NBA

Dennis Rodman’s Hall Of Fame Speech Was Vulnerable, Uncomfortable, And Brilliant

“Hopefully I can love you like I used to when I was born.”

No one quite knew what to expect from Dennis Rodman as he stepped to the podium in Springfield, Massachusetts on Friday night.

If you were watching at home, you were probably wondering which one of his recklessly cultivated public personas was about to make things very uncomfortable for these nice people in suits. Would we get Volatile Dennis Rodman, the one who once kicked a cameraman in the groin during a game? Would we get Crossdressing Dennis Rodman, the one that once wore a wedding dress to a book signing? Would we get Vulgar Dennis Rodman, who recently gave a radio interview whilst having sex? All of these were possibilites. None of them would be surprising, or real.

When he finally did start talking, we got something a lot better. We got a guy who could barely speak because he was so choked up. We got a guy who thanked Phil Jackson for being one of the only people in his life who could hug him. We got a guy who apologized to his kids for being a bad father and to his mom for being a bad son. It was tough to hear at times, but it was tough to hear in a good way.

We realized that all of those other Dennis Rodmans were just for show, and in reality, he’s just a guy who is still very, very angry at his dad for leaving him, and at his mom for throwing him out of the house. He made us understand years of un-understandable behavior in one speech, because he finally told us the truth. So when he stepped to the podium on Friday night, Dennis Rodman took a deep breath, and dove in.

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