Basketball Star Dennis Rodman: A Dead Beat Dad!

[♫anna♫]

www.foxnews.com/sports/2012/05/29/former-nba-star-rodman-sentenced-over-child-support/ QUOTE:
Former NBA star Rodman sentenced over child support
May 29, 2012

Hall of Fame basketball star Dennis Rodman, who played on five NBA championship teams, was ordered on Tuesday to perform 104 hours of community service for failure to pay child support.

Rodman will be back in court on June 22, in part to determine how much money he owes. An attorney for his third ex-wife, Michelle, says the amount is at least $750,000 but Rodman's lawyer, Linnea Willis, says it is far less.

Orange County Superior Court Commissioner Barry Michaelson handed down the community service order and Willis said his client also was placed on three years of informal probation.

Willis said Rodman, 51, hopes to perform his 104 hours of community service by working with "at-risk youth."

Rodman and Michelle had two children together. Rodman's attorney said in court paper filed in March that he was broke and unable to pay more than the child support he was already providing, according to media reports at the time.

Rodman has since disputed that he is broke. Willis said he is current on his obligations to pay $4,500 a month in support.

The purpose of the hearing on Tuesday was for Rodman to face accusations of contempt of court over his failure to pay child support.

Rodman was known for his uncanny rebounding ability during his career, as well as his party lifestyle and arrests off the court. He was a two-time NBA defensive player of the year and won three championships with the Chicago Bulls and two with the Detroit Pistons.

Rodman, who also played for the San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers, led the National Basketball Association in rebounds per game for seven straight seasons in a career that ran from 1986 to 2000. He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in August.

As his career soared, Rodman began changing his hair color and displaying many body piercings and tattoos. He dated the likes of pop superstar Madonna and was married for a few months to actress Carmen Electra.

For a time, he tried acting and professional wrestling.

[DAS (formerly BushAdmirer)]

Anna - Do you think she married him for money or was in passionate true love?

So after she pops out two babies, she dumps him and gets the court to award her $4500 per month in child support. He just ignores the whole thing and doesn't pay.

What a guy! What a gal!

[♫anna♫]

Hi BushAdmirer!
Rodman's become a dead beat stud and druggie, like many other ex-celebrities!

It's about the children that Rodman fathered now! He has to curb his desire for expensive and self destructive drugs and be responsible!

[mikemarshall]

I do not follow basketball (although I did play it occasionally in my younger days) but drugs invariably seem to affect people's attitudes and behaviour adversely.

The phrase I am not so keen on is 'dead beat dad.'

The overwhelming majority of fathers are NOT dead beat but are driven into virtual bankruptcy being forced to pay outrageous amounts of alimony to their wives and are even then extremely fortunate if their ex-wives allow them even the briefest contact with their children.

I perhaps ought to start a new thread on this subject because I am very much against the way in which the law deliberately discriminates against families in general and fathers in particular.

[DAS (formerly BushAdmirer)]

Mike - In the USA, alimony only exists in some states. It is a state by state thing. However, child support is universal across all states. Rodman is not being accused of failure to pay alimony. It is the $4500 per month child support that he has not been paying.

I would certainly agree that $4500 is excessive child support for normal people. However, I'm of the opinion that this gal married him for his money rather than his tattoos and piercings. So no sympathy for either one of them.