I was wondering when it would finally happen, but Jalen Rose finally came out and voiced his opinion on the USA Women’s Gymnastics team being called the “Fab Five,” and I was thrilled. He’s absolutely right; it can and should be attributed to lazy journalists and executives. Only one article I have read on the gymnasts said that they can’t be called the Fab Five because that is what Michigan Basketball’s 1991 recruiting class was nicknamed. Sure they weren’t the first group to be called the Fab Five, but that’s the moniker they have been known by and when they revolutionized the game of college basketball, it stuck.
And I get it, the USA Team Gold is far more important and more than the Fab Five officially accomplished, but that’s erroneous. NBC has been plugging this nickname like they came up with it or something; and it was just as horrible as an idea as their coverage has been. For as big of a company as they are, nobody decided to do any research and they decided to be lazy morons and recycle the nickname. Either they thought nobody would notice or they thought that nobody would care. Well here’s the issue, and it is a key example to writer’s and people everywhere that you shouldn’t be lazy at your job, Jalen Rose TRADEMARKED the moniker “Fab Five.” As far as my understanding of trademarking goes, this would be trademark infringement, and Rose should be able to sue in court. So congrats, NBC, you’re even dumber than I thought. It’s like you and ESPN are having a contest to see who can be the biggest company with the most idiots employed (ESPN regained the lead this morning).
Sure Duran Duran was referred to as the Fab Five at one point, and there have been others along the way, but the Michigan Basketball team popularized it. Jalen Rose, Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson; that’s the Fab Five. Sure, they never won a National Championship, and all their banners were taken down because Webber took money, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t revolutionize the game of college basketball. That doesn’t mean they didn’t popularize the nickname. That doesn’t mean they didn’t have a major impact on a University (positively and negatively). And that doesn’t mean that anyone can use the nickname to describe whomever they want. Perhaps NBC missed the ESPN 30 for 30 on them…it was called “The Fab Five.”
I would love to see Jalen sue NBC for trademark infringement, because it’s not the gymnasts fault. They didn’t ask for the nickname, they just went out and won a gold medal; a spokesperson for USA Women’s Gymnastics even said that the girls want to be known as the “Fierce Five.” Mckayla Maroney made me a fan of hers when she said, “There have been Fab Fives in the past but I like Fierce Five because we are definitely the fiercest team out there.” So don’t place the blame there. Blame the lazy journalists and the lazy executives at NBC that approved the use of this nickname, and while you’re at it, blame them for their horrible coverage. I mean, telling the audience who won an event before you show it in “primetime”? Give me a break man. Seriously they should have it on pay-per-view, “The ESPN Executives vs. The NBC Executives: Who Can Make Their Company Look The Worst?” I’d pay to watch that, at least it would be better than Sportscenter.
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