11/21/24
January 16, 2013
Manti Te'o's dead girlfriend was... fake?: Per Deadspin, the most inspiring story in college football this year was just that: a story.
posted by Goyoucolts to football at 06:41 PM - 50 comments
Manti Te'o's Dead Girlfriend, The Most Heartbreaking And Inspirational Story Of The College Football Season, Is A Hoax
Judging by the Alabama game, the story of Te'o's tackling ability was a hoax, too.
posted by dyams at 04:44 PM on January 16, 2013
Manti Te'o's Dead Girlfriend, The Most Heartbreaking And Inspirational Story Of The College Football Season, Is A Hoax
Whoah. That... that's pretty crazy.
posted by tron7 at 05:26 PM on January 16, 2013
posted by tron7 at 05:31 PM on January 16, 2013
... Wow. Just, wow.
posted by Etrigan at 06:17 PM on January 16, 2013
Sounds like a bunch of shit to me, with Notre Dame scampering to help Te'o salvage his reputation.
If I recall, they made a big thing about his relationship with this girl during the Heisman show. Just when did the whole "investigation" thing begin?
posted by dyams at 06:22 PM on January 16, 2013
My brain can barely cope with this. WTF????
posted by insomnyuk at 06:47 PM on January 16, 2013
Notre Dame allegedly knew on December 26th, nearly three weeks after the Heisman ceremony.
posted by Etrigan at 06:47 PM on January 16, 2013
This has to be something Te'o was in on. Stories like this poke huge holes in the "I was taken advantage of by scam artists" argument. If he met her online and had a strictly Internet relationship created by a couple of con guys, how does he explain meeting her?
Obvious rationales behind the falsehood are to curry Heisman votes or cover up something else. Either way, pretty unconscionable.
posted by Goyoucolts at 07:02 PM on January 16, 2013
Wow. This will be huge.
posted by Bonkers at 07:10 PM on January 16, 2013
One of the stories written before the hoax was revealed.
posted by rcade at 07:54 PM on January 16, 2013
Best Notre Dame tee shirt ever?
posted by tommybiden at 08:12 PM on January 16, 2013
I guess the most troubling thing about the current story is that Manti Te'o, a star football player at a one of the most prestigious and storied football programs in the nation, can only get women interested in him via Twitter. There's hope for me yet!
Also, some of the Twitter response Awful Announcing tracks are hilarious.
posted by Bonkers at 08:42 PM on January 16, 2013
I don't believe this would have carried Heisman votes ... voters tend to stick with what occurs on the field and stay away from emotion. Otherwise we'd have had winners based on tough upbringings in poverty and rough neighborhoods.
posted by jjzucal at 08:44 PM on January 16, 2013
The Big Lead is reporting ESPN has been sitting on this story for ten days.
posted by yerfatma at 08:57 PM on January 16, 2013
Terrell Owens is officially off the hook for life.
From now on, when someone says, 'man, that "T-O" is a whack job', they won't be talking about him.
posted by beaverboard at 09:11 PM on January 16, 2013
Wataweitukanamama d'ai
posted by beaverboard at 09:36 PM on January 16, 2013
One of the stories written before the hoax was revealed.
Kinda proves Te'o was in on the hoax. Anyone disagree?
posted by NerfballPro at 04:50 AM on January 17, 2013
Rcade's link mentions the white roses Te'o had sent to be placed on the "person"s grave. Where do you send flowers to be placed on a grave that doesn't exist?
posted by dyams at 06:00 AM on January 17, 2013
Just wondering if someone could make up a story such as this due to an alternative lifestyle that may not necessarily mesh with the culture of big-time college football? A guy makes up a relationship with a female, who nobody sees, in order to keep attention off him as to why he's never "hooking up" with females?
Don't want to piss anyone off with that notion, but it could make sense.
posted by dyams at 06:49 AM on January 17, 2013
Kinda proves Te'o was in on the hoax. Anyone disagree?
