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

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K.Jack said:
My issue is that the amount of naiveté I'm being asked to swallow is incredible.

I can't get past why he never visited her, and didn't go to the funeral. I mean, he's on ESPN giving these solemn interviews about how beautiful she is and how he loves her, but he never showed her the support of being by her side? That doesn't add up.
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Virginesque Mormon. The girl was just his friend for 2 years, then they apparently got more serious.. then she was in a bad car accident.

He plays for ND Football and he's probably training all summer after that.

She gives him many excuses why he doesn't need to visit, playing on the virginesque Mormon thing. 2 spiritual people in love don't need to meet in person.. he's busy training, and then playing football.. this hoaxer feeds his ego surrounding that, supports his football, etc.

It's a convenient excuse to him subconsciously.. he has no experience with girls, so a girl that doesn't demand he meets up with him works for him on some level. He's also buying into the hero-story in his head.. "Wow, I'm awesome, I don't even have to meet this person but I'll still devote myself to them, and spend all night chatting with them."

Perhaps all night online chats become all-night phone calls in his retelling of the story.

OR.. he made the entire thing up.. but he'd apparently been in contact with this person for almost 3 years.. so it would be a really long hoax in the making "For him".. not so long of a hoax for someone to be an "online friend" for 2 years and then have it heat up for 6 or so months and then end in a fake death.

Partly devil's advocate here as usual, but there are explanations.

A person so easily duped is going to exhibit a lot of dishonest behavior.. as the entire thing involves the dishonest state of lying to oneself in order to convince your subconscious that you aren't being duped.
 
Patryn said:
Looks like Deadspin posted their followup story. I'd link, but my work's firewall blocks Deadspin.
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"Here’s Everything The Media Screwed Up In Reporting The Story Of Manti Te’o’s Fake Dead Girlfriend"
http://deadspin.com/5976666/heres-e...-the-story-of-manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend

It's a list of "facts" the media reported (often contradicting one another) about Lennay Kekua. It also outs which organizations presented these items as facts in their reporting.

  • When was Lennay Kekua born?
  • Did Lennay Kekua attend Stanford?
  • How did Lennay Kekua and Manti Te'o meet?
  • When was Lennay Kekua's life-threatening car accident?
  • When was Lennay Kekua diagnosed with cancer?
  • When did Lennay Kekua die, and did she die before or after Te'o's grandmother?
  • Where was Lennay Kekua's funeral?
 
nVidiot_Whore said:
Virginesque Mormon. The girl was just his friend for 2 years, then they apparently got more serious.. then she was in a bad car accident.

He plays for ND Football and he's probably training all summer after that.

She gives him many excuses why he doesn't need to visit, playing on the virginesque Mormon thing. 2 spiritual people in love don't need to meet in person.. he's busy training, and then playing football.. this hoaxer feeds his ego surrounding that, supports his football, etc.

It's a convenient excuse to him subconsciously.. he has no experience with girls, so a girl that doesn't demand he meets up with him works for him on some level. He's also buying into the hero-story in his head.. "Wow, I'm awesome, I don't even have to meet this person but I'll still devote myself to them, and spend all night chatting with them."

Perhaps all night online chats become all-night phone calls in his retelling of the story.

OR.. he made the entire thing up.. but he'd apparently been in contact with this person for almost 3 years.. so it would be a really long hoax in the making "For him".. not so long of a hoax for someone to be an "online friend" for 2 years and then have it heat up for 6 or so months and then end in a fake death.

Partly devil's advocate here as usual, but there are explanations.

A person so easily duped is going to exhibit a lot of dishonest behavior.. as the entire thing involves the dishonest state of lying to oneself in order to convince your subconscious that you aren't being duped.
Click to expand...

Take it with a grain of salt but word from some of his teammates is that he had been hooking up with other girls on campus the whole time.

http://deadspin.com/5976762/manti-teos-teammates-had-their-doubts-about-lennay-kekua
 
Koomaster said:
As I said earlier, I have a long distance boyfriend I met online and we talk on skype all the time. But neither of us have webcams so we don't see each other while we do it. So it's not completely unusual that Manti never saw this 'girl' on webcam.
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I had a relationship with a girl online for two years and we never saw each other. Sent stuff in the mail, sent photos, talked, chatted, but never in person or even on webcam.

The thing to understand about it is that it is not the same as a real life relationship. I would not have gone to the funeral if she suddenly died. It was not an "exclusive" relationship. It's not nothing either though. It sounds weird, but it could (and did) end completely all of a sudden with hardly a second thought, but it also felt deep at times and for those two years I easily talked with her more than anyone else in the world. And sometimes these things do develop into lasting real life relationships.

So the fact he never went to see her doesn't surprise me at all, even if he is telling the truth. It could have just been a different kind of "relationship", difficult to describe because it isn't what we think of with the word. And he could have been exaggerating it either out of embarrassment, or just wanting to be seen as having a girlfriend.

