This afternoon, I was watching ESPN's Around the Horn, and couldn't help but be flabbergasted when the subject of Kevin Hart was discussed. For those of you who do not know, Kevin Hart is a high school senior from a small town in Nevada who staged his college football announcement ceremony Wednesday afternoon. Local media, both television and print, as well as most of his high school was on hand to see and hear Hart choose Cal over Oregon. The only problem was that neither school had ever heard of him, and therefore never recruited him.

While this was awful, the part that really disturbed me was what the analysts on the show were saying. Rather than placing blame on Hart, the experts said the media and our culture were to blame. Because we put so much emphasis on this day, and begin ranking players when they're in middle school, it's our fault that Hart did this. Really???

What ever happened to taking responsibility for one's actions? Why is there always a built-in excuse? Hart said that he "wanted to play Division I football more than anything. When I realized that wasn't going to happen, I made up what I wanted to be a reality." Oh, well as long as he wanted to play Division I football, then it's all forgiven. I mean I really wanted to play Major League Baseball so I guess I should have held a press conference. Come on now, let's be serious. This guy purposely deceived people so that he could get attention, and we're putting the blame on the media??

Look, we all know the media blows things waaaay out of proportion, and this National Signing Day is a great example of it, however, this does not excuse Hart's actions. Chris Rock summed it up best several years ago while doing a routine when he said, "what ever happened to CRAZY?!? What? Can't be crazy no more???"

Super Bowl Thoughts

• While reading Bill Simmons' column on espn.com Monday, something occurred to me. Simmons mentioned a chant that permeated through the stadium at the end of the game and haunted him, and that chant was, "18 and 1! 18 and 1!" Well that got me thinking...18 + 1 = 19 (I know, tough arithmetic). The chant that Simmons used to always hear prior to 2004 was "1918! 1918!" Isn't it ironic how New York fans lost one chant but now gained a new one against Boston fans? Ahh, the rivalry lives on...

• There are some out there that are comparing this loss by the Patriots to the Yankees collapse in `04. Sorry folks, but this is not even close. The Yankees lost four games in a row, including two late-inning leads in games 4 and 5, while the Patriots merely lost a game. The Red Sox did something that no team in the history of baseball had ever done, and that was to come back from an 0-3 deficit in a playoff series. The Patriots were trying to do something that no other team had ever done for a season, not a game or a series.

• With that said, I'd like to add one more note. When comparing the Giants as a team to the Patriots as a team, it is clear that the Pats are better. However, when you look at the body of work over the past 4-6 weeks, I would say the Giants were the better team, and it showed on Sunday. Just another reason why this was not the upset that people thought it was.