Jalen Rose Doesn’t Like ‘Fab Five’ Nickname for US Gymnasts


Jalen Rose played on the Fab Five squad while attending Michigan, and he doesn’t want any other collection of athletes to borrow the nickname. Rose blames the media — which, as a talking head, he is now a part of — for lazily bestowing the monicker onto the U.S. gymnasts. Per CBS: “Jalen Rose wants it to be very clear: He loves the US Olympic Team. He rooted for them. And he’s a true admirer of Gabby Douglas and her class, composure and athleticism. He’s just not a fan of the team nickname. And he also knows that it was not the five gymnasts who chose it. Rose blames the ‘lazy media’ for not coming up with an original nickname for the gold medalists. […] ‘To use the nickname just points and screams of lazy journalism by the national media, that’s really what it is,’ Rose said. ‘It’s no fault at all of the young gymnasts. But I really wish they would have come up with an even more creative tag for them and their gold medal pursuit.’ No one’s really sure where the original Fab Five nickname originated, but the players who broke ground with their numbers and their baggy shorts street style on the court, embraced it. ‘Once the media decides what they’re going to call you, that’s your name,’ Rose said. ‘I’ve heard they (gymnasts) wanted to be called ‘Furious Five’ or something different which leads me to believe that’s a tag the media put on them.'”