On Wednesday, with the conclusion of the NCAA's astoundingly clueless but purposefully humiliating 10-year "disassociation" penalty, the University of Michigan is inviting former basketball star Chris Webber to give them a call and discuss if he wants to be a part of the family again. He may have to apologize first, though.





What Michigan should be doing is calling Webber and saying sorry to him.

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This case stems from NCAA rules that Webber violated as a player from 1991-93. In short, he accepted money from a man named Ed Martin, who doled out cash and gifts to lots of young Detroit players through the years. Only some of them went to Michigan, but it was Michigan that gave Martin comp tickets and access to hotel room blocks.

I have a long-standing opposition to the NCAA rulebook (which isn't the point of this column) but like the rules or not, there is little doubt they were violated here. Michigan was punished and under the NCAA system that's fine.

The NCAA vacated the two Final Fours that Webber's Fab Five reached. The banners commemorating those seasons were taken down. There were other sanctions too, especially since Martin was also involved with other Detroit kids-turned-Wolverines such as Maurice Taylor and the late Robert Traylor.

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The most puzzling – and unfortunate – penalty, however, was when the NCAA forced Michigan to "disassociate" itself from Webber and the others for a decade, a term that ended on May 8.

The disassociation worked well in pushing the spotlight of blame away from the system or the coaches or the administrators or the circumstances or even Martin, and right on the players. It's all Chris Webber's fault!

Never mind that the university has numerous buildings bearing the name of Alfred Taubman, a billionaire donor who actually went to prison on antitrust charges and it never disassociated from him.

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This was the NCAA! This was bad! And besides, isn't Webber sort of unlikable and aloof? Didn't a lot of people hate that hot-dogging, baggy shorts-wearing team of his? And didn't he once complain it wasn't fair that he couldn't afford to eat at McDonald's while the school sold his jersey in the bookstore when, in fact, he was flush with Martin's money? What a liar.

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