- 2 days ago
IG: aj_mckenzie416
Twitter: AJMckenzie94847
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:05Hi, everybody, I'm Brian Kenney, and welcome to ESPN Classics' Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame.
00:10While winning seven straight rebounding titles, Dennis Rodman managed to defy more cultural taboos than Isadora Duncan.
00:17And if you don't know what she did, go ahead and Google away in your spare time.
00:20Over the next half hour, we'll count down the top five reasons you can't blame Rodman for his outrageous shock
00:26jock lifestyle.
00:27Reasons that range from being abandoned by his father and his coach to his notorious relationships with Madonna and Baywatch
00:34beauty Carmen Electra.
00:35Before we get down to our countdown, let's examine the evidence against Dennis Rodman.
00:43When he first got to the piston, somebody said, you know, who are you?
00:47You know, and he said, I'm nobody from nowhere.
00:57He came out there and did the things that nobody else wanted to do.
01:00He guarded the biggest, meanest, toughest guys.
01:03He got in everybody's face.
01:08In 1990, as the Pistons won their second consecutive NBA title,
01:12the 6'8 Rodman was recognized as the best counterforce in the league.
01:16The NBA's Defensive Player of the Year, the Worm, Dennis Rodman!
01:25He was the missing link to really become the bad boys of the NBA.
01:29Without Dennis, they don't win those titles.
01:31They don't go to three NBA finals in three years.
01:35It never would have gone past the Celtics.
01:38From another Celtic shadow.
01:44Despite his on-court success, Rodman didn't have a clear sense of who he was.
01:50Lou never felt like he fit.
01:53He always felt, I'm weird, I'm different.
01:59He never developed, you know, his, who am I?
02:03Before Rodman could figure out who he was,
02:06events beyond his control turned his life upside down.
02:09In May of 1992, Coach Chuck Daly resigned.
02:13Four months later, his close friend John Sally was traded,
02:17and Rodman's wife, Annie, left with their four-year-old daughter.
02:21In February of 1993, Rodman was found by police in a parking lot.
02:26He was alone in his truck with a rifle across his lap.
02:30Rodman has had a difficult and emotional time this season,
02:33his mood frequently being characterized as despondent.
02:37Everything was just falling apart.
02:39I wasn't going to the parking lot in Detroit to kill myself.
02:43I was just trying to kill the identity, the old dentist.
02:45Instead of committing suicide,
02:47he would just decide to kill that person that was the establishment dentist.
02:54It wasn't until he reached the breaking point
02:57that he began to let the wild side out.
03:05Eight months after his personal exorcism,
03:08the Pistons shipped Rodman to San Antonio.
03:11With the Spurs, his behavior became even more erratic and aggressive.
03:15The San Antonio Spurs are having some internal conflict.
03:18And yes, it's the worm.
03:19Dennis Rodman.
03:20They go to the playoffs and they believe they're playing Utah,
03:23and that's when he takes his shoes off and doesn't go in the huddle.
03:27We really don't have time for this sort of selfishness,
03:29and that's basically what it boils down to.
03:31Some people think he's crazy.
03:33Some people think he's the devil.
03:36I mean, his own teammates thought he was a devil.
03:38Since his due to San Antonio 13 months ago,
03:40Dennis Rodman has had three suspensions,
03:42eight ejections, 40 technical fouls,
03:44and paid $54,250 in fines.
03:49Unable to contain Rodman's volatility,
03:51the Spurs traded their problem to Chicago,
03:54where the embattled forward attacked a referee in March of 1996.
03:59He won three straight titles.
04:02He wasn't a problem, San Antonio.
04:06That's it, Bernard.
04:07Hold on, hold on.
04:08Oh, I looked like he head-butted it.
04:10He was right in front of my face,
04:12and he was yelling, you know,
04:13you suck, you're terrible,
04:15and all of a sudden he just came forward.
04:17The worm slapped with a six-game suspension
04:20and fined 20 grand Monday
04:21for head-butting an official Saturday night.
04:24In the NBA, the referee is the authority figure.
04:26How stupid can you be, Dennis?
04:29The whole bad boy image,
04:30instead of pushing it away,
04:33he began to embrace it.
04:35Being eccentric and being so much different
04:37than everybody else,
04:37you were concerned that maybe he would do something totally outrageous
04:40that might harm somebody else.
04:42Rodman did.
04:43Ten months after the head-butting incident in New Jersey,
04:46he acted out again,
04:47this time by kicking a cameraman
04:49during a road game against the Tim...
04:53There were so many episodes with Dennis Rodman,
04:56but it was always the violent confrontations.
05:00When he kicked the photographer,
05:03there was just no place for any of that in basketball.
05:06We're not going to be reinstating him
05:09until he assures us, and we're satisfied,
05:11that he can conduct himself in some way
05:14that doesn't put others at risk.
