Bad as I Wanna Be (Paperback)

by Dennis Rodman (Author) "On an April night in 1993 I sat in the cab of my pickup truck with a rifle in my lap, deciding wether to kill..." (more)
Key Phrases: San Antonio, Dennis Rodman, David Robinson (more...)

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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
Dennis Rodman shoots from the lip as he talks about everything from the NBA and his game, his sexuality, dating, his wild fling with superstar Madonna, and morality. Reprint."

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Dell (May 12, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440222664
• ISBN-13: 978-0440222668
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #352,194 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #46 in

  Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Biographies > Basketball

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 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 (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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 Pretty much a solid heap of pity party and rogue bragging, February 23, 2006

By	Jared Solomon "working on old cars" (Canada and Arizona) - See all my reviews

As a longtime basketball fan, I was at first anxious to see what I would find in a tell all novel of one of the best rebounders and all around defensive players of the game. What I found was horrible talk about women and other players. Rodman's racist comments against white people are enough to scoff at no matter what color a persons skin is. His comments of "black" players being better than whites is just a terrible shameful label to put upon all of those who play the game. Would have loved to hear what Larry Bird, John Stockton, and Jerry West had to say when they heard that one!

Rodman does talk in depth of the family he lived with for some of his life and I commend him for that. The only downfall to this is the fact he didn't seem to learn from them anything about class or manners. If you are looking for a book about a "worm" then you've come to the right place. If your looking for a book about the wonderful game of basketball as told by one of it's greatest players, I suggest that you look elsewhere.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Its Bad Its More Than Nationwide!, January 22, 2000

By	G. J Wiener (Westchester, NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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

Is Dennis Rodman an oustanding member of our society, Heck No! In addition, he rarely seems to admit he has done anything wrong in his life. However, his story his spoken from the heart and he doesn't care about always being Mr. Nice Guy. Sometimes you have to have a little bit of attitude to get what you want out of life. Dennis gives the reader the inside skinny on life in the NBA and its interesting to read about his thoughts on players like Jordan, Pippen, Malone, Shaq, and Mr. Robinson. Dennis has a very vivid imagination and that is waht makes this book a near classic.