I'll Never Trust Kevin Hart Again

On Tuesday of this week, I wrote about Kevin Hart and how he had been tricked into thinking he was being recruited by Cal and Oregon. The kid held a press conference in his small hometown of Fernley, Nevada to announce his decision.

Then a few days later Hart found out that it was all just a prank somebody was pulling on him. At least, that's what he told us. As it turns out, Hart was making the whole thing up.

The Kevin Hart recruiting saga came to an abrupt end this afternoon when the Fernley offensive lineman admitted the entire process was a fraud.

“I wanted to play D-I ball more than anything. When I realized that wasn’t going to happen, I made up what I wanted to be reality,” read a statement sent out by Teri White, assistant superintendent of the Lyon County School District, on behalf of Hart. “I am sorry for disappointing and embarrassing my family, coaches, Fernley High School, the involved universities and reporters covering the story.”

Reached Wednesday afternoon, White said the district continues to conduct its internal investigation into how so many people were duped by the high school senior.

Well, I understand how I was duped. I don't live in Nevada, and I've never seen the kid play, so how could I know? What I don't get is how his coaches couldn't figure it out. They see him play every day, shouldn't they have realized there was no way that Division I schools were recruiting him?

Still, even after finding all of this out, I still feel bad for Hart. Obviously at first I felt bad for the kid because I thought he'd been tricked. Now I feel bad for the kid because there's obviously something wrong if he went through all this trouble to try and convince the entire town he was going to Cal.

I guess he just never thought about what would happen this fall when he was supposed to leave for school.

To make matters worse for Hart, all of this could get him into a bit of legal trouble as well.

Lyon County sheriff's detective Lt. Rob Hall received the case Wednesday morning. By late afternoon, he was relieved to hear of Hart's confession.

"What I am intending to do is request Kevin sit down with me," Hall said, adding he wants to know more details of Hart's web of deceit.

From there, Hall said he will write a report and forward it to the district attorney.

"The district attorney will see if charges (filing a false report) will be filed," Hall said.

Not to worry though, if he does somehow end up having to do some time in prison, he can just tell his family he's taking that recruiting trip to Texas A&M.

Foul Balls

Pedro Martinez Loves Cockfighting - While Mike Vick is currently serving two years for running a dog-fighting operation, Pedro Martinez is smart enough to leave the country before he partakes in any animal fisticuffs.

A video surfaced on Home Run Derby yesterday of Pedro Martinez in the Dominican Republic with another former pitching great, Juan Marichal, as the two attended a cockfight. Actually, they weren't attending the cockfight as much as Pedro's cock was taking on Marichal's cock in a poultry battle to decide who the greatest pitcher in the history of the Dominican really is.

The video has since been taken down by YouTube, though SportsbyBrooks has an animated GIF of some of the scenes from the video.



I'm not exactly a fan of cockfighting, as I prefer my bloodsports to involve people, but it's important to point out that in the Dominican this is all perfectly legal, so Pedro did nothing wrong.

Still, if I'm Pedro I'm probably going to be a little more careful when I attend these things. With the way this country reacted to the Vick story, I'm not sure having video on the internet of you participating in cockfights is the best way to make new fans here in the States.

And We Wait On Terrelle Pryor - As I'm sure you're all completely aware of, yesterday was national signing day in college football when recruits from all over the country put on fake press conferences to announce they're going to schools that didn't recruit them.

No wait, that's just Kevin Hart. Everybody else means it.

Of course, the one player that everybody's been waiting on to see where he's going, quarterback Terrelle Pryor, came out and said he hadn't made his mind up yet. Which is generally pissing everybody off except for his father, and Penn State fans.

Most people seemed to figure that Pryor was either going to Ohio State or Michigan, but now Penn State has jumped back to the top of Pryor's list, and he'd like more time to consider them and also Oregon, where his father's a coach.

I'd like to personally tell Terrelle to take all the time he needs to make up his mind, and weigh all the options because it's a big choice. Then, when you're done doing all that, hold a press conference to tell us all you've chosen Penn State. Thanks.

