Wacky Rodman deserves Hall nod

It was autumn of 1995 and Dennis Rodman was playing his first United Center preseason game as a member of the Bulls.

Along press row another sports writer leaned toward me, pointed out at Rodman and asked, “What do you think he's thinking?”

I looked at Rodman, all tatted and pierced and funny haired, and pondered the question for a moment.

Finally I said, “I'm not sure I want to get into that man's head.”

Monday, that same Rodman was introduced in Houston with the rest of the 2011 class for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Even on TV from hundreds of miles away you could sense a buzz in the room in anticipation of Rodman's appearance.

Would the fabled Worm be naked, as he often prefers to be? Would he be in a wedding dress, as he once was at a book signing? Would he be drunk, profane or what?

Well, Rodman was fully and nattily dressed in jeans, a shirt open down to his navel, two colorful scarves, a tan vest, gym shoes, a black baseball cap and sunglasses.

Rodman said of being chosen for the Hall, “It's cool, man. It's a great feeling.”

Cool because Rodman always was an outsider and now he was being included. Great because he's alive to experience and enjoy it.

While chronicling Rodman's three championship seasons with the Bulls, I always figured that he wouldn't live past 40.

Later, in 2005, the fitting title of his second autobiography was “I Should Be Dead By Now.”

But Dennis Rodman will turn 50 next month but with about 100 million more miles on his bones than your average 50-year-old.

“I feel out of place because of some of the things I've done,” Rodman said of the Hall. “(Voters) could have gone the other way because of some of the thing I've done off the court.”

OK, yes, there were D-Rod's dastardly Ds — driving drunk, driving with an expired license, domestic battery and drug rehab.

The man has been wild and some might say crazy. But through it all Rodman was as unique inside the game as he was outside it.

Put another way, Rodman was as reckless on the court as he was on the street. Nicely put, he was a dirty player.

Rodman once as a Detroit Piston shoved Scottie Pippen to about an inch of his life. He head butted opponents and even an official. He kicked a photographer after falling over him beyond the baseline.

Still, there should be no doubt that Rodman belongs in the Hall of Fame because at 6-feet-6 he was the best inch-for-inch rebounder ever, if not simply the overall best; he could have been the league MVP some years just because of his defense; finally, he was one of the game's great characters, for better or worse.

Heck, Rodman had an affair with Madonna when both were in their primes. He briefly was married to Carmen Electra. He teamed in the wrestling ring with Hulk Hogan, starred in reality TV shows, headlined albeit awful action feature films. ...

Generally, Rodman was someone you had difficulty taking your eyes off no matter what he was doing, where he was doing it and who he was doing it to.

Today, surprisingly alive and apparently well, Dennis Rodman is a worthy Hall of Famer even if you still might not want to journey too deeply inside that head of his.

mimrem@dailyherald.com