Bad sports, good sports: Diddy attacks UCLA strength coach

Posted on June 24th, 2015 by Alan Spoll

Ah, college football. The bastion of amateurism and sport played for the love of the game. When I think of it, I think of beautiful fall afternoons, green grass, cheerleaders, wide goal posts, and, of course, erstwhile rappers/music moguls assaulting conditioning coaches. Maybe that’s just in Los Angeles.

The UCLA football team’s roster includes a defensive back named Justin Combs. His father is Sean Combs, who is better known by an ever-changing nickname (currently: Diddy). On Monday, an altercation occurred between the elder Combs and Sal Alosi, the strength and conditioning coach for the Bruins. Alosi had reportedly verbally abused Justin, whose dad took exception and let the coach know of his displeasure. The specifics are blurry, but the incident allegedly involved an attack with a kettlebell, which, if you’ve ever seen or held one, is not something with which you want to get hit.

You might remember Alosi from his days as a coach with the New York Jets. He resigned from the team in early 2011 after he intentionally tripped an opposing player who was running down the sideline during a punt. It was caught on tape and Alosi was suddenly a household name, and for all the wrong reasons. He was out of coaching for a while, but he got drawn back in and has been at UCLA since 2012.

I don’t know how badly Alosi treated Justin Combs. I don’t know what he said to him. I do know, though, that it is pretty crazy for a player’s parent, no matter how famous he is, to attack a coach with a kettlebell. Also, S&C coaches are notoriously complete nutjobs, so I am pretty sure I wouldn’t pick one of them as my target. “Diddy” was arrested and charged with suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, making terrorist threats, and battery. He was released on bail.

I know Snoop’s son is headed to UCLA as well. He seems less likely to attack a coach, though. He might share a smoke or two with one, though.

Bad sports, continued:

2) Wei-Yin Chen, a pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles who is having a very good year so far, pitched eight shutout innings against the Philadelphia Phillies last Monday. His reward? Naturally, he was sent to the minors. The team cited “general soreness” as the reason for the move, although it didn’t explain why the injury didn’t land the pitcher on the disabled list. Chen disagreed with the diagnosis, saying he was fine. Something odd is going on there.

3) Darryl Hamilton, a former MLB player who has been a broadcaster since his retirement a few years ago, was found dead in his home on Sunday. Investigators believe he was killed by his girlfriend, who then killed herself.

4) Terrelle Pryor has never been accused of being the smartest guy around. After he was cut by the Cincinnati Bengals last week, he announced via Twitter that he would be moving from quarterback to wide receiver. His tweet included a coaches video showing a Bengals practice, which is apparently something that just isn’t done. The Bengals were quite unhappy about it. Their rival the Cleveland Browns then signed him.

5) Several LSU football players, including quarterback Anthony Jennings, were arrested on Thursday. They allegedly broke into an apartment near campus.

6) Chris Simms, a quarterback who played at the University of Texas about 15 years ago, said in an interview on Thursday that he was handed money by boosters numerous times while in school.

Good sports:

1) Following up on last week’s brilliant one hit, sixteen strikeout performance, Washington Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer tossed a no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday. In fact, he had a perfect game with two outs in the ninth before he hit Jose Tabata with a pitch.

2) Golfer Jordan Spieth is halfway to a Grand Slam this year, as he won last week’s U.S. Open after taking The Masters last month. The ending was quite an adventure, as he lost his lead over Dustin Johnson on the 17th hole, so they were tied with one to play. Spieth birdied 18, but Johnson reached the par-5 green in two, leaving himself a 12-foot putt for the win. He not only missed that one, he also missed a three-foot putt that would have forced a Monday playoff.

Bad sports, good sports appears each week

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Alan Spoll

Alan Spoll is a software quality assurance director from the suburbs of Philadelphia where he lives with his wonderful wife and children. He has spent his entire life as a passionate fan of the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, Flyers, and Penn State. Recent Phillies success aside, you will understand his natural negativity. Follow me on Twitter - @DocAlan02