05:16Whatever David Stearns' worst nightmare would be
05:19on that given day or in that given situation,
05:22Dennis Rodman was going to be that.
05:24Rodman himself seemed bent on self-destruction.
05:27He was this figure that everybody viewed as dastardly
05:30in all the other NBA cities.
05:32That reputation as one of being a bad boy,
05:34being a nasty person,
05:36being indifferent,
05:37then all those things fit when you talk about Dennis Rodman.
05:40It would be so easy to blame Dennis Rodman for everything.
05:44Why not?
05:45As easy a target as there's ever been.
05:54Besides winning more rebounding crowns
05:56than Bill Russell and Moses Malone,
05:58Dennis Rodman is still, as far as we know,
06:00the only NBA player to wear a wedding dress
06:02in the promotion of his autobiography.
06:06Before we count down the top five reasons
06:08you can't blade Rodman for his outrageous behavior,
06:11here are a few that didn't make the cut.
06:13We call them the best of the rest.
06:18Phil Jackson.
06:20The Bulls coach allowed Rodman
06:21to walk to the beat of a different drummer.
06:26Phil had a book that he gave Dennis
06:29that talked about an Indian in a tribe
06:33that would walk backwards
06:35and say crazy things.
06:38He likened Dennis to that Indian in their tribe
06:42and it was okay with Phil for Dennis
06:46to not fit into the mold that everybody else did.
06:50Phil Jackson took a look at him
06:51and saw one of the greatest basketball minds
06:54that he had come across
06:55and he realized,
06:57I'm going to let this big dog run.
07:00But Rodman's freedom to be himself on the court
07:02sometimes proved costly to the Bulls.
07:05The self-styled forward was suspended 20 games,
07:08expelled from six others,
07:10and was assessed 70 technicals
07:13in his three seasons in Chicago.
07:15Dennis would do things,
07:17crazy things,
07:19get a technical,
07:21hit somebody,
07:22and Phil used to look at him and smile.
07:25Known as a player's coach,
07:27Jackson believed the only way
07:29Rodman could play up to his potential
07:30was to be given special treatment.
07:35I have rules for you guys.
07:36I have rules for Dennis.
07:37So they were willing to give up
07:41that structure that we have as team rules
07:43to accommodate Dennis' weird behavior.
07:51Our other best of the rest,
07:53show me the money.
07:55With two championship rings,
07:57two rebounding crowns,
07:58and two Defensive Player of the Year awards,
08:01Rodman felt he was underpaid
08:03at $2.3 million a year in 1993.
08:07To increase his value,
08:09he showed the world
08:11another dimension to his personality.
08:14If he wasn't going to make
08:16what he wanted to make on the court,
08:17he'd have to make it off the court.
08:19He knew that in order to do that,
08:20he had to step outside the box.
08:23Well, he knocked the box down
08:24and went into the closet
08:27and pulled out some dresses
08:28and created a whole new set of characters.
08:32The first thing they did
08:33was become a bride,
08:34bridesmaid in New York.
08:36And frankly,
08:36if you ever really look at the picture,
08:38he'll never look better
08:39in his whole life.
08:41It's a lot easier being this way
08:42because it's more, you know,
08:44sexier.
08:45We've never seen an NBA player
08:47who was this crazy.
08:48And he found that market
08:50and he exploited it.
08:53Don't try this at home, people.
08:55It does burn like hell.
08:58When Dennis got 15 rebounds
09:00and dressed normal,
09:01he made $2 million a year.
09:03And when he started wearing dress
09:05and acting doing his stuff,
09:06he made $15 million a year.
09:09So, if you're going to blame anyone,
09:11blame us for buying into the shtick.
09:14But give him credit.
09:22The bad boys.
09:24Detroit's veteran gang of tough guys
09:26hammered Rodman into their own image.
09:29You played those Pistons teams.
09:32You know you were going to get mugged.
09:34They would say that Zeke,
09:37Isaiah Thomas,
09:38was probably as nasty a bad boy
09:41as it was.
09:42He would kill you with a smile
09:43and then he'd take a dagger
09:45and drive it through you.
09:47You're Rick Mohorns,
09:48you're Bill Lambeers,
09:50Vinnie Johnson, Isaiah.
09:51These were the bad boys
09:53and Dennis was the shy guy
09:54at that point.
09:56He was just a big kid.
09:57He was like a 14-year-old kid.
09:59All he wanted to do was have fun
10:00and he wanted to play basketball.
10:02In his early days with Detroit,
10:04he really wasn't a bad boy yet.
10:06He was learning.
10:08He picked up a lot of nuances.
10:10Little things,
10:11how to give a guy a nudge there,
10:12how to pull your trunks over here,
10:14how to talk some trash to you,
10:15how to take you out your game.
10:18They tell him toughness
10:19because when they practiced
10:21against each other,
10:22they used to beat each other up too.
