Sports, we like to believe, remains the one true unifier. If we can’t bridge differences in politics, religion, or nationality, we can at least enjoy the pure spirit of competition together.

Or in the case of Dennis Rodman, his over use of this spirit might have sent him into rehab.            

           This follows his recent stab at diplomacy via a basketball match between ex-NBA ballers and the North Korean national squad that failed in bizarre fashion. The Hermit Kingdom and the USA, suffice it to say, are as opposed to each other as ever.

               If anything, Rodman may have unwittingly hurt his own cause. He drew ire from many by implying during a CNN interview that Kenneth Bae, a longtime American prisoner in North Korea, deserved his imprisonment.

               To be fair, it may not have all been Rodman’s fault that things went awry. It doesn’t help when the dictator you’re trying to help orders his own uncle’s execution and the company financing your trip suddenly distances itself from the project.

               Ill-conceived it may have been, at least Rodman took a shot at making the world a bit safer, right? That has to account for something.

               And who knows: perhaps this really has nothing to do with peace with a hostile regime? Maybe this is really just a tale of two odd-balls finding unlikely camaraderie–with one another.