as Mavericks, his new team. Were those fans there because they believed Rodman would help the Mavericks win, or because they anticipated a dramatic emotional blowup, for which he has become known as well as for his rebounding skills. Are they looking forward to a great basketball performance, or are they hoping they will see a "crazy black man" blow his top? Obviously, both motivations are present, and this fact exposes the contradiction at the heart of the attitude of management and fans toward black athletes, especially black athletes who in some way play into the negative stereotyping of blacks from the past, which survive today, unfortunately, though to a diminished degree.
Michael Jordan, on the other hand, is a "good" black man, and a superior athlete who brought six championships to the Chicago Bulls, on which Rodman also played during the championship years. Jordan has a "good" attitude and that, combined with winning, gave him steady popularity with the fans and management, and, recently, won him part ownership of a pro basketball team, a po
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