Nelson Mandela. The Dalai Lama. Mikhail Gorbachev. Lech Walesa. Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr. And….
Dennis Rodman?
Well, “the worm” thinks he belongs on that list. All those other people have won the Nobel Peace Prize and Rodman feels his February trip to hang out with Kim Jong-un puts him on the list. For the record, he’s serious. This is not an Onion article.
In a “where are they now” story in Sports Illustrated this week, SI’s writers caught up with Rodman at a horror show convention where he was selling his new children’s book (you can’t make stuff like that up). Given the chance he once again extoled his trip to North Korea on a “mission to help break the ice” with Kim Jong-un. Who just happens to be a big Jordan era Bulls fan.
“Fact is, he hasn’t bombed anywhere he’s threatened to yet. Not South Korea, not Hawaii, not … whatever. People say he’s the worst guy in the world. All I know is Kim told me he doesn’t want to go to war with America. His whole deal is to talk basketball with Obama. Unfortunately, Obama doesn’t want to have anything to do with him. I ask, Mr. President, what’s the harm in a simple phone call? This is a new age, man. Come on, Obama, reach out to Kim and be his friend.”
“My mission is to break the ice between hostile countries,” Rodman says. “Why it’s been left to me to smooth things over, I don’t know. Dennis Rodman, of all people. Keeping us safe is really not my job; it’s the black guy’s [Obama’s] job. But I’ll tell you this: If I don’t finish in the top three for the next Nobel Peace Prize, something’s seriously wrong.”
Yes, since Rodman’s visit everything has been so smooth between the USA and North Korea. He hasn’t bombed Hawaii once, you can’t argue with that logic. Give him the medal… we all get to vote on the Nobel Prizes just like with American Idol, right?
Rodman’s Kim Jong-un talk has already gotten him thrown out of a bar in New York. Sadly, all of this barely cracks the Rodman Top 10 of crazy.
Rodman did attempt to do some good and since he returned asked Kim to release Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. That has had no effect. Shocking.
Rodman is expected to go back to North Korea in August.
If you want more of what it was like when Rodman and several Harlem Globetrotters were in North Korea, here is a little video (via Ben Golliver at SI).
