# Yankee pitcher Randy Johnson balks at a car & college expenses for his "love child" **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 28, 2006, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-pitcher-randy-johnson-balks-at-a-car-college-expenses-for-his-love-child/350308 "2006-03-28T22:04:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![raindog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@raindog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raindog)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-pitcher-randy-johnson-balks-at-a-car-college-expenses-for-his-love-child/350308/61 "2006-03-29T22:31:50Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > Oh, please. Rant incoherently much? > > (1) Unless she is some kind of child prodigy, she is not going to college at 16. If she is some kind of prodigy, she wouldn’t be going to community college. Mr. Johnson is not "deny"ing his daughter an education. > > (2) The relationship between the mother and Mr. Johnson is not good; that’s fairly apparent from a read of TSG article. Mr. Johnson did provide for a comfortable lifestyle for his daughter (and her mother). He does not wish to pay more. I can understand this: his daughter doesn’t _need_ more, so he is supporting the mother’s lifestyle. > > (3) That said, if the mother feels more money is owed, her recourse is through the courts, who will decide on the state of the agreement and amend it as necessary. Mr. Johnson should rightly have legal representation and protect his own interests and not roll over to every demand simply because he is rich. > > (4) No one has enough information to know the reasons for the non-existant relationship between Mr. Johnson and his estranged daughter. Rant? Yes… Incoherently? No… Let’s strip away the moral issues, including whether he has a relationship with his daughter, or why. It’s none of our business. You present your thoughts in a way that seems to make this a business issue of sorts. I think that’s appropriate and I have found that once you remove _emotion_ from the discussion, things are more rational. 1)This issue as to what is “comfortable” is _relative._ What is comfortable for your neighbor and what is comfortable for Paris Hilton are 2 entirely different things. 2) In adddtion to relativity, there is also the issue of relevence. It doesn’t make one bit of difference if either of us thinks $70K is a lot of money or not. In DR courts all over the country the question is: What are the two parties **relative** incomes? The non-custodial parent will **pay child support based on his income, relative to the combined income of both parties.** So I have completely revised my thoughts on this, I really have. it is not place to impute a set of moral values on Mr Johnson that he doesn’t share. He shouldn’t have to pay one thin red cent of child support the millisecond this girl turns 18. Not a cent. However, this is business. It’s not personal. The court should go back to every year of her life and recompute the required child support, _based on their individual incomes in each of those years , and within the rules & guidelines in force in each of those years_, and assess Mr Johnson accordingly. If Mr. Johnson _overpaid_, the girls mother should reimburse Mr Johnson post haste. OTOH, if Mr Johnson _underpaid_, he should immediately pay the difference immediately. Once the accounting is settled, the mother and young girl should consider that the legal question has been settled fairly, and the young girl (with her mother) should take care of her own college. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-pitcher-randy-johnson-balks-at-a-car-college-expenses-for-his-love-child/350308/62 "2006-03-29T22:32:17Z")
> [@Martin Hyde](#): > > … > > Maybe Randy’s wife puts heavy pressure on him not to visit her… I believe we have a winner here! I bet the Big Unit wants to give her more but Mrs. Unit probably runs the finances and fears that her children will somehow become paupers if this love child gets any more cash. ---
**Author:** ![YaWanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/bbce88/32.png) [@YaWanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaWanna)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-pitcher-randy-johnson-balks-at-a-car-college-expenses-for-his-love-child/350308/63 "2006-03-29T23:30:35Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > Mr. Johnson did provide for a comfortable lifestyle for his daughter (and her mother). He does not wish to pay more. I can understand this: his daughter doesn’t _need_ more, so he is supporting the mother’s lifestyle. This is my biggest beef with the situation. I’m not a mind reader, and I don’t know the woman in question, but I think she wants that money for herself. I think if she can’t afford to send her daughter to some community college on $69K a year, then some(?) of that “child support” money is actually being used on “mom support.” Is that