Manti Te'o got ate by a catfish or something

[Vidor]

Rather odd Yahoo column that recounts the obvious lies Te'o told but still credits the idea that he was a victim of a scam

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaaf--leg ... 34925.html

"I lost two, you know, women that I truly love," Te'o said after the game. "But I had my family around me, I had my football family around me, I had my girlfriend's football family around me. And at the end of the day families are forever. I'm going to see them again and it's going to be a very happy day when I do."
This was the start of the snowball that has now humiliated the 22-year-old.
I'm going to see them again, he said, which implies he saw both grandma and girlfriend before. In fact, he hadn't. It appears to be the precise moment that, publicly, at least, when Te'o inflated the relationship.
It got bigger. Much bigger. He later painted the picture of their first face-to-face meeting to the South Bend Tribune, Te'o "extend[ing] his hand to the stranger with a warm smile and soulful eyes."

That didn't happen, either. There have been quotes from Te'o's father, who claimed Kekua visited Hawaii, which also wasn't true, because, of course, she didn't exist. There was talk of the colorful flowers sent to her funeral, which never occurred. Throughout the fall, as the media asked, Te'o gave the impression it was a traditional relationship, not one limited to online chats and phone calls.

[cardsfansince82]

Ok so now he supposedly knew it was a hoax in early December, but they just never got around to announcing it.

Who has the "love of their life" die and never goes to visit the grave? Or can't operate google and do some basic snooping on this great person they've never met?

Either way, whoever is behind this even if it is him is pretty ballsy. Basically trolled the entire country for several years and took this long to get caught when most of the stuff he fed the media could be verified pretty easily. I wonder how close the girl in the pictures' name is to "Lennay kekua" or whatever. How did someone that knows her not recognize her before now? Pretty girls tend to be rather popular.

[PurdueSTL]

whatever is revealed in this hilarouus soap opera, I think it's obvious now that intelligence is not needed to play football (and spectacularly succeed playing it) at Notre Dame.

Swarbrick's impassioned championing of "student privacy" rings especially hollow when you consider how ND gleefully enabled Teo and his fanatasy melodrama by farming him and his fables out to any and every media outlet during the Fall.

[sighyoung]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=lennay+kekua

[JL21]

The real victims here are the people who will be inspired to go watch the [expletive] horrible Catfish movie.

[MrCrowesGarden]

Whoever thought this up should've at least come up with a fake Skype account.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

The real victims here are the people who will be inspired to go watch the [expletive] horrible Catfish movie.

hahaha

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

man. I actually think he got duped. Yesterday, I'd have said no way, no how. But, apparently, it was possible. He only had to lie about meeting her, which I probably would have done as well given the situation. Or the hoax was elaborate enough to give him a trapdoor that would enable him to claim innocence in the event it ever leaked.

As has been said, ND - who is about the least trustworthy organization in America, imho - hired a PI firm to figure it all out. They're going to look after Number 1, and that sure as [expletive] isn't Te'o, that's ND. Had it come out from the PI firm that Te'o at all could have been in on it, I'm sure they would have cut ties and run as far as possible. So, if Te'O was in on it, either the PI firm was wrong and missed a connection somewhere or ND is really sticking it's neck out and the AD is putting his job on the line to cover up a story with the mere hopes that it goes away and the media doesn't uncover it. Both those scenarios seem more unlikely, as odd as it is to say, than Te'o actually being in on the hoax.

Either way, I feel bad making fun of the guy. I sure hope, if he is in fact just a naive person who was duped, that he finds peace during this awkward and embarassing time.

Surely this will be tougher than losing a fake girlfriend. Okay, I couldn't help it. That's the last one.

[JL21]

I tend to believe he was duped as well. And that there's this huge gray area where he was embellishing his bull [expletive] relationship not knowing it was really bull [expletive].

But even if he was duped up front, he clearly lied as well later on down the line.

In Angry Internet World, there's only two options- that he's a horrible human being who lied about having a girlfriend and made up her death in the interest of a Heisman campaign, or he's a complete moron who was duped. The reality is that elements of both options could easily be true.

[Freed Roger]

I am a bit lost and haven't read all the deadspin and other links. Can someone catch me up to speed?

Is the new theory like this ? - Te'o was duped into falling for a fake GF online, eventually figured it out (or not?) at a point when it was more convenient/less embarrassing for him to keep perpetuating the story.

My question would be, who wduped Te'o in the first place (his cousin) and what was the motive? Were they just screwing around? Or were they building a sappy story on his behalf?