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HOUSTON (AP) — Dennis Rodman earned plenty of labels during his turbulent NBA career.

HOUSTON (AP) — Dennis Rodman earned plenty of labels during his turbulent NBA career.
Here’s one the player who created chaos on and off the court never expected: Hall of Famer. Rodman headlined the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s 2011 class announced on Monday, a group that includes former Dream Team member Chris Mullin and Lithuanian-born center Arvydas Sabonis.
“It’s just unreal,” Rodman said.
And somewhat unexpected, at least to the two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year and five-time NBA champion who believed his extracurricular activities — including donning a wedding dress to marry himself and kicking a photographer in the groin — would overshadow his on-the-court accomplishments.
“I looked at the way I am, and I thought I wouldn’t get in,” Rodman said.
Also part of the class were: Longtime NBA and ABA star Artis Gilmore; Olympic gold medalist Teresa Edwards; Harlem Globetrotter Reece “Goose” Tatum; and Boston Celtic Tom “Satch” Sanders; coaches Tex Winter, innovator of the triangle offense, Philadelphia University’s Herb Magee and Stanford University’s Tara VanDerveer.
Sabonis was one of the greatest passing centers in basketball history. He was among the first European players to successfully transition to the NBA, spending nearly a decade with the Portland Trail Blazers. He also won Olympic gold and bronze for the Soviet Union and Lithuania, and was a two-time European player of the year.
When informed of the honor last week, Rodman thought it was a joke. He thought there was no way the voters could get past his outlandish antics and focus on a career in which he became one of the best rebounders in league history.
“They looked past all the negativity and thought ‘wow, he actually did change the game a little bit,’” said Rodman, who averaged 13.1 rebounds a game while playing for five teams. “I wasn’t a good scorer. I wasn’t the best athlete. But I was part of the machine.”
Even if he sometimes drew more headlines for his wardrobe than his ability to chase down missed shots at a remarkable rate. Rodman didn’t disappoint on Monday. While the rest of the inductees for the announcement donned suits for the occasion, he wore sneakers, jeans, a black ballcap, shades, tan vest with leopard and tan scarves, and his white shirt with gold sequined cuffs was unbuttoned and knotted at the waist, a la Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman.”
Expect something off the wall when the class is formally inducted in Springfield, Massachusetts, in August. Rodman said his personal designer was going to “make a lot of crazy stuff.”
Mullin, a five-time NBA All-Star, will be making his second trip to the induction ceremonies in as many years. He was enshrined last summer as part of the 1992 U.S. Olympic basketball team.
Gilmore was elected by the Hall’s American Basketball Association committee. Gilmore was on the all-time ABA team and was a six-time NBA All-Star who scored more than 24,000 career points.
Edwards won four gold medals while playing on five U.S. Olympic teams, Tatum, a winner of eight NBA titles in the 1960s, was elected as a contributor for developing the NBA’s rookie and player programs, and Goose was the original clown prince of the Globetrotters from the 1940s into the 1960s.
Winter refined the triangle offense and helped the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers win nine NBA championships as an assistant to Phil Jackson until he retired in 2006. VanDerveer became the sixth woman to get 800 NCAA coaching victories in in December. Magee was the all-time, all-division NCAA wins leader with 922 career victories.

