By shelz.
So Diddy’s first born decides not to sit around smoking weed, pretending to be a rapper and spending up all of pops’ money. He decides he’s going to apply himself in school and on the football field and earn something for himself. Now that all of his hard work has paid off and he’s being rewarded with a UCLA football scholarship, a large segment of the peanut gallery is calling shenanigans on his accomplishment. He earned it yes, they won’t deny that. However, he shouldn’t accept it because umm… wait. Why shouldn’t he accept it?
The first round of booos came from folks who believed the young Mr. Combs should pass on the money because his father can afford to send him to school. That should have been silenced once everybody figured out it was a merit-based scholarship, but no, it wasn’t. They simply rounded the bin and considered that the general idea of any free ride being given to a kid whose parents are rich was unfair. That might have a legitimate point, but that system was hardly created in the hours prior to Combs being scouted at Iona.
The second round of booos came from people who suggested this was all a gimmick to get UCLA’s program some buzz and they might be right, but again, what’s wrong with that? If you have been watching entirely too many sentimental sports films, you may have forgotten that these programs are businesses that operate differently than the rest of the school. I’m sure UCLA is betting Combs can puts some asses in seats including a very famous one in the friends and family section. Would that be a catalyst for star watchers and curious fans? Of course it is.
The funny thing about this is that Justin Combs, on paper, appears to be what we want out of young black men; a scholar athlete standing on his own instead of riding daddy’s coattails. We scoff at these 2nd generation sorta nouveau rich people and bemoan the fact that they are all famous and stuff for doing absolutely nothing. Now we have someone breaking the mold and we don’t like that either. Some of y’all just can’t be pleased.
Justin Combs is not the first child of a parent who could foot the bill to go to school on the institution’s dime. Hell, it happens in Georgia, the land of the Hope Scholarship every year. Any in state kid with a B or better average and a respectable SAT score gets a full ride to an in-state school. Do you think all of those kids were sired by the poor and destitute? No. Do you think any of these parents said to themselves, “Hey, I know you got a scholarship, but I’m going to pay anyway?”
Sigh.
I’m curious about what all the complainers were doing when this kid was up at the ass crack of dawn running wind sprints or burning the midnight oil typing up term papers. Probably asleep, dreaming about having what Combs was wide awake working towards. Now he enjoys the spoils and you .. well… catch a sour puss.
Anyway, if you don’t like the idea of the merit based scholarship, you need to write your Congressman. If you just don’t like Diddy, boycott shiny suits. If you enjoy sporting a gas face, save it for when Justin takes the field because he should take that money. Unlike a lot of the offspring of the rich and famous, it sounds like he earned it.
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