• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

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

Status
Not open for further replies.
If he is gay, the best defence for him would be to come out and tell the media.

Then he could say that he made up the girl to reduce the pressure on him for being gay.

He would get real sympathy about how hard it is to be a gay man playing college football, and probably improve his draft stock - every NFL team would want to draft him for the media exposure they would get for drafting a gay man.
 
Chicago Tribune said:
"Notre Dame acknowledged Wednesday that it did not encourage the player to set the record straight before the title game. Instead, officials sat silent while reporters prepared stories about Kekua's fake death, fake leukemia and fake Stanford degree.

"We encouraged him to try to focus forward and focus on the game," Swarbrick said.
Click to expand...

Notre Dame carefully dancing around the fact that not only did they not encourage him to come forward, I'd be willing to bet the actively discouraged him from doing so.

Such are the ethics of Notre Dame: "Lie if the truth will hurt the university."




chicko1983 said:
He would get real sympathy about how hard it is to be a gay man playing college football, and probably improve his draft stock - every NFL team would want to draft him for the media exposure they would get for drafting a gay man.
Click to expand...

On the contrary, no NFL team would want to risk success on the field by introducing a gay man into the locker room. Or, so the story goes.

He'd be a media story but his NFL future would be hazy at best.
 
ElectricBlanketFire said:
It's one of the most bizarre stories in the history of sports featuring an incredibly popular college athlete from one of the most well known universities in the world.

Do you really not understand or are you just being a negative Nancy?
Click to expand...

It's not the least bit shocking to me. It's a little odd, but some people get off on attention so it's not particularly surprising.
 
HiiiLife said:
How plausible though? Any other reason that people are thinking? This is too interesting. Lol. Best sports news ever.
Click to expand...

The other popular theory is that the fake girlfriend was to help keep people from finding out that he's actually gay. Being a Mormon, at a Catholic university, playing football, would give him huge incentive to cover that up if it were true.
 
chicko1983 said:
He would get real sympathy about how hard it is to be a gay man playing college football, and probably improve his draft stock - every NFL team would want to draft him for the media exposure they would get for drafting a gay man.
Click to expand...

I doubt any NFL team would want to draft him simply for a story or attention... except maybe the Jets.
 
Heisenberg said:
I'm confused. Does this confirm it was a hoax and he probably wasn't involved?
Click to expand...

Not really. We know that Manti wasn't running the fake twitter account himself. Doesn't mean he didn't know about it, though. In fact the Deadspin article makes it pretty evident that he very likely DID know about it, considering he personally knew the guy who was collecting "Lennay"'s photos and created the persona.
 
timetokill said:
On the contrary, no NFL team would want to risk success on the field by introducing a gay man into the locker room. Or, so the story goes.

He'd be a media story but his NFL future would be hazy at best.
Click to expand...

Are American hetero men that afraid of a gay man in their changeroom?

There was an Aussie rugby player that came out after he retired from playing. All his teammates said they wouldnt have cared if he had come out while he was playing. Although I know that is easier said than done.

If you have every played football (Ive played Aussie rules football) and been in a changeroom with more than 20 other men, odds are at least one of them was gay. You just didnt know about it.
 
chicko1983 said:
Are American hetero men that afraid of a gay man in their changeroom?

There was an Aussie rugby player that came out after he retired from playing. All his teammates said they wouldnt have cared if he had come out while he was playing. Although I know that is easier said than done.

If you have every played football (Ive played Aussie rules football) and been in a changeroom with more than 20 other men, odds are at least one of them was gay. You just didnt know about it.
Click to expand...

Not all of them. See: Chris Kluwe.

Some of them are very religious and hyper-masculine, though.
 
chicko1983 said:
Are American hetero men that afraid of a gay man in their changeroom?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, though it's obviously not all of them. Attitudes are changing, but it's a slow process. Perhaps even more so in the pro athletic community, where many of them are very religious and masculinity is a badge of honor not to be interfered with by the automatic "femininity" of gay men on the team.

