Bruin Bites: Pac-12's Expanding Asian Footprint, Follow-Up on Justin Combs' Scholarship

It's Monday morning, and sadly, it's time to head back to the grind after the weekend, and rather than discussing our various programs and recruiting news, the MSM seems obsessed with the complete, total non-story that is Justin Combs accepting an athletic scholarship to play football at UCLA. Apparently, it's no big deal when Michael Jordan's (net worth approx. $500 million) kid gets a scholarship to public university UCF, or when Howie Long's (net worth $14 million) oldest son got a free ride to Virginia (public university) (never mind, his middle son just accepted an athletic scholarship to Oregon, another public university), or when John Elway's (net worth $45 million) accepted an athletic scholarship to Arizona State (public university). But when P. Diddy's kid gets a scholarship to UCLA (a scholarship he earned, mind you), well cue the uproar from the morons in the MSM.

It's comical. It's pathetic. And it's hypocritical.

With that said, let's turn to the various bits and pieces of news from around the UCLA-iverse.

• Turning away from Justin Combs news for a few minutes, CBS Sports had more follow-up from Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott on the conference's plans to engage with the Far East. However, Scott ruled out the prospect of football games being played on the opposite side of the Pacific, which is good news for UCLA, since road trips haven't exactly been one of UCLA's strong suits the past decade.
• While Bruin Bites usually is a sampling of the various bits and pieces of news from around the UCLA-iverse, it seems that everyone is obsessed with one thing only it seems like: the ludicrous non-story re: Justin Combs and his football scholarship. So, let's turn to it. One of the better perspectives was featured on the Sunday edition of the Huffington Post by Michael Waters. The short version? This "media outrage" is pure racist bulls**t. Sounds spot on.
  

• Of course, in case you missed it earlier this week, our favorite writer, Jon Gold, had a very good perspective on the idiocy surrounding this faux "controversy" that was 100% manufactured by traditional media blowhards.
• Heading back to the Huffington Post, Maura Kastberg lays out why Justin's athletic scholarship is earned for the masses of morons who think that hip-hop mogul P. Diddy is taking taxpayer money to send his son to UCLA for free. Hint: not a single penny of the already paltry amount of state-funding (which is enough to make UCLA marginally a "public" university, all thanks to the dips**ts we keep electing to office in Sacramento) is going to Justin's scholarship.
• Just to stick with the topic, there's a good take on this media-generated "controversy" over at Cinema Blend, which basically spells out why people who advocate that Justin Combs should give up his scholarship are so stupid, they shouldn't be allowed to procreate. Okay, I might have ad-libed, that part, but you know where I'm going.
  
• Finally, an interesting nugget from the Chicago Sun-Times on this faux "controversy" involving the younger Mr. Combs: apparently some prominent UCLA boosters think that the kid's scholarship should have gone to some other student "in more need." If you are one of those "prominent boosters" feel free to meet me somewhere on campus so I can smack you upside your head for your abject stupidity. I'm amazed that anyone who got into UCLA is so brainless to not understand that football scholarships do not come from taxpayer money, but rather, are used as a vehicle to entice student-athletes to come to UCLA instead of say, in the case of Justin Combs, West Virginia, Iowa, or Illinois. You know, the Illinois team that just beat UCLA in the Kraft "Who Gives a Rat's Ass" Bowl.
  

Alright folks, those are your Bruin Bites to start the work week with. Fire away with your thoughts, takes, and additions in the comments thread.

GO BRUINS