Bad as I Wanna Be [Hardcover]

Dennis Rodman (Author), Tim Keown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2, 1996

A wild ride inside the glowing head of Dennis  Rodman--the NBA's greatest rebounder and America's  most outspoken and outrageous  athlete.

When Sports Illustrated put the man they call  "America's most provocative athlete" on their  cover, they sold more copies than any other issue  they had sold in a decade (except the swimsuit  issue). Why? Because Dennis Rodman, superstar  basketball player who joined the Chicago Bulls for the  1996 season, has more in common with Mick Jagger  than with his new teammate Michael Jordan. With  his body-covering tattoos and ever-changing  fluorescent hair, Rodman's sideline antics and celebrated  benchings have captivated sports fans as much as  his record-breaking on-court performances and  earned him a reputation as a rebel with the same  penchant for shocking behavior as his on-again off-again  squeeze, Madonna. In Bad As I Wanna  Be he'll share his surprising and candid  opinions on everything from fame, money, and race  relations, to sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll--and he'll  talk about his life, from going to prison for  stealing watches to his daughter, the light of his  life.

At a time when most celebrities and  professional athletes try to control their public  personas like politicians and refrain from  expressing their true beliefs, Dennis Rodman is a  refreshingly unique, uncompromising individual who both  transcends his world and refuses to conform to it.  Bad As I Wanna Be is as candid,  intriguing, and unforgettable as he is.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

"Everything I do is about confidence. After years of struggling with my identity . . . I've become totally confident about being who I am. I can go out to a salon and have my nails painted pink, and then go out and play in the NBA, on national television, with pink nails." There is only one basketball player in history who could make that statement--Dennis Rodman. His much ballyhooed memoir sets out to shock and certainly will succeed, much in the manner of Rodman's pal and fellow author Howard Stern, whose books apparently provided the model for the boldface-smeared typography used here. Still, there is more to this book than shock effect. After adjusting to the profanity, the explicit descriptions of sex with Madonna and others, the revelations about cross-dressing and bisexuality, and the attacks on fellow players (David Robinson, in particular), many readers will be surprised to find that Rodman has a fascinating coming-of-age story to tell: the saga of a skinny street kid who grew nine inches in the year after high school, who blossomed as a basketball player because of his willingness to do the game's grunt work, and who reached stardom only to contemplate suicide and, later, vow to face the world and the game strictly on his own terms. And Rodman's terms are like no other, especially in the sanitized, image-conscious NBA world. We may tire of his repetitious rants, we may reject his wild nonconformity, but finally, only the most inflexible of readers will fail to admire Rodman's unabashed honesty and irrepressible energy. Rodman brings controversy wherever he goes, of course, and his book will do the same. Remarkably, though, it just may be worth the trouble. Bill Ott

From the Publisher

A wild ride inside the glowing head of Dennis Rodman--the NBA's greatest rebounder and America's most outspoken and outrageous athlete.

When Sports Illustrated put the man they call "America's most provocative athlete" on their cover, they sold more copies than any other issue they had sold in a decade (except the swimsuit issue). Why? Because Dennis Rodman, superstar basketball player who joined the Chicago Bulls for the 1996 season, has more in common with Mick Jagger than with his new teammate Michael Jordan. With his body-covering tattoos and ever-changing fluorescent hair, Rodman's sideline antics and celebrated benchings have captivated sports fans as much as his record-breaking on-court performances and earned him a reputation as a rebel with the same penchant for shocking behavior as his on-again off-again squeeze, Madonna. In Bad As I Wanna Be he'll share his surprising and candid opinions on everything from fame, money, and race relations, to sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll--and he'll talk about his life, from going to prison for stealing watches to his daughter, the light of his life.

At a time when most celebrities and professional athletes try to control their public personas like politicians and refrain from expressing their true beliefs, Dennis Rodman is a refreshingly unique, uncompromising individual who both transcends his world and refuses to conform to it. Bad As I Wanna Be is as candid, intriguing, and unforgettable as he is. Copyright 1996 by Dennis Rodman.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press; 7th edition (May 2, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385316399
• ISBN-13: 978-0385316392
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #217,047 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the truth about the current nba, January 8, 2000

By 

A customer "mistermaxxx" (usa) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Bad as I Wanna Be (Hardcover)

race,sex,drugs,class very much of todays sports in general and life for that matter.while the images of the nba are glossy and everybody says the right thing dennis rodman tells it like it is in this book.he breaks down the current nba and the choices people make.the other parts of this book reflect his life.and much of it has highs&lows.but as for the nba it hits home.talks about how certain players are treated differently than others and who has heart and who doesn't.dennis can play the game if he wants to.i wish more people in sports and entertainment would speak the truth as opposed to sounding like programmed robots.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It has ceased to be relevant, December 14, 2005

By 

Jessica Lux (Rosamond, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bad as I Wanna Be (Paperback)

Dennis Rodman was a fascinating bad boy who wasn't afraid of mouthing off about anyone. His book is full of a very few good stories and plenty of complaints about fellow players, basketball management, coaches, everyone. He's bitter and angry, not full of interesting anecdotes. Most of this has ceased to be relevant as his heyday of shock value has passed. For someone not intimately involved in the mid to late 1990's basketball scene, none of the information retains relevancy as time passes. This might be good as a history book for a true fan, but if you lived through the Rodman heyday, you probably picked up his memoir back then.

So much is done for pure shock value, and it gets tiresome.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Repetitive as I Wanna Be, February 6, 2004

By 

"trifam6" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bad as I Wanna Be (Paperback)

I found this book disappointing. I was expecting something resembling an autobiography of Dennis' life, with plenty of tales from experience. While there were a few such stories, much of the book could be described as a rant, with Dennis harping on about the same old stuff again and again.
He hated the Spurs' coach, he's never been paid what he's worth, David Robinson is crap, he's a good rebounder, he was in two championship teams, he misses his daughter, he boinked Madonna, he's misunderstood, he had a tough upbrining.
I mean, fair enough that this may all be be true...but do we REALLY need to hear about it over and over and over?? Even in the chapter about sex, which you would expect to have something a little risque in it, Dennis manages to mention his rebounding average AGAIN.
If I took all the insights Dennis gave us and cut out all the repitition, this book would be about 20 pages long.