In the most charming news of 2012, the NY Post's Page Six is reporting that Dennis Rodman is stepping into the coaching profession.
Yes, that's right.
The former NBA basketball player will soon be coaching a basketball team...
... a topless women's basketball team.
No, I'm not kidding.
Rodman apparently got the idea for the team when a rival strip club to Rodman's strip club of choice in New York City started a topless basketball team. Rodman claims to have frequented Headquarters Gentleman's Club for the past thirty years and will be scouting players for his topless basketball players at the strip club.
The idea is to pit the Headquarters' team against the rival club's team once all of the... ahem... talent has been scouted and the teams have been formed. Rodman promises that the women don't have to have much natural basketball playing talent, just the ability to "throw a ball in a hole."
Rodman told Page Six that he doesn't know any man who doesn't like seeing a woman running up and down a basketball court.
Now, without getting into the politics of exotic dancing as a profession, I'd like to break this whole thing down.
First of all, Rodman’s sexist quotes that he gave Page Six are so obvious that it is mind-boggling. He knows “no men who wouldn't like seeing strippers running topless on a basketball court?” All the women who make the team have to know is how to “throw a ball in a hole?”
Head. Smackingly. Piggish.
Secondly, I am in awe that there are women who are not only willing to try out for a topless basketball team, but willing to play in a league (let's use that term loosely, shall we?) that would require them to run around on a hardwood basketball court WITHOUT BRAS on a regular basis.
Sweet mercy, can you imagine the pain, ladies?
Even as a very small chested woman, myself, I wear a sports bra during every workout and still experience some uncomfortable bouncing. One would have to assume that the women who make Rodman's team will be much more well-endowed than moi.
How can a woman with stripper-sized beasts (real or fake) endure the pain of running without the support of a brassiere? And, does anyone else think that this is going to set the women's movement (or what's left of it) back about two or three hundred years?
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twoday magazine wants to know: Would you attend a topless women's basketball game? Or is this a silly question? Facebook us your thoughts!
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Sally,
Hmmm…at first, you claim that you avoid “getting into the politics of exotic dancing as a profession . . . .” Yet, a few paragraphs later, you assert that Dennis Rodman’s new league “is going to set the women’s movement (or what’s left of it) back about two or three hundred years.” So are you judging Rodman’s actions are aren’t you? Also, did you really need to include the vulgar description about how your own breasts “unconfortabl[y] bounc[e]”? That image disturbed me more than anything Rodman’s ever said or done.
Dennis Rodman has always been a provocative, controversial figure, and he always will be. You make want to resolve, in this new year, to spend your time writing about issues you may actually be able to influence.
Best,
Powerwalker
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I fail to see how my candid admission about my own breasts bouncing during exercise (I know i cannot be the only woman who experiences this) is the only thing that struck you as “vulgar” in an op ed piece about a topless basketball team. Am I missing something? Seriously.
Dennis Rodman is crude and in your face. And his topless bball team enrages me. But. I never said he should change his ways. In fact, he does alot to bring attention to AIDS awareness and safe sex. He can’t be all that bad if at the end of the day he supports sexual health and sexual independence.
But that’s another topic for another day.
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Really, Sally? Now you’re hailing Dennis Rodman as a safe sex champion? I thought he was destroying “what’s left” of feminism? Which is it? Also, obviously plenty of women experience discomfort when they don’t wear sports bras. Your description of your own situation, however, evoked cruder imagery for me than a topless basketball team. (It shouldn’t be shocking to anyone that men, especially professional athletes, enjoy half-naked women.)
One more thing—as you should have learned in elementary school, “alot” is not a word.
Happy new year,
Powerwalker
erikdolnack
“I am in awe that there are women who are not only willing to try out for a topless basketball team, but willing to play in a league that would require them to run around on a hardwood basketball court WITHOUT BRAS on a regular basis.”
- You are? I’m not at all. It pays money. In a bad recession, people will do anything for money.
I actually think this is an entertaining idea. Dennis Rodman is entertaining. He really is. I’ve always gotten a kick out of Rodman’s antics. The best was his calendar, with him in a full wedding gown in December blowing a giant kiss. LOL He’s a hoot!