Probably the best piece of investigative journalism I've ever seen.
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Manti Te’o’s Dead Girlfriend, The Most Heartbreaking And Inspirational Story Of The College Football Season, Is A Hoax
Notre Dame's Manti Te'o, the stories said, played this season under a terrible burden. A Mormon linebacker who led his Catholic school's football program back to glory, Te'o was whipsawed between personal tragedies along the way. In the span of six hours in September, as Sports Illustrated told it, Te'o learned first of the death of his grandmother, Annette Santiago, and then of the death of his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua.
Kekua, 22 years old, had been in a serious car accident in California, and then had been diagnosed with leukemia. SI's Pete Thamel described how Te'o would phone her in her hospital room and stay on the line with her as he slept through the night. "Her relatives told him that at her lowest points, as she fought to emerge from a coma, her breathing rate would increase at the sound of his voice," Thamel wrote.
Upon receiving the news of the two deaths, Te'o went out and led the Fighting Irish to a 20-3 upset of Michigan State, racking up 12 tackles. It was heartbreaking and inspirational. Te'o would appear on ESPN's College GameDay to talk about the letters Kekua had written him during her illness. He would send a heartfelt letter to the parents of a sick child, discussing his experience with disease and grief. The South Bend Tribune wrote an article describing the young couple's fairytale meeting—she, a Stanford student; he, a Notre Dame star—after a football game outside Palo Alto.
Did you enjoy the uplifiting story, the tale of a man who responded to adversity by becoming one of the top players of the game? If so, stop reading.
Manti Te'o did lose his grandmother this past fall. Annette Santiago died on Sept. 11, 2012, at the age of 72, according to Social Security Administration records in Nexis. But there is no SSA record there of the death of Lennay Marie Kekua, that day or any other. Her passing, recounted so many times in the national media, produces no obituary or funeral announcement in Nexis, and no mention in the Stanford student newspaper.
Nor is there any report of a severe auto accident involving a Lennay Kekua. Background checks turn up nothing. The Stanford registrar's office has no record that a Lennay Kekua ever enrolled. There is no record of her birth in the news. Outside of a few Twitter and Instagram accounts, there's no online evidence that Lennay Kekua ever existed.
The photographs identified as Kekua—in online tributes and on TV news reports—are pictures from the social-media accounts of a 22-year-old California woman who is not named Lennay Kekua. She is not a Stanford graduate; she has not been in a severe car accident; and she does not have leukemia. And she has never met Manti Te'o.
* * *
Here is what we know about Manti Te'o: He is an exceptional football player. He's a projected first-round NFL pick. He finished second in the Heisman voting, and he won a haul of other trophies: the Walter Camp, the Chuck Bednarik, the Butkus, the Bronko Nagurski. In each of his three seasons as a full-time starter, he racked up at least 100 tackles.
We also know that Te'o is a devout Mormon. When asked why he picked Notre Dame over Southern California, the school he had supported while growing up in Hawaii, he said he prayed on it. "Faith," he told ESPN, "is believing in something that you most likely can't see, but you believe to be true. You feel in your heart, and in your soul, that it's true, but you still take that leap."
We know, further, that Te'o adores his family. Te'o's father said that Manti had revered his grandfather, who died in January 2012, since the day he was born. He ran his sister's post-graduation luau. And he loved his late maternal grandmother, Annette Santiago. (Here's her obituary.)
But that's where the definite ends. From here, the rest of Te'o's public story begins to grade into fantasy, in the tradition of so much of Notre Dame's mythmaking and with the help of a compliant press.
Assembling a timeline of the Kekua-Te'o relationship is difficult. As Te'o's celebrity swelled, so did the pile of inspirational stories about his triumph over loss. Each ensuing story seemed to add yet another wrinkle to the narrative, and details ran athwart one another. Here is the general shape of things, based on occasionally contradictory media accounts:
Read on, at Deadspin: http://deadspin.com/5976517/manti-teos-dead-girlfriend-the-most-heartbr…
What do you make of this... Is anyone else as unsurprised as I am? And does anyone else feel a little scared at how hard someone can media-rape you these days?
All those missed tackles make sense now. Teo was used to trying to embrace imaginary things.
Related note: BH - You catch the Notre Dame follow up? It just seems bizarre that if they knew about it they said nothing.
Also - Teo not getting hoaxed IMO. Just trying to play the sympathy card BIG TIME to get great national attention.
Also- Deadspin just made every other sports news related website (SI, ESPN) along with AP and other look totally fucking awful. Incredible piece of journalism and it looks like Deadspin is the new standard in investigative journalism.
Also-
Brent Musberger says this - "A.J. McCarron's girlfriend is real, and she's spectacular."
Hahaha classic
I have to believe Te'o was in on this..how could he have been fooled about this? And why didn't he even go to her funeral? "Because she didn't want him to miss a game"...ok
Car wreck and then simultaneously diagnosed with leukemia. That's suspicious in itself.
But to your point, I am mildly surprised, yet completely indifferent. Everyone in this society we live in these days is grasping at any narrative that is inspiring, that is the most depressing thing to me.
I am more saddened by the fact that people eat this shit up when there are so many better alternatives to motivating your own existence and aspirations.
It is a completely non-value adding story in the first place and is only given credibility by the media and reporters who give it precedence. On a side note too, (I played sports as well, so don't take offense) I do not care at all about the stories or opinions of any athlete that has ever existed that I've heard of.
his girlfriend is about as real as his national championship ring and heisman trophy, roll tide
Wow.
sends this to friends at ND
if this is true, this is terrible.
unreal, and i actually felt terrible for this guy. amazing article if all of the evidence found is 100%. what a shame on what seemed to be a likable sports figure.
This is broadcasted sports in general. Can't even appreciate them for the game; it's just business.
