Manti Te'o: High Character Young Man

[TheAman]

So, all that stuff about his girlfriend dying?  Total hoax.

http://deadspin.com/5976517/manti-teos-dead-girlfriend-the-most-heartbreaking-and-inspirational-story-of-the-college-football-season-is-a-hoax

[Blaze688]

WHAT.  THE.  @#$%.

[Boid Fink]

Uhhhh...for real?

[bucsquad]

Interesting.

Has been a bad month for Teo.

[The Anomaly]

Wow...is there any confirmation of this anywhere?

[-ts]

This is a very weird story.

Manti Te'o will deserve a fall from grace like no other if this is confirmed.

[-ts]

Notre Dame Statement: Manti Te’o

On Dec. 26, Notre Dame coaches were informed by Manti Te’o and his parents that Manti had been the victim of what appears to be a hoax in which someone using the fictitious name Lennay Kekua apparently ingratiated herself with Manti and then conspired with others to lead him to believe she had tragically died of leukemia. The University immediately initiated an investigation to assist Manti and his family in discovering the motive for and nature of this hoax. While the proper authorities will continue to investigate this troubling matter, this appears to be, at a minimum, a sad and very cruel deception to entertain its perpetrators.

Dennis Brown
University Spokesman | Assistant Vice President

I smell cover up.

[TheChronicHotAir]

Te'o claims "he and his parents were victims of a hoax".

No, Surfboy, NCAA fans were a victim of YOUR HOAX!!

[-ts]

I am really curious to see how this is played off. I just cannot see anyway where he could not know about this or not be part of this.

Simply saying IDK, isn't going to be an answer non Notre Dame fans and more importantly prospective NFL teams will accept.

[Benchwarmer#1]

I am still confused about it all after reading this.

Also, -TS, why would it be that bad? Is saying someone is dead, when theyre not, illegal (besides though government channels)? If I said to someone that my grama died just to get out of work, then it got spread out of control, would I be so wrong for keeping the lie to keep my job?

Idk. Just seriously left scratching my head here at this one.

[-ts]

I am still confused about it all after reading this.

Also, -TS, why would it be that bad? Is saying someone is dead, when theyre not, illegal (besides though government channels)? If I said to someone that my grama died just to get out of work, then it got spread out of control, would I be so wrong for keeping the lie to keep my job?

Idk. Just seriously left scratching my head here at this one.

It would be that bad because it was a huge part of his story during the season. He is seen as such a high character individual, a "golden boy". If it is found out he orchestrated the whole thing for the publicity it generated then it would be a terrible fall from grace.

And someone making a lie about a dead grandmother to skip work (which is crappy too) isn't quite the same as feeding the world a story of playing for a dying girlfriend to generate a story for fame.

And I really don't know what to think either, I've never heard of anything quite like this, nor any athlete this much in the spotlight quite stupid enough to do it.

[bucinnj]

I am really curious to see how this is played off. I just cannot see anyway where he could not know about this or not be part of this.

Simply saying IDK, isn't going to be an answer non Notre Dame fans and more importantly prospective NFL teams will accept.

Completely agree, especially in today's information age.
What a weird story!
This kid is gonna drop like a stone in the draft.

[The Anomaly]

If he was a victim then there has to be a third person involved...a girl pretending to be Lennay.  Otherwise, Teo was in on it.  If so, then this is a horrible joke gone bad.  Fake girlfriend is one thing...killing her off and using it as publicity is entirely another.

It is hard to believe that he never MET his own girlfriend.

[youngone]

Wow.

[TheAman]

Here's the thing.  He told a reporter earlier in the year, while he was playing the sympathy tour, that he had met the girlfriend before.  This isn't a hoax on him.