The Detroit Pistons are in the midst of practice.

Dennis Rodman, the six-foot-seven defensive assassin is standing somewhere on the hardwood looking off into the distance as an assistant coach attempts to provide instruction.

Legendary coach Chuck Daly calls the assistant over, asking him to leave Rodman be, with a line that sums up the NBA’s most notorious villain epically…

“You can’t put a saddle on a mustang.”

Humanity has forever had a bizarre fascination with the maverick –– the unorthodox renegade that marches to the beat of his own drum (a drum he probably made himself), captivating some and deeply offending others.

Dennis Rodman did this in basketball. Hunter S. Thompson did this in journalism. The Joker did this in the fictional world of DC. And, David Bowie did this in music.

They stumble onto the scene like aliens from another planet and they think and act and behave and live in ways the rest of us can’t seem to wrap our minds around.

And, like the cowboy and his fool’s errand to break the rogue horse, we will attempt to slow them down, drag them to the ground, drain the wild from their veins but, eventually, like Daly, we’ll realize we can’t put a saddle on a mustang.

Love them or hate them, it’s impossible not to find oneself captivated watching these beings exist in a sea of sameness.

But, I digress.

By Cole Schafer.