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Jimmy King: ‘I thought Christian Laettner was a bi***’ (video)

Mar 14, 2011, 10:33 AM EDT

20 Comments
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Instead of calling its documentary on Michigan’s 1992 and ’93 basketball teams The Fab Five, ESPN could have gone with a more appropriate title: Why So Bitter? We’re 30 minutes in to the show, and I’ve seen enough to jog my memory and make me not want to watch the rest. It was fun to check on on King, Rose, Howard and Jackson once again. But it’s kind of sad to realize that, rather than sitting back and relishing what they’ve accomplished, they’re instead shouting at clouds.

Predictably, at one point in Sunday night’s broadcast the festivities devolved into the four taking turns calling Christian Laettner names. Most pointed was Jimmy King:

“I thought Christian Laettner was a bi***. I thought Grant Hill was a bi***.”

But more to the point, Juwan Howard said: “Duke was like America’s Team. And Christian Laettner was like, God. And I did not like him.” Jalen Rose: “I thought Laettner was a pu***. Until I saw him on the court; then I realized that he had game.”

Cut to clip of Laettner blowing by Howard for a dunk, leaving Howard’s feet in a tangled mess. Balanced closeouts are for Uncle Toms, I guess. As is defensive help?

The Fab Five did change the game in a lot of ways, and flaunted convention when convention probably needed to be flaunted. They deserve to be remembered for that. But their contention that all of the backlash to their team was due to racism and jealousy is way off the mark. Some fans just don’t care for a style over substance approach to college basketball. And contrary to popular belief, many still don’t.

It’s also kind of interesting that the group is throwing around words like “pu***” and “bi***” and “soft,” when Chris Webber wouldn’t even participate in the documentary. So who’s “soft,” really?

And here’s a reminder that there were actually 16 players on that ’91-’92 Michigan team, and 14 the following season. All but forgotten: Eric Riley, Dugan Fife, Leon Derricks, Rob Pelinka, James Voskuil, Michael Talley, Jason Bossard, Sean Dobbins, Ricky Guzman, Chip Armer, Chris Seter, Samuel Mitchell, Kirk Taylor, Freddie Hunter and Richmond McIver.

Riley and Pelinka actually played significant minutes in ’91-’92 (528 and 571 respectively), ranking just behind King’s 657. And, fun facts: In addition to owning a National Championship ring (’89), Pelinka is now Kobe Bryant’s agent. Taylor also has an ’89 ring.

***
The Fab Five weren’t in love with Christian Laettner [Sports Grid]

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  1. BC - Mar 14, 2011 at 1:33 PM

    I watched the show and turned it off half way through. What a pile of garbage. ESPN has thrown a lot of good stuff out there lately, but this show stunk on ice.

  2. psousa1 - Mar 14, 2011 at 1:37 PM

    Jimmy King should try comparing bank accounts with Laettner and see who the b!tch is………………………Kind of odd they couldn’t get Webber. Webber probably had more in common with Laettner than the other 4 players anyway. You want to see a college basketball documentary? Watch the one on HBO about UNLV. That was something.

  3. classicsportsfan - Mar 14, 2011 at 1:40 PM

    What substantive accomplishments can this team point to? If talent alone won championships, these guys would have snatched the title every year. Instead, they under-achieved during most of their run and few went on to any notable success in the NBA. Those who did had relatively brief runs, like Weber and Jalen Rose.

    • pnoty96 - Mar 14, 2011 at 2:10 PM

      Umm…let me see. Two Nat’l Championship RUNNER UP. As Freshmen and Sophomores? That was underachieving ? They werent supposed to beat a Sr. / Jr. laden team in Duke & Carolina. That alone was a subtantive accomplishment.

      But true to form..you miss the big picture. Jalen Rose said it best when he said name who won the championship three years ago…five years ago. You have to think hard. The big picture is they made a HUGE cultural impact (Im sure YOU dont like that) on the game, on fans, etc. (some positive…some negative). Think Ali but on about a tenth of the scale. People who never watched them (too young) will know some of what they did…..

