NEW YORK – Even Dennis Rodman laughs at the idea.

“Kind of funny, huh?” he said.

It’s true, though. One of basketball’s most outrageous personalities has written a book for kids.

The Hall of Famer’s book, “Dennis The Wild Bull,” came out Wednesday and fans will immediately recognize Rodman’s influence. The large red bull on the cover has flowing red hair, two nose rings, a tattoo and red stubble under his chin.

“They’ll see me, literally see me. They’ll say, ‘Wow, this is just like him,”‘ Rodman said in a phone interview.

And he deals with the same issues. Rodman, known as much for his wacky looks and lifestyle off the court as his considerable success on it, said the purpose of the book is simple.

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“More than anything, I just want little kids today just to understand, ain’t no matter what you do in life, be different, rich or poor man, guess what, it’s OK to be who you are pretty much and you’ll be accepted,” Rodman said.

Rodman already wrote books about his personal life — the wild nights as a player, relationships with Madonna and Carmen Electra, and everything that allowed him to be famous long after he finished winning five championships with Detroit and Chicago.

The author, whose previous works include titles such as “Bad as I Wanna Be” and “I Should Be Dead by Now,” chose a different audience this time. He said even now he is still recognized by children who never saw him play, and those are the ones he wanted to reach.

“For a guy like me to be very eccentric, to even go to extremes to write a children’s book with all the wild things I do and make it believable was pretty much incredible,” Rodman said.

Co-written with Dustin Warburton, the book tells the story of Dennis, a bull who is captured away from his family and forced to live with other bulls in a rodeo. Though he looks nothing like them, they eventually accept him and become friends.

“Once I got to know the other bulls, I liked them,” Rodman said. “I enjoyed their company … and they accepted me for who I am no matter how I look.”

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Hoax suspect says he fell in love with T’eo

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Dr. Phil McGraw says Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, who masterminded the dead girlfriend hoax involving Manti Te’o, told him the Notre Dame linebacker was not involved in the scheme and that he ended up falling “deeply, romantically” in love with the football player.

McGraw spoke on the “Today” show Wednesday, previewing an interview he did with Tuiasosopo, a 22-year-old California man who created the fictional woman Te’o knew as Lennay Kekua. Tuiasosopo’s interview with McGraw will air in two parts on the “Dr. Phil Show” starting Thursday.

Since the hoax was revealed earlier this month, Te’o has said the relationship with Kekua started online and eventually became serious, even though the two only talked on the phone and exchanged text messages.

Lindsay Lohan reprises role as the accused

LOS ANGELES – Lindsay Lohan briefly appeared in court Wednesday for the first time in nearly a year and left with a new attorney, new trial date and new judge.

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Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner shook her head when she saw Lohan seated with her attorney, just months after the judge had warned the “Liz and Dick” star to grow up and stay out of trouble.

The actress was required to attend the pretrial hearing involving three misdemeanor counts filed after a car crash last summer. Lohan has pleaded not guilty to lying to police, reckless driving and obstructing officers from performing their duties.

Sautner previously sent her to jail, placed her under house arrest and forced her to perform morgue cleanup duty in another case.

Sautner warned Lohan she could face jail time for a possible probation violation, even if she is acquitted of the counts filed after her sports car crashed into a truck.

 


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