I take a long shot on Dennis Rodman

“Hey, you know Rodman is signing at this thing?”

So said my brother Mike last week, informing me that our beloved Dennis Rodman, three-time NBA champion from YOUR World Champion Chicago Bulls, would be at the 46th National Sports Collectors Convention in Rosemont, signing autographs and taking photos starting at 3 p.m.

My book, 6 Rings, has been coming along slowly. The one hold up? Getting the players. The players I’ve interviewed have been amazing. But my success rate has been low.

So I decided to take a shot and do something different: in this case, hit up a public signing and make my case in person to the greatest rebounder the game has ever seen.

For the occasion, I fired up two t-shirts of the Chicago Reader cover from my cover story on Dennis last year, with the amazing artwork from Chicago’s Otis Richardson.

I wore one:

…and I brought the other to Dennis as a gift, along with a copy of the actual newspaper.

Mike and I hit the road at 11 a.m. to get there early, scout the location and make sure that we were first in line.

I’m going to spare you the big leadup and let-down, dear reader, which is to say no, I did not get my interview with Dennis. I don’t want you to read this whole piece expecting that I got it only to learn I did not. But the experience was fun and fascinating, and I still have a shot with Dennis in the future.

The convention was full sports fan sensory explosion. Collectors and dealers, sports fans and athletes, promoters and vendors, all mashed into the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. The list of athletes there yesterday alone was mind-boggling. Dr. J, Barry Sanders, Devin Hester, Reggie Jackson, Bo Jackson, Pedro Martinez, Mariano Rivera, Calvin Johnson, LaDainian Tomlinson. I saw Sammy Sosa tossing baseballs to fans and giving a public interview about the 1998 Wild Card run. Cooperstown has three new entrants this year, and two of them were signing nearly next to each other: Andruw Jones and Jeff Kent.

Along with Hester, Bears fans could meet Otis Wilson and Mike Hartenstine. You would stand around and hear P.A. announcements like, “Ladies and gentlemen, we have confirmation: Johnny Manziel’s plane has landed. He is in the city and on his way.”

The merch was incredible. One seller had football jerseys from the first three decades of the NFL, the kind of items I’ve only seen in Canton. Game-worn jerseys from the 50s, 60s, 70s, along with newer ones. And tons of game programs and season guides, each affordable on their own, none particularly more special than the last, so you end up saying, “I can buy the program to the 1973 NBA All-Star Game at Chicago Stadium for just $40, and the Super Bowl XX program for just $35, and it’s worth it because if I throw in a 1973 Vikings-Browns program with a cover story on Minnesota legend Bronko Nagurski, then each will have only cost an average of $28!”

But I decided not to buy any of them, and instead keep my emotional and psychological focus on getting my interview with Rodman.

And I’ll tell you, dear Reader: Dennis Rodman was among the most popular athletes at the event.

He arrived a bit after 3 p.m. but signed until just after 5 p.m. Fans showed up wearing or holding all of his NBA jerseys: I saw white and red Bulls jerseys, a blue Pistons jersey, a Black Spurs jersey, a yellow Lakers jersey and a blue Mavericks jersey. My definitely-not-street-legal Chicago Reader t-shirt might have been the most exclusive, but it was far from the most flashy, colorful Rodman t-shirt. Fans brought basketballs, posters, cards, photos, t-shirts, jerseys and hats.

Hell, since I was there anyhow and needed something for him to sign while I made my pitch to him and his team, I brought my copy of Bad As I Wanna Be, now autographed:

Dennis was friendly to all, his usual quiet self. I told him what I was working on, told him that I had a great interview with Dwight Manley, and asked if I could do a walk-and-talk with him after the signing. His team was fine with it, and asked me for my number so that they could contact me after he finished.

So I waited, and watched as fans of all ages bubbled in joy to meet him. Fans were taking pictures from outside the wall where the line started; one older woman took a photo and then turned to me and my brother and exclaimed, “His hair is purple today!”

The fans in line behind me were from Texas, and included a former minority owner of both the Rangers and the Mavericks, who had brought a ball for Dennis to sign.

At a certain point, I walked back up to the front of the line and just stood waiting, looking like I was supposed to be there (or trying to, anyhow), and I heard fans say to him things like:

“My dad always told me in the 90s to play just how you play!”

“Thank you for all you did for the Bulls.”

“Thank you for how you are.”

One fan turned to his girlfriend Yella and other members of his team, shook their hands and say, “Thank you for supporting Dennis all these years.”

A boy who couldn’t be more than 10 years old shook his hand and walked off holding his hand up, telling his dad and kind of the world, “I’ll never wash this hand again!”

I thought that was something people only say in movies and TV shows, but when Dennis Rodman is around, art becomes life.

When the clock hit 5 p.m., the line was finally petering out. Mike had joined me down by the front, and just as they were wrapping up, a security guard approached us and said we couldn’t be there.

“We’re doing an interview with Dennis.”

“You have to move.”

Dennis and his team were a bit too far from us for me to be able to yell over to them and get their blessing. The armed security guard started waving at us to move just as Dennis and his team were walking the other way toward a secluded area. It was a Hail Mary that fell dead in the endzone, ‘95 Colts style. I was heartbroken.

But his team has my number, and so if they’re reading this, please call me!

Reader, more to come. Keep on pushing. Enjoy your Sunday!

Best,

Jack

Share

Reader, if you have contact to Bulls players, coaches, employees, stadium workers or if you have exclusive, cool stories about interactions with the 90s Bulls, I want to hear them! Please comment below and I’ll reach out.

Thank you to Dennis Rodman’s team, especially Yella, for their kindness. Thank you to TriStar Productions for the setup, especially Jill and Coy. Thank you to the Haddock family for the great conversation. Thank you to Mike for the idea :) Onward!