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leslielu67's review against another edition
5.0
If you read anything by Albom, read his sports stories. The later "Morrie" and "Heaven" schlock he penned after he sold himself to the devil.
rebeccavenchers's review against another edition
5.0
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.
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.
writesdave's review
3.0
With the distance of a few years, I don't buy Mitchie's assertions that he didn't know these guys were on the take. For all the time he spent with them, he had to know something and it was his duty to report it. That, plus his yen for embellishing things in his other books (and apparently in his column writing) call the plausibility seriously into question. The rating owes largely to the access he had with his subjects, a hard thing to do in any era of journalism – not that the Fab Five WEREN'T open books, anyway.
paulogonzalez's review
3.0
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.
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.
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