what the intent of that money award is? I don’t think so. And no, I’m not “young” and I’m not a deadbeat dad (I’m a 42 year old married woman). ---
**Author:** ![miamouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ad7895/32.png) [@miamouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miamouse)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-pitcher-randy-johnson-balks-at-a-car-college-expenses-for-his-love-child/350308/64 "2006-03-30T00:42:19Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > Unless she is some kind of child prodigy, she is not going to college at 16. If she is some kind of prodigy, she wouldn’t be going to community college. Mr. Johnson is not "deny"ing his daughter an education. This is not necessarily true. My daughter, while smart, is no prodigy. She is taking college courses while in high school and she keeps the credits when she registers for college. Its helps to decide which major to take in the long run, if you take a few courses in high school, and decide that’s not what you want to study, you’re ahead of the game aren’t you? What I believe the difference between these two arguments is that one is arguing ‘that the amount he’s paying should be enough for the greedy b_tch’, while the other is saying 'it’s his kid he should do what he can, the stingy b_stard’. I beleive if she really was greedy, the minute he started to rise to popularity, she would have been on his butt like white on rice. Is it fair that his legitimate children get whatever they want paid for, while she has to make do? (Yes, I understand that $69K a year is a lot more than scraping by, but compare it to how the children from his marriage are being raised, what car they may get, college they will go to… hell, you’d want to be sued for therapy bills too?) Plus: regarding DNA – you think he willing to go through the trouble, cost, and public embarrassment of court over a few grand and then not have previously gotten a DNA test? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-pitcher-randy-johnson-balks-at-a-car-college-expenses-for-his-love-child/350308/65 "2006-03-30T02:58:35Z")
> [@miamouse](#): > > Is it fair that his legitimate children get whatever they want paid for We don’t know _that_, either… ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-pitcher-randy-johnson-balks-at-a-car-college-expenses-for-his-love-child/350308/66 "2006-03-30T04:40:46Z")
> [@black455](#): > > Relatively speaking, $70k is jack shit. The kid should be able to afford being a sixth year senior at the Ivy League school of her choice, and a Porsche. Or at least a Corvette. Umm… She _can_ afford that. Tuition at Harvard stands at $44,350 per year with room and board, even assuming $0 financial aid. That leaves more than $25k per year. A new Corvette costs $44,490 at sticker price. She could buy the new Corvette and pay it off within two years (three if the interest rate is really high). With what Randy Johnson is paying alone, she can afford what you suggest. [http://www.chevrolet.com/corvette/](http://www.chevrolet.com/corvette/) [http://www.fao.fas.harvard.edu/fact\_sheet.htm](http://www.fao.fas.harvard.edu/fact_sheet.htm) Besides all that, it’s no one’s God-given right to have all college expenses paid for and a sports car! The mother’s been paid over a half-million already! (Although, if the $69,000 a year I keeping hearing is correct, she’s been paid over a million already. $69,000 times 16 years is $1,104,000.) Anyway, it’s a little offensive to people who had to work hard to get into colleges like that to say that she should be able to go to an Ivy League school simply because her father’s rich and plays baseball. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-pitcher-randy-johnson-balks-at-a-car-college-expenses-for-his-love-child/350308/67 "2006-03-30T05:00:08Z")
> [@miamouse](#): > > Plus: regarding DNA – you think he willing to go through the trouble, cost, and public embarrassment of court over a few grand and then not have previously gotten a DNA test? The article in the OP says there WAS a DNA test that confirmed he was the father. > [@appleciders](#): > > Although, if the $69,000 a year I keeping hearing is correct, she’s been paid over a million already. $69,000 times 16 years is $1,104,000. The $69,000/year arrangement was struck in 1997. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-pitcher-randy-johnson-balks-at-a-car-college-expenses-for-his-love-child/350308/68 "2006-03-30T12:38:20Z")
