Former basketball star Dennis Rodman and several other former NBA players (Kenny Anderson, Cliff Robinson, Vin Baker, Craig Hodges, Doug Christie, and Charles D. Smith) are on their way to take part in a basketball game in North Korea, I mean the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or DPRK, for the birthday of the country's leader Kim Jong-Un. This friendly contest is planned for Wednesday, when Kim is believed to turn 31. The game takes place just weeks after North Korea shocked the world by announcing the purge and execution of Kim's once-powerful uncle.
Basketball and other sports do bring people together, but I don’t quite understand what Dennis Rodman and the other former NBA players are doing in North Korea, especially playing as a birthday present for Kim Jong-Un. On some level it is quite appalling given what one reads in the media about the DPRK. It isn’t unusual for politics to enter the sports realm as we also observe with the FIFA World Cup, the Olympics and other major sporting events. Countries seem to feel that hosting these types of events somehow exonerates them from past human rights abuses and puts them on the world stage to show how much they’ve changed. There is plenty that is wrong with spending exorbitant amounts of money on these types of events given the great needs in the world, but this isn’t going to change.
There probably is no politics involved for the former NBA players going to DPRK; it is more about a “free” trip to a place which they ordinarily might not even think about and an opportunity to meet one of the world’s dictators. What more do former players, with probably zillions of dollars, do for fun? “Let’s go hang out with the young dictator with the funky haircut and kick some NKorean bball butt. Might be good for a few a laughs. Hell I was just gonna hang out and watch my 92” TV all week, so why not. I’ve been sittin on the couch for way too long, my butt is getting really big.”
But really what can one say about Rodman and his “friendship” with what he terms this nice guy, Kim. It’s not often that we do get to befriend someone who has just had his uncle, and probably numerous others, murdered. Or for that matter someone who threatens the lives of every citizen on the planet with his nukes (now, that is power and I guess that this does attract some people). Of course Rodman isn’t your mainstream human being, all those different shades of hair color, numerous piercings and crazy outfits and haircuts, but, yes he is unique. Maybe this is the attraction between nice guy Kim and kind of out of the mainstream Rodman. But who am I to judge about their relationship?
The point for me is that Rodman and the other players are bringing “positive” attention to bad-boy Kim, something for which I don’t feel is very positive. Why couldn’t Rodman and his team have gone to the Philippines to raise some money for the hurricane victims or to a poor area of the US or the Sudan and played for peace? What about playing in the Central African Republic or Iraq, Afghanistan or Egypt or bringing Israeli/Palestinian children together for a match? Of course though this isn’t about politics, and Rodman’s and most likely Kim’s brains aren’t too, too large or maybe they only think about themselves and not those whom they are hurting.
Let’s end this on a positive note and hope that the game and birthday are great. Maybe, just maybe nobody will be executed in DPRK on Wednesday. Oh and one other thing, maybe Rodman in his delight at being in DPRK for his nice guy friend’s birthday, will slam dunk Kim so hard that he will bounce back up into Rodman’s brain causing a mind meld. Maybe then the two of them might have half a brain.
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