begin as I grabbed my box of popcorn and headed in. In attendance were also hip hop figures DJ Premiere and Kevin Lyles.

It’s tough to really speak about the film in detail because I don’t want to give any of it away. If you’re like me, you hate when people do that to you so I’ll try not to be a hypocrite. However, here are some of my takeaways from the film in no particular order:

Ray Jackson would’ve made it to the NBA if he didn’t go to Michigan.

I now have a completely different perspective on why Chris Webber called that infamous timeout in the 1992 National Championship game against North Carolina.

I now have a completely different perspective on Chris Webber.

Jalen Rose is the face of the Fab Five.

For the first time ever, I feel as if I could be convinced that college athletes should receive some sort of financial compensation for the revenue they bring in for their respective institution (where applicable).

I don’t blame the members of the Fab Five who did in fact illegally accept cash and/or gifts.

Steve Fisher was the perfect personality to coach the Fab Five.

Immediately after the film, and before I had the chance to speak with Jalen 1-on-1, both Rose and the director were kind enough to answer questions from the audience. The one that I found most interesting was regarding Jalen’s self-proclaimed trash talking while at Michigan which was highlighted in the film. Jalen was asked if he regrets anything he said or did to any opponent on the court while in college. With his typical ear to ear smile, he recounted the time where he purposely elbowed then Notre Dame player and current New Orleans Hornets head coach, Monty Williams in the chest because he knew that Monty was recovering from a heart ailment. Rose said that every time he sees Monty to this day, he apologizes for doing that. It received a good laugh from the crowd as Monty has forgiven Jalen. Rose was even nice enough to entertain a question from a guy who somehow managed to fall asleep during the film and started snoring so audibly that I’m sure Jalen had to have heard.

Regardless of if you’re too young to remember the Fab Five from 20 years ago, or if you’re old enough to vividly recall the hoopla, this film is guaranteed to engage you. Here’s the official ESPN Films trailer:

If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then go somewhere else, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe to for free on iTunes. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Facebook