> [@YaWanna](#): > > This is my biggest beef with the situation. I’m not a mind reader, and I don’t know the woman in question, but I think she wants that money for herself. I think if she can’t afford to send her daughter to some community college on $69K a year, then some(?) of that “child support” money is actually being used on “mom support.” Is that what the intent of that money award is? I don’t think so. > > And no, I’m not “young” and I’m not a deadbeat dad (I’m a 42 year old married woman). I fit the same demographic as you, and my gut is to tell the golddigging bitch to jump in a lake. She lives in Washington, not Ohio. From my understanding, it isn’t unusual for child support to be adjusted if a) the relationship was not intact throughout the pregnancy and b) the non-custodial parent is wealthy. Child support is paid. And paid pretty high - it isn’t like the kid won’t have a roof over his head or enough to eat, but just because you manage to seduce Mr. Buffet in the steak house bathroom in Omaha doesn’t give you a billionaire’s lifestyle for eighteen years. Payouts at the normal formula encourage a few preditory women, and no one wants that (other than the preditory women). ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-pitcher-randy-johnson-balks-at-a-car-college-expenses-for-his-love-child/350308/69 "2006-03-30T12:43:17Z")
Moving child support debate from IMHO to Great Debates. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-pitcher-randy-johnson-balks-at-a-car-college-expenses-for-his-love-child/350308/70 "2006-03-30T13:21:29Z")
Here are a couple of more links with this topic. [Link 1](http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/miller/264879_miller30.html) [Link 2](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,189380,00.html) Link 1 states that Johnson has set up a trust account for his daughters college education, so we can put that to bed. It also mentions that the mother is now married and living with husband and son. I only mention the latter to eliminate the idea that this is a single mother and daughter with inherently limited personal resource. Link 2 claims (from Johnson’s attorney) that he was willing to pay for the car and computer directly, but the mother refused. Take that with as big a grain of salt as you like. I’d like to add some evidence to my claim that the amount of $70,000 being “enough” is relevant (or should be relevant) to the child support amount. In California, for example, there is a rule specifically limiting child support amounts in the cases of parents with very high income, if that support exceeds the needs of the child [Link 3](http://www.aroundthecapitol.com/code/code.html?sec=fam&codesection=4050-4076) > [@](#): > > 1. (a) The amount of child support established by the formula provided in subdivision (a) of Section 4055 is presumed to be the correct amount of child support to be ordered. > > (b) The presumption of subdivision (a) is a rebuttable presumption affecting the burden of proof and may be rebutted by admissible evidence showing that application of the formula would be unjust or inappropriate in the particular case, consistent with the principles set forth in Section 4053, because one or more of the following factors is found to be applicable by a preponderance of the evidence, and the court states in writing or on the record the information required in subdivision (a) of Section 4056: \ > (3) The parent being ordered to pay child support has an extraordinarily high income and the amount determined under the formula would exceed the needs of the children. Granted, every jurisdiction is different, and I could not find a similar rule in Washington, where the girl now lives. I chose California initially because the mother worked at Lawrence Livermore Labs, it’s at least as relevant to this case as Ohio’s law. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-pitcher-randy-johnson-balks-at-a-car-college-expenses-for-his-love-child/350308/71 "2006-03-30T13:58:10Z")
> [@miamouse](#): > > This is not necessarily true. My daughter, while smart, is no prodigy. She is taking college courses while in high school and she keeps the credits when she registers for college. Its helps to decide which major to take in the long run, if you take a few courses in high school, and decide that’s not what you want to study, you’re ahead of the game aren’t you? > > What I believe the difference between these two arguments is that one is arguing ‘that the amount he’s paying should be enough for the greedy b_tch’, while the other is saying 'it’s his kid he should do what he can, the stingy b_stard’. > > I beleive if she really was greedy, the minute he started to rise to popularity, she would have been on his butt like white on rice. Is it fair that his legitimate children get whatever they want paid for, while she has to make do? > > (Yes, I understand that $69K a year is a lot more than scraping by, but compare it to how the children from his marriage are being raised, what car they may get, college they will go to… hell, you’d want to be sued for therapy bills too?) > > Plus: regarding DNA – you think he willing to go through the trouble, cost, and public embarrassment of court over a few grand and then not have previously gotten a DNA test? That I understand. I will still stand by my assertion that Mr. Johnson is not denying his estranged daughter an education, which it seems that **raindog** has backed away from. **raindog** , now we are in agreement. The child’s mother should seek legal remedy, the two sides’ lawyers should bury each other in paperwork, and both sides should adhere to whatever agreement is decided by the court. If the jurisdiction allows for past child support in such a case, then Mr. Johnson should be liable for it, and a payment schedule should be set (Mr. Johnson might be able to pay immediately, but he shouldn’t be treated differently from any other shmuck). ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-pitcher-randy-johnson-balks-at-a-car-college-expenses-for-his-love-child/350308/72 "2006-03-30T14:13:33Z")
