Deadspin Manti Te'o Story

[Hikohadon]

"Kekua's last words" = "Some chick on the phone's last words"

"Most beautiful girl I ever met" = "I met her on the Twitterz, you know."

Either direction feels like a stretch to me. I'm just having a really hard time imaging two 20 yr olds putting so much time and effort into something like this. One 20 yr old fucking with another 20 yr old, and putting that much time and effort into it--THAT, I buy. The guy had to be fucking rollin' off his chair several times a day. But two 20 yr olds saying "This would be some funny shit! OK, we've got it going. Now, we should totally start fucking with people...in about a year from now. Yeah, this is going to be hilarious...in about a year from now. For now, we wait."

You ARE giving them too much credit.

They come up with fake online girlfriend. Just for fun, just like on TV.

Sittin' around stoned one night. What should they do with fake online girlfriend? It was fun at first, but it's gotten kinda old, and they're running out of excuses to why she's always flying off to Swaziland to fight Typhoid when people want to meet her.

"How about she gets hit by a car?"

"How about she gets bone cancer?"

"Why don't we do both?"

"Duuuuuuuuuude!"

[pod2dawg]

I am confused......ND dedicated the game ball to the dead girlfriend after the Michigan win.

Find that damn game ball.

[bookelly]

The other thing, this guy isn't going to survive an NFL locker-room.

His career may be dead before it starts.

Just read how hard Clowney is trolling him on Twitter right now, that shit is going to be child's play.

Sooo...this means he drops to the 6th pick in the 3rd round?

[Hikohadon]

Morman Shmorman. The star linebacker of an undeafeated Notre Dame squad has GOT to be throwing the hammer down live and in stereo.

Yep, unless you're gayer than Tebow, which is pretty damn gay.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[HoodooMan]

"Kekua's last words" = "Some chick on the phone's last words"

"Most beautiful girl I ever met" = "I met her on the Twitterz, you know."

Either direction feels like a stretch to me. I'm just having a really hard time imaging two 20 yr olds putting so much time and effort into something like this. One 20 yr old fucking with another 20 yr old, and putting that much time and effort into it--THAT, I buy. The guy had to be fucking rollin' off his chair several times a day. But two 20 yr olds saying "This would be some funny shit! OK, we've got it going. Now, we should totally start fucking with people...in about a year from now. Yeah, this is going to be hilarious...in about a year from now. For now, we wait."

You ARE giving them too much credit.

They come up with fake online girlfriend. Just for fun, just like on TV.

Sittin' around stoned one night. What should they do with fake online girlfriend? It was fun at first, but it's gotten kinda old, and they're running out of excuses to why she's always flying off to Swaziland to fight Typhoid when people want to meet her.

"How about she gets hit by a car?"

"How about she gets bone cancer?"

"Why don't we do both?"

"Duuuuuuuuuude!"

You'll have to help me with the "just like on TV part." But inside ^ is the problem.

How was it fun at first? How was it fun for the first year? I can't imagine how even a cartoonish needs-a-drool-pan-attached-to-his-facemask-level Dumb LB could possibly think so. According to Deadspin, it starts with:

@lovalovaloveyou nice to meet u too ma'am

— Manti Te'o (@MTeo_5) October 10, 2011

...And unless I'm misunderstanding The Twitterz (a possibility), this "joke" would be the equivalent of you & me deciding to create a fake online personality and beginning that venture with one of us PMing the other a fake message from our new fake online personality. What's the point of that, even?

Then it sounds like it was a couple months (of private messaging fun?!?!?) before Te'o began to publicly tweet relationshipy things to the rest of the world. (It's not too clear the way Deadspin words it, and I'm not going back through a year of Te'o tweets to find out.) At that point, the joke is....? "Ha ha, people think the star player at Notre Dame has a GIRLFRIEND! HA HA HA HA....?!?!?"

This was fun? And it was fun for a year?

It just doesn't make sense to me.

[Hikohadon]

It just doesn't make sense to me.

Nor me.

But Manti was in on this shit, of that I am certain.

I did all sorts of stupid shit in college which I would've never done if I'd thought about it and wasn't stoned. I was actually typing up one example when I realized it sounded too retarded/childish to be repeated.

It's all fun and games until a make-believe girlfriend gets killed.

[Hikohadon]

Oh, and I too had a long distance written communication relationship with a girl in college, but I met her first before said communication began and I made damn sure to get to her campus and seal the deal the first chance I got.

Didn't falling for online "girlfriends" that you've never met go out with the 90's?

[HoodooMan]

But I'll bet it was retarded/childish in a way that made sense!

