Hopewell Valley Student Podcasting Network 

Show Name:  Interesting World of Sports

Episode 3:  The Adventures of Dennis Rodman

You are listening to The Interesting World of Sports podcast with your host(s) Dylan Yasher, and Connor Batcha.

Today we will be discussing Dennis Rodman’s his early life, playing career,& “retirement.”

Dennis Keith Rodman

Nicknames: (The Worm, Dennis the Menace, Country, Psycho, Rodzilla, Demolition Man, El Loco)

Position: Power Forward and Small Forward

Shoots: Right

6-7, 210lbs

Segment 1:Upbringing

• He Grew up in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas in An area of poverty.
• He was a tag along to his two sisters who were both all star basketball Players who played division 1 in college. He would watch them play all the time.
• While attending South Oak Cliff highschool he was cut from the basketball and football team which devastated the lonely freshman.
• Coming out of highschool, Dennis was 5-9 tall and was kicked out of his mothers house. He started working as a janitor at Dallas-Fort worth airport.
• He stole around 50 watches. He was arrested and almost faced criminal charges. But his friends gave back the watches in the knick of time. 
• That summer he shot up from 5,9-6,7
• He decided to give basketball one more shot.His local community college coach took note of his skill during tryouts and saw something special in him.
• He then transferred to SouthWestern Oklahoma State University. He did amazing there averaging 27.3 points per game and NBA teams started taking note.

Segment 2: NBA Playing Career

• In the second round of the 1986 draft, the detroit pistons selected 25 year old Dennis Rodman, 27th overall
• The pistons went on to win back-to-back championships in 1989 and 1990
• On October 1, 1993, the Pistons traded Rodman along with second year small forward Isaiah Morris and a future first and second round draft pick to San Antonio for a package of forwards Sean Elliot, David Wood and a future first round pick. 
• With the Spurs, Rodman established himself as a rebounding machine on a par with some of the greatest giants to play the game. 
• SOme would even say that at 6’7” and 215 pounds, he was simply too short and small to do what he was doing.
• He earned NBA All-Defensive First Team honors seven times and won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award twice. He also led the NBA in rebounds per game for a record seven consecutive years and won five NBA championships.

Segment 3: “His Adventures”

• One of his most noticeable characteristics is his hair. He’s had cheetah print, a smiley face, slime green, and  bleach blonde hair.
•  Rodman began dyeing his hair following a near suicide attempt, which he wrote about in his 1997 biography: “I decided that [instead of killing myself] I was going to kill the imposter that was leading Dennis Rodman to a place he didn’t want to go.” 
• Rodman vowed never to be the “shy imposter” again and showed the world his true colors
• In 1996, Rodman came out as bisexual 
• he decided to "marry himself," wearing a big, white wedding dress — out of self-love.
• He also had a relationship with one of the biggest stars on the 90’s, Madonna,  
• The romance only lasted a few months, but last year, Rodman claimed the singer offered him $20 million to impregnate her. 
•  In 1997, Rodman kicked a cameraman below the belt for no apparent reason. Resulting in the man being carted out of the stadium in front of thousands.  And the year before that, he actually head-butted a referee. 
• Went by the name Rodzilla and wrestled Karl Malone who is regarded as one of the best power forwards in NBA history in a Match alongside Hulk Hogan
• In 2003, Dennis Rodman tried to mount a comeback to the NBA. He was 45 years old and unsurprisingly failed.
• Broke his reproductive organ on 3 separate occasions. One of which was while attempting a “trickshot” with a partner on a boat. It did not go as plan, resulting in an unfortunate injury for what some call, Dennis the Menace.
• Became good friends with Kim jon un. During the 2018 summit between Trump and Kim, the White House adamantly denied that Rodman has any official role in the summit, but Rodman told reporters that he was "just happy to be a part of it because I think I deserve it."
•  Rodman was one of just a few westerners to ever meet with Kim, who has been openly hostile towards western nations, including the United States.
• Kim is an apparent basketball super fan and really likes the chicago bulls.
• Kim invited Rodman to Pyongyang, the capital of the isolated authoritarian state, for the pair's first meeting in March 2013.
• Told kim Jong Un,  "You have a friend for life."
• During his January 2014 trip, Rodman courted controversy again when he infamously sang "Happy Birthday" to Kim on the basketball court and appeared to bow to the North Korean leader.
• In 2017 Rodman presented North Korea's sports minister with a copy of Trump's 1987 book, "The Art of the Deal" as a gift to Kim jon un.
• I give the man credit for having a friendly relationship with a world leader, but with that being said, Dylan, want to tell them about some things Kim Jun Un has done.

Kim Jong Un has executed over 300 people since coming to power-2016

From 1948 through 1987 the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was ruled by Kim Il-sung, an absolute communist dictator 

People were so tightly controlled in all their activities, and those visitors that were allowed in were so managed, that comparatively little independent information about the regime's purges, executions, and concentration and forced labor camps filtered out of the country.