Chris Webber set to Retire

Chris Webber's basketball career has been written like a Greek tragedy. An athletic Super Hero with so much promise that just was never able to get out from under a black cloud of misery.

Coming out of Detroit Country Day High School, Chris Webber was perhaps the most highly regarded basketball player in the state since Magic Johnson. The guy was 6'9", had agility, power, tenacity and could drop a dime pass to teammates. Had he graduated from high school 5 years later, he would have no doubt followed the trend of going straight to the NBA.

As a member of the "Fab Five" at the University of Michigan he was not only a stand out player, but he also contributed to developing future fashion trends. Not until the Fab Five had basketball players worn black socks, shaved heads and baggy shorts. They were the first to be dubbed a "hip-hop team" and were perhaps the last "rock stars" of college basketball. With this, Webber was well on his way to being that next can't miss franchise player.

However, Webber never really got passed the infamous timeout incident in the championship game against UNC and at that moment, a black cloud suddenly formed over his head. His entire professional career was referenced against ESPN replays of "the timeout", answering questions about U of M booster scandals and battling the injury bug. Instead of being labeled a franchise player, Webber recieved another label, that of the supposed "last piece" needed to put a team over the top. He was supposed to be the last piece that helped Iverson get the Sixers a title, that got Sacramento past the Lakers, that got the Pistons another title. He went from city to city, and it just never panned out anywhere.

Was the before mentioned timeout, the moment in time when Lex Luther slipped kryptonite into Superman's pocket? It sure seems that way, he just never took that next step to greatness that so many of us thought he would. Here's to hoping that when he takes off his jersey for the final time this year, that he leaves the kryptonite in the lockeroom.