10:23I was just happy to be there.
10:25If you ever look at the videotapes,
10:26I was just happy to be there
10:27and I was just pretty much
10:28under the guy's wing
10:29and I just embraced
10:30what they were doing.
10:31Soon, the student outdid his teachers
10:33and learned to play a game
10:35which its founder, James Naismith,
10:37could not have imagined.
10:39It was streetball at its nastiest.
10:42He'd do the sneaky little things
10:44that irritated the hell out of you.
10:46Knocking the back of your knees
10:47to get rebound position,
10:48you know, grabbing, pinching you.
10:51He was like, you know,
10:52that little mosquito in your ear,
10:54you know, that you keep slapping
10:55to the point where it would drive you insane.
10:58He brought that mental edge
11:01where he was able to really, you know,
11:03aggravate the crap out of you.
11:06He was a bad boy.
11:08He was a nasty person.
11:10But do we blame him
11:12or do we blame the system?
11:14I would say you blame the system.
11:19That brings us to reason number four.
11:22Tunnel vision.
11:23Nicknamed the Bionic Man
11:25by Detroit coach Chuck Daly,
11:27Rodman developed a deep focus,
11:29stoked by an even deeper desire
11:32to prove he belonged.
11:34Dennis' tunnel vision
11:35and his competitiveness
11:37caused him to go overboard a few times.
11:39That competitive drive
11:41led him at times
11:43to go over the edge
11:44and to do things
11:47about which he ought not to be proud.
11:49There are several points in his career
11:50that are well documented
11:51where that competitiveness
11:53seems to take over
11:54and he crossed the line
11:55and that would be exhibited
11:56in head-butting,
11:57kicking a photographer.
12:00To me, the root of that
12:01would still probably be the same trait
12:02that makes him so good,
12:03his intensity and his competitiveness.
12:06Dennis was like Rain Man.
12:08He was so focused on...
12:11That's a dumb excuse.
12:12Let's skip.
12:17Daddy Dearest.
12:19I love Chuck Daly.
12:21Chuck Daly is God.
12:22I call him G-O-D, God.
12:24When Chuck Daly left Detroit
12:26for the Nets in 1992,
12:28Rodman was left
12:29without the guidance
12:30of a steady hand.
12:32When Chuck Daly
12:33is no longer with the team,
12:35Dennis falls apart.
12:36Why?
12:36Because now he feels abandoned again.
12:38It was like his heart shattered all.
12:40I think it was like
12:41a repeat of his father.
12:43When Rodman was only three,
12:45his father abandoned him,
12:47his two older sisters,
12:49and his mother Shirley.
12:50He couldn't understand
12:52why his father wasn't with him.
12:53And in Dennis' mind,
12:55it was all my fault
12:56because his father was gone.
13:00Years later,
13:01with Daly's departure,
13:03Rodman's childhood wounds
13:04were ripped open.
13:06Again,
13:06he was set adrift.
13:09I could understand
13:10how it could happen.
13:12And then being his only coach,
13:13now he's like
13:14being thrust out
13:16into society.
13:17New teams,
13:18new coaches,
13:19new situations.
13:20And I suspect
13:21it was difficult for him.
13:23Then,
13:23as the Pistons
13:24were dismantled,
13:25Rodman sank
13:26into a prolonged depression.
13:28All of a sudden,
13:29when,
13:30when London
13:32breaks started to fall,
13:33and a couple breaks
13:34started to fall,
13:34the whole house started to say,
13:36you know,
13:36it's like,
13:37you know,
13:38and I became lost
13:39for a while.
13:41He had reached
13:42this low point
13:43where he didn't have anything,
13:45the basketball,
13:46the personal life,
13:47and I think that he
13:48had to decide
13:49who he was going to be.
13:51With three strong reasons
13:53in the books,
13:54here is reason number two.
13:57Madonna.
13:58Under the pop diva's
13:59influence in the mid-90s,
14:01the player they called
14:02the worm
14:03went through
14:03an astonishing metamorphosis.
14:05Would you like to spend
14:06any time with Madonna?
14:08Madonna,
14:08she turned you on.
14:10I said,
14:11I got her,
14:11I can make her
14:12her material boy.
14:15Here he is,
14:16suddenly,
14:16this NBA player
14:17who has tattoos
14:18and he's kind of a crazy guy.
14:20No one really knew about him.
14:21He's with Madonna.
14:22And that's when
14:23all the interest in Dennis
14:24really started to pick up.
14:25See, he's Madonna.
14:27No, no big deal.
14:29You know,
14:29you wouldn't ask me
14:30how I slept with
14:31and all that stuff like that.
14:31See, that's what you're getting at.
14:33A lot of people said
14:34when he got,
14:35when he started dating Madonna,
14:37that's when he started
14:38doing all these crazy things,
14:40you know,
14:40because Madonna
14:40is the queen of shock
14:41and she turned Dennis
14:43into the king of shock.
