Most Heartbreaking & Inspirational Story Of College Football Season Was A Hoax

[Barrister]

Is this going to come back to bite Notre Dame?  Now it comes out they knew about this story for weeks but didn't say anything.

[merithyn]

Is this going to come back to bite Notre Dame?  Now it comes out they knew about this story for weeks but didn't say anything.

Why would it?

He was the victim of a hoax. The media jumped on the story - which was very real to Te'O - and peddled him as this American hero. What, exactly, did Notre Dame or Te-O do wrong that would somehow harm either of them?

[derspiess]

Okay, so we got another woman who believes Teo's side of the story...

[ulmont]

He was the victim of a hoax.

No, he wasn't.  There are articles where Te'o and his family claimed that the two people had met in person:

Lennay Kekua was a Stanford student and Cardinal football fan when the two exchanged glances, handshakes and phone numbers that fateful weekend three seasons ago.

She was gifted in music, multi-lingual, had dreams grounded in reality and the talent to catch up to them.

The plan was for Kekua to spend extensive time with the whole Te'o family when upwards of 40 of them came to South Bend in mid-November for ND's Senior Day date with Wake Forest.

"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.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Gsq3BkqY4-oJ:articles.southbendtribune.com/2012-10-12/sports/34419536_1_brian-and-ottilia-manti-te-o-irish-head-coach+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

If it was a hoax, Te'o was in on it.

[Barrister]

Is this going to come back to bite Notre Dame?  Now it comes out they knew about this story for weeks but didn't say anything.

Why would it?

He was the victim of a hoax. The media jumped on the story - which was very real to Te'O - and peddled him as this American hero. What, exactly, did Notre Dame or Te-O do wrong that would somehow harm either of them?

Well the jury is still out on whether Te'O was a victim or not.  The Deadspin article believed he was in on it.

But the 'dead girlfriend' was a story repeated many times to the national media.  Once they learned this story was false surely ND had a duty to tell the truth?

[garbon]

Yeah, I'm not sure why the media is running so quickly to a hoax was played on him given what we know he stated about relationship.

[lustindarkness]

I find it hard to believe he was a victim of a hoax here, if he was, he is beyond gullible. Sounds like one of those sick people that make up stuff to get attention. Maybe I am wrong.

[garbon]

I find it hard to believe he was a victim of a hoax here, if he was, he is beyond gullible. Sounds like one of those sick people that make up stuff to get attention. Maybe I am wrong.

I think you're right in that such is what he sounds like.

[merithyn]

No, he wasn't.  There are articles where Te'o and his family claimed that the two people had met in person:

If it was a hoax, Te'o was in on it.

I have a feeling that it was more likely that he was embarassed to admit that he only knew her online. There's still one hell of a stigma to that. Then, as the story grew, he embellished to make her more real, probably to himself and to the public. That certainly seems a lot more likely than he was in on some kind of hoax that could potentially ruin his career.

[ulmont]

I have a feeling that it was more likely that he was embarassed to admit that he only knew her online. There's still one hell of a stigma to that. Then, as the story grew, he embellished to make her more real, probably to himself and to the public. That certainly seems a lot more likely than he was in on some kind of hoax that could potentially ruin his career.

I notice a ring on Te'o's left hand and when I ask about it, he tells me he wears it to keep his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, with him always.

"I wish she could tell me how proud she is. I think that's the hardest thing for me. I can't hear her," he offers.

He pauses, touching the ring on his finger.

"I was talking to her sister this morning, and I just wasn't in the mood. And she asked, `Why are you so grumpy in the mornings?' And I said, `You honestly want to know why I'm so grumpy in the mornings? It's because when I wake up, it hits me again that she's not here.' When I wake up, I can't just call her and hear her voice. When I wake up it's not a dream. It's reality.  She's gone."

http://www.und.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/111612aac.html

That's...quite a bit of embellishing.  Elsewhere Te'o claimed to talk to his girlfriend every single day...

[lustindarkness]

And if he is a victim of a hoax, he is still a liar. He was ashamed to having a internet girlfriend and lied about her, embellished the story, still lying. Liar, not honest, not good, not good Christian...

[merithyn]

I find it hard to believe he was a victim of a hoax here, if he was, he is beyond gullible. Sounds like one of those sick people that make up stuff to get attention. Maybe I am wrong.

He's a kid! Of course he's gullible.

Maybe it's because I've met people online that have pulled that shit, I can totally see how it could have been done to him, and how his response could develop with the spotlight. I was in my 30s when I met people who played these games, so I wasn't quite as quick to believe them, but I can totally see how he could have been taken in.

[merithyn]

I have a feeling that it was more likely that he was embarassed to admit that he only knew her online. There's still one hell of a stigma to that. Then, as the story grew, he embellished to make her more real, probably to himself and to the public. That certainly seems a lot more likely than he was in on some kind of hoax that could potentially ruin his career.

I notice a ring on Te'o's left hand and when I ask about it, he tells me he wears it to keep his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, with him always.

"I wish she could tell me how proud she is. I think that's the hardest thing for me. I can't hear her," he offers.

He pauses, touching the ring on his finger.

"I was talking to her sister this morning, and I just wasn't in the mood. And she asked, `Why are you so grumpy in the mornings?' And I said, `You honestly want to know why I'm so grumpy in the mornings? It's because when I wake up, it hits me again that she's not here.' When I wake up, I can't just call her and hear her voice. When I wake up it's not a dream. It's reality.  She's gone."

http://www.und.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/111612aac.html

That's...quite a bit of embellishing.  Elsewhere Te'o claimed to talk to his girlfriend every single day...

He can't just "call her". They knew one another online and via phone. That's how he's claiming that he found out that she wasn't really dead. Someone called him from the number that he thought of as hers. That's probably NOT embellishment, to be honest. He probably DID talk to her every day... online and on the phone.

The embarassing part for him is that he never met her face-to-face, so he made up a story about how they met.

[merithyn]

And if he is a victim of a hoax, he is still a liar. He was ashamed to having a internet girlfriend and lied about her, embellished the story, still lying. Liar, not honest, not good, not good Christian...

Point conceded.

[ulmont]