It only takes a few valuable players on the team who are unhappy/insecure about it and the team dynamic is destroyed.
 
timetokill said:
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
Click to expand...

And Dec. 8th, the day he was still posting about his dead girlfriend, just happened to be the day the Heisman was to be awarded. All a giant coincidence, I'm sure.
 
Mr.Awesome said:
Bernstein always qualifies his sources so he's never wrong. Hate that about him. But I could see it being true.
Click to expand...

Yep.

This confirms a second article:

Auman: You found so many discrepancies even among the different stories that had reported on Te'o and his supposed girlfriend. A lot of journalism people are pointing to this as a reminder about the importance of fact-checking at very basic levels, to question everything.

Burke: Tomorrow's article will have all the discrepancies. I don't put this on Manti Te'o. I don't put this on the kid who scammed him if he did it. I put this on the fact-checkers at SI that let Pete Thamel write an article that had a bunch of stuff that didn't happen in it. It's not lazy or bad, it's just sloppy. This is a really great example of what can happen when everybody is sloppy.
Click to expand...
 
chicko1983 said:
If he is gay, the best defence for him would be to come out and tell the media.

Then he could say that he made up the girl to reduce the pressure on him for being gay.

He would get real sympathy about how hard it is to be a gay man playing college football, and probably improve his draft stock - every NFL team would want to draft him for the media exposure they would get for drafting a gay man.
Click to expand...

No, they wouldn't.

In the history of the NFL, where millions of athletes have played, only four men have come out as gay. Four. And all did it after they played.

Why? First of all is the fraternity aspect. I imagine an NFL locker room is like high school turned up to infinity. The hazing, bullying, and politics have to be incredible. Imagine a gay man walking into that. He would have an enormous bullseye on him. I imagine most teams wouldn't draft him for that reason alone, he'd be a massive locker room and team distraction. Just look at Tim Tebow.

The second reason, and I hate to say it, is the religious aspect. Most football owners, players, etc are likely ass-backwards in their politics, and wouldn't want to draft a gay player because he wouldn't be as "tough" as a straight player or some such crap. It's like DADT. You think Jerry Jones, a staunch right-wing Republican, would accept a gay player? I doubt any owner would.

The fact is that unlike the Civil Rights argument, there's still an accepted anti-gay movement in this country. And until that goes away, we won't have our gay Jackie Robinson.
 
GodDuckman said:
No, they wouldn't.

In the history of the NFL, where millions of athletes have played, only four men have come out as gay. Four. And all did it after they played.

Why? First of all is the fraternity aspect. I imagine an NFL locker room is like high school turned up to infinity. The hazing, bullying, and politics have to be incredible. Imagine a gay man walking into that. He would have an enormous bullseye on him. I imagine most teams wouldn't draft him for that reason alone, he'd be a massive locker room and team distraction. Just look at Tim Tebow.

The second reason, and I hate to say it, is the religious aspect. Most football owners, players, etc are likely ass-backwards in their politics, and wouldn't want to draft a gay player because he wouldn't be as "tough" as a straight player or some such crap. It's like DADT. You think Jerry Jones, a staunch right-wing Republican, would accept a gay player? I doubt any owner would.

The fact is that unlike the Civil Rights argument, there's still an accepted anti-gay movement in this country. And until that goes away, we won't have our gay Jackie Robinson.
Click to expand...
It would hurt his draft stock a little, but only because of the big lie, not because he's gay. If he can play, no GM in the league will care. Football is home to deviants and miscreants of all sorts. A gay man is the least of anyone's problems. Really, the issue would be his mental toughness. Would be be able to handle the spotlight as a public gay figure. PEACE.
 
GodDuckman said:
The fact is that unlike the Civil Rights argument, there's still an accepted anti-gay movement in this country. And until that goes away, we won't have our gay Jackie Robinson.
Click to expand...

It's also a lot easier to hide that you're gay, and so if you're gay you're incentivized to just hide it and make your millions. Why be the guy to face all the hardship on your own, and risk your money? Just keep quiet and make ridiculous amounts of money.