It could also be that he became very suspicious, but not totally convinced it was a fake. So he doesn't have to be unbelievable gullible. Maybe he eventually became 90% sure it was fake, but he kept acting like it was real because he didn't know for sure, and was embarrassed.

Having said that, I still don't believe him, because it seems like he put it out there more than he would have if it was true. I'm just not convinced he made it up.
 
BravesCountry said:
Take it with a grain of salt but word from some of his teammates is that he had been hooking up with other girls on campus the whole time.

http://deadspin.com/5976762/manti-teos-teammates-had-their-doubts-about-lennay-kekua
Click to expand...

I was curious if that would come out.

Doesn't fit him actually being virginesque..

But.. again.. devil's advocate..

He still has to portray himself as such to his Father. Who has been asking him about his love life probably in a concerned religious father way.. he's also expected to talk like some virgin do-goder to the media, so the hoax becomes his easy way of describing himself as this great guy who is devoted to his GF in California, meanwhile he bangs girls at parties on his off days.

No matter what: he talked up the entire thing.. so whether behind it all, or hoaxed by it all.. he invented an exaggeration surrounding it.
 
TangoAlphaLima said:
Do people still vehemently hate Notre Dame, despite their total lack of success over the past 2 decades and recent drubbing in the national championship game? Shouldn't people hate Alabama more?
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When you prove that you can play big time college football with out taking thugz and your actually care about graduating players people are gonna hate.
 
For teo not to be in on it there would have to be a woman who acted for three years on the phone to care about this man. There would have had to be a cast of actors to become her fake family. She had to come up with excuses as to why they couldn't meet when he played against Stanford and teo had to accept them.

Then teo would have to be gullable enough to fall for all this. Had to be so emotional about this that he invented meeting with her, created fake elaborate lies that even his parents were involved in. The. He had to be stupid enough to want to Continue this fake relationship with the actress after he found out it was all a lie.

How does any of that sound plausible?
 
Thought I would point out something about one of Manti's father's quotes:

"They started out as just friends," Brian Te'o said. "Every once in a while, she would travel to Hawaii, and that happened to be the time Manti was home, so he would meet with her there. But within the last year, they became a couple. "And we came to the realization that she could be our daughter-in-law. Sadly, it won't happen now."
Click to expand...

So to the point being made about how his not seeing her for so long might make sense because they were only "friends" for the first two years doesn't seem to hold water because the father at least believed she was visiting him before they were labelled as a couple. Assuming he isnt lying, Brian thought they were more than mere Internet friends. And that quote is from October 12.
 
Betting on this dude is actually gay. His partner is the one who made up this fake girlfriend. (Being gay in the NFL is probably a big no-no. And the religious fans he has would most likely all go away.) The lie got too big and the possibility of someone finding out got too large (clearly) so they had to find a way out of it.
 
MiamiWesker said:
For teo not to be in on it there would have to be a woman who acted for three years on the phone to care about this man. There would have had to be a cast of actors to become her fake family. She had to come up with excuses as to why they couldn't meet when he played against Stanford and teo had to accept them.

Then teo would have to be gullable enough to fall for all this. Had to be so emotional about this that he invented meeting with her, created fake elaborate lies that even his parents were involved in. The. He had to be stupid enough to want to Continue this fake relationship with the actress after he found out it was all a lie.

How does any of that sound plausible?
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Its so dumb. I just can't accept his victim of a hoax claim without him coming forward- we need the perpetrators, records, emails, etc. Its on him to show this.
 
One way or another, he's a liar. He was either complicit in the whole thing, or exaggerated the extent of the relationship to a ridiculous degree with friends/family/media. There is absolutely no way in hell he was completely innocent here. The only question is how much he knew, when he knew it, and the reasons why he continued to perpetuate a lie.
 
MiamiWesker said:
For teo not to be in on it there would have to be a woman who acted for three years on the phone to care about this man.
Click to expand...

They were only friends for over 2 of those years. The 3 year thing includes him being online friends with this person, not necessarily any phone talking... or maybe very little, but remember she was in an accident.. and then sick.. she could have used "I'm tired, I can't talk on the phone much", etc.

There would have had to be a cast of actors to become her fake family. She had to come up with excuses as to why they couldn't meet when he played against Stanford and teo had to accept them.
Click to expand...

There was only her fake sister that I saw.. and it fits the pattern of him exaggerating that he would conflate the one sister into "her family supports me", etc.

Then teo would have to be gullable enough to fall for all this. Had to be so emotional about this that he invented meeting with her, created fake elaborate lies that even his parents were involved in. The. He had to be stupid enough to want to Continue this fake relationship with the actress after he found out it was all a lie.
Click to expand...