The other possibility is that a woman visited him claiming to be Lennay Kekua. But she wouldn't match the photos, which are some other woman. And what would be the point of impersonating somebody else while dating a big-time college athlete?
I hope this doesn't mean A.J. McCarron's girlfriend is fake.
posted by rcade at 07:29 AM on January 17, 2013
Brooklyn Decker posted this on Twitter: ".@andyroddick Surprise!!!! HOAX!! I don't exist."
posted by rcade at 07:42 AM on January 17, 2013
Just wondering if someone could make up a story such as this due to an alternative lifestyle that may not necessarily mesh with the culture of big-time college football? A guy makes up a relationship with a female, who nobody sees, in order to keep attention off him as to why he's never "hooking up" with females? Don't want to piss anyone off with that notion, but it could make sense.
It does make sense, but I would think that if one is using a fake girlfriend to stay on the down-low, one wouldn't end up talking about that girlfriend's death to the press. It seems like asking for trouble and further investigation. That's just me, though.
I'll admit that it's a "nicer" option for what's really going on than "he was deliberately doing it to gin up a nice back story for a Heisman run".
posted by Bonkers at 08:53 AM on January 17, 2013
What did Brent Musburger have to say about her?
posted by Knuckles at 09:01 AM on January 17, 2013
I'll admit that it's a "nicer" option for what's really going on than "he was deliberately doing it to gin up a nice back story for a Heisman run".
The only problem with the "Heisman" angle is that the girl died before game four of the season. It was a little early to be using that chip as he wasn't really in the picture for the award until a few weeks later.
As well, having your grandmother die just before the game would have been good enough, right?
posted by grum@work at 09:58 AM on January 17, 2013
I'm still waiting for that one detail that makes at least some sense out of this whole situation. I can't figure out how to react. Should I be disgusted? Amused? Sympathetic? Utter bewilderment seems to be the only reaction I can muster.
posted by tron7 at 10:15 AM on January 17, 2013
"Sounds like a bunch of shit to me, with Notre Dame scampering to help Te'o salvage his reputation. If I recall, they made a big thing about his relationship with this girl during the Heisman show. Just when did the whole "investigation" thing begin?"
I agree with dyams, this sounds like a big load of shit to me. It sounds suspiciously like an idea floated to give an overrated football program the same sort of inspiration that "win one for the Gipper" and Rudy evidently provided. I guess they felt like they needed a little inspiration playing the overwhelming schedule they faced.
This bunch will never affilliate with a football conference because they will be exposed as the mediocre program they are. Their deal with the ACC involves basketball and an agreement to play five ACC games a year. Of course that includes stout competition like Maryland, Boston College, Wake Forest, North Carolina State, North Carolina, Duke and a couple of Big East refugees that I can't really think of at the moment. On the flip side, they'll get Clemson, Miami and Florida State on occasion, but the creampuff factor will insure they get their obligatory 10 wins and be the Irish of old.
posted by jm_mosier at 10:26 AM on January 17, 2013
I am so damned confused by all of this.
posted by jerseygirl at 10:27 AM on January 17, 2013
He's a Mormon, so I guess he thinks it's OK to have imaginary friends and make up fake stories.
posted by owlhouse at 10:38 AM on January 17, 2013
Theory: Te'o really is hoaxed, but he discovers the hoax while his imaginary girlfriend is still alive. Instead of admitting he was suckered, he conspires with the person who tricked him into killing her off. Family members play along and now they have as much reason to lie as the hoaxster, since they're all a party to the deception.
posted by rcade at 11:01 AM on January 17, 2013
If Mister Rogers was still alive, he and Oliver Stone would be fighting over the rights to this story.
posted by beaverboard at 11:14 AM on January 17, 2013
One source close to Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the man suspected of being behind the hoax, says he created Lennay Kekua as far back as 2008 and Te'o "wasn't the first person to have an online 'relationship' with her." So it's entirely possible that Tuiasosopo, from a big Hawaii football family, found marks in other local football productslike Reagan Maui'a. But his story of meeting "Kekua" would mean there was an actual, physical woman involved at one point. Every answer leads to twice as many questions.