You can't exactly hide that you're black (cue Eddie Murphy skit now). So the Jackie Robinson thing was an inevitability.
 
So the guy joking about running the twitter account and selling people out states that he is gay and is Samoan. Could be the possibility of the gf being used to coverup a relationship.

Something doesn't sit right here.

People doing elaborate hoaxes usually aren't the same type of people who openly tweet about the hoax.
 
cdyhybrid said:
Not all of them. See: Chris Kluwe.

Some of them are very religious and hyper-masculine, though.
Click to expand...

That Kluwe guy seems like a good bloke by his wiki page. It would be good for sports if more people were like him.

timetokill said:
Unfortunately, though it's obviously not all of them. Attitudes are changing, but it's a slow process. Perhaps even more so in the pro athletic community, where many of them are very religious and masculinity is a badge of honor not to be interfered with by the automatic "femininity" of gay men on the team.

It only takes a few valuable players on the team who are unhappy/insecure about it and the team dynamic is destroyed.
Click to expand...

The change in attitude has been too slow for too long.

I am not gay but have played in a lot of sports teams (cricket, water polo, Aussie Rules Football). One of my friends was a great footballer but quit before the end of high school. I never understood why as he was a good player, could have been the best on the team. Last year, 10 years since high school, I head he came out.

I havent spoken to him since I heard he was gay but I reckon being gay definitely contributed to why he finished playing. Quiting the team was easier than coming out. Sad.
 
From Wetzel's article:
""It was a cruel, cruel hoax," Swarbrick said. Later, he choked up in emotion over watching one of his favorite players – "the single most trusting human being I've met" – get conned.

How trusting is Te'o? At one point in December, he got a phone call from the number he thought belonged to Kekua, who he believed was dead. He answered and was greeted by the female voice that he thought was Kekua.

Rather than run from a girl who apparently had faked her own death, he tried to restart the relationship, according to Swarbrick."


So apparently Te'o is a complete and utter moron. Why would any NFL GM want to draft this guy, again? I guess they could tell him they'll give him "millions of dollars, but in a few years after the economy recovers" and get him for a lark?
 
Mr.Awesome said:
Dec 12 tweet about this... https://mobile.twitter.com/jayRahz/status/278973792544505858
Click to expand...
This has to be some elaborate experimental art project commenting about life in the digital age, because otherwise -

E2Cxl.gif


This whole thing I mean.
God damn.
 
jay.R @jayRahz 1m
@CeeWeezy IS NOT LENNAY KEKUA.. thats all RONAIAH!!
View details ·
jay.R @jayRahz 4m
everyone needs to hit up Ronaiah Tuiasosopo and get the truth.. the truth will set you free!!
View details ·
jay.R @jayRahz 6m
A few accounts tweeted me back w/ Ronaiah's picture and tagged @LennayKay which is how Ronaiah found out.. all I did was tweet..
View details ·
jay.R @jayRahz 7m
i didnt even know Manti Teo's "girlfriend"'s name til way after she supposedly died.. when i found out it was Lennay.. i tweeted about it!
View details ·
jay.R @jayRahz 8m
we caught Ronaiah's persona as Lennay Kekua back in 2008 and ended all ties with him..
View details ·
jay.R @jayRahz 11m
Okay this is getting way out of hand.. everybody is tweeting that i had something to do with this scandal.. thats so far from the truth!
View details ·
 
Notre Dame player said:
“We would never bring it up. But we would look at him when he would get all emotional during media about his girl,” the player said.

When asked if he thought Te’o was a good actor, the player replied, “Very good.”
Click to expand...

:jnc called out as a liar by one of his own teammates
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Notre Dame Cathedral re-opens
Event Science 
11
1K
Trogdor1123 replied
THE BEAUTY OF FOOTBALL
2
54
712
Ellis replied
Napster Music Service Is Dead, Again...
21
605
Toots replied
Anyone using a Digital Audio Player?
11
294
Cyberpunkd replied
  • Poll
Football (Soccer) game is abandoned because a fan used sexist language towards the ref.
24
587
T8SC replied
Top Bottom