Can anybody explain this NK/Rodman thing?

[82_28]

That's basically all. I simply do not understand this Rodman bullshit. Can anyone put this into some inkling of perspective? I doubt anyone can, but would love to hear other's thoughts. It just seems like pure psychosis all around.

[Wombaticus Rex]

Mere destiny.

Rodman was born in Trenton, New Jersey, the son of Shirley and Philander Rodman, Jr., an Air Force pilot, later a veteran of the Vietnam War after Rodman's birth. When he was young, his father left his family, eventually settling in the Philippines. Rodman has many brothers and sisters: according to his father, he has either 26 or 28 siblings on his father's side; however, Rodman himself has stated that he is the oldest of a total of 47 children.

Also, another in a long string of Gavin McInnes' Unintended Consequences.

[FourthBase]

I posted this on Facebook, in response to people deriding Rodman:

Dennis Rodman has done more things, met more people, and been more places than twenty or forty yous, and he has been the undisputed best human being at a skill which earned him millions and millions, and which required more wit and hustle than sheer athleticism -- probably the nearest thing to Russell, minus the IQ, that we've seen recently. Would I rather send Bill Russell himself on a diplomatic mission to North Korea? Abso-LUTE-ly. I'd also prefer it to be our premier anthropologists and statesmen. But the little dictator wants to see who he wants to see, he likes basketball, and in particular loves the 90's Bulls, just like half of that generation of the basketball-loving world. Who else are we going to send from that team? Jordan is a decrepit gambler, he might lose our launch codes in a prop bet to Kim. Steve Kerr is the son of an assassinated Middle East scholar, so probably no. Pippen is a Freemason, i.e., a weirdo. Rodman might be the most normal and trustworthy of that lineup, lol!

That's my taking-it-at-face-value take.
He might be an alien or a CIA asset, of course.
But I tend to think it's just a random opportunity for good will.

Speaking of face value, whew, did he do something wrong there. Yuck.

[82_28]

I was once, with some friends, atop the Stratosphere Tower in Vegas when it first opened. The bartender said we might like to stick around because Rodman was on his way. We quickly slammed our drinks and got the fuck out of there. I hated Rodman back then. I was probably about 21. We didn't want to meet him at all.

[Wombaticus Rex]

That was a good call because Rodman will *definitely* introduce himself to you. It's kinda disarming but also kinda obnoxious. He works rooms like a Clinton.

[82_28]

You met him yourself, Wombat? I've just always felt him to be an evil spirit of sorts. I could see how that would have gone down atop the Stratosphere tower.

[Wombaticus Rex]

Yeah, to the extent you can "meet" somebody who is going around talking to the entire bar.

He thought I was Ray LaMontange, which a lot of people did that weekend.

He introduced himself to me twice, so not precisely a Clinton, since Bill allegedly remembers everyone.

[justdrew]

I could guess, but why blow his cover? At least we can get someone over there to talk.

[IanEye]

the obvious choice for an NBA double agent is Robert Parish.





.

[FourthBase]

IanEye, you see that Rodman brought Vin Baker and Kenny Anderson along with him? (No joke.) They're meeting up with Rodney Rogers, Eric Williams, and Vitaly Potapenko. (Joke.)

[freemason9]

He's amusing in a stupid way. He is a caricature of stupidity. His stupidity is only exceeded by his extreme arrogance.

[Luther Blissett]

A friend of mine is on that tour (for reasons I can't understand). He waited until he was in Hong Kong to tell us, and then radio silence. This guy himself is a diplomat, and well-known / well-liked locally. I can't wait to ask him a thousand questions about North Korea, and will report back when I hear more.

[Jerky]

Luther, please do.

[bks]

OK, so that's where the term "philanderer" comes from. Busy guy.

[stefano]

I just read quite a funny bit: Basketball diplomacy: Dennis Rodman and King Jong Un’s mad bromance

If the two had to have a bad ass competition, it’s no secret who’d take it. We’re comparing a man who occasionally dyes his hair green with a fellow who offed his own uncle in December. Possibly the most provocative thing Rodman has ever done (current antics excepted) was to announce that he was bisexual and marrying himself. Arguably the most provocative thing Kim Jong Un has ever done has been to rule a closed tyrannical society which sees an estimated 200,000 men, women and children incarcerated in hard-labour prison camps while he continually threatens to nuke the shit out of South Korea and the USA. Try harder, Dennis.
...
The depressing truth is that Rodman is probably not a CIA mole. It is also implausible that he has suddenly become a globetrotting altruist hell-bent on bringing unity to the Korean Peninsula. More likely, he is just one of many celebrities willing to practically fellate Lucifer himself for a sack of cash. Let’s not forget singer Jennifer Lopez’s birthday lapdance last year for another notorious dictator. “We wish you the very, very, happiest birthday,” Lopez said, performing a lavishly-paid show for Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov. Her people later said they didn’t know about the human rights stuff, and in fairness, that’s a hell of a name to Google.