Column by Buck Harvey
Dennis Rodman has been doing his best to get noticed. He wrote a children’s book, “Dennis the Wild Bull” — released shortly before he was ordered to pay $500,000 in back child support.
Then there were his plans to form a basketball league of strippers, with tassels taking the place of jerseys.
“It’s going to be very tastefully done,” Rodman said.
But none of it — not even a teary Hall of Fame speech — got that stunning, wedding-dress kind of pub that Rodman once lived for. That’s where last week came in.
“Awesome kid,” Rodman said of North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, and with that, Rodman had the world where he wants it.
Which is looking at him.
For those in San Antonio who remember the way it was, this somehow makes sense. Last week, Rodman hung with the “supreme leader” of a totalitarian country with one of the lowest-ranking human rights records, when he couldn’t tolerate the sight of his Spurs teammates.
Terry Cummings, for example, was at a steakhouse with his family one night. The former Spur saw Rodman eating alone, so he walked over to him and asked him if he would like to join them.
Rodman, as the story goes, never looked up.
Rodman didn’t know the names of the Spurs assistants. He was late to practice when he showed up at all. And in the spring of 1994, when the Spurs’ season ended in Utah, Rodman left the arena in his uniform to jump in a limo with Madonna to catch a jet to Vegas.
Rodman, as the story goes, never said goodbye to anyone.
Little wonder Gregg Popovich reacted as he did the next season. Then, before training camp began in Kerrville, Popovich went about changing the culture of the franchise by going after Rodman.
Maybe Popovich wouldn’t have done the same now. But then, as a novice general manager intent on taking his franchise in another direction, he thought this was the best tact:
Popovich confronted Rodman by trying to out-crazy him.
Popovich wanted to put Rodman on his heels, and he wanted to see his reaction. And while there were times that season when Rodman came closer to following team rules, he ultimately rebelled, forced a trade and blamed Popovich later.
In his book, “Bad as I Wanna Be,” Rodman wrote, “Popovich wanted to be the guy who tamed Dennis Rodman.”
Michael Jordan would have better luck taming him. And in those following years of championships, Rodman grabbed a lot of rebounds and attention.
But then the Bulls broke up, and Rodman became less entertaining and more pathetic. Last fall, he seemed to hit bottom. Was “All-Star Celebrity Apprentice” the best he could do?
Enter a short, round dictator who grew up loving the Jordan Bulls. Kim wanted nothing to do with an envoy sent by President Obama last summer, but he drank with Rodman, and he shared sushi with him, and they were seen talking and laughing as they watched a basketball game.
It was harmless stuff, even if North Korea somehow tries to use the image of Kim and Rodman. And maybe something good comes of it as this generation’s Ping-pong Diplomacy.
Next move by the United States: Get Jordan involved.
This, though, was Rodman’s moment. He became part of a surreal combination, a mix of cartoon and outrage, and Rodman’s comments fit.
“Guess what, I love him,” he said.
His next book? “As Diplomatically Naïve as I Wanna Be.”
Rodman has tweeted he’s back in the United States now. And next week, he said, “I will tell what is true and not true of what you have heard and read.”
He’s back, all right, and he’s milking it.
bharvey@express-news.net
Twitter: @Buck_SA
