Manti Te'o Makes Up Dead Girlfriend

[Starbreaker]

Link

I always thought his story was far-fetched. Turns out it was. The Notre Dame Heisman finalist gets exposed by Deadspin. I'm very interested to see how this is going to affect his future NFL career. Maybe he'll admit he needs professional help?

[Timby]

Realistically, there are three options here:

1. Te'o is covering something else up.
2. Te'o is a sociopath.
3. Deadspin whiffed on the story and is going to have the mother of all lawsuits filed in the morning.

I mean, I can't even make a joke yet, I'm too busy laughing at the absurdity of all this.

[Alidar Jarok]

The alternative claim is that someone else made it up and he's a victim of a hoax, but that doesn't seem overly likely. Strange, strange story.

[Timby]

Wait, I've got it.

EYY

EYYY

DUDE LOOKS LIKE A LENNAY

[Enterprise is Great]

what an ass.

[Timby]

Enterprise is Great wrote:

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what an ass.

It's just spitballing at this point, but there is a working theory that Te'o went through this ridiculous process as an effort to cover up that he's gay, given that openly gay guys don't exactly mesh well with the hyper-masculine, testosterone-fueled zones that are football locker rooms (bypassing the obvious Catholic / gay joke here).

It's mere speculation, but the idea has legs because it's the only thing that makes sense (and is also sympathetic) without him being either A) a total moron or B) a complete sociopath who would instantly become the textbook example of "character issues" when evaluating draft prospects.

[Sheep]

Deadspin's research into things like his girlfriend's status at Stanford (non-existent), records of her near-fatal car accident (non-existent) and the her picture (actually one of an unknowing Facebook user) seems pretty solid.

If this turns out to be true, Deadspin and this scandal just made a complete mockery of the mainstream media and their apparent lack of ANY background research into any part of this, focusing on emotion-laden headlines to get pageviews and viewers instead. It's FUCKING GLORIOUS for those of us who hate the U.S. media like CNN and Fox News for what it's become.

[Timby]

Sheep wrote:

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If this turns out to be true, Deadspin and this scandal just made a complete mockery of the mainstream media and their apparent lack of ANY background research into any part of this, focusing on emotion-laden headlines to get pageviews and viewers instead.

Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN already made a mockery of it (and himself) on live television tonight, on SportsCenter. He said that, prior to the tear-filled interview in October, he asked Te'o's camp if they could contact Kekua's family, and they responded that the family would prefer to be left alone. He requested a few photos of Kekua, and the request was denied. They did a search of all the area newspapers and didn't find an obituary, but they didn't ask for one from Te'o / his people. Nothing adds up about that, and any responsible journalist would have taken a step back and said, "Wait, what?" But Wojciechowski just kept on going, "I thought it was a little odd, but I decided to ignore it."

Just goes to show that even though "regular" journalism is a complete joke nowadays, sports journalism is a dumpster fire.

[tighr]

I need my faith in humanity restored.

[1001001]

He's claiming he was the victim of the hoax, not the perpetrator.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-...13--ncaaf.html

"This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online. We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her. To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating."

[Starbreaker]

I just can't believe this is a 'Catfish' situation. I was watching his interview before the BCS bowl and it was just fishy. And he's told so many stories to this point...

[tighr]

What I don't like about it is if he came clean to the Notre Dame coaches back in early December (according to the press conference), why was the story allowed to continue on ESPN? Why didn't Notre Dame and Te'o at that point simply state no comment any time from that point forward when they were asked about the girlfriend?

This was a full month before the National Championship game. The story of the girlfriend was a centerpiece of the storyline for that game.

[Timby]

Starbreaker wrote:

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I just can't believe this is a 'Catfish' situation. I was watching his interview before the BCS bowl and it was just fishy. And he's told so many stories to this point...

It isn't a Catfish thing, not at all. Te'o and his father have been quoted, multiple times, on the record, that there were face-to-face meetings between the two and she visited him multiple times in Hawaii. This is Te'o / Notre Dame just putting all their money on the media being stupid.

As soon as someone explains how it was one of Manti's close friends that found the pictures used for the dead girlfriend (and was also the guy in charge of her Twitter account), I'll change my position.

tighr wrote:

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What I don't like about it is if he came clean to the Notre Dame coaches back in early December (according to the press conference), why was the story allowed to continue on ESPN? Why didn't Notre Dame and Te'o at that point simply state no comment any time from that point forward when they were asked about the girlfriend?

This was a full month before the National Championship game. The story of the girlfriend was a centerpiece of the storyline for that game.

It's Notre Dame. The school covered up two sexual assaults by members of the football team, but immediately launched a full investigation of this issue with Te'o.

[SiddFinch1]

Bizarre. Either a liar an idiot or a psycho

[tighr]

Timby wrote:

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It's Notre Dame. The school covered up two sexual assaults by members of the football team, but immediately launched a full investigation of this issue with Te'o.

You're kidding yourself if you don't think that a full investigation wasn't launched into those sexual assaults. Notre Dame knows exactly what happened, they just don't have to tell us. Proof? We're finding out that Penn State knew all kinds of things about Sandusky, but never told anyone because they thought it would go away. And it did, for many many years.

Notre Dame put all their eggs in the basket of this story NEVER EVER EVER seeing the light of day. An intrepid Deadspin reporter had other intentions, did his homework, and now Notre Dame and Te'o were forced to answer.