Two more thoughts:

-The capacity of people to believe what they want to believe is booooouuuuundless.

-How much easier would it be, to be duped like this by someone who knows you personally, as Ronaiah did Manti? Manti--"Omigosh! She's hot, her favorite movie is Toy Story 3 just like mine, and she, too, thinks cigarettes and caffeine are evil! I'm positively swoooooning!"

[Hikohadon]

But I'll bet it was retarded/childish in a way that made sense!

Two more thoughts:

-The capacity of people to believe what they want to believe is booooouuuuundless.

-How much easier would it be, to be duped like this by someone who knows you personally, as Ronaiah did Manti? Manti--"Omigosh! She's hot, her favorite movie is Toy Story 3 just like mine, and she, too, thinks cigarettes and caffeine are evil! I'm positively swoooooning!"

In this interview, he says he talked to her every night (oh, and he met her).

So if he was "duped", it was by some girl that apparently talked to him every night (for over a year? - the timeline keeps shifting), then faked her death (planned by her "with others" according to ND, no less) for no reason other than playing a hoax on him ("Oh, he thought I really died, did you see his face? Hahahaha!").

And somehow this girl that was duping him was never around to perpetuate the fraud when other people called, they always got Manti's buddy Ronaiah instead.

That makes a lot less sense to me than Manti was involved and is now going full Lance Armstrong to save face.

[motherscratcher]

Guys, I have to come clean. There is no motherscratcher. I made him up. I figured creating an over-the-top ass hat like that would have tipped you all off but when it didn't, well, I decided to run with it and have some fun, see how ridiculous I could go. Rambling, incoherent posts, cartoon character nature, all of it a sham.

I don't know who should be more ashamed, me for perpetrating that ridiculous board presence here or you guys for falling for it. Seriously, how many dentists are that dopey and have that much time for tomfoolery.

You're all idiots.

Dude, nobody is buying it. I know you'd like to take credit for my illustrious posting history, but you've posted too much here as Peeker for people to believe you could possibly post such consistently hilariously clever yet insightful things as I do. For example; the post from a few weeks ago where I paraphrased half of a Survivor song about Chip Kelly.

That was awesome. And out of your league.

You shot too high. It would be like Molly Hatchet saying that they were actually the Beatles and they did it as a goof. Makes no sense.

Instead of me, you should have said FUDU. Much more realistic.

[bookelly]

Guys, I have to come clean. There is no motherscratcher. I made him up. I figured creating an over-the-top ass hat like that would have tipped you all off but when it didn't, well, I decided to run with it and have some fun, see how ridiculous I could go. Rambling, incoherent posts, cartoon character nature, all of it a sham.

I don't know who should be more ashamed, me for perpetrating that ridiculous board presence here or you guys for falling for it. Seriously, how many dentists are that dopey and have that much time for tomfoolery.

You're all idiots.

Dude, nobody is buying it. I know you'd like to take credit for my illustrious posting history, but you've posted too much here as Peeker for people to believe you could possibly post such consistently hilariously clever yet insightful things as I do. For example; the post from a few weeks ago where I paraphrased half of a Survivor song about Chip Kelly.

That was awesome. And out of your league.

You shot too high. It would be like Molly Hatchet saying that they were actually the Beatles and they did it as a goof. Makes no sense.

Instead of me, you should have said FUDU. Much more realistic.

Jennifer

[gotribe31]

Guys, I have to come clean. There is no motherscratcher. I made him up. I figured creating an over-the-top ass hat like that would have tipped you all off but when it didn't, well, I decided to run with it and have some fun, see how ridiculous I could go. Rambling, incoherent posts, cartoon character nature, all of it a sham.

I don't know who should be more ashamed, me for perpetrating that ridiculous board presence here or you guys for falling for it. Seriously, how many dentists are that dopey and have that much time for tomfoolery.

You're all idiots.

But...but...I met him before a Browns game this year! Who did I meet??? WHO DID I MEET??!!??!!??

I feel like how Te'o must feel right now...I will never be able to trust anyone ever again.

[gotribe31]

It will probably be fixed by the time most people click on it, but right now CNN.com's story on Teo goes to a "page not found." Ironic.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/17/sport/man ... ?hpt=hp_c1

[Larvell Blanks]

[motherscratcher]

^^outstanding

[General]

Just another idiot athlete. Imagine this guy on the Browns' Turkey thing that they put the rookies through! He may actually find the farm.

[Larvell Blanks]

If Manti actually fell for this, I can't wait to see his Wonderlic score

[e0y2e3]

Why can't it be both what DooDoo and Hiko think went down?