14:44All of a sudden,
14:46he was
14:47the all-time sports freak
14:49and one of the
14:50great pop culture freaks
14:52of the second half
14:53of the 20th century.
14:57You can go do
14:57any damn thing
14:58you want to do in life.
14:59You know,
15:00I'm going to go out there
15:00and be free.
15:01I'm going to run wild,
15:02naked,
15:02no matter what it is.
15:04You know,
15:04I'm going to do it.
15:06Freed up by Madonna,
15:08Rodman pushed beyond
15:09the boundaries
15:09of acceptable behavior.
15:12It was the ever-changing
15:13hair colors.
15:14It was not being
15:16No way he's dressing
15:17like her.
15:18No way he's dressing
15:19like Madonna.
15:21Presentable upon
15:21meeting the president.
15:23It was dressing
15:23in a wedding gown
15:24to his own book signing.
15:27It was posing nude
15:28on the cover of his book.
15:29I can't blame them
15:30for being famous
15:31or outrageous
15:32because, one,
15:33they allowed him
15:34to do it.
15:35Everybody wanted him
15:36to be more outrageous
15:37than the next ass.
15:40It's all Madonna's fault.
15:42It's Madonna's fault
15:43and we're putting
15:45all the blame on her.
15:48He's not a bad boy.
15:52Dennis' wackiness
15:54and his bad boy image
15:55has been harmless.
15:58He never strangled a coach.
16:01He never ran up
16:02into the stands
16:03to beat the bleep
16:05out of a fan.
16:06He never killed a guy.
16:09When you see acts
16:11of choking coaches
16:12and things that were
16:14criminal,
16:15Dennis Rodman
16:16never broke any laws.
16:18He never.
16:19He never socked a guy
16:21and knocked him
16:23into a hardwood
16:24and nearly killed him
16:25like Kermit Washington.
16:29See him in stories
16:31of him associated
16:32with getting into fights
16:33and bars
16:33and things like that.
16:35He just doesn't do that.
16:35I want you guys
16:37to have a good time
16:39till 2 o'clock
16:40on the 3-0-3.
16:44He never got into problems
16:46with us.
16:47The only person
16:48Dennis Rodman
16:49has ever hurt
16:49is Dennis Rodman.
16:54In 14 NBA seasons,
16:57Rodman's worst moments
16:58were kicking a cameraman
16:59and headbutting a referee.
17:01Not good, certainly,
17:02but not all that malicious
17:04when compared to the careers
17:05of some other NBA players.
17:08Even the assaulted ref,
17:09Ted Bernhardt,
17:10looked at Dennis
17:11as a menace.
17:13I just don't think
17:14Dennis is that bad, period.
17:15I think underneath it all,
17:16I think he's a pretty caring
17:17and loving guy there.
17:19I'm just glad
17:20that I didn't hurt him
17:21and it really looked
17:22a lot worse
17:22than what it was.
17:25These were just
17:26acts of an individual
17:28trying to get attention
17:29and they're not bad,
17:31they just were Dennis.
17:33To me, with Dennis,
17:34it was all an act.
17:36It was all about
17:37the self-promotion.
17:39The real Dennis
17:40is relatively shy
17:42and very soft-spoken
17:44and sometimes
17:44you're having
17:45a conversation with him
17:46and you can't hear him
17:48because he speaks
17:49so softly
17:49and a lot of people
17:51don't really realize that
17:52because the image
17:52they have of him
17:53is the complete opposite.
18:00Believe it or not,
18:01take away the wedding dress,
18:03you know,
18:04the colored hair,
18:05stuff like that.
18:06Normal guy.
18:07Sure, he had his issues
18:08but you want to know something?
18:10He dared to be different.
18:11He was a nice guy.
18:12He came to charity.
18:14He threw the jersey
18:14into the crowd each game.
18:16As a human being,
18:18Dennis was a character
18:21but a likable character.
18:23I don't give a damn
18:23what people think about me at all.
18:25If they look at it
18:25and really read
18:26and really think about
18:27what I'm doing,
18:29it's like,
18:29it's not hurting anybody.
18:30It's more expressing
18:31what you believe
18:32and what you feel.
18:34There will never be
18:35another Dennis Rodman
18:36but there will be
18:37a lot of bad boys
18:38trying.
18:39Yeah,
18:39Dennis Rodman's a
18:41cool guy,
18:42I think.
18:44He beat Dennis Rodman.
18:50Despite suffering the slings
18:52and arrows of his
18:53outrageous behavior,
18:55Dennis Rodman was a
18:56major contributor
18:57to five NBA championships.
18:59Whether you approved
19:00of him,
19:00it'll be doubtful
19:02there will ever be
19:03another...
Comments