NEW ORLEANS | Mike Shanahan spent Tuesday morning in a plush hotel dining room answering questions as he nibbled on a bagel and sipped orange juice.
It is about as relaxed as you’ll see Shanahan, who has coached for almost 40 years. He would discuss almost any topic except the controversial ones such as whether Donovan McNabb will be the Redskins quarterback next year or whether Albert Haynesworth will ever start acting like an NFL player instead of a middle-schooler who had his lunch taken away.
Even if he wanted to discuss those topics, Shanahan has an excuse because of the NFL lockout, which prohibits coaches from having any contact with players or their agents. Shanahan hopes the lockout will be resolved by May so the Redskins don’t miss OTAs – an especially valuable time for a young team still trying to learn the intricacies of an offense that can take years to master.
“They understand the system a lot better than a year ago, and we understand a lot better what the players can do,” Shanahan said.
Shanahan was rejuvenated during his year off from football in 2009, when he spent some time visiting the Pittsburgh Steelers’ and New England Patriots’ training camps. He watched how two of the most successful teams over the past 15 years conducted their practices with a particular emphasis on the tempo and physicality of their teamwork.
Shanahan saw how the Patriots focused on end-of-game and two-minute situations, something that should be emphasized this year as the Redskins try to learn how to win close games. They lost six games by four points or fewer last year. Shanahan said he learned how his players responded in difficult situations.
“The good thing about it is you find out who can do what, and that is valuable information for the coaches,” Shanahan said. “Now we just need to win those games.”
Shanahan, who turns 59 in August, said this lockout is a lot different than the players’ strike in 1987 – the last work stoppage in the NFL – because that one happened during the season. Shanahan, who was the Broncos’ offensive coordinator at the time, said the strike didn’t affect him because the league only missed one game. He’s trying to take the same approach this time around
“We, as, coaches are still going from 7 in the morning to 7 at night, looking at the draft, looking at film from the season, still looking at all your cut-ups,” Shanahan said. “So that won’t change until the middle of May, when, possibly, we won’t have our OTAs. So from my standpoint, nothing has changed. Until the middle of May, nothing has changed.”
Shanahan said he didn’t miss the normal free-agent period in March – partly because this year’s class of 500 free agents would have made it an incredibly hectic period.
“The biggest part of free agency is evaluating your own players and seeing what you need,” Shanahan said. “With 500 free agents, you need to be pretty focused and have a plan.”
As for what that plan is, like everything else with the lockout, it remains anybody’s guess.

Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal has announced its nominees for Sports Facility of the Year as part of the Sports Business Awards. Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs, is one of six nominees for the award. Other facilities being considered include Target Field in Minneapolis; the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh; Red Bull Arena in New Jersey; New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey; and the Amway Center in Orlando.
The Sports Business Awards have been around since 2008 and awards the best achievements in technology, media, teams and events. Teams, owners and administrators are also nominated for awards.Facility of the Year goes to a new or renovated venue for sports. Arrowhead’s major renovations were a part of an upgrade for the team and the fans that brought a winning spirit to the 2010 campaign.
Arrowhead has long been one of the proudest home football stadiums in the NFL. Routine sell outs, loud fans and one of the highest-capacity stadiums in the league have all made Arrowhead a tough venue to win if you’re the visiting team.
All of this year’s nominees had something in common aside from major renovations or being brand new. They also fielded winning teams.The Chiefs won the AFC West while the New York Jets, who also share Meadowlands Stadium with the Giants, made it to the AFC Championship Game. The New York Red Bulls were the top team in the MLS Eastern Conference. Minnesota made the MLB playoffs in dramatic fashion. Orlando is currently in fourth place in the Eastern Conference of the NBA. Pittsburgh is in fourth place for the NHL’s Eastern Conference only three points out of first place.
In terms of attendance at each venue, Arrowhead is the least visible of each of the six properties being nominated. In NFL terms, the Chiefs averaged 67,672 fans which was 17th out of 32 teams over eight games. The New York Giants in their huge new stadium drew just over 79,000 fans and ranked third in the NFL for 2010 while the Jets were right behind in fourth place.
The other venues are doing very well. The Pittsburgh Penguins are fifth in attendance in the NHL this year, Orlando is ninth in the NBA and the New York Red Bulls placed fifth in Major League Soccer. The Twins had nearly 40,000 per game at Target Field and finished in sixth place for attendance figures.
Based upon attendance and how the facilities represented themselves in 2010, I would say Red Bull Arena or New Meadowlands Stadium would be the favorites to win. Meadowlands had meteoric attendance and Red Bull Arena was a brand new soccer stadium not seen before on American soil. Arrowhead simply didn’t measure up with only 88 percent of the seats filled throughout the season.
I fully expect LIVESTRONG Sporting Park to be nominated next year as the glittering jewel of Major League Soccer’s stadiums. If New York’s Red Bull Arena is any indication, Kansas City can count on winning the Sports Facility of the Year award in 2012.
The Sports Business Awards will be handed out May 18 in New York City.
William Browning is a fan of Missouri State University athletics after living in the area 15 years. Born in St. Louis, he is a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan and a transplanted KC Chiefs fan. He currently resides in Branson.

