Purple Reign
Starter
Rodman on the rebound
Bad Boy mixes b-ball and book tour
[FONT=geneva,arial]- Susan Slusser, Chronicle Staff Writer
[/FONT][FONT=geneva,arial][SIZE=-2]Wednesday, November 23, 2005
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What a long, strange trip it continues to be for Dennis Rodman.
Rodman made San Francisco the latest stop in his book-signing, minor-league basketball-playing tour Tuesday, only he skipped the book-signing part altogether and made [/SIZE]it to the American Basketball Association game so late that the game time was pushed back 20 minutes.
"I'm just living life to the full,'' Rodman said with a grin.
In his first-ever ABA game and his first game ever in the city of San Francisco, Rodman did not score and had six rebounds. Rodman's Tijuana Dragons fell to the San Francisco Pilots 131-80 at Kezar Pavilion, a musty old building that served as a distinct contrast to the modern phenomenon of Rodman, a gossip-list staple with his changing hair color (blond on Tuesday), tattoos, piercings and his trysts with Madonna and Carmen Electra.
It has been a busy month for a man who has five NBA championship rings -- Rodman faced traffic violation charges in Colorado to open November, played for Torpan Pojat in the Finnish league championship game later that week (scoring a game-high 17 points despite staying out until 5 a.m. at Helsinki clubs the night before). Then, several days ago, he arrived by hearse for a book signing in New York, emerging from the same coffin in which he says he plans to be buried. In the next few weeks, he'll be in Miami, Tijuana and Chicago for basketball and book business.
"I've been doing a lot of crazy stuff,'' he said.
He didn't make it, however, to a scheduled signing session for his new book, "I Should Be Dead by Now'' on Tuesday. He and his agent said that no one had informed them about the signing at Kezar, which drew nine people.
It was a challenge just getting him to the game. The league had arranged for a car for Rodman, but when a Subaru arrived at Rodman's hotel, it was deemed insufficient for the former All-Star. So when officials spotted a Jaguar in the Kezar parking lot and discovered it belonged to KGO (Channel 7) sportscaster Larry Beil, they prevailed upon Beil to pick up Rodman, with the promise of an interview en route, Beil said.
After waiting for an hour at the hotel, Beil called Rodman's room and was told that Rodman had just ordered room service. This was at 6:15, less than an hour before the game was scheduled to begin.
When Rodman finally came down, his agent informed Beil that Rodman wouldn't do any interviews before the game. Told that Beil was also Rodman's ride to the game, the response was: "That's OK, we'll just catch a cab.''
(what a fool!!!!)
"I'm not too good to take a cab,'' Rodman said, with another big smile.
Rodman reiterated during a halftime interview -- an extremely unusual time for an interview, by the way -- that he doesn't do pregame interviews. He then missed the start of the second half while doing a TV interview.
Rodman's San Francisco basketball debut was not very notable. A crowd of about 250 was on hand, and several people rushed to take photos of Rodman when he ambled into the arena, but he appeared uninspired once the game began, except for one monster blocked shot in the first half.
"It's kind of frustrating,'' Rodman said of his first game with Tijuana. "The level of play is not up to par.''
Still, many attendees were happy simply to see their hero.
"No one can believe he's here, it's very exciting,'' said Carlos Ramirez, a native of Jalisco, Mexico, who was vacationing in San Francisco. "He's my favorite player. I know everyone loves (Michael) Jordan but this guy is crazy -- and he's good.''
"I Should Be Dead by Now'' is Rodman's third book.
"It's like a trilogy,'' Rodman said. "This one tells the whole story, the hard side of Dennis Rodman, not the soft side.
"It really describes how crazy my lifestyle is. I'm still one of the top stars in the world.'' Former USF player Jovan Harris scored 22 points for the Pilots to lead both teams.
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Bad Boy mixes b-ball and book tour
[FONT=geneva,arial]- Susan Slusser, Chronicle Staff Writer
[/FONT][FONT=geneva,arial][SIZE=-2]Wednesday, November 23, 2005
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What a long, strange trip it continues to be for Dennis Rodman.
Rodman made San Francisco the latest stop in his book-signing, minor-league basketball-playing tour Tuesday, only he skipped the book-signing part altogether and made [/SIZE]it to the American Basketball Association game so late that the game time was pushed back 20 minutes.
"I'm just living life to the full,'' Rodman said with a grin.
In his first-ever ABA game and his first game ever in the city of San Francisco, Rodman did not score and had six rebounds. Rodman's Tijuana Dragons fell to the San Francisco Pilots 131-80 at Kezar Pavilion, a musty old building that served as a distinct contrast to the modern phenomenon of Rodman, a gossip-list staple with his changing hair color (blond on Tuesday), tattoos, piercings and his trysts with Madonna and Carmen Electra.
It has been a busy month for a man who has five NBA championship rings -- Rodman faced traffic violation charges in Colorado to open November, played for Torpan Pojat in the Finnish league championship game later that week (scoring a game-high 17 points despite staying out until 5 a.m. at Helsinki clubs the night before). Then, several days ago, he arrived by hearse for a book signing in New York, emerging from the same coffin in which he says he plans to be buried. In the next few weeks, he'll be in Miami, Tijuana and Chicago for basketball and book business.
"I've been doing a lot of crazy stuff,'' he said.
He didn't make it, however, to a scheduled signing session for his new book, "I Should Be Dead by Now'' on Tuesday. He and his agent said that no one had informed them about the signing at Kezar, which drew nine people.
It was a challenge just getting him to the game. The league had arranged for a car for Rodman, but when a Subaru arrived at Rodman's hotel, it was deemed insufficient for the former All-Star. So when officials spotted a Jaguar in the Kezar parking lot and discovered it belonged to KGO (Channel 7) sportscaster Larry Beil, they prevailed upon Beil to pick up Rodman, with the promise of an interview en route, Beil said.
After waiting for an hour at the hotel, Beil called Rodman's room and was told that Rodman had just ordered room service. This was at 6:15, less than an hour before the game was scheduled to begin.
When Rodman finally came down, his agent informed Beil that Rodman wouldn't do any interviews before the game. Told that Beil was also Rodman's ride to the game, the response was: "That's OK, we'll just catch a cab.''
(what a fool!!!!)"I'm not too good to take a cab,'' Rodman said, with another big smile.
Rodman reiterated during a halftime interview -- an extremely unusual time for an interview, by the way -- that he doesn't do pregame interviews. He then missed the start of the second half while doing a TV interview.
Rodman's San Francisco basketball debut was not very notable. A crowd of about 250 was on hand, and several people rushed to take photos of Rodman when he ambled into the arena, but he appeared uninspired once the game began, except for one monster blocked shot in the first half.
"It's kind of frustrating,'' Rodman said of his first game with Tijuana. "The level of play is not up to par.''
Still, many attendees were happy simply to see their hero.
"No one can believe he's here, it's very exciting,'' said Carlos Ramirez, a native of Jalisco, Mexico, who was vacationing in San Francisco. "He's my favorite player. I know everyone loves (Michael) Jordan but this guy is crazy -- and he's good.''
"I Should Be Dead by Now'' is Rodman's third book.
"It's like a trilogy,'' Rodman said. "This one tells the whole story, the hard side of Dennis Rodman, not the soft side.
"It really describes how crazy my lifestyle is. I'm still one of the top stars in the world.'' Former USF player Jovan Harris scored 22 points for the Pilots to lead both teams.
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