Te'o was duped for most of the last year by Little Tui (although the phone call thing still kills me) and once he finally figured it out he was becoming SUPER TE'O and he and Tui decided to go out with the biggest bang possible?

[mattvan1]

Brent Mussberger thinks the fake dead girlfriend is hot.

[Hikohadon]

Poor Manti, he lost his girlfriend and his grandmother on the same day.

Poor Manti, he was duped by some mean woman (and her friends) who apparently had no reason to perpetrate an elaborate multi-year hoax other than just spite.

Dude's addicted to public attention, and doesn't care how he gets it. Welcome to the Reality TV Generation.

[idoctribefan]

The story continues to get weirder:

http://deadspin.com/5976734/cardinals-p ... girlfriend

[Hikohadon]

"This was before her and Manti," Maui'a said Wednesday evening. "I don't think Manti was even in the picture, but she and I became good friends. We would talk off and on, just checking up on each other kind of thing. I am close to her family. When she was going through the loss of her father, I was — I offered a comforting shoulder and just someone to bounce her emotions off. That was just from meeting her in Samoa."

Maui'a said Tuiasosopo — whom Maui'a believes is Kekua's cousin — introduced the two. After the initial meeting, Maui'a said he met her at an "after-party" for all of the athletes involved in the camp.

"She was tall," he said. "Volleyball-type of physique. She was athletic, tall, beautiful. Long hair. Polynesian. She looked like a model ..."

Did she also have balls?

[idoctribefan]

Possibly some enlightenment:

First, an ND student who knows Te'o personally commmenting on the situation:

http://collegespun.com/big-east/notre-d ... PguzqGjegP

Next, a Twitter conversation (I don't Twitter, is that what it's called?...a "Twitter conversation"?) between two people who appear to have been in on it.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jpmoore/two-peo ... ke-girlfri

[Hikohadon]

I guess I can buy that Manti had communications online with someone he thought was real - all the while having actual relations with actual girls at ND - then completely over-emphasized the nature of the relationship he had with this person once "she" had the car crash/leukemia thing in order to drum up publicity.

Which is despicable in its own right and makes it damn funny that it came back to bite him in the ass so viciously.

Yet, even before the Michigan State game, Manti Te’o was being questioned by his teammates. Apparently Manti had only “seen” Lennay once — but I assume “seen” was a rather loose term used for “chatted with online” (however, this is extremely complicated to understand since they were reportedly talking since 2009, according to the Te’o family). The debate among teammates wasn’t whether or not Manti actually knew this girl — it was clear that they had been in contact; no, players just didn’t think that it was fair to call Lennay Kekua Manti’s girlfriend, period (it is well-known on campus that he has had relations with other girls during his time at Notre Dame). They recognized what was going on for what it was — a terrible publicity stunt used to fuel Manti Te’o's Heisman campaign. In fact, many of the players privately commented that they didn’t want the students to wear leis in support of Manti and wouldn’t participate themselves — they cited that the team never responded so publicly to tragic events for other players. But there was also the feeling that Manti didn’t deserve to benefit from publicity from the death of somebody he barely knew.

Manti must have known how beneficial this publicity would be in a season that marked Notre Dame’s return to the national elite, and one that also put him squarely in the Heisman race. As a defensive player, you can’t win the prestigious award without exceptional circumstances — and here one had conveniently fallen into his lap. So he went with it, fed off of it, and it riveted the nation. Love for Manti Te’o exceeded that of any player I have ever seen, and even non-Irish fans hailed him as an inspiration. And here’s where it all gets even trickier.

Manti knew that it was over-the-top — his teammates had gotten that sense a long time prior. And now he was in too deep. More and more questions were asked about this fascinating story, and he kept answering them, calling Kekua “the love of his life”, even though he was digging a deeper and deeper hole for himself. And it didn’t help that his family, and specifically his father, Brian Te’o, was also talking about the incident, or lying as it appears.

And yet, despite all of this, I genuinely believe Manti was duped, I truly do. I think Manti was fooled, got caught in a media frenzy and exaggerated their “relationship”. I don’t, however, think he orchestrated the deception. He made the mistake of running with the story rather than admitting the truth about the situation.

[motherscratcher]

Yeah, that's making the most sense to me right now. Dude thought she was real, and bought into everything online, and when she died he completely overplayed and embelished what was going on when he saw the national reaction to his heartwarming story. She went from "hot-looking girl who I want to bang when I eventually meet her" to "love of my life" after she passed and he was hailed as some sort of god.