Reading **Cheesesteak** ’s links, there seems to be a lot of ‘he-said, she-said’. For example: > [@](#): > > (Johnson’s agent Alan) Nero said Johnson had offered to “buy her [Heather] a car, and buy her a computer and pay for those things directly, but [Roszell] didn’t want that. She wanted to be paid directly.” Roszell denied that claim. > > Johnson asked a judge to order more than $97,000 in day-care repayments, Nero said, only after she threatened to take him to court for more child support. I feel sorry for the 16 y.o. girl now caught like a deer in the media headlights. But I’m sure that all the sports _journalists_ will be respectful of her feelings. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-pitcher-randy-johnson-balks-at-a-car-college-expenses-for-his-love-child/350308/73 "2006-03-30T14:56:51Z")
> [@black455](#): > > Good point. Okay, from one of Cheesesteak’s [links](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,189380,00.html): > [@](#): > > The hot-tempered future Hall of Famer has seen Heather only once — right after her out-of-wedlock birth in 1989, and he demanded a paternity test when Roszell first sought child support in 1998. So yeah, he the baby daddy. Anyway, I’m in agreement with everybody who says that it’s up to the courts to decide. The “mere” seventy grand doesn’t necessarily make Johnson a deadbeat asshole, and Mom seeking more doesn’t necessarily make her a gold-digging byatch. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-pitcher-randy-johnson-balks-at-a-car-college-expenses-for-his-love-child/350308/74 "2006-03-30T22:53:52Z")
> [@the raindog](#): > > I’ll tell you what… > > He puts the “S” in Scum Yes, and 17 years ago, he put the “cum” in scum. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-pitcher-randy-johnson-balks-at-a-car-college-expenses-for-his-love-child/350308/75 "2006-03-30T23:31:28Z")
Y’know, I once knew a kid whose dad was a self-made multimillionaire. Despite that, the dad made sure that his kids had a fairly “normal” childhood. 2 of the 3 went to public school, their allowances were relatively small, and they held summer jobs like everyone else. When they bought their first cars, he only paid for half of it, and he also required that they pay for part of college. AFAIK, they had no trust funds awaiting them. Other than the kick-ass vacations, their lifestyle was about like your average doctor or lawyer’s kids. The partents, in short, supplied them with a childhood that was comfortable but by no means cushy, even though they could have done so. They were pretty much universally held to be wise and virtuous; but I can only assume that **black455** and **raindog** think these parents were evil and heartless. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-pitcher-randy-johnson-balks-at-a-car-college-expenses-for-his-love-child/350308/76 "2006-03-30T23:47:52Z")
Wait, she’s remarried? That doesn’t factor into anything here? It sounds like the law requires that the father pay the full cost of the child’s life, while even a mother with means of her own is free to sqabble over what luxury items she additionally demands. We live in a society where lots of child support goes totally unpaid because the government won’t put any effort into enforcing it. But if you’re already rich, then you can hire lawyers and demand luxury items? What a bizarre country. Whatever happened to that guy who fathered some kids with his wife, she left him for another man, and after paying child support, he found out that all the kids were fathered by this other man, but the court ordered him to pay child support anyway? ---
