Fan starts Facebook page to put Dennis Rodman in the Hall

I don't know if Dennis Rodman has a Facebook page. With those Ed Hardy shirts and nights spent out at the tackiest clubs around, I'm sure a MySpace page would be more to his liking. If he doesn't have a Facebook page, he would join myself and Jamie Mottram's brother Chris as possibly the only people born after the year 1948 to decline to sign up for Mark Zuckerberg's award-winning service.

We can tell you that one of Dennis' most ardent fans has himself a merry, little Facebook page, and it is bent on ushering the five-time NBA champion and seven-time rebounding king into the Basketball Hall of Fame this summer. Rodman, who is on the ballot but not considered a shoo-in pick due to his Dennis Rodman-like behavior, cannot campaign on his own behalf, according to Pro Basketball Talk, but that doesn't mean this FB wall isn't a needed visit. Poke it, if you can.

Jokes about his off-court silliness aside, if Rodman doesn't make the Basketball Hall of Fame, then you can pretty much forever sign off the entire foundation altogether, if you haven't done so outright. One musn't speak ill of the dead, but goodness gracious sakes alive, look at this list of players and NCAA coaches already in the Hall. For this place to pass over on inducting the greatest rebounder in the game's history just because he embarrasses the heck (on court, or off) out of just about everyone he comes in contact with is beyond ridiculous.

And, yes, Rodman was the greatest rebounder to ever play the game. Yes, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell used to pile up 20 and sometimes 30-rebound (or way more) nights with regularity, but they did so in an era where there were 20 and sometimes 30 (or way more) possessions per game to revel in, which helps pile up the per-game stats. On top of that, teams shot way, way worse during their era, so the sheer amount of rebounds to pull in (especially if you were a modern-era athlete playing in what was a game that hardly resembled the one Rodman had to clutch and grab his way through) was staggering on some nights.

Even though he played well into his late 30s, Rodman's career 23.4 rebound rate (the percentage of available rebounds he pulled in) remains an all-time best. And if pundits can already be starting to wonder if the Boston Celtics have four Hall of Famers on their roster mainly because Rajon Rondo picks up a ton of assists alongside so-so contributions in other areas, then it's pretty fair to reward THE BEST REBOUNDER EVER for doing the same thing in a different statistical area. Even if he is the only guy who could ever claim to have ably guarded talents as disparate as Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Penny Hardaway, Shaquille O'Neal and James Worthy in his career.

The Basketball Hall of Fame has long been regarded as a joke in many circles, but if it declines to include Rodman amongst its ranks (just ... ‘cause), then it officially will be regarded as the jokiest bunch of jokes that ever joked. It will seriously be official. I'll start a Facebook page just to give them the award.

Robert Parish Bob Pettit Scottie Pippen Willis Reed Oscar Robertson