NBA's most eccentric player returns
The NBA's most exciting and eccentric player
is back in action and no, I'm not talking about Terry Teagle.
I'm talking about Dennis Rodman.
Rodman was signed by the Dallas Mavericks
last week and pulled down 13 rebounds against the Supersonics in his first
professional basketball game since his departure from the Los Angeles
Lakers last season.
Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban has been crucified
for his decision to sign Rodman, but really, how bad could it be? The Mavs
are now and have always been one of the NBA's worst teams. They can't get
any worse.
Rodman isn't the defensive star that he
used to be, but he can still out-rebound anybody in the league. His basketball
skills alone are a good addition to the Mavs, but it's his personality
that will really benefit the team.
As a businessman, Cuban is a genius. In
Rodman's first game, the team drew the second biggest crowd that the arena
has ever seen. The biggest crowd came for Michael Jordan's last game in
Dallas.
Dallas is craving something other than
bad basketball. Whether the team improves or not, they will at least have
something new and exciting to see. Rodman brings an intensity and desire
to the game that has been lacking since the ë80s.
Now I will continue my endless defense
of Dennis Rodman the man, not the basketball player, since there is still
too much hatred for the guy.
Kansas City Chiefs Pro Bowl linebacker
Derrick Thomas is dead after he was involved in a car accident in which
he wasn't wearing a seat belt.
Charlotte Hornets guard Bobby Phills is
dead after a car accident in which he was racing one of his teammates.
New York Rangers' hockey player Kevin Stevens
was arrested recently after a night of smoking crack with a prostitute.
Dennis Rodman is a yellow-haired slacker
who parties too much.
Who is the best role model out of the four
just mentioned?
There are a lot of terrible people involved
in professional sports. Rodman is not one of them. So what if he wants
to try pro wrestling and make really bad movies. Who cares if he
parties too much and doesn't want to show up for team meetings?
Mike Tyson is a rapist. Latrell Sprewell
choked his coach. Charles Barkley threw a man through a window. Rodman
once gave a man on a street corner in Detroit all the money that he had
in his pocket -- close to a thousand dollars. Yet who gets publicly ridiculed
the most?
"Don't let what other people think decide
who you are," Rodman said in his 1996 book "Bad As I Wanna Be."
-- Greg Hanson is a print journalism
major at CSULB. |
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