  4. pnoty96 - Mar 14, 2011 at 2:05 PM

    Uhh…were you drinking ? Was that not Steve Fisher being interviewed during at least a total of 30 min airtime (intermittingly)? Also…Dugan Fife was interveiwed, and several of the other teammates?…

  5. lawrinson20 - Mar 14, 2011 at 2:13 PM

    Some of these comments are as ridiculous as the article.

    1. None of you know how this piece was edited. You should understand that what you saw was probably less than half of what was shot/said/recorded. And, some producer decided to splice in some ‘spicy bits’ to get your tongues wagging.

    2. Not winning the NC is no indicator of “style over substance.” Reaching the NC in consecutive years as freshmen is a tremendous, significant achievement. If the ‘second best’ team, twice, means they had no “substance,” what does that say about Duke in every year THEY didn’t win it all? Or, any other team, for that matter. Reaching the NC game is pretty fantastic. After that point, it’s a roll of the dice. The best team doesn’t always win it. And, because of the nature of the tournament, the two best teams don’t usually even make it to the final game. “Under achieved?” I’d suggest they overachieved.

    3. The comments you’re blowing out of proportion here are the recollections of 18-year old kids. And, they’re not unique recollections. I certainly recall my own feelings from that time, and those of everyone i knew, concerning Laettner. We all despised him. And, before you all start defending him, you should know who he really is/was. Off-court: speak to someone who actually attended Duke at that time. On-court: just remember Laettner stomping on another player’s head. That’s your hero?

    4. Pretty certain Webber was not at all interested in being the primary topic of discussion, when the conversation would have revolved around his Time Out and Indictment.

    5. I wasn’t aware a bank account was the indicator of bi***ness. In any event, wasn’t Laettner part of some sort of business deal gone bad, with Brian Davis? Shawne Merriman won a decision against them.

    6. This is just another reminder not to read the comments beneath blog posts.

  6. Jomolungma - Mar 14, 2011 at 2:27 PM

    Ok, first of all, you really shouldn’t comment on something until you’ve seen the whole thing. Second, JK and the rest were saying what they thought of Laettner et al AT THAT TIME. You even say in your article, JK said “I thought” and JH said “I did not like”. That’s the past tense folks. If you actually watched the whole piece, and maybe lived through all of that, you would know why and understand why they thought that, and why JR said he changed his mind when he saw Laettner had game. All of those guys (except absent Webber of course) came off as very honest and at least now, very mature. I thought it was a great entry in the 30 for 30 series.

  7. goforthanddie - Mar 14, 2011 at 2:34 PM

    Someone please remind me…Who is Jimmy King, and what has he accomplished in life?

  8. riterboy - Mar 14, 2011 at 2:49 PM

    Well said lawrinson20.

    Adding to your point #3…beyond the fact that Laettner did not have the most sterling reputation (IIRC, Grant Hill still had to vouch for him years later before the Detroit Pistons would bring him on board), Jalen Rose puts all of the anti-Laettner comments in perspective when he says, “until I actually got on the floor with him and realized he had game.”

    For most — if not all — Michigan fans, remembering the Fab Five will always stir up mixed emotions: the incredible excitement and sky high expectations; the heartbreak of coming so close, but not far enough TWICE; the long-term pain of the scandal (caused by a few, not all). What may be most interesting, however, is how in the age of the 24-hour news cycle with its instantaneous ability to create and forgive scandalous behavior, what four teenagers thought all those years ago still gets so many people up in arms.

