Voting will remain open until the end of the first round ... and we've got two heroes from very early on in the year stacking up. It's No. 3 seed Chris Berman vs. No. 14 Kevin Hart. A look at the nominees' 2008 resumes:

No. 3 Chris Berman
Perturbed, slightly, with behind-camera movement.
Forced ESPN to take video brilliance off YouTube.
Watched Deadspin hang onto them anyway.

No. 14 Kevin Hart
Announced his collegiate intentions.
Scammed?
Nope. It's recruiting, Imaginationland-style.

Vote like the wind.

The Fernley school district administration is apparently pushing to not renew Hodges' contract, citing unprofessional conduct and fiscal irresponsibility. Last Wednesday, Hodges told the media that "Not at any time, at any moment in this process am I ashamed of my actions in this matter" after his doofy player hoodwinked and embarrassed the Fernley community, college football, high school football, the state of Nevada, the state of California, Mitch Albom, Jesus, Buddha, Jim Backus, etc.

Next up to be punished? Hart's parents, who should probably have their house foreclosed by the town, forcing them to move into a storage shed so they can appropriately marinate in their own personal shame for bringing such a deceitful, horrible boy into the world.

Prep football: Hodges might lose job over Hart hoax [RGJ]

Diminutive, exploiter of dying old men-novelist and Detroit Free Press "columnist" Mitch Albom jumped up on a stack of a phone books in order to impart some moral judgment about sad recruitment faker Kevin Hart. Albom, pumped full of rock star ego thanks to Oprah Winfrey's fanbase embracing him like their personalized pookie doll, says the Hart situation casts an unflattering light upon society.

I always find it startling that Albom stil has a job, but equally baffling is how the Free Press still lets him sit in harsh judgment of others, considering the fact that he's stepped on so many people for the sake of his own self-interest for a good portion of his career.

But Mitch Albom obviously is hypersensitive to these types of things. He feels things differnetly than others. He does. He's an angel sent down from heaven disguised a 50-year-old man who dreses like a 12-year-old boy.

God, I just want to flush him down the toilet.

In this hoax, maybe the joke is on us [Free Press]

The jokes, of course, are there to be made, and we understand: It's an odd little high school drama all wrapped up, a confused kid getting himself in over his head. Realize how much he had to plan here. He had to start the initial rumors about schools interested in him in the first place, he had to call the press conference to announce his "decision" and, in the masterstroke, he actually went through all the trouble to bring hats with him from each of the final two schools and dramatically pick Cal. (We think it's a good sign for Illinois recruiting that he even thought to make them up as a potential suitor.) The most amazing thing about this, we think, is that he ever had the notion that this might work. Surely, someone was going to notice eventually? Or perhaps he thought the Cal Golden Bears would just say, "Well, he says he's going here ... I guess he is!"

It's a vivid, and poignant, reminder that as much as we obsess over college sports recruiting, these are high school kids, prone to the same fits of immaturity we all were at that age. Kevin Hart did something very dumb, because that's what teenagers do: Dumb things. He just happened to do it in an industry that obsesses over the every whim of 17-year-olds. Poor kid.

Prep Football Player Gets Caught In A Lie [Washington Post]
Kevin Hart Made The Whole Thing Up [Deadspin]

Really. He confessed.

"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.

Holy cow. Poor, dumb kid. Much more on this tomorrow. And we'll (hopefully) see you in Alameda.

Hart Saga Comes To An End: 'I Made It Up' [Reno Gazette]
Kevin Hart Might Not Have Been Recruited At All [Deadspin]

(Photo via the Reno Gazette)

You gotta feel pretty bad for the kid; it looks like a nasty recruiter was doing the whole thing as a scam.

Hart claims, in a police report, that a Kevin Riley falsely represented himself as a recruiter — a middle man to big-time college football programs — and led the 6-foot-5, 290-pounder and his family to believe there were scholarship offers available when there were none.

Obtaining money with a false pretense is the charge on the report at this time, said Deputy Dan Lynch, who took the report. Finding Riley could be difficult, though.

The cops say they have "no info to identify a suspect." So the guy, really, is gone. This picture, we think, is the saddest part: He actually had a hat for California and a hat for Oregon, and made a big dramatic production of choosing which one he was going to put on. That really breaks our heart a little bit.

Recruiter Allegedly Involved In Hart Case [RGJ.com]
This Recruit Is Unreal [Washington Post]

Seriously, either Hart's a huge liar — doubtful — or someone is playing the worst joke on him of all time.

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 [Cal coach]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.

OK, now you can bet we'll be following this for the next few days. Whoever did this is the cruelest human on earth. Also: Clever. But to be clear: Evil.

Did Somebody Impersonate Tedford?