Did Anyone Else See This?

[love_that_reefer]

I was looking through some of the baseball headlines and came across something that struck me as odd.

Former Oakland Athletics first baseman Troy Neel pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he left the country to avoid paying about $725,000 in child support.

Neel, 43, remains in federal custody in San Antonio. If convicted, he faces up to two years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

Neel played for Oakland from 1992-94 and also played pro baseball in Japan and Korea before purchasing a 16-acre resort island in the Republic of Vanuatu, where he had lived since 2000. In 1998, he was ordered to pay $5,000 a month for his son and daughter.

A federal grand jury indicted Neel on a charge of foreign travel to evade child support obligations. He was arrested in December at Los Angeles International Airport as he exited a flight from Sydney, Australia.

The part in bold is what blows my mind. How does a mediocre ballplayer get his own island? Just how much did Neel make in Japan and Korea?? I know he didn't make squat in Oakland. Also, just how cheap is a 16 acre resort island in Vanuatu?? Vanuatu is part of a chain of islands off the Australian coast so it couldn't have been that cheap. With all his legal troubles, how is this man getting money? If Troy Neel can get a resort island off of the Australian coast, why don't we all throw in our money and buy an island? The S3F Island. I don;t know, this just blew my mind and thought I would share.

[realmofotalk]

It shows you that kids are more expensive than a vacation island.