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Deadspin: (Notre Dame football player) Manti Te’o’s Dead Girlfriend is a hoax

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Jason Raize '75 - '04 said:
So assuming he fabricated this entire ordeal, do you guys think ND were aware of the entire truth, or did they believe his story of an internet prank?
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He told them December 26th, but the story didn't get out until Deadspin broke it, some 3 weeks later. In the meantime, ESPN and other news outlets ran the story hundreds of times without Notre Dame saying anything. They knew and would have kept it under wraps if Deadspin hadn't exposed it.
 
Wait, if it was completely an online relationship, explain this from that South Bend Tribune article, with the father talking about his interaction with "Lennay":

Kekua, who eventually graduated from Stanford, was, in fact, doing so well that she was released from the hospital on Sept. 10. And Brian Te'o was among those congratulating her via telephone.

Less than 48 hours later, at 4 a.m. Hawaii time, Kekua sent a text to Brian and Ottilia, expressing her condolences over the passing of Ottilia's mom, Annette Santiago, just hours before.

Brian awakened three hours later, saw the text, and sent one back. There was no response. A couple of hours later, Manti called his parents, his heart in pieces.

Lennay Kekua had died.
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Did he just text her or did he talk to her?
 
MiamiWesker said:
You are going to far, he would have had to actually speak to someone first. He claims to have talked to her a ton of times so who was phone?
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Well if he was tricked, the person running the hoax can obviously get some girl to go along with it and fake a voice.

In fact Te'o claims some girl called him late December to come clean. She had the same voice this supposed girlfriend had. That is how he found it was a hoax and then reported it to his coaches at ND.

Still doesn't answer questions about the reports where he claims he met her. Why he didn't Skype chat with her or the various connections between him and the supposed mastermind behind the whole thing.

I can't say 100% he was behind it as well, but all the evidence and reports from before make it seem like he knew all along and went with it. Its one thing to be fooled in the beginning but to carry a relationship on without skype or meeting up seems absurd.

As of now the logical answer is that he was in on it but we just don't know why. If it was simply for publicity/sympathy or because he wanted to fight off rumors that he is gay.
 
cdyhybrid said:
He told them December 26th, but the story didn't get out until Deadspin broke it, some 3 weeks later. In the meantime, ESPN and other news outlets ran the story hundreds of times without Notre Dame saying anything. They knew and would have kept it under wraps if Deadspin hadn't exposed it.
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ND don't have much capita when it come to public credibility, and so you would think they would organise a press conference at the first hint at the media getting word of this story. But they didn't, and so tried to cover it up? It would have been in their best interest to go public after everything that has happened. They themselves never created the lie originally, so why would they risk covering it up?
 
effzee said:
Well if he was tricked, the person running the hoax can obviously get some girl to go along with it and fake a voice.

In fact Te'o claims some girl called him late December to come clean. She had the same voice this supposed girlfriend had. That is how he found it was a hoax and then reported it to his coaches at ND.

Still doesn't answer questions about the reports where he claims he met her. Why he didn't Skype chat with her or the various connections between him and the supposed mastermind behind the whole thing.

I can't say 100% he was behind it as well, but all the evidence and reports from before make it seem like he knew all along and went with it. Its one thing to be fooled in the beginning but to carry a relationship on without skype or meeting up seems absurd.

As of now the logical answer is that he was in on it but we just don't know why. If it was simply for publicity/sympathy or because he wanted to fight off rumors that he is gay.
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Well if you have a woman talking to him on the phone you can just as easily use her to do skype and take pictures of her rather than stealing from other people. It makes no sense.
 
effzee said:
Well if he was tricked, the person running the hoax can obviously get some girl to go along with it and fake a voice.

In fact Te'o claims some girl called him late December to come clean. She had the same voice this supposed girlfriend had. That is how he found it was a hoax and then reported it to his coaches at ND.

Still doesn't answer questions about the reports where he claims he met her. Why he didn't Skype chat with her or the various connections between him and the supposed mastermind behind the whole thing.

I can't say 100% he was behind it as well, but all the evidence and reports from before make it seem like he knew all along and went with it. Its one thing to be fooled in the beginning but to carry a relationship on without skype or meeting up seems absurd.

As of now the logical answer is that he was in on it but we just don't know why. If it was simply for publicity/sympathy or because he wanted to fight off rumors that he is gay.
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The guy apparently running the hoax was a good friend of his
 
Oh, so this was what the sports reporters at work were all riled up about today. I swore one of them was talking about someone reporting that ESPN knew about this like 10 days ago but didn't report it or held off on reporting it. Is that something anyone else has heard? As you can probably tell, I don't follow sports at all. I wish I would have listened closer. I don't have acesss to the AP wire at home, so maybe it was a late write-thru update. Then again websites usually update when there is an AP write-thru update on a breaking story, but I can't find anything on it. Maybe they were talking about a Twitter account or something, but I swear they said that and they take sports super seriously.

You'd figure I'd at least follow Notre Dame football considering my grandfather played for them back in the glory days, but I honestly find watching and trying to follow sports really boring. This is actually the first time I learned that Notre Dame was actually in the national championship this year. (I could be wrong though). Did they win?
 
