Originally Posted By ecdc No, that's not a badly translated headline from a Chinese newspaper. <a href="http://deadspin.com/5976517/manti-teos-dead-girlfriend-the-most-heartbreaking-and-inspirational-story-of-the-college-football-season-is-a-hoax" target="_blank">http://deadspin.com/5976517/ma...s-a-hoax</a> The star of the Notre Dame football program is either the victim of, or (much more likely) the perpetrator of an elaborate hoax to convince everyone he had a girlfriend who died of leukemia. Even if you're not a college football fan (I'm not much of one), it's worth a read just for the sheer strangeness of it all.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt I'm sorry, but I LOL'd at this: ""That picture," she [the woman's who's picture was used by the media as Manti's girlfriend] told us over the phone, "is a picture of me from my Facebook account."" The faux girlfriend was a boyfriend, obviously.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance So he had a boyfriend that died of leukemia and lied to say it was a girlfriend instead?
Originally Posted By mawnck >>So he had a boyfriend that died of leukemia and lied to say it was a girlfriend instead?<< I think the official story is that he had a fake internet girlfriend, who he thought was a real person but she wasn't, who fake died of fake leukemia. I'm not sure. Somebody please help?
Originally Posted By mele That's pretty much it. He was either conned(highly unlikely but that's the story he's going with) or he's gay (and buried deep in his Mormon closet).
Originally Posted By ecdc Yeah, he's either a total DB who conned people with a fake girlfriend, or he's a total DB who actually skipped the leukemia treatment and funeral of the girlfriend he thought was real so he could play in a game. You know, this story is getting a lot of jokes and traction, and it is bizarre and interesting to read. But make no mistake, the Notre Dame football program is an absolute den of utter scumbags. That program should've been shuttered long ago. Why my vitriol? Read this story, or at least the last paragraph: <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/172268/crying-manti-teo" target="_blank">http://www.thenation.com/blog/...anti-teo</a> >>[Notre Dame] revealed that a private outside firm had been hired to investigate just who had perpetrated this “cruel game.” The athletic director even cried. His behavior only raises more important questions than anything Te’o will face tomorrow. Why hasn’t there been any kind of privately funded, outside investigation into the alleged sexual assaults committed by members of the football team? Why was there no private, outside investigation into Coach Brian Kelly’s role in the death of team videographer Declan Sullivan? It says so much that Te’o’s bizarre soap opera has moved Swarbrick to openly weeping but he hasn’t spared one tear, let alone held one press conference, for Lizzy Seeberg, the young woman who took her own life after coming forward with allegations that a member of the team sexually assaulted her. Swarbrick’s press conference displayed that the problem at Notre Dame is not just football players without a compass; it’s the adults without a conscience. Their credo isn’t any kind of desire for truth or justice. Instead it seems to be little more than a constant effort to protect the Fighting Irish brand, no matter who gets hurt.<<
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Instead it seems to be little more than a constant effort to protect the Fighting Irish brand, no matter who gets hurt.<< Gee, where have we heard that before?
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "He was either conned(highly unlikely but that's the story he's going with) or he's gay (and buried deep in his Mormon closet)." Given that he was friends with the creator of Lennay (Ronaiah Tuiasosopo), he was either the victim of a prank, was in on it, or using Lennay as a beard to cover for a relationship he was having with Tuiasosopo.
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 And now there's this... <a href="http://aol.sportingnews.com/nfl/story/2013-01-16/manti-teo-girlfriend-hoax-lennay-kekua-reagan-mauia-notre-dame-catfish?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D258273" target="_blank">http://aol.sportingnews.com/nf...3D258273</a> A former NFL player says that he met Lennay Kekua and she is a real person. He says he met her before Te'o did, and that she was a cousin of Ronaiah Tuiasosopo. This whole thing is just bizarre, There's something shady underneath all of this, I think.
Originally Posted By ecdc But Manti Te'o says he was the victim of a hoax. I will say, one plausible angle (that I think is more plausible than a lot of people would want to acknowledge) is that the kid was embarrassed that it was an online-only relationship, so he embellished things in interviews about having met her. I think it's also possible he exaggerated the depth of the bond in his own mind - we all want to be romantic, don't we? So he exaggerates things. It would explain why he never visited her. Or, he's still just a fraud.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "I think it's also possible he exaggerated the depth of the bond in his own mind - we all want to be romantic, don't we? So he exaggerates things." To the point that he enlists his friend to stage a public Twitter conversation over several months and fake the girl's identity with a stolen Facebook profile picture? Ummm.... that's a lot more than just exaggerating things.
Originally Posted By ecdc No, I mean if he really was the victim of a hoax. What if he met this girl online and became attached to her? It's not much of a stretch from there to talk to others in a way to imply or say that you'd met her and her family. He could be embarrassed over the fact that it's an online, long distance relationship, especially in a hook up culture of football players. Hey, the guy could've invented the whole thing. I lean toward thinking he did. But if he comes out and says he was the victim of a hoax and that he exaggerated the level of commitment in the relationship to try and fit in or because he was ashamed he only had an online casual relationship, I'm inclined to see that as very possible, even though most people will probably roll their eyes and think, "Yeah, right."
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt That's plausible, especially in light of the fact that there were those who knew about the hoax and Ronaiah Tuiasosopolong before anyone else did: <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/17/ronaiah-tuiasosopo-manti-teo-hoax-twitter_n_2492653.html" target="_blank">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...653.html</a> This is more gripping than a soap opera!
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt The more I mull over this (because obviously that's all I've been doing today) the more I want to call BS on this guy being duped. How he could have unknowingly taken for a ride for three years without knowing what was going on?