(bottom of this article at Deadspin)
posted by grum@work at 11:22 AM on January 17, 2013
Theory: Te'o really is hoaxed, but he discovers...
Sure, why not.
posted by tron7 at 11:31 AM on January 17, 2013
It sounds suspiciously like an idea floated to give an overrated football program the same sort of inspiration that "win one for the Gipper" and Rudy evidently provided
Wow, no.
posted by yerfatma at 11:34 AM on January 17, 2013
So if it shakes out that Te'o was in on this all along, what does it do to his draft stock? Assuming no scouts at all watched the national championship game, is he still a top pick?
And also, thanks for that last one owlhouse.
posted by tahoemoj at 11:41 AM on January 17, 2013
what does it do to his draft stock?
This is pretty uncharted territory, but as long as he doesn't try to tackle things that aren't there in the workouts, he should be OK.
Cromartie told him that the main thing is not to go around having a bunch of imaginary babies out of wedlock.
posted by beaverboard at 11:53 AM on January 17, 2013
He'll probably fit it on the Jets. They had an imaginary Quarterback all year.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 12:16 PM on January 17, 2013
Yeah, but if you want imaginary defense, you have to look to Detroit.
posted by tahoemoj at 12:24 PM on January 17, 2013
Assuming no scouts at all watched the national championship game, is he still a top pick?
I think that's questionable. Someone quoted a scout saying, "We draft guys who rob banks", but I don't think that's quite true and unfortunately for Te'o, a fair bit of his value is tied up in leadership and intangibles*. He's a bit undersized for the position and inside linebackers aren't usually top ten picks anyway.
* Much like his love life. BLA DOW!
posted by yerfatma at 12:38 PM on January 17, 2013
A Notre Dame player "believes Te'o initially fell for a hoax, but carried on with it for the publicity even after he discovered the truth." -- Deadspin
posted by rcade at 01:02 PM on January 17, 2013
Much like Tebowing, Te'owing is where you get down on one knee and talk to someone who isn't there.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 01:04 PM on January 17, 2013
I seriously can't wait until this ALL comes out. And it will.
posted by jerseygirl at 01:20 PM on January 17, 2013
Kind of like the Seinfeld episode where Elaine made up Suzy at the J. Peterman company, then killed her off.
NFL teams would probably prefer players have imaginary relationships with imaginary women. Not many cases on record of guys putting nine bullets into their imaginary girlfriend.
posted by dyams at 01:25 PM on January 17, 2013
Even worse, this guy just took his fallback girlfriend off the market.
posted by tahoemoj at 01:58 PM on January 17, 2013
I have a feeling the truth is going to surface on this pretty quickly. Either he was faking it for sympathy votes/publicity, or he was faking it to hide something about his lifestyle. Either way, it was a very stupid thing to do and will blow up for him even more than it already has.
posted by evixir at 06:17 PM on January 17, 2013
How 'The Simpsons' Explains the Manti Te'o Fake-Girlfriend Saga
posted by NoMich at 10:39 AM on January 18, 2013
kinda makes the gay-darr alert happen just a bit?
posted by Leominster at 07:43 PM on January 18, 2013
So after hearing some of and reading parts of Te'o's interview, if I am to believe his story, then I need to also start believing he is one of the dumbest, most gullible humans on earth.
Also, he would be best served staying away from computers, cell phones, and all other technology. The guy's a sucker just waiting to be taken.
posted by dyams at 11:40 AM on January 19, 2013
Let he among us who never lied to his family and the media to cover up not meeting his dead Internet girlfriend cast the first stone.
posted by rcade at 01:52 PM on January 19, 2013
/puts stone away
posted by NoMich at 02:12 PM on January 19, 2013
Manti Te'o's Dead Girlfriend, The Most Heartbreaking And Inspirational Story Of The College Football Season, Is A Hoax