More NBA non-conference action on Tuesday night as the Golden State Warriors head to Indianapolis to take on the Indiana Pacers.  Pacers have played much better since Frank Vogel took over as head coach and are currently trying to hold down the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.  Warriors have shown some improvement this season but are still off the pace for postseason play in the Western Conference.Golden State Warriors at Indiana PacersMarch 1, 2011  4:05 PM PacificWe respect the incremental improvements that the Warriors have made under Keith Smart, but some things haven’t really changed as of yet.  Golden State is still a bad defensive team–maybe not *as* bad but still bad enough to have the #28 scoring defense in the NBA.  They’re also not a very good road team–the Warriors are 7-19 SU on the road this season though they are a decent 14-12 ATS.  They’re generally a breakeven proposition in most pointspread categories though they have a 9-12 ATS record in non-conference play and a 3-5 ATS record against Central Division foes.  They enter this matchup on a 3 game losing streak and are coming off an outright loss at Minnesota last time out.Indiana still struggles when they step up in class, but they started taking care of business against opponents with losing records (16-10 ATS this year).  The Pacers have scored 100+ points in every game except one since Vogel took over as head coach and Danny Granger in particular has been playing very solid basketball since the switch.  Indiana should have a field day against a porous Warriors defense that allows 105.8 PPG (only Cleveland and Minnesota are worse).  Pacers do have a road game at Oklahoma City on deck, but with the tenuous state of their playoff positioning on the line we don’t expect them to miss an opportunity to put a relatively easy win in the books against an opponent that is a favorable tactical matchup for them.  We’ll look to play on the Warriors down the road at home–they’re a solid 19-13 on their own floor–but on the road they’re strictly a ‘go against’.  Pacers win and cover here with relative ease.

Cornerback Antonio Cromartie said on Twitter Thursday that he is planning on staying with the Jets, despite reports he is not a top priority for the team.
“U know I could care less about a rumor because as of now and until me and my business partners are told otherwise I’m a JET to the end,” Cromartie wrote on his verified Twitter account Thursday.”Gang Green baby. Plus it’s just a rumor. Lol.”
The NFL Network reported Wednesday that the Jets are not likely to re-sign the free-agent cornerback.
But according to team sources, the Jets have not definitively decided to cut ties with Cromartie, one of several key free agents on their roster. Cromartie, though, is not the top priority to sign.
As multiple outlets, including The New York Post, have reported since the end of the season, receiver Santonio Holmes is the team’s top priority to re-sign. That is because they consider him the most dangerous offensive playmaker on the team.
The Jets would like to re-sign receivers Braylon Edwards and Brad Smith as well as Cromartie, but they know that is likely not realistic.
There has been speculation about Cromartie’s status with the team since the end of the season. His performance on the field, while mostly solid, was spotty at times.
He upset some people in the Jets organization when he called Patriots quarterback Tom Brady an expletive before the teams’ playoff showdown.
He cursed out the NFL Players Association over the potential lockout, and he got into a Twitter war of words with Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck last month in which he threatened him.
When Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum was asked several days after the season about Cromartie’s performance, his praise was lukewarm at best.
“By and large he had a good year for us on the field,” Tannenbaum said. “It wasn’t perfect, but he did everything we asked of him and he got better. Based on his entire body of work he is a guy we’d like to keep.”
Cromartie, 26, was traded to the Jets by San Diego after the 2009 season in exchange for a third-round draft pick.
The former Florida State Seminole has also dealt with several paternity suits during his career, the result of fathering nine kids with eight different women across six states.

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