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Dennis is on a roll
Rodman making huge contributions on and off the court
Posted: Thursday June 11, 1998 08:30 PM
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Rodman: "I don't have to prove anything to anybody in the business. This business can kiss my ... " (AP) |
CHICAGO (AP) -- For once, Dennis Rodman
did something for somebody other than Dennis Rodman.
He offered to pick up the cost of the funeral for a black man chained to
the back of a pickup truck and dragged to his death last weekend. Rodman
even showed up at practice Thursday and stood still long enough to shower
himself with praise.
"A lot of people," he said, "don't give me credit for doing a lot of good
things around the country."
That is not exactly true. The croupiers in Las Vegas speak well of him
all the time. Same thing with the parking valets, coat checkers and
bartenders in nightclubs stretching from here to Tijuana. Add the folks at
that wrestling outfit, "the WLF or the WFA or whatever that thing is," as
Bulls coach Phil Jackson put it. In their minds, Dennis is a prince.
And now this good turn. Rodman is on a roll.
"Hopefully," he said, "people will look at me in a different light,
somewhat."
That last word in that sentence is the important one: somewhat. The time
for a career retrospective on Rodman is not now, not when he is basking in
the glow of one very good deed and one exceptional basketball performance.
This is not to minimize either accomplishment. He won Game 4 of the NBA
Finals almost by himself. This is no small feat on a team that includes Michael Jordan
and Scottie
Pippen. But it was Rodman who grabbed 14 rebounds, including a handful
of the biggest ones; Rodman who made four free throws down the stretch,
when Jordan and Pippen couldn't make theirs; and Rodman who accomplished
most of this while Utah's Karl Malone clung
to him like lint.
"The only person I'm ever intimidated by is my ex-wife. That's about it.
... I think the referees have given me the freedom and luxury to play Karl
Malone this series. They let me do that," he said, "and Karl Malone is not
effective against Dennis Rodman at all."
On every side of him, beginning in the moments immediately after Game 4
and spilling over into Thursday afternoon, the testimonials pour in. His
coach praises Rodman for motivating himself, rules be damned.
"He needs to make things difficult for himself," Jackson said. "He always
has. So I fine him, but it's not fair to his teammates to do more. He is
what he is."
His teammates complain about the special treatment, but not loudly. Then
they express admiration that Rodman violates every known disciplinary code,
laughs off the sanctions, pays the fines and still delivers. Then they
celebrate alongside him.
"I will never figure this guy out," Jordan said. "I won't even start. One
day he's wrestling, the next he's defending. We've learned to live with
it."
This would be tough enough for parents to explain to their kids, but it
gets worse. Malone, as hard-working and decent a guy as exists in the
sport, is called on the carpet to explain himself. Next to Rodman and his
irreverence, Malone sounds stilted, uncool. His virtues, too, seem out of
date.
"You work all your career to be in this position," he said. "You can't
start second-guessing yourself now."
Maybe not, but it seems to have done wonders for Rodman. For all the
weirdness he cultivates these days, it's worth remembering that he got
people to notice him the first time for doing the tough, dirty work that
nobody wanted.
Everybody else came into the NBA wanting the flash and cash that comes
with scoring. Until he went out with Madonna and learned the virtues of
self-promotion, the only thing Rodman was obsessed with was rebounding. His
true genius has been to take that singular skill, an attitude, some tattoos
and a few bottles of hair dye and turn it into a cottage industry.
Remember, this is a guy who was quoted in his own autobiography as saying,
"The only bad press is an obit."
Nothing changed Wednesday night, despite the basketball, or Thursday for
that matter, despite the noble gesture.
Rodman needs exposure. Pippen and Jordan need rebounds. The NBA needs a
villain. All of them have found what they were looking for. And contrary to
what each has said in praise of each another, there is no higher purpose to
it than that.
In that sense, even Rodman does not push illusions.
"I don't have to prove anything to anybody in the business. This
business," he said, "can kiss my ... "
It has.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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NBA Finals
