Were you as surprised to see this headline as I was? Honoring Webber in any way would make Michigan look ridiculous, and further knock it off its moral high horse.

First off, let me say that I grew up in the same general area as Webber and he was very friendly when I met him a few times. I saw some of his high school games and and was a big fan of his and the Fab Five. I don't know him personally and he may or may not be a good person, but his actions have been just plan wrong, and his attitude worse.

Webber and his family took over $280,000 from a UM booster before and during college, lied about it to a Grand Jury, and was convicted of perjury (oh, and apparently $280,000 doesn't go that far because he couldn't afford to buy a pizza in college, or at least that's what he said on an ESPN Town Hall panel). This is a person whose actions caused the University to erase his records from their record books. Let me repeat that for emphasis: he had to be erased from their books. He damaged the entire Michigan program, including causing UM to :

* forfeit 113 victories, including the entire 1992-93 season and the 1992 and 1993 Final Fours, after which Michigan took down the Final Four banners in the arena.

* return $450k to the NCAA

* put a self-imposed ban from the 2003 NCAA or NIT tournaments

* be put on 2 years of probation

What's worse, the UM program still hasn't recovered from it - that's Webber's Michigan legacy. And the AD Martin wants to honor him? Maybe find some way to honor the team accomplishments but If you can't separate the two, don't do it. You don't honor anybody who damages your program. Yes this punishes other people, but Webber's selfish actions hurt his team as well, which is a lesson every athlete should learn.

Webber receiving any honor in any way would send an awful message to everyone everywhere - you can lie, cheat, break the law, and forever stain the program, but if you had enough success, all is forgiven. I bet the Mafia wishes Martin was their judge. Is it too late for them to enroll?