Sports Poets Society

https://www.espn.com/classic/biography/s/Rodman_Dennis.html By Mike Puma Special to ESPN.com "Dennis said, ' I know that I'll crash. The money will be gone, the fame will be gone. But in my heart, I'll know that I lived the way I wanted to live. And I'm okay. I had nothing before and I'll end up with nothing,' " said Sports Illustrated writer Michael Silver on ESPN Classic's SportsCentury series. Dennis Rodman brought color to the NBA, both literally and figuratively. Fans had a better chance of guessing his rebound total than what shade of the rainbow might shoot through his hair on any given night. Rodman added body piercings and tattoos to the mix, only bolstering his image as a bad boy. On the court, the lanky 6-foot-8 forward was a savage rebounder and defender who forged a standout career by leaving the scoring to others. In 14 seasons, Rodman averaged 7.3 points and 13.1 rebounds . For seven consecutive years he led the league in rebounding...

https://www.espn.com/classic/s/add_rodman_dennis.html Wednesday, November 19, 2003Rodman, On the Rebound By Mike Puma Special to ESPN.com Signature Game Jan. 15, 1997 - Even for Dennis Rodman, his action was outrageous. After the Bulls forward tripped over cameraman Eugene Amos along the baseline during Chicago's 112-105 victory over the Timberwolves in Minneapolis, he purposely kicked Amos, landing a shot in the groin. Amos needed medical assistance to leave the floor. "If we were on the streets, it would not be okay," said Amos' attorney, Gale Pearson. "You've got to call it what it is, and that's an assault." Rodman was a two-time loser. Settling out of court, he paid Amos $200,000. Rodman also received an 11-game suspension, the longest of his career, from the NBA. That cost him $1.1 million in salary. Rodman said the cameraman embellished his injuries. "I thought I hit him in the thigh, then all of a sudden he went back," Rodman said. ...

https://vault.si.com/vault/1988/05/02/black-whiteand-gray PISTON DENNIS RODMAN'S LIFE WAS COMPLICATED BY RACIAL MATTERS LONG BEFORE HIS INFLAMMATORY WORDS ABOUT LARRY BIRD BRUCE NEWMAN Sports Illustrated - MAY 02, 1988 Dennis Rodman could not stop himself, did not want to stop himself really. He wanted to take all the hurt that had built up inside him like water behind a dam and just let it out. He heard the words as they tumbled out, but he didn't think about them, didn't think about anything. He just talked until he felt no hurt. Then he knew it was time to go home. The Detroit Pistons, for whom Rodman was a rookie forward, had just been beaten 117-114 by the Boston Celtics in the seventh game of last season's NBA Eastern Conference finals , and Rodman was furious with the Celtics and the taunting Boston Garden crowd, and he ached for one last chance to get back at them. He said, "Larry Bird is overrated in a lot of areas. I don't think he's the greate...

by  Tarpley Hitt Reporter Updated Apr. 27, 2020 2:11PM ET / Published Apr. 26, 2020 5:09AM ET It has been 46 days since the NBA suspended its season and 44 days since nearly every other sports franchise followed suit, leaving fans to busy themselves with intermittent horse races , online chess , and betting on the weather . Then on Sunday night, The Last Dance debuted on ESPN. The 10-part Michael Jordan docuseries following the Chicago Bulls’ ’97-98 season became the channel’s most-watched documentary ever, drawing more than 6 million viewers that night alone. The success was no surprise. Jordan, who declined interviews for David Halberstam’s bestselling book about the same season, sat down for three in the series. But The Last Dance’s viewership was also a tell of how the sports vacuum has elevated the stories around them, how sports- and culture-starved fans are jumping for historical miscellany, old commentary, and the details on the fringes. That’s pretty much why, earlier t...

https://www.nba.com/pistons/features/truebluepistons_111025.html (Editor’s note: Jack McCloskey made every move in building the Bad Boys from his hiring in December 1979 to their winning consecutive NBA titles in 1989 and ’90. Pistons.com looks at the 10 biggest moves he engineered, concluding with the stunning – and daring – move to trade Adrian Dantley to Dallas for Mark Aguirre at the trade deadline in 1989.) Pistons.com August 7, 20122:54 PM EDT In Jack McCloskey’s mind, the trade of Adrian Dantley for Mark Aguirre had to be made – no ifs, ands or buts about it. But it didn’t take him long to understand just how far out on a limb he’d gone with Pistons fans in trading Dantley with the team seemingly on the precipice of winning the first NBA title in franchise history. “I can remember my wife and I driving up the street,” McCloskey said. “We stop at a red light and there were two guys in the other car. They both looked and saw me, then they pointed their finger toward me with their ...