Also, for those of you wondering, Notre Dame had a pretty good day yesterday, as their recruiting class has been ranked 2nd in the nation. Illinois came in at #23.

Bobby Knight Retired? Awesome.

As you can tell by the title of this post, I'm extremely excited about the news of Bobby Knight's retirement. And by extremely excited, I mean I don't care. It's just that the Super Bowl is over, and baseball doesn't start until March. What the hell am I supposed to do for the next month and a half?

What else am I supposed to write about this morning?

It's a question I've been looking around all morning for an answer for, and I just can't find it. The biggest story in sports right now, aside from the Patriots loss which I don't care about anymore, is the fact that Bob Knight retired yesterday. It's a big deal, yes, as Knight is one of the college coaching legends, but let's be honest, he hasn't been relevant in seven years.

That's when Knight became coach of Texas Tech, and aside from fun videos of him arguing with his neighbor about some buckshot, I haven't paid much attention to him since.

My main question about this story is why Knight chose yesterday to do it. It's somewhat hypocritical of a man who spent his career preaching commitment to his players to up and leave halfway through a season, isn't it? Is it because he just achieved victory #900 a few weeks ago, and figures he has nothing left to coach for?

Is it because he knew that since this is the dead time in sports, if he retired yesterday he'd be the biggest story?

Maybe he's telling the truth, and he's just tired.

I don't know, and I don't think it really matters. All that Knight has been good for the last ten years is a soundbite, so I can think of no better way to honor his time as a coach then by letting you listen to him talk some more.



The man has a way with words.

Foul Balls

Gisele Won't Keep Her Word - Before the Super Bowl took place this last weekend, Tom Brady's girlfriend Gisele Bundchen made a promise to us all. She said that if the Giants somehow managed to upset her boytoy's team, and win the Super Bowl, she'd run through midtown Manhattan naked.

Well, the Giants lost, so I've flown to New York and have been walking the streets of Manhattan for the last 36 hours, and I haven't seen her yet. It doesn't look like I'm going to, either.

"It was a mistake and I'm sorry I said it. I don't know what I could have been thinking -- Midtown Manhattan is a parking lot any time of day or night. It'd take 30 minutes just to make it from the Theater District to 34th Street. And what if I ran into the Naked Cowboy and had to pose for pictures with every out-of-town Tom, Dick and Harry? Tack on another 30 minutes, easily. How 'bout I simply flashed my breasts from a billboard in Times Square and call it a day ... will that work?"

No. No it definitely will not.

This Is Just Mean - Imagine your a high school senior from a small town, where you play football. Nobody in the history of your town has ever gone on to play Division 1 college football, but you have a shot.

Then the phone calls start coming. It's Cal head coach Jeff Tedford, and he wants you to come to Berkeley to play on his offensive line. After a few weeks you decide you want to go to Cal, and you set up a press conference in your hometown to announce your decision.

A bunch of people show up, including your family (They look so proud!) and a couple of news stations who are covering the story for that night's local news. You announce your decision to attend the University of California, and everyone celebrates. You feel like a God for one night in your life.

Then a few days later, you find out it was all bullshit. That's what happened to offensive lineman Kevin Hart of Fernley, Nevada.

But it appears that Hart, pictured above with Fernley coach Mark Hodges at Friday's ceremony, was the victim of a prank. Somebody, it appears, has been impersonating Tedford. There never was a scholarship offer — let alone any official contact — from the Golden Bears.

Hodges, who has been a coach for more than 20 years, now says the matter is a "law enforcement investigation."

Oregon was another so-called finalist for Hart, and somebody appears to have been impersonating an Oregon representative as well. An official from Oregon confirmed Hart was not being recruited. The validity of Hart's other finalists — Nevada, Illinois and Oklahoma State — remain in question.

The lesson of the day so far has been don't trust anybody. Not Bobby Knight, not Gisele Bundchen, and now anybody you talk to on the phone. They're all lying to you!