  9. florida727 - Mar 14, 2011 at 3:12 PM

    Personally, I enjoyed the special. I still think what an amazing coup it was to land 5 of the top 46 rated high school players in America (and 4 being in the top 11) onto one team, all in the same recruiting year. Did they appear at times to act like punks? Sure they did. So what? They were 18 year old kids, primarily from disadvantaged backgrounds, being thrown into the national, if not international, spotlight. As far as the ‘scandal’ goes, again, so what? So Webber took a few bucks from a jock-sniffer. Same for Rose. Again, so what? Did Webber accept anywhere near as much as they tried to pin him with? Highly unlikely. Like Mitch Albom said, his outward appearance… clothes, car, shoes, whatever… never changed. What’s far more likely is that AFTER declaring for the NBA draft, he took a larger amount of money, which by that time wouldn’t have been an NCAA violation. One thing I never knew, since I’m not a UM fan, is that they took down the banners in Crysler Arena. Frankly, I think that’s childish. Like, okay, let’s remove the banners and maybe people will forget they played here. Stupid. I’d celebrate their notoriety. UM, you guys didn’t have any trouble banking the revenue generated from their fame, did you?

  10. riterboy - Mar 14, 2011 at 3:49 PM

    I believe taking down the banners and vacating all the victories during the Fab Five’s tenure were part of U of M’s attempts to kiss the NCAA’s *ss. They took similar actions last year RE: Rich Rod. Unlike many other universities (*cough*ohiostate*cough*usc*cough*), Michigan seems to go overboard with self-punishment as soon as there’s any hint of a scandal.

  11. ndfan4ever - Mar 14, 2011 at 3:50 PM

    What this should have been called was the flub 5. Just goes to show you that you can have great talent on paper but never live up to the hype. NO rings dont even think they won a big-ten title so what was so fab about them really. Yes the brought us long shorts and black socks oh boy. That was their main problem to much hype and glory seeking and not enough gym time and work ethic to truely be great. They should be called the never was’s.

  12. mdcampbell7 - Mar 14, 2011 at 5:32 PM

    Whether or not you believe in the bible some of its wisdom is simply timeless, in particular:

    Proverbs 30:12 (ESV) There are those who are clean in their own eyes, but are not washed of their filth.

    Now you could read that a number of ways in this situation. The fab 5 need to take a look in the mirror…or America needs to take a good gaze…or some degree of both. Personally, I’m tired of the cliche dismissals anytime a person of color points out a particular way that racism just might affect a segregated society. Let me say that last part again: a SEGREGATED society. It’s the most infantile form of reflexive denial, and it doesn’t make racism any less real.

    Anyone who doubts that Laettner was marketed on more than his production, is in pure denial regarding his NBA career. Here’s a quick summary: NBA Dream Team…to NBA bench. He may be the only dreamteamer ever to have spent his best years coming off of the bench–and if that’s an exaggeration, please correct me on that. I just don’t remember enough of his career to speak differently. That aside, any objective discussion of underachieving probably should start with him. But it’s ironic that you would criticise 3 guys less “marketable” than Laettner, whose careers were exponentially more meaningful—if you’re actually talking ball that is.

    You may be in denial about whether race helps serial box guys like Chris Laettner…Darko Milicic…Andrew Bogut…Matt Leinert…, but I’ve worked for companies that factor those kinds of things into their bottom line—daily. They simply couch prejudice in terms of preference, and leave it the general public to make excuses for their “preferences.” The NBA has had busts of many ethnicities, but that doesn’t mean that NBA fans aren’t still shopping for the next “Great…Hope”—every year. Denying that guys like Laettner skated on more than talent is like trying to say that Vanilla Ice and the New Kids on the Block really had skills. :P

    As I wrote at the beginning, pretending that you don’t have “preferences” doesn’t make them go away. So this casual dismissal of a reality that the fab five may have gotten right comes off as a bit juvenile.

    • mdcampbell7 - Mar 14, 2011 at 6:06 PM

      i always screw up something in these posts “cereal” box, was the one i caught this time.

  13. lswingly - Mar 14, 2011 at 5:46 PM

    Oh no are you kidding? Racism had nothing to do with people disliking the Fab Five. Those buckets of hate mail were clearly figments of their imaginations.