After that, of course he alluded to actual meetings. Who is going to run with the heartwarming story if it was all throught the ether? And how would anyone find out otherwise, right? Unless of course she never existed, which is obviously ridiculous.

[gotribe31]

Yeah, that's making the most sense to me right now. Dude thought she was real, and bought into everything online, and when she died he completely overplayed and embelished what was going on when he saw the national reaction to his heartwarming story. She went from "hot-looking girl who I want to bang when I eventually meet her" to "love of my life" after she passed and he was hailed as some sort of god.

After that, of course he alluded to actual meetings. Who is going to run with the heartwarming story if it was all throught the ether? And how would anyone find out otherwise, right? Unless of course she never existed, which is obviously ridiculous.

So wait, is this from Peek or "Motherscratcher"?

[Hikohadon]

Yeah, that's making the most sense to me right now. Dude thought she was real, and bought into everything online, and when she died he completely overplayed and embelished what was going on when he saw the national reaction to his heartwarming story. She went from "hot-looking girl who I want to bang when I eventually meet her" to "love of my life" after she passed and he was hailed as some sort of god.

After that, of course he alluded to actual meetings. Who is going to run with the heartwarming story if it was all throught the ether? And how would anyone find out otherwise, right? Unless of course she never existed, which is obviously ridiculous.

So wait, is this from Peek or "Motherscratcher"?

There is no reference to anyone "swallowing goo", so it must be Mo.

[googleeph2]

Brent Mussberger thinks the fake dead girlfriend is hot.

Funny

It's all fun and games until a make-believe girlfriend gets killed.

Also funny



By the way: Winner: Lance Armstrong

[peeker643]

Yeah, that's making the most sense to me right now. Dude thought she was real, and bought into everything online, and when she died he completely overplayed and embelished what was going on when he saw the national reaction to his heartwarming story. She went from "hot-looking girl who I want to bang when I eventually meet her" to "love of my life" after she passed and he was hailed as some sort of god.

After that, of course he alluded to actual meetings. Who is going to run with the heartwarming story if it was all throught the ether? And how would anyone find out otherwise, right? Unless of course she never existed, which is obviously ridiculous.

So wait, is this from Peek or "Motherscratcher"?

There is no reference to anyone "swallowing goo", so it must be Mo.

Just wait til the Browns draft this dumb fuck and a sizeable portion of the fanbase forget all this and rejoice in the pick. And believe me, the dumber and worse Te'o gets the more convinced I'll be the Browns will trade up to take him with the 3rd pick in April. They're made for each other.

[Bayou Tribe]

I heard Te'o wanted to break up with her during the summer, but the sex was unreal.



:rimshot:

[Hikohadon]

This tweet by Te'o welcoming Fake Girlfriend's Fake Sister to Twitter is amusing on several levels:



EDIT - Also note that the tweet is about 2 months after Fake Girlfriend "died".

[peeker643]

This tweet by Te'o welcoming Fake Girlfriend's Fake Sister to Twitter is amusing on several levels:



EDIT - Also note that the tweet is about 2 months after Fake Girlfriend "died".

So you're referencing Twitter and posting screen shots but not on it or using it as newsfeed/Comedy channel?

Poser.

[Hikohadon]

This tweet by Te'o welcoming Fake Girlfriend's Fake Sister to Twitter is amusing on several levels:



EDIT - Also note that the tweet is about 2 months after Fake Girlfriend "died".

So you're referencing Twitter and posting screen shots but not on it or using it as newsfeed/Comedy channel?

Poser.

Yes.

Bitch.

[peeker643]

This tweet by Te'o welcoming Fake Girlfriend's Fake Sister to Twitter is amusing on several levels:



EDIT - Also note that the tweet is about 2 months after Fake Girlfriend "died".

So you're referencing Twitter and posting screen shots but not on it or using it as newsfeed/Comedy channel?

Poser.

Yes.

Bitch.

Okay. Now that that's cleared up...

You still have a flip phone? Boom box? Discman?

Grandpa.

[Hikohadon]

Just cuz all the kids are using Twitter and watching Reality TV shows like Catfish does not make them less stupid.

I actually love technology (as my bank account can attest), but only if it is useful to me, an advancement of some kind that betters my life in some small way.

Twitter (and Facebook for the most part) is the opposite of that. I want LESS social media in my life, not more.

There is no reason to fuck with actual Twitter when people will post relevant tweets in posts/articles/etc. And what is relevant (to me) on Twitter probably comprises about .0001% of tweets.

In this story, it appears that the tweets are relevant since that was apparently the extent of this "relationship" outside of likely fictional meetings and phone calls.

