UCLA doesn't want a courtroom battle with Diddy, per report

Entertainer Sean "Diddy" Combs got into a scrap with UCLA football strength coach Sal Alosi over Combs' son, a player. Diddy was arrested and hit with five charges. Now, what to do about those charges?

UCLA's coaching staff doesn't want much more to come of this, per TMZ, which reports Jim Mora and company "don't want to make this a courtroom spectacle, largely because it would be bad for the team."

That's a good idea! This would be one of those DISTRACTION things sports people are always warning us about, you see.

Cynical types would wonder whether the Bruins also wouldn't want Alosi on the stand against Diddy's expensive lawyers, given the strength coach's reputation as a hothead. He's the guy who left the NFL after tripping a player during a game. Both Combs and Alosi were arrested in 1999; while Combs was found not guilty on weapons charges, Alosi pled guilty to a misdemeanor harassment charge.

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Both Combs' camp and UCLA fan media have claimed the other guy started the fight, while the New York Daily News cites a source saying it's Alosi's fault. (Grain of salt. Is a New York paper more likely to have sources connected to California football programs or to New York-based musicians? Guessing the NYDN is not Death Row Records-affiliated.)

Somebody within earshot of TMZ is spreading word that Alosi engaged in "psychological warfare" for three years against Diddy's son, which Bruins Nation scoffs at with all its might.

I don't know who was more at fault, but it is quite clear that UCLA has nothing to gain from going to legal war with an individual whose net worth is believed to be well over half a billion and who has more media reach than the entire university.

The reason it's a good idea for football programs to court the sons of famous rappers? Also the reason it's a good idea to leave them alone when it goes sour.

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