SHORTCUTS : Prose From a Pro

Considering buying the book? Here are excerpts from “Bad As I Wanna Be” (Delacorte Press) by the Chicago Bulls’ Dennis Rodman, who is as flamboyant as he wants to be with his prose as he is with his hair:

On the NBA:

“We’re professional prostitutes, wearing a game jersey and uniform, running seven miles in two hours. So . . . the only thing left to discuss is price. For five years I’ve felt like the best prostitute in a high-class whorehouse. I’m the one who brings the house all the johns and all the money, but every year it’s the same: All the other girls get paid more than I do.”

On dating:

“I go out with white women. This makes a lot of people unhappy, mostly black women. I’ve had people come up to me and say, ‘Why don’t you date a black woman?’ I don’t really have an answer for that, because I don’t think I’m going out of my way to avoid black women. It’s just kind of the way it works out.”

On being a fashion platter:

“I paint my fingernails. I color my hair. I sometimes wear women’s clothes. I want to challenge people’s image of what an athlete is supposed to be.”

On Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone:

“[Madonna and I] never had any problems. . . . The sex was great--not the greatest, but good enough--but there was more to it than that. We understood each other so well, it was almost scary. . . . In the end it didn’t work because I didn’t want to be known as Madonna’s playboy, her boy toy.”

On men:

“I fantasize about being with another man, and I’m not afraid to admit it. You can’t help but fantasize about it, if you ask me.”

On The End:

“I do have a death wish. It’s there. That doesn’t mean I’m living with an eye on death. It doesn’t mean I’m secretly crying out for someone to stop me before I kill myself. My death wish is there because I’m not afraid of death. . . . I just don’t want people feeling sorry for me, saying they should have stopped me before I went too far. No. When I die, I die.”