…until I saw that he had one of those jackass press conferences where he’s got the two hats sitting in front of him.

For those of you who haven’t been keeping up, the kid above is named Kevin Hart, and he’s a high school football player in Nevada. He announced yesterday that he would be attending California, choosing the Golden Bears over Oregon. This was thanks in no small part to the personal attention he’d received from Cal head coach Jeff Tedford.

Er…only one problem. Cal never recruited him. Neither did Oregon. The whole thing was apparently a scam, perpetrated by some guy using the pseudonym of Kevin Riley. And to top it all off, this Riley character actually took money from Hart’s parents for his recruiting.

So I was feeling kinda bad for Kevin Hart. After all, you’re a hard-working high schooler who thinks he’s being courted by two Pac 10 schools, and then suddenly you find out that neither of them was interested in you — that’s a tough break.

But then I saw this picture. And I’m sorry, but I think every athlete who does this deserves whatever they get. There may be no more selfish and self-agrandizing event in all of sports than the “two hats (or three) on a table” bullshit.

UPDATE: Okay, call off the sympathy train. I was right — this kid is an asshole. He made the whole story up, according to the most recent reports.