    Now you can dislike the Fab Five and not be a racist. I didn’t particularly like the Fab Five. The only time I ever rooted for them was against Duke because I disliked Laettner more, especially after he stomped on someone’s head. But if you think that race didn’t play a huge factor, especially at that time after the whole Rodney King thing yeah you’re just in denial.

    Other people have already covered the rest of the stuff I would have said about proper perspective regarding their comments about Duke and finding out their preconeived notions were wrong. And personally I gained some respect for them because they admitted exactly how they felt without sugar coating it to make themselves seem more noble, and they admitted they were wrong and got beaten by a better team in the championship.

    • mdcampbell7 - Mar 14, 2011 at 6:08 PM

      so what about Laetter…the point that i made?

      • mdcampbell7 - Mar 14, 2011 at 6:12 PM

        and that’s exactly what i meant…you’re dismissing racism for the entire country…including the Aryan Nation, the Klan, the World Church of the Creator…all to cling to this “race is irrelevant” fiction. but go ahead, please explain to me how corporations never market based on ethnic demographics…and how that never helps guys like Laettner.

    • mdcampbell7 - Mar 15, 2011 at 12:34 AM

      scratch my replies…i didn’t pick up on your sarcasm the first time i read your post. i agree with you.

  14. rickhere - Mar 14, 2011 at 6:09 PM

    I love the Docmentary…These guys were telling how they felt back then…They were being honest…Cmon if you want people to just tell you what you want to hear, then go listen to your politicians…They will tell you what you want to hear while they are reaching in your back pocket stealing your wallet…but that is another topic…and to say there was no racism involved with all those letters sent…that is just crazy…This country is extremely racist…and this is coming from an 11th generation white guy…I hear it all that time…makes me sick…

  15. vbgnola - Mar 15, 2011 at 10:10 AM

    Mr. Chandler,

    I’m not sure if you actually watched the ESPN documentary. You stated in your article: “Chris Webber and Steve Fisher wouldn’t even participate in the documentary.” However, Steve Fisher DID participate – from beginning to end.

    Secondly, the obvious point of your article was to criticize Mr. Rose, King, Howard, and Jackson for what they felt as 17, 18, 19 year olds. The documentary was a look BACK. They clearly stated that their feelings about Mr. Laettner being “soft” were UNTIL they actually played against him, which at that point they realized that he and the rest of the Duke team were quite good. They also stated how much they “respected” them. I would “respect” your article much more if you told the complete story and did not choose to convey an edited version to suit your personal thoughts and beliefs.

    Thirdly, I’d like to address your statement “But their contention that all of the backlash to their team was due to racism and jealousy is way off the mark.” Again, you must not have actually WATCHED the documentary. Both players AND coaches provided documents that were sent to them from all over the country from Michigan alum and others outlining the racial hatred and harrassment that these “teenagers” had to endure. To dismiss this is irresponsible. Perhaps you have not ever been the target of racial prejudice or injustice, but for those who have they will tell you that is real and it is painful. These young people managed to play through what had to be a difficult situation, and instead of commending them on being able to do so, you mock them.

    Fourthly, you speak as though the other members of the Michigan basketball team were selfishly not mentioned during the documentary. Again, you must not have actually watched the program. Both Mr. Riley and Mr. Pelinka, who you mention in your article, WERE a part of the documentary along with other Michigan players. However, that is not the point. The documentary was not titled “Michigan Basketball ’91-’92″. It was about the FAB FIVE. Juwon Howard, Ray King, Chris Webber, Jimmy King, and Jalen Rose did something that no one else had done, or has done since, whether you or I like it or not. They made history.

    Lastly, I find it interesting that throughout your article you demonize these five individuals but make no mention of how the University of Michigan and the NCAA capitalized on the success of these young people, which was also outlined in the documentary. Mr. Chandler, journalism is not reporting what you want people to hear. It is reporting the facts. All of them.

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