Justin Combs’ scholarship criticism unwarranted

Being the son of a rap icon certainly has its perks. In the case of Justin Combs, it makes national news and not because a new song has swept the nation. 

Justin signed a national letter of intent to play football at UCLA in February, but the discussion of whether he should accept a scholarship to do so is the hot button issue. 

Giving a kid $54,000 for a scholarship is great. Combs earned the scholarship because of his hard work on and off the field. The problem is, because his family has more money than most of the kids who are also getting a scholarship, people think he should pass on it and allow his Dad to pay his way through. 

If he was to pass on it, that would be dumb on his part. There is no other way to describe it. 

Yes, I’ll admit that it is a bonus to now have Diddy roaming the sidelines across from Will Ferrell and Snoop Dogg on the USC sideline, but this isn’t a publicity stunt. If it was, UCLA would’ve offered him a chance to walk-on instead of spending the money on him. Justin was offered scholarships by many established football programs, but he liked the UCLA campus and the history that the program has. He wanted to go there for the right reasons.

The same people who are booing his scholarship will be cheering for him when he makes it on the field. It is a great story when someone who comes from nothing works hard for an athletic scholarship to make it out of the projects. But when a kid who was born into a family with a superstar of his dad’s caliber, the decision to reward him for his hard work is scrutinized. 

The people who are hounding him may have had to pay their way through college and didn’t put in the work to make it to where Justin is. Their opinions are about as good as the office swivel chair they are sitting in right now.