https://www.nba.com/pistons/features/truebluepistons_111020.html (Editor’s note: Jack McCloskey made every move in building the Bad Boys from his hiring in December 1979 to their winning consecutive NBA titles in 1989 and ’90. Pistons.com looks at the 10 biggest moves he engineered, continuing with the 1988 trade-deadline deal that brought James Edwards to Detroit. Up next: The final piece.) Pistons.com August 7, 20122:51 PM EDT The wise man takes advantage of every opportunity to nourish his curiosity, filing away seemingly random bits of information for the day they need to be accessed and applied. So it was in the fall of 1977 that an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers couldn’t help but think that the third-round rookie center out of Washington was doing a pretty fair impersonation of the NBA’s most dominant center, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, while the superstar missed the first several weeks of the season due to injury. More than a decade later, that assistant coach was well down...

https://www.nba.com/pistons/features/truebluepistons_111013.html (Editor’s note: Jack McCloskey made every move in building the Bad Boys from his hiring in December 1979 to their winning consecutive NBA titles in 1989 and ’90. Pistons.com looks at the 10 biggest moves he engineered, continuing with a major trade made in the summer of 1986. Up next: A jolt of athleticism.) Pistons.com August 7, 20122:47 PM EDT For practically every championship celebration, there is a near-miss story of a player who did much of the heavy lifting but wasn’t around to feel the sweet sting of champagne in the eye. Kelly Tripucka was twice removed from Detroit by the time the Pistons he helped make respectable through the mid-’80s had been dubbed Bad Boys and won their two NBA titles in 1989 and ’90. It was almost cruel that Tripucka, the 12th pick in the same 1981 draft that saw Jack McCloskey pluck Isiah Thomas with the No. 2 pick, spent those two Detroit championship seasons toiling for the expansion Cha...

https://www.nba.com/pistons/features/truebluepistons_111018.html (Editor’s note: Jack McCloskey made every move in building the Bad Boys from his hiring in December 1979 to their winning consecutive NBA titles in 1989 and ’90. Pistons.com looks at the 10 biggest moves he engineered, continuing with the 1986 draft that saw McCloskey add John Salley and Dennis Rodman. Up next: The most overlooked move of all.) Pistons.com - August 7, 2012 There is no such thing as a sleeper in today’s NBA, where even players with roots in Africa and obscure professional leagues in Asia and the Middle East are known commodities by the time June’s draft rolls around. But a generation ago – before the explosion of sports on cable TV and the advent of the Internet and the information gusher it spawned – it was still possible to uncover hidden basketball gems, even those who spent four years at American universities. Such was the case with Dennis Rodman, who played at a tiny NAIA school in the rural plains, ...

https://www.nba.com/pistons/features/best-trader-jack-part-vi (Editor’s note: Jack McCloskey made every move in building the Bad Boys from his hiring in December 1979 to their winning consecutive NBA titles in 1989 and ’90. Pistons.com looks at the 10 biggest moves he engineered, continuing with a gold strike in the 1985 draft.  Up next: Taking the next step .) Keith Langlois  ●  @keith_langlois  Web Editor June 2, 2017 It was one of those file-it-away moments. Jack McCloskey was scouting the UNLV Holiday Classic in December 1984 where the two headliner teams were the host Runnin’ Rebels and San Diego State , being coached by Smokey Gaines – the guy who took over at the University of Detroit for Dick Vitale when Vitale left for the Pistons. McCloskey might have been there expecting to scout the talent on those two NCAA tournament-bound teams – as fate would have it, they would be first-round opponents three months later, UNLV winning 85-80 to improve to 28-3, ending...

https://www.nba.com/pistons/features/best-trader-jack-part-v (Editor’s note: Jack McCloskey made every move in building the Bad Boys from his hiring in December 1979 to their winning consecutive NBA titles in 1989 and ’90. Pistons.com looks at the 10 biggest moves he engineered, continuing with his quest to plug a big hole in the Pistons’ lineup at power forward.  Up next: Striking gold in the 1985 draft .) Keith Langlois ● @keith_langlois Web Editor June 2, 20173:19 PM EDT When Jack McCloskey came to Detroit in December 1979 , free agency was the least likely implement in a general manager’s toolbox to spur a turnaround. So unless the draft coughed up a lineup solution, trades were the avenue to pursue to plug holes. The Pistons had many holes when McCloskey took over for Dick Vitale. But in his first few years on the job, McCloskey performed yeoman’s work in plugging a few big ones. He drafted Isiah Thomas with the No. 2 pick in 1981 to play point guard and Kelly Tripucka at No....