**Author:** ![raindog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@raindog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raindog)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-pitcher-randy-johnson-balks-at-a-car-college-expenses-for-his-love-child/350308/77 "2006-03-30T23:55:32Z")
> [@furt](#): > > Y’know, I once knew a kid whose dad was a self-made multimillionaire. Despite that, the dad made sure that his kids had a fairly “normal” childhood. 2 of the 3 went to public school, their allowances were relatively small, and they held summer jobs like everyone else. When they bought their first cars, he only paid for half of it, and he also required that they pay for part of college. AFAIK, they had no trust funds awaiting them. Other than the kick-ass vacations, their lifestyle was about like your average doctor or lawyer’s kids. > > The partents, in short, supplied them with a childhood that was comfortable but by no means cushy, even though they could have done so. They were pretty much universally held to be wise and virtuous; but I can only assume that **black455** and **raindog** think these parents were evil and heartless. _Oh please!_ Your story isn’t pertinent at all. However, I do have some pity for these poor kids whose lifestyle was no better than “your average doctor or lawyer.” It’s one thing to teach your kids the value of a dollar, to teach them self discipline, self determintion, self respect, hard work, and maturity. That is not the father that Martin Hyde described, and it certainly doesn’t describe the life that this young girl enjoyed as Randy Johnson’s daughter. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-pitcher-randy-johnson-balks-at-a-car-college-expenses-for-his-love-child/350308/78 "2006-03-31T02:34:57Z")
> [@furt](#): > > The partents, in short, supplied them with a childhood that was comfortable but by no means cushy, even though they could have done so. They were pretty much universally held to be wise and virtuous; but I can only assume that **black455** and **raindog** think these parents were evil and heartless. In general, I expect that children generally inherit their parents’ lifestyles and generally get treated approximately as their siblings. (please note the words “generally” and “approximately”). So, yes, I would wonder about a mother who had a great deal of money _and_ treated herself to every luxury, but only purchased the barest necessities for her minor child. (which, btw, it doesn’t sound like the father in your example is doing). Similarly, I would also wonder about a father who gave two of his minor children their every desire and provided observably less for the third. (Cinderella anyone?) Of course, there are reasons for doing that, and some of those reasons are very, very good reasons - however, some are not. That doesn’t matter until the legal system gets involved in the family; but once it is, that parent needs a good reason. And to me, “I treat Pat & Terry differently because I like Pat’s dad better than Terry’s dad” doesn’t seem like a good reason. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-pitcher-randy-johnson-balks-at-a-car-college-expenses-for-his-love-child/350308/79 "2006-03-31T05:09:13Z")
> [@the raindog](#): > > However, I do have some pity for these poor kids whose lifestyle was no better than “your average doctor or lawyer.” Welcome to the SDMB, Miss Hilton. :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > That … certainly doesn’t describe the life that this young girl enjoyed as Randy Johnson’s daughter. Actually, it may well. $69,000 a year tax-free is about equal to $100,000 pre-tax. Even if the mother didn’t do a lick of work, their family income for the past decade has been in the top 5% of the population … pretty much Doctor and Lawyer territory there. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-pitcher-randy-johnson-balks-at-a-car-college-expenses-for-his-love-child/350308/80 "2006-03-31T05:25:21Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > So, yes, I would wonder about a mother who had a great deal of money _and_ treated herself to every luxury, but only purchased the barest necessities for her minor child. (which, btw, it doesn’t sound like the father in your example is doing). No, the whole family lived as if Dad made $200K a year, including Dad. It was just well-known that he actually had millions. > [@](#): > > Similarly, I would also wonder about a father who gave two of his minor children their every desire and provided observably less for the third. (Cinderella anyone?) > > Of course, there are reasons for doing that, and some of those reasons are very, very good reasons - however, some are not. That doesn’t matter until the legal system gets involved in the family; but once it is, that parent needs a good reason. And to me, “I treat Pat & Terry differently because I like Pat’s dad better than Terry’s dad” doesn’t seem like a good reason. Agreed – unless the issue is that the mother in this case bore the child for the specific reason that she wanted to use the child to leech off a millionaire. These sorts of women do plaugue pro athletes, and **IF** that’s what this is, I can understand a guy saying “I’ll pay enough so that this child will have a fair shot in life, but I’ll be damned if I let you parlay your vagina into a life of luxury.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-pitcher-randy-johnson-balks-at-a-car-college-expenses-for-his-love-child/350308.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-pitcher-randy-johnson-balks-at-a-car-college-expenses-for-his-love-child/350308.md?page=5)