Jason Raize '75 - '04 said:
ND don't have much capita when it come to public credibility, and so you would think they would organise a press conference at the first hint at the media getting word of this story. But they didn't, and so tried to cover it up? It would have been in their best interest to go public after everything that has happened. They themselves never created the lie originally, so why would they risk covering it up?
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ND football and their image as an upstanding, prestigious institution of higher learning is their biggest concern. They would do anything to protect that leading up to the biggest game they've played in 20 years. They probably planned to throw Manti under the bus if anyone ever found out (which it seems has indeed happened).

They would have made a fortune if the football team had won the championship, especially being led by Te'o and his "courage" in the face of "tragedy". A media circus like this breaking out around the football team would hurt their chances of winning the game.
 
Jason Raize '75 - '04 said:
ND don't have much capita when it come to public credibility, and so you would think they would organise a press conference at the first hint at the media getting word of this story. But they didn't, and so tried to cover it up? It would have been in their best interest to go public after everything that has happened. They themselves never created the lie originally, so why would they risk covering it up?
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You're absolutely right the best thing to do would be to admit being duped immediately after finding out.

But they would have been embarrassed right before the title game. So they fell back to what they know. It's like lying to your parents about doing poorly in a clas. You know eventually they'll find out and the consequences will be worse than if you just would have told them in the middle of the semester. But until then, you're free of the consequences and won't have to worry about it until the end of the semester (or in this case, season).
 
effzee said:
Well if he was tricked, the person running the hoax can obviously get some girl to go along with it and fake a voice.

In fact Te'o claims some girl called him late December to come clean. She had the same voice this supposed girlfriend had. That is how he found it was a hoax and then reported it to his coaches at ND.

Still doesn't answer questions about the reports where he claims he met her. Why he didn't Skype chat with her or the various connections between him and the supposed mastermind behind the whole thing.

I can't say 100% he was behind it as well, but all the evidence and reports from before make it seem like he knew all along and went with it. Its one thing to be fooled in the beginning but to carry a relationship on without skype or meeting up seems absurd.

As of now the logical answer is that he was in on it but we just don't know why. If it was simply for publicity/sympathy or because he wanted to fight off rumors that he is gay.
Click to expand...

One of the reasons why I entertained the official explanation being legit was because the story explained in the Deadspin article - of elaborate internet pranks involving a 'girl' - are not really that uncommon or far-fetched as they seem. It can definitely work if the guy falls for her; he can be duped for weeks or months if the prankster is well prepared. I've seen it work
 
Jason Raize '75 - '04 said:
One of the reasons why I entertained the official explanation being legit was because the story explained in the Deadspin article - of elaborate internet pranks involving a 'girl' - are not really that uncommon or far-fetched as they seem. It can definitely work if the guy falls for her; he can be duped for weeks or months if the prankster is well prepared. I've seen it work
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I can buy ND not knowing and then trying to hold the story until they did their own internal investigation but nothing revealed so far makes me lean towards Te'o's side of the story. So far it seems like he was a part of it and then when it started falling apart he decided to come clean but only to play a victim himself.

He had to know this was going to come out.
 
I've never even heard of that guy before reading this thread and everything I know about Notre Dame or college football comes from Rudy, but this story is just amazing!

I can't wait for his interview with Oprah.
 
Can either theory be proven? ND fans and others will accept Te'o's story. Others will not. I guess it depends on whether Tuiasosopo throws Te'o under the bus
 
ElectricBlanketFire said:
I find this impossible for anyone who regularly follows the national news.

And I'm not a college sports fan either.
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I usually pay attention to national politics and stuff, but I honestly don't follow sports at all. I never read the sports section. I haven't watched ESPN in probably 15 years ever since I got my own place and wasn't subjected to my brothers' or roommates' watching ESPN 24 hours a day. I honestly just do not like sports. I can't even tell you who is in the running for the Super Bowl this year or if they've even played it. I'm thinking they haven't.The Ravens are still in the running right? For the past several years I've worked on Sundays, so I don't even get to watch football if I wanted to. I do, sometimes, watch the Super Bowl.

You have to understand I grew up with two older brothers and a dad who were totally obsessed with sports. For somene who hates sports, it's been very refreshing not to even have to think about them or watch them for the past several years.

I do like the world cup though.
 
Pedrito said:
I've never even heard of that guy before reading this thread and everything I know about Notre Dame or college football comes from Rudy, but this story is just amazing!

I can't wait for his interview with Oprah.
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....Psst, Rudy was fake too. And Joe Theisman changed the pronunciation of his name to rhyme with Heisman at the behest of the school so he would have a better chance of winning the Heisman trophy. Notre Dames history is a landscape of lies. I bet they all arent even Irish.
 
Hahahah goddamn

12/6 - Manti supposedly receives call from dead girlfriend, realizes it's a hoax
12/8 - Manti on twitter: "I lost my girlfriend to cancer"


YES ALL VERY PLAUSIBLE
 
I don't understand why this thread is so many pages. The bigger the lie, the more likely people will lap it up. He fabricated a story to make himself look like a hero and you know what, it almost worked.
 
ThisWreckage said:
I don't understand why this thread is so many pages. The bigger the lie, the more likely people will lap it up. He fabricated a story to make himself look like a hero and you know what, it almost worked.
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I don't understand this post. What does your first sentence have to do with the other two?
 
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