Ramrodman - interview with basketball player Dennis Rodman - Interview

Interview, Feb, 1997 by Mark Marvel

At a time when much of the individuality has been driven out of professional sports, Dennis Rodman stands as a beacon of unfettered self-expression. The fans may want him because he's one of sports' great outsiders, but he's got the inside scoop on what it takes to be free - so much so that we thought we'd give everyone a break and keep this interview free of Madonna questions

Even though he's only wearing one hat in this feature, basketball's wanted man, Dennis Rodman, of course, wears many hats these days, each of them in his own inimitable style. Not satisfied with being the game's best and most brilliant rebounder, Rodman's aiming to score points in the movies, on MTV, on the sexual battlefield, and even in the hair avant-garde. As this interview reveals, the surprise lies in why he wants it all: because he wants to be seen as human.

MARK MARVEL: YOU said recently that your basketball career is almost over. Do you really believe that?

DENNIS RODMAN: Oh yeah. I'm getting to the point where it will be time to move on to something I'm going to have to work hard at the same way I had to work hard at this game years ago.

MM: I don't think everyone realizes how hard you had to work at basketball to get where you are today - you grew up in one of the worst slums in Dallas. You had a dad who left your home when you were a kid. You got kicked out of your house and had to live on the street. And you ended up a household name.

DR: When opportunity knocked - boom - I took the opportunity.

MM: Do you believe in God?

DR: I believe in the Holy Spirit.

MM: Is that a man or a woman?

DR: I try not to get the sex involved. [laughs] I think of it more like a wand waving over my head.

MM: In your autobiography, Bad As I Wanna Be [Delacorte Press, 1996], you wrote about being so depressed one night in Detroit that you thought about ending your life. What made you change your mind?

DR: I decided that instead [of killing myself] I was gonna kill the impostor that was leading Dennis Rodman to a place he didn't want to go. I was being a square ass, I guess you could say, and I wanted to be more of a whole, rounded, 365-degree individual. So I just said, "I'm going to live my life the way I want to live it and be happy doing it." At that moment I tamed my whole life around. I killed the person I didn't want to be.

MM: And became a new kind of sports hero - a major jock who occasionally wears a dress and who has talked about sexuality in an open, voluntary way like nobody else has in men's professional sports. Why do you think that you have the following you do?

DR: [laughs] I just took the chance to be my own man. But it is difficult, especially for athletes, to cross those barriers because they're thinkin', "I wanna have these endorsements," so they have to structure their lives in a certain way. That wasn't my way. I just said, "If you don't like it, kiss my ass." Simple as that. And people liked it. [laughs] Most people around the country, or around the world, are basically working people who want to be free, who want to be themselves. They look at me and see someone trying to do that.

MM: Why do you think so many other people seem obsessed by a desire to see Dennis Rodman tamed?

DR: They want to be able to say, "I tamed him, I settled Dennis Rodman down."

MM: I think it drives some people crazy that, in fact, you can't be molded and tamed. I think that's where the anti-Dennis Rodman sentiment that exists comes from. But let's get back to basketball. A lot of people think of [your Chicago Bulls teammate] Michael Jordan as the basketball hero, and you as the antihero. What's it like playing with him?

DR: On the court, me and Michael are pretty calm and we can handle conversation. But as far as our lives go, I think he is moving in one direction and I'm going in the other. I mean, he's goin' north, I'm goin' south. And then you've got Scottie Pippen right in the middle. He's sort of the equator. [laughs]

MM: What does winning mean to you, Dennis?

DR: Winning means that I've defeated all the negative bullshit in my life. Because it's not just [about] winning. You can work your ass off and not win and still be a healthy and successful individual, as long as you gave everything you had to give.

MM: When you're out on that court, what's on your mind?

DR: There's nothing else on my mind other than winning. Once I'm on that court, I have the feeling like I'm born to be wild, born to be free. I want to unleash all that fear, all that anxiety - that roar.

MM: It's weird because I think most people look at you and think that your life off the court is where you're the most free.

DR: On the court no one can touch me. But you know, during the season it's very stressful and pressurized. So, once that's over and the summer starts, I go out there [into the world] and do it all. I let it all unleash!

MM: Do you feel like people look at you as the Antichrist of basketball, or the savior?

DR: I'm the guy who's showing people, hey, it's all right to be different. And I think they feel, "Let's go and see this guy entertain us."