[peeker643]

Just cuz all the kids are using Twitter and watching Reality TV shows like Catfish does not make them less stupid.

I actually love technology (as my bank account can attest), but only if it is useful to me, an advancement of some kind that betters my life in some small way.

Twitter (and Facebook for the most part) is the opposite of that. I want LESS social media in my life, not more.

There is no reason to fuck with actual Twitter when people will post relevant tweets in posts/articles/etc. And what is relevant (to me) on Twitter probably comprises about .0001% of tweets.

In this story, it appears that the tweets are relevant since that was apparently the extent of this "relationship" outside of likely fictional meetings and phone calls.

Just because a lot of idiots watch TV doesn't make TV dumb. You just have to sort through longer to find things worth watching. So it is with Twitter. There is a lot of good/funny to it. Just surprises me that someone like you doesn't use it as a newsfeed though I agree that anything of value trickles down anyway.

I guess I just find it interesting as well as amusing.

Also, for better or worse, I think it's Twitter that has killed the message boards, by and large.

[Hikohadon]

Just cuz all the kids are using Twitter and watching Reality TV shows like Catfish does not make them less stupid.

I actually love technology (as my bank account can attest), but only if it is useful to me, an advancement of some kind that betters my life in some small way.

Twitter (and Facebook for the most part) is the opposite of that. I want LESS social media in my life, not more.

There is no reason to fuck with actual Twitter when people will post relevant tweets in posts/articles/etc. And what is relevant (to me) on Twitter probably comprises about .0001% of tweets.

In this story, it appears that the tweets are relevant since that was apparently the extent of this "relationship" outside of likely fictional meetings and phone calls.

Just because a lot of idiots watch TV doesn't make TV dumb. You just have to sort through longer to find things worth watching. So it is with Twitter. There is a lot of good/funny to it. Just surprises me that someone like you doesn't use it as a newsfeed though I agree that anything of value trickles down anyway.

I guess I just find it interesting as well as amusing.

Also, for better or worse, I think it's Twitter that has killed the message boards, by and large.

Maybe. Twitter is very similar to message boards, so I guess I don't see why I'm so opposed to it.

Maybe I just don't want to open myself up to wasting that much spare time.

[pod2dawg]

I don't see anything wrong with having imaginary girlfriends.

[Larvell Blanks]

Manti is just catching up to what the kid's of the 70's already knew...

[googleeph2]

Imaginary Lover = MSB's Midwest Midnight = Jackson Browne's Rosie

[e0y2e3]

I don't see anything wrong with having imaginary girlfriends.

That explains your relationship with motherscratcher.

[e0y2e3]

Notre Dame and Manti Te'o both issued statements Wednesday night stating that Te'o was the victim of an elaborate hoax in regards to the death of his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, who we now know never existed.

Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick later added detail to that in a lengthy news conference. He told reporters that Te'o was contacted by an alleged perpetrator of the hoax on Dec. 6, while in Florida for the ESPN College Football Awards show, and that a female caller whom Te'o recognized as that of the person he believed to be Kekua told him that she was "still alive."

However, in a Dec. 8 interview with a group of reporters (including WSBT's David McCoy) before the Heisman Trophy ceremony in New York City -- two days, Swarbrick said, after Te'o received that phone call -- Te'o was asked a question about his community service work. He responded, in part, with the following quote:

"I don't like cancer at all. I lost both my grandparents and my girlfriend to cancer."

http://www.wsbt.com/wsbt-20130116,0,7458631.story

[peeker643]

http://oi47.tinypic.com/2a7invt.jpg

[pod2dawg]

LMFAO! ^^^

If T'eo was catfished for nearly 3 yrs.......well that N.D. degree just ain't what it used to be.

[Larvell Blanks]

[Cerebral_DownTime]

Just cuz all the kids are using Twitter and watching Reality TV shows like Catfish does not make them less stupid.

I actually love technology (as my bank account can attest), but only if it is useful to me, an advancement of some kind that betters my life in some small way.

Twitter (and Facebook for the most part) is the opposite of that. I want LESS social media in my life, not more.

There is no reason to fuck with actual Twitter when people will post relevant tweets in posts/articles/etc. And what is relevant (to me) on Twitter probably comprises about .0001% of tweets.

In this story, it appears that the tweets are relevant since that was apparently the extent of this "relationship" outside of likely fictional meetings and phone calls.

I used to to think like than.... then I tried it and found out it's pretty ok.

[e0y2e3]

You're pretty okay CDT.

[peeker643]

You're pretty okay CDT.

Made me cry...