Telling your father that the girl you've only met online, is someone you first met in person is not that elaborate of a lie. Nor is continuing to lie telling your father you also meet with the girl from time to time. Then once he sick/media stuff started he'd have to repeat the lie.

How does any of that sound plausible?
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You make really good points about the Stanford game stuff.. but again.. she was supposedly sick.. now why he wouldn't have at least attempted to visit the hospital?

It's certainly seems quite probable that he made the entire thing up.

It's still possible he was a person hoaxed who exagerated an online relationship.
 
Dmented said:
Betting on this dude is actually gay. His partner is the one who made up this fake girlfriend. (Being gay in the NFL is probably a big no-no. And the religious fans he has would most likely all go away.) The lie got too big and the possibility of someone finding out got too large (clearly) so they had to find a way out of it.
Click to expand...

A way out of what? If you don't want anyone to find out, you go on a few chaste, Mormon-y dates with a few real girls.

Or you create a fake girlfriend out of thin air, date her for several years, and kill her!
 
JohnsonUT said:
If you subscribe to the beard theory, she was invented as a reason why he was not taking advantage of all the girls who were probably throwing themselves at him. Look at any star college football player and see how many girls they get and the quality of girls they get. Inventing a girlfriend gives you an excuse for not hooking up all the time. Another strategy would be to go with the religion card(see Tebow, Tim).

It is possible he got tired of actively keeping up the charade. Maybe it was too much work keeping the story and the tweets going (see the Seinfeld episode about Elaine and Susie). If you just break up with her then you are expected to start dating again within weeks. If the love of your life dies, then you could always play the "I am not ready yet" card. The flaw with this theory is it involves forward thinking which seems in short supply. More than likely, she was killed off for attention.
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all of this.
 
Zigzz14 said:
When you prove that you can play big time college football with out taking thugz and your actually care about graduating players people are gonna hate.
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Oh, look. It's that chickenshit, lifelong Domer who hasn't shown his head back in the CFB thread since the beatdown.
 
98ef6015_teojob2.gif
 
Even though it’s a stretch, I get the idea that he sometimes long distance relationships happen and people don’t meet for long periods
of time. The part that, for me, throws a wrench in all of this is that once he found out that this girl who was the “love of his life” and the most amazing person he’s ever met reveals she’s dying (and eventually dies) this all of a sudden is not your average online relationship. Then you have to start wondering why he didn’t go to visit, why he didn’t skip a game (regardless of her wishes) to surprise her or at least be at her funeral services. Why he didn’t try and call or visit her family to console them? That, to me, reeks of bullshit. And him or his advisors trying to threaten litigation will only open this up. Don’t think trial lawyers will start to dig into
phone records, will start to look for receipts for the supposed flowers he sent. To where? Which funeral home? What address? Where did he get this address? These are questions ND and Te’o don’t want asked, believe me. No way they try and take this to a civil litigation.
 
Ninja Scooter said:
Even though it’s a stretch, I get the idea that he sometimes long distance relationships happen and people don’t meet for long periods
of time. The part that, for me, throws a wrench in all of this is that once he found out that this girl who was the “love of his life” and the most amazing person he’s ever met reveals she’s dying (and eventually dies) this all of a sudden is not your average online relationship. Then you have to start wondering why he didn’t go to visit, why he didn’t skip a game (regardless of her wishes) to surprise her or at least be at her funeral services. Why he didn’t try and call or visit her family to console them? That, to me, reeks of bullshit. And him or his advisors trying to threaten litigation will only open this up. Don’t think trial lawyers will start to dig into
phone records, will start to look for receipts for the supposed flowers he sent. To where? Which funeral home? What address? Where did he get this address? These are questions ND and Te’o don’t want asked, believe me. No way they try and take this to a civil litigation.
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That part really confuses me, he couldn't take two days off to travel to wherever she was and visit her once?
 
jmdajr said:
I hope this dude doesn't end up killing himself.
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The reason this story is funny to me is that (as far as I know) no laws were broken and nobody died. In fact less people died now than before we knew it was fake. And it is always nice to embarrass the corrupt college football world and media coverage of it.

Even if Manti made it all up himself for personal gain I wouldn't really care, other than thinking him to be a jerk. So I don't think there is anything that should push him to being that upset.
 
Dmented said:
Betting on this dude is actually gay. His partner is the one who made up this fake girlfriend. (Being gay in the NFL is probably a big no-no. And the religious fans he has would most likely all go away.) The lie got too big and the possibility of someone finding out got too large (clearly) so they had to find a way out of it.
Click to expand...

Or he's incredibly straight and was ****ing tons of coeds and used the fake girl as a front because of his religion. It's all on the table until he decides we deserve the truth. The only that we know now is that his current story is BS since his prior interviews contradict most or all of it.
 
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