He was definitely in on it... there's no way he wasn't. I agree with the poster who said what's saddest is that we all love to cling to stories like this, and everyone feels this need to attach some sort of narrative to themselves like it means something and they're boring without it. If even Manti Te'o needs to do it, that's saying something...
Completely insane. Does anyone draft this guy now? Guys see their draft stock drop cause they smoke a joint, what happens to your draft stock if you did this?
Notre Dame released a statement, basically saying he was catfished. He claimed to have met her 3 years ago at a fucking game! More bullshit from college football as usual. Way too many holes and flaws in the scheme for him not to be in on it.
Let's take a leap of faith and assume that Teo's claim is 100% accurate. This would mean that he's a 22 year old virgin (who's a first round NFL draft prospect!) who claimed that someone he never met is his 'girlfriend'. Is that something one would categorize as 'not disturbing'?
I agree that it isn't likely that he wasn't in on it, but to be fair, he is Mormon, so the 22 year old virgin thing isn't that weird on its own (I guess you could look to Tebow and see that while people don't understand it, they accept it). The bigger thing is I just don't see how he couldn't have been in on it, too many things don't add up, if you read the full article the timelines are always in dispute, she supposedly visited Hawaii and his parents claim to have talked to her but they also got duped? I doubt it...
The real surprise to me is that the story didn't break sooner. It must have been exhausting for everyone involved to keep this narrative going. His family and friends had to be in on it for the whole ruse to work. I'm just not sure why he would go through all this trouble when the story was compelling enough given the unfortunate passing of his grandmother. Not sure why he would go through all this risk to his reputation for minimal upside...
College football is so awful. Low quality of play. Gimmicky offenses. Did I mention low quality of play?
Btw, who else thinks Chip Kelly is gonna flop on the Eagles? Steve Spurier "Fun & Gun" 2.0.
Awkward...
Don't you have to get something in order for this to be a scheme? I mean the dude is legit good and this is just a crazy story. What benefit did he receive? One could say sympathy, but his grandmother died a week or two before.
I see this being a cruel hoax on a gullible dude. And if Vick can get signed, so with this dude.
He clearly wanted a national profile as well as favor for his ND team in the eyes of ESPN and the media. This story, along with some lucky breaks, got Notre Dame to the championship and he came in 2nd in Heisman voting (highest ever for a pure defensive player). He definitely knew about this, and he probably started this before his grandma was in grave condition.
And his draft stock will probably fall, but mostly because of his whiffs against Lacy and the Tide last month.
I think you have too much faith in him... too many holes in the story to make me think there's any chance he wasn't in on it. One of his close friends from home Catfished him? No way.
I still don't see the benefit.
1) His grandmother died so he already had sympathy
2) This makes him look creepy at worst and stupid/gullible at best
Also, how did this help ND get to the championship? If having a GF die is the qualification then Ill shove mine in front of a bus to get Syracuse a bowl bid.
And I have zero vested interest in ND. Don't really care one way or another. Just find this really weird.
she's still real to me dammit
pics or it happened
Also, if he really did get duped, he should expect to receive the largest volume of cold-calls for 'special private investment deals' of all time
I know a Nigerian prince who has an investment Te'o might be interested in
Haha.
Notre Dame knew about this in December, ESPN knew about this over a week ago, and none of them said a word until Deadpspin forced their hand. ND should just throw him under the bus and not risk any more ridiculous
So she was an online girlfriend/phone sex only? Kinda like what me and Bankerella had goin' on until she skipped town?
Idk if this has already been posted...but - "Brent Musberger says this - 'A.J. McCarron's girlfriend is real, and she's spectacular.'"
Cool copy paste bro.
Te'o had to be in on it. How can you be "catfished" on something like that? And then if they died, why would you give a shit if you'd never even really met the person, much less make a big thing about it in national media?
Absolutely retarded.
Yeah. Pretty much. Trying to save face I bet. He obviously wanted media attention. I mean Te'o is going to have a crap statement about how he was lied to as well. The entire year every story printed about them states how they met at the ND/Standford game. In fact Deadspin even has the direct quotes from the newspaper (South Bend Tribune).
One of the writers was on tv today saying about how Te'o probably was in on the whole thing and it helped raise his profile for NFL teams. Also that there have been numerous quotes from Te'os about how he was spending time with her (in various interviews).
The whole story isn't over yet. A lot of dirty laundry is yet to be aired. Deadspin probably isn't done owning the asses of every writer who opted to not dig in deeper to the story as clearly there was something wrong. (E.G- no death certificate, 5 different dates in 5 different media sources regarding her death, etc)
Also- one of the writers (Jack Dickey) started his final semester at Columbia as an undergrad. Pretty impressive if you ask me.
I think he's gay. Legitimately.
A lot adds up. I think Deadspin inadvertantly outed him. This is probably the only way that he can come out of this with his rep (relatively) intact regardless if the whole thing was a hoax or not.
Good point. A lot of people also think this may be the case. If he claims he's gay that MAY be the only way he can come out with his rep on top.
And bullshit his family wouldn't accept him. If he goes in the first round his salary is north of $12MM for 4 years and if he is as good a linebacker as everything thinks he is, his future earnings could be pretty high.
And bullshit if he's trying to cover up being gay as a way to look macho in the NFL. A lot of players are a lot more comfortable with the notion of having gay team mates now than ever. In fact there are many players who are currently the voice for equal rights for gays in their city. Chris Kluwe is the first player that comes to mind, but even RGIII filmed a promo at the start of the NFL season about how its ok to have gay team mates.
I'd come out even if I was straight. Great play by him if he pulled that off.
Other strategy for him would be to go the angle of "I was Catfished early, realized it, and lied to keep the public from knowing because it was embarrassing" and that way he could justify his lies from beforehand. