Manti Te'o

[Gismo]

[Gismo]

Weirder and Weirder... Cardinals fullback says he met her and she is real... my guess is that they found someone to act as Lennay to keep the front going, or this guy just has a really bad memory of who he really met. 

 

http://www.thebiglead.com/index.php/2013/01/16/lennay-kekua-manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend-was-real-says-arizona-cardinals-fullback-reagan-mauia-who-claims-to-have-met-her/

Edited January 17, 2013 by Gismo

[outrunner]

Manti Te'o....still a better love story than Twilight.

[Gismo]

Weirder and Weirder... Cardinals fullback says he met her and she is real... my guess is that they found someone to act as Lennay to keep the front going, or this guy just has a really bad memory of who he really met. 

 

http://www.thebiglead.com/index.php/2013/01/16/lennay-kekua-manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend-was-real-says-arizona-cardinals-fullback-reagan-mauia-who-claims-to-have-met-her/

quoting myself, but he could have been in on the hoax too but didn't realize the cover was blown... I almost think this is the case because he said the Ronaiah guy introduced him to Lennay... and that he knew her family? Right. 

[Gismo]

Just got this email.

 

No one is clean in Te’o hoax

by Mark

No one spins stories better than Notre Dame--especially when the news might put the Irish in an unfavorable position.

Which is why the spin doctors in South Bend and beyond were at Defcon 1 on Wednesday evening when it was revealed that the ND's All American linebacker Manti Te'o had been the victim of an enormous hoax, involving a girl friend who became a national story this season when she died of leukemia within hours after Teo's grandmother had also passed away.

Heart breaking, heart-warming as we listened and watched Te'o fight through a personal grief of epic proportions, with his teammates rallying around him in what turned into an unbeaten regular season which sent the Irish to the BCS title game against Alabama in Miami.

Truth was indeed more dramatic than any kind of fiction that could be written in Hollywood or South Bend or South Beach.

 

The only problem was that part of the story was fiction. The part about the young beautiful girl friend, who Te'o talked to on the phone each night and grieved over?

Fiction.

She didn't exist  as the folks at Deadspin revealed in a fascinating article about a story that will have the Hollywood writers fighting  to get the Movie of the Week rights.

It seems the relationship between Te'o and his girl friend took place over the internet and that they never actually met (well how could they since she didn't exist).

Well actually she did, since Te'o talked to someone all of those times on the phone and had a picture of someone.

We won't go into all the details of this since that would test even the internet's capacity for words. But the bottom line was that Te'o learned that this was a hoax shortly after Christmas and then informed ND officials.

The dates are interesting since ND didn't play its game against Alabama until two weeks later and all during that time frame as the game of the century between Alabama and Notre Dame was building to epic proportions, Te'o was being interviewed and his story of tragedy and triumph was repeated and repeated and repeated.

At a hastily scheduled press conference called by ND officials on Wednesday when the news about Te'o broke, ND Director of Athletics Jack Swarbrick defended Te'o, who is still projected as a first round National Football League draft choice this spring.

 

""Every single thing about this was real to Manti," said Swarbrick. "There was no suspicion. The grief was real, the affection was real, and that's the sad nature of this cruel game."

All of that may indeed be true. This was a hoax of massive proportions and there are indeed many sick perverted minds out there who can pull something of this magnitude.

But throughout the season as the story was told and retold with more and more detail by media outlets such as ESPN, Sports Illustrated and the New York Times, there was never a hint by Te'o suggesting that this was a love affair over the internet.

And when Te'o did learn it was a hoax, he kept quiet. So did Notre Dame.  Is there anyone out there who is willing to take the odds of either Te'o or ND saying anything about this if Deadspin had not done a great job to uncover it?

This will pass, of course like all flashy stories with a short shelf life with a public which is always hungry for more recent dirt.

Was there even a consideration of coming forward with the news immediately when they learned about it?

Accounablity is a nice buzz word these days among college officials. But not this time. At least not until someone make them accountable for what happened.

Noo one emerged with clean hands in this one--including the folks under the Golden Dome.

Ya... ND came out and said Te'o got a call from Lennay's # saying that she wasn't dead, and from the same voice he thought was Lennay's some time in December... so wacky...

 

If Te'o really was fooled, or even if he's gay and covering it up, either way I feel really bad for the guy. Both must be incredibly embarrassing and tough to deal with. 

[Gismo]

Best article yet for anyone interested, raises all of the right questions, and claims that ESPN was sitting on this story even before the national championship:

 

http://www.outkickthecoverage.com/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend-breaks-the-internet.php

[tamiamibull05]

How long before Manti Te'o is on Oprah too?

[NCBull]

Best article yet for anyone interested, raises all of the right questions, and claims that ESPN was sitting on this story even before the national championship:

http://www.outkickthecoverage.com/manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend-breaks-the-internet.php

Good read...really accentuates the absurdity of this. Just effing nuts!

[Who'sYourData?]

Two different takes on ESPN sitting on the story.  One is that they didn't want to take away from the National Championship game.  That wouldn't explain why they haven't gone with the story since.  Second is that they couldn't find out enough info to give the story legs.  Bottom line is that it appears the guy from Deadspin is the only one smart and persistent enough to find the girl in the picture.  Considering they are the biggest bully on the block, they break very few stories.  They either don't hire doggedly determined investigative reporters, or they don't want to make any big mistakes so they let other people break the story and they pile on with additional info.  That kind of insulates them from lawsuits and such.  "Hey we were just reporting that another outlet reported something."

[outrunner]

Two different takes on ESPN sitting on the story.  One is that they didn't want to take away from the National Championship game.  That wouldn't explain why they haven't gone with the story since.  Second is that they couldn't find out enough info to give the story legs.  Bottom line is that it appears the guy from Deadspin is the only one smart and persistent enough to find the girl in the picture.  Considering they are the biggest bully on the block, they break very few stories.  They either don't hire doggedly determined investigative reporters, or they don't want to make any big mistakes so they let other people break the story and they pile on with additional info.  That kind of insulates them from lawsuits and such.  "Hey we were just reporting that another outlet reported something."

 

Yet, they (along with the other networks) are willing to run human interest pieces about Lennay Kekua without ever finding her obituary, calling her parents/family, and just taking everything at Manti's word.  The media sure has a lot of egg on their face because they bought the story hook, line, and sinker without ever verifying.