Wedding dresses, Carmen Electra, Lingerie Football, Professional Wrestling, Reality TV, crazy hair and Madonna.

All these incidents - plus countless more unnamed - could easily overshadow the career of Dennis Rodman, the newest inductee to the Naismith Hall of Fame over the weekend.

It's easy to forget that Rodman was at the core of the Chicago Bulls' championship run from 1996 to 1998.

From an outside point of view, it was the controversial, colourful off-court antics that threatened to define the New Jersey native.

Yet, in a little more than 12 minutes, Rodman's emotional Hall of Fame induction speech gave more insight into the man behind the mask than his 14-year career ever did.

But from Rodman's first heartfelt, tear-choked word, the image that had been created during his career began to melt away.

Even as the five-time NBA Champion rattled off the regulation thank yous to college coaches and personal friends, this induction had a more distinctive feel to it than most others that have gone before it.

As Rodman then embarked on what he called "the major part of this situation", the type of raw emotion that was at the heart of the two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, exploded to the surface.

Openly sobbing at the stand, Rodman opened up to the basketball world, in a speech that became less celebratory and more confessional with every passing word.

"I didn't play the game for the money," Rodman said, with tears swelling in his eyes as he paused to find the composure to continue. "I didn't play to be famous. What you see here is just an illusion; I just love to be an individual that's very colorful."

Rodman quickly spoke of how lucky he felt, that his life had taken the path that it did. He knows too well that it could've gone in another direction.

"I could've been dead; I could've been a drug dealer. I could've been homeless -- I was homeless," he said. "A lot of you guys that are in here in the Hall of Fame know what it's like to be in the projects and trying to get out the projects. And I did that. But it took a lot of bumps along the road."

But Rodman did not glorify his achievements as a way of battling against a flawed system like so many others have before him.

Instead, he bared his soul to the world.

He scolded himself for his self-inflicted sins. For not being a better son, husband or father.

"If anyone asks if I have any regrets in your career being a basketball player, I say I have one regret: I wish I was a better father," Rodman said.

"I wasn't like most players in the NBA who say, 'I'm going to take care of my mother.' I was real selfish, because of things she did to me in my life. But as I got older things changed. I haven't been a great son to you the last few years, but now we can laugh about this," he continued.

It was a humble man who stood on stage, being welcomed into one of the most exclusive of all sporting fraternities.

Standing under the watchful eye of fellow Hall of Famer, Phil Jackson - and the "only man who ever cried for me" - Rodman stated that his goals in life were now much more important than those found on a basketball court.

After a 12-minute critique of his failings in life, Rodman finished by stating that in the future he "can try to be somewhat of a decent person."

After watching the heartfelt scenes unfold, it's hard to doubt that Rodman isn't already.

Sure he's made mistakes, but who hasn't?

In his speech Rodman showed that for the first time in his career, he should be looked to as a role model.

A role model for all walks of life, not just for his fellow athletes.

Rodman clearly has had his battles with numerous demons throughout his life, and it would appear that at least some of those battles are still ongoing.

But, he is fighting those battles and attacking his demons with the same ferocity that he attacked loose balls during his playing days.

Forget all the insane antics and bizarre hairstyles; here was a man who admitted his own shortcomings, and wished how he could have done some things differently.

He should be given credit for that.