Top bidder bears Rodman rights

Andrew Edwards

It’s easy to buy sports memorabilia on EBay, but today, you can buy

your own athlete.

And it’s not just any athlete. It’s “The Worm” himself.

“[Dennis Rodman] is basically just auctioning himself out for a

night out in Las Vegas,” Rodman’s publicist Shannon Barr said.

The plan is for Rodman, a Newport Beach business owner and media

magnet, to give himself to the highest bidder today on EBay to raise

money for tsunami relief efforts, Barr said.

Rodman has hooked up with online casino GoldenPalace.com. Rodman’s

agent, Darren Prince, said Rodman and the casino were both looking

for an unusual way to raise money.

The venture won’t be Rodman’s first team-up with the casino,

Prince said. In July, Rodman joined GoldenPalace.com and a multiple

sclerosis patient to raise $50,000 for medical research.

Rodman and the patient, Wisconsin resident Ray Sabbatini, ran with

the bulls at Pamplona, Spain, while wearing T-shirts with the

casino’s logo, and GoldenPalace.com pledged $10 for every runner who

wore one of their shirts, according to the casino’s website.

The casino is known for promoting zany stunts. Streakers

emblazoned with GoldenPalace.com on their skin have disrupted the

Athens Olympics, the Super Bowl and other sporting events. Among

GoldenPalace.com’s other charitable endeavors is a tour of unusual

items purchased on EBay.

Featured items on the tour are a grilled cheese sandwich that

supposedly bears the image of the Virgin Mary, a rock with markings

that resemble a weeping Christ and an allegedly haunted walking cane.

“They’re like the gurus of guerrilla marketing,” Barr said.

Specific details of a night out with Rodman, who has been

reportedly sober for 15 months, have not yet been ironed out, Barr

said. The auction winner and Rodman will likely spend their time at

dinner, possibly followed by some gambling or a visit to Sin City’s

strip clubs.

“I hope it will be a man, because Dennis is just debauchery,” Barr

said.