OT: Diddy's son Justin Combs joined UCLA Class of 2012, people mad
Had a strangely intense argument about this today. Cliffs: People are mad that Justin Combs, son of entertainment mogul Puff Daddy / P Diddy / Diddy is gettign a $50K ride to UCLA. "But he's rich!"
Justin Combs hasn't donned a Bruin jersey yet but he's already making headlines.
The 18-year-old son of hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs has been awarded a full athletic scholarship to play football at UCLA beginning this fall, university spokesman Ricardo Vazquez confirmed. As news of the scholarship spread, some questioned if the cash-strapped school's money should be used to fund the education of the son of a man worth $475 million.
"Should P. Diddy's son return $54,000 college scholarship?" a CNN segment asked.
Vazquez said UCLA has a "robust financial aid program," and said the money used for merit-based athletic scholarships was "entirely funded by Athletic Department ticket sales, corporate partnerships, media contracts and private donations" and "do not rely on state funds."
The money used for Combs' scholarship wouldn't affect need-based scholarships awarded to other students, he said.
Please explain why a kid who has earned athletic scholarship to go to class/study/workout/ watch film 24/7 for four years, has to give what compensation the NCAA gives away.
Diddy should make a PR coup of this. Donate $500,000 to the University's general scholarship fund or something.
Diddy has plenty of charity foundations and you KNOW the UCLA athletic department is going to have a target on him to buy a suite, become a booster, etc
I really don't see why he has to appease anybody.
It's blatant.
Diddy with hiphop and things that arent traditionally linked to a CEO. He might be a CEO today and he made lots of money as a producer... but this is racism.
I like where this is going. If the CEO of a major company that is more mainstream, such as financial services, has a son or daughter who earns an academic scholarship to a school, it is seen as a positive, and the CEO is lauded for providing an atmosphere in which his child can grow and achieve.
But when a black rapper/music mogul provides an environment where his son can earn a performance-based scholarship as a football player, the "rules" are suddenly changed. This is about as blatant as racism gets. It's like people are saying, "How dare that black person have money and not give it back."
but Diddy is a CEO. I guarantee you he makes more money from his businesses than he does as a rapper.
I swear, people will always find a way to relate something to racism. As noted by another poster below, numerous wealthy black people have had their kids recruited and given full rides to play football and nobody has said anything. But apparently in this one case it's totally racist. Knock it off.
I don't think Racism is behind some lazy reporter trying to take advantage of the OWS zeitgeist and printing a garbage story that fails to explain how athletic scholarships are financed.
Reading the article it looked like the argument that was being made is that OMG California's broke and tax dollars are being spent to pay for a rich kid's college!!! THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS. The article is lazy and just happened to choose a rich black kid in a sport in which either the majority or a sizable plurality of players are black.
Reading racism into this is ridiculous.
if the kid earned it, why should he be subject to 'you're rich' issues...as mentioned, wonder how crow tastes should Diddy make a huge donation to the university/football program. Not to mention what kind of attention it might generate. How many UM kids who earn schollys are well off?
DOWN WITH THE 1%!!!!!
I represent that comment.
... is that everyone is free to complain about whatever the fuck they want, and a lot of people willingly (and sometimes wantonly) exercise that right.
doesnt mean there isnt a lot of annoying shit out there.
Thank you for changing your post. Honestly, you sounded like a bitchy, bitter dad, and no one likes that.
Anyone mad about this just doesn't understand athletic scholarships. There is no more or less justice to them than that they go to people who are really good at a given sport and who meet certain academic and behavioral baselines.
It wasn't an athletic scholarship (at least, not according to the article). It's a "MERIT BASED" scholarship. Vastly different.
What are you talking about? It's an athletic scholarship...reread the quote.
The Yahoo article on the front page YESTERDAY said it was a merit based scholarship. Today's Yahoo article mentions the athletic scholarship. I didn't read the block quote above, I was going off what I read yesterday.
Calm your panooch, Jim Bob.
DOH!
Nevermind. I was under the impression this was an academic scholarship, not athletic. I just looked on Rivals and Combs is listed as a 2012 recruit with a signed LOI. Completely my misunderstanding.
Good luck to your son, too.
[Comment Self-Edited out] Would have been redundant. Neg accordingly, if you must.
The kid is now an adult (18) and his own man. His Dad is under no obligatgion to provide for him. His fathers wealth should have no effect on him earning an athletic scholarship. The argument regarding it being a waste of state funds is moot as well because I am sure Mr. Diddy/Daddy/Combs writes a check to the state of California covering that and then some each year through all his business ventures that are west coast based. Just a hunch.
Coincidentally, I also believe that parental finances shouldn't be a factor in FAFSA. Once you're 18 your parents are under no obligation to provide for you.
Agreed, however that would mean 99% of 18-year-olds are likely eligible for the maximum aid package, which would really defeat any purpose of the FAFSA. (Just trying to bring us back to that 1% discussion)
+1 for you, sir.
That would be a desired outcome yes. That's equality of opportunity right there.
