ed.They apparently got drunk together with Kim's entourage.Jokes were made about it  Women's Cocktail Dresses , and will continue to be made because there are always jokes.But really, it's not all that funny.I mean, in the global scheme of things there's a surreal giddiness to it, like when former U.there is nobody at the CIA who could tell you more personally about Kim Jong-un than Dennis Rodman, and that in itself is scary.He is Dennis Rodman.He was one of the most fascinating and singular players in NBA history, a second-round pick from poverty whose body was an elastic wire, and who was never like anybody else because he tried to be unlike anybody else.The lasting image of him was this loping kid with jug ears who would hurl himself at the ball, chase it the way a puppy chases a toy.He played hungry, like he needed it, all the time.He was part of two title teams in Detroit, then started with the tattoos and the bleached blond hair in San Antonio, was moved to Chicago where he was the third-best player on the Bulls team that won a record 72 games in 1995-96, and three more championships.He loves basketball.I said Obama loves basketball.and chased attention, especially once his career ended.The piercings before it was ordinary, the wedding dress, the marriage to Carmen Electra, the outfits, Celebrity Apprentice, pro wrestling, rehab, Celebrity Rehab, all that.He's lost himself; he can't see where one starts and the other ends.He's convinced he has to play up to that.I know that's not him.The shy kid I met is who he is.RelatedNorth Korea vows to cancel 1953 Korean War cease-fire in latest provocative move towards U.Kim Jong Un just wants Obama to call him, says Dennis RodmanBut he became a broken man who had the cops show up to his door too many times for domestic assaults, DUIs, sexual-assault charges, whatever was going.It's going to be very tastefully done.His Hall of Fame speech included a tearful, tortured apology for not being a good enough father  Discount Sweetheart Homecoming Dresses , a good enough husband.He has become the definition of the sad clown, the cautionary tale for both retired athletes but also semi-retired celebrities of all stripes.Life, Dennis Rodman seemed to tell you, can grind you up.And then, he was used as some sort of prop to get cameras into North Korea, and he came back to tell ABC's George Stephanopoulos all about it while wearing a jacket that was made to look like it was made of dollar bills.I don't condone what he does, but as far as a person to person, he's my friend.He didn't know about all the North Koreans who have starved, or the Orwellian controls on society, or the prison campsHe didn't know about all the North Koreans who have starved, or the Orwellian controls on society, or the prison camps, or the nuclear tests.He was a dupe, a clown, a prop, only instead of spilling his guts to Dr.Drew on Celebrity Rehab he was paling around with a 29-year-old dictator who loves basketball, and doing the talk-show rounds.And the cameras were rolling either way.But it worked for him.doesn't that undercut pressure from the West?Dennis Rodman was a great basketball player, and as a diplomat, he was a great basketball player.And that's where we'll leave it.He was high-profile again.He had to be debriefed.He's a crossover star in a way he never managed before.He is being condemned on the cable networks, just like the old days.Dennis Rodman has been chasing attention and money for a long time now, and maybe this will launch him to another show, some public appearances, back into the celebrity mill for a while.Maybe he'll make some money, and he will fade again, and the odds are none of it will be any less sad than everything that has come before.And it was all still surreal and strange, more than ever.On Tuesday, in response to the threat of sanctions  Discount Cocktail Dresses , Kim threatened to dissolve the Korean Armistice Agreement with South Korea that has stood since 1953.And the only public intelligence that contradicts the threat in any way is the last 60 years, and the fact that he told Dennis Rodman that he does not want to do war.PYONGYANG, North Korea Ending his unexpected round of basketball diplomacy in North Korea on Friday, ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman called leader Kim Jong Un an awesome guy and said his father and grandfather were great leaders.Dennis Rodman to North Korea's Kim Jong Un: You have a friend for life Rodman, the highest-profile American to meet Kim since he inherited power from father Kim Jong Il in 2011, watched a basketball game with the authoritarian leader Thursday and later drank and dined on sushi with him.At Pyongyang s Sunan airport on his way to Beijing, Rodman said it was amazing that the North Koreans were so honest.He added that Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung, North Korea s founder, were great leaders.He s proud, his country likes him not like him, love him, love him, Rodman said of Kim Jong Un.Guess what, I love him.The guy s really awesome.At Beijing s airport, Rodman pushed past waiting journalists without saying anything.Rodman s visit to North Korea began Monday and took place amid tension between Washington and Pyongyang.North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test just two weeks ago, making clear the provocative act was a warning to the United States to drop what it considers a hostile policy toward the North.Rodman travelled to Pyongyang with three members of the professional Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, VICE correspondent Ryan Duffy and a production crew to shoot an episode on North Korea for a new weekly HBO series.Kim, a diehard basketball fan, told the former Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls star that he hoped the visit would break the ice between the United States and North Korea, said Shane Smith, founder of the New York-based VICE media company.Dressed in a blue Mao suit, Kim laughed and slapped his hands on a table during the game at Jong Ju Yong Gymnasium as he sat nearly knee to knee with Rodman.Rodman, the man who once turned up in a wedding dress to promote his autobiography, wore a.