Motivation Quote by Dennis Rodman

Rodman’s jab isn’t really aimed at “the NBA” as an organization; it’s aimed at the league’s self-appointed moral hall monitors - the stars and executives who want basketball to feel like a spotless brand. Calling them “chosen ones” is doing a lot of work: it paints the league’s respectable elite as a kind of priesthood, anointed by endorsement deals and media narratives, policing behavior not because it harms the game but because it disrupts the image.

The intent is classic Rodman: flip the scandal into an indictment of the people scandalized by it. When he says they’re “taking themselves so seriously,” he’s challenging the idea that celebrity athletes must perform constant virtue to be worthy of attention. He’s also defending a more chaotic, human version of public life - one where being loud, strange, sexual, or unfiltered isn’t automatically a civic crisis.

The subtext is that “bad example” is less a concern for kids than a weapon for control. Rodman was a working-class rebounder turned tabloid magnet, and the league in the 1990s was aggressively selling a cleaner, corporate NBA to mainstream America. His dyed hair, piercings, party reputation, and gender-bending fashion weren’t just personal choices; they were public refusals to behave like a sponsor-friendly hero.

“Look around” is the kicker: it widens the frame beyond Rodman’s antics to the surrounding hypocrisy - violence glorified in entertainment, politicians lying on camera, executives profiting off exploitation. Against that backdrop, Rodman’s point lands: the outrage is selective, and the sanctimony is part of the performance.