This kid EARNED his right to a scholarship. He worked hard on the field and in the classroom to get this opportunity. Combs isn't the only scholarship athlete to come from money. I'm sure Tim Hardaway Jr. could afford to pay for college based off of what his dad made in the NBA. No one complains about TH, and rightfully so. Combs is talented enough for the scholarship, and worked hard to earn this scholarship. Just because he has a wealthy father doesn't mean that he should have different treatment.
Earned, I agree. This is nothing more than more of the same left coast liberal bullshit.
Not politics, just reality.
Even if you say it isn't politics doesn't make it so.
This kid EARNED his right to a scholarship. He worked hard on the field and in the classroom to get this opportunity.Well . . . when you're ranked the 133rd best cornerback recruit in the country and given two stars, are you really UCLA material? http://recruiting.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p=8&c=1&nid=5375656 It was UCLA's decision to offer him the scholarship, so he has nothing to apologize for. But make no mistake - they almost certainly wouldn't have offered him if he didn't have a famous father.
High five for rampant speculation! You realize that other schools, major conference school, offered him as well, right? Or did they also only offer him because of his famous father?
You realize he wasn't the only 2-star recruit UCLA took last year, right? Did those other guys have famous relatives that UCLA is reeling in? Has UCLA had so much success lately that they're wasting football scholarships on guys who can't play but have famous names? I highly doubt it.
You say he's the 133rd best CB in the country? Well, if every school takes, on average, two CBs, that means that the top 240 CBs are getting FBS full-rides. He's almost smack-dab in the middle of that group - so why isn't he deserving?
You're getting too worked up about this. I don't wish the kid any ill will. He has nothing to apologize for.
I'm just personally skeptical that the #133 CB recruit would normally get a scholarship offer from a BCS-conference school. I could be wrong. The way to tell would be to go back and see where the other guys ranked around him ended up.
BTW, not all future college cornerbacks are ranked as such coming out of high school. Some are ranked as safeties (since HS teams often put their best DB there) and some get the "ATH" ranking.
UCLA offering this 2-star recruit could be a shrewd financial move. For the cost of a scholarship they have greatly increased the chances of getting some sizable donations. It's LA, they understand the value of publicity too.
So the kid shouldn't be allowed a scholarship he earned because his dad is loaded. That is ridiculous. That is like people not wanting you to get paid for working because you already have a lot of money.
If this logic turns out to be sound, and UCLA gets the money back, we should be given back most of our basketball scholarships. Sign a few more players, put NBA sons and Max B on the team as preferred walk ons.
While Combs doesn't NEED the financial aid, they promised schoalrship was the reason he chose UCLA over other potential suitors. If they decide that he can pay his way and take the scholarship away from him, it would be disrepectful and probably cause Combs to look elsewhere. The kid committed to UCLA because they promised him a scholarship. I'm sure he could have walked on to nearly any program in the country, or he could have gotten paid tuition and the respect that comes with it from another program.
Pretty much spot on.....and where to do draw the line with parents/guardians who are wealthy? Does an athlete who's parents are worth $10 million have to pay his/her own way? $1 million? $5 million? And will we then make prospective student-athletes document how much their parents/guardians are worth when they sign an LOI?
People need stuff to complain about. I dislike those people.
He worked hard his whole life for his scholarship. If people are upset about it because they didn't get the scholarship then maybe they can work harder. There are way too many people that think things should be just given to them. It has been an issue for a long time, but it has gotten a lot worse over the past few years. I didn't get an athletic scholarship, but I wasn't the athlete that these kids are.
I would definitely go to a school that provided me a scholarship over most schools that only offered me a walk on opportunity. There are coaches that will play a scholarship athelete over a walk on just because they don't want to hurt their pride. They don't want to admit that a walk on player is better than the kid they gave a scholarship. I am not saying that all coaches or colleges work this way, but it definitely does happen.
I don't think class or connections should enter into this at all.
UCLA is offering a scholarship to an athlete that they believe has earned it, and it shouldn't matter that his father happens to be Sean Combs. They even said that this does not affect needs-based programs, and in any event, it isn't unheard of for student-athletes to come from connected / wealthy / famous families (even if just locally), but alas, he is not his father, and I don't understand why anyone would think that his father should pay his son's way simply because of his fahter's wealth - that's somehow feeding into the inequities that such people are supposedly protesting.
Such a non-story. We offered a scholarship to THJr, right? And it's not like dozens of other sons of pro athletes haven't gotten the same. Why wasn't this a story when Barry Sanders Jr. accepted a full ride to Stanford? Or when that big OL (I can't remember his name, but he's Lincoln Kennedy's son) accepted the scholarship to USC? Both in CA, both sons of wealthy, famous people. USC also had a kid in their last recruiting class from Beverly Hills, no doubt his parents could afford tuition. And Master P's son had a full ride to USC a few years ago.
This happens all the time - why is this now a story?
Fine, but they planned on giving out 85 scholarships to football players regardless. They are paying no more money than they expected. If the Combs kid would have gone elsewhere, or walked on, they would have spent that money on someone else.
I understand your greater point and agree with it but isn't Barry Sanders estranged from his son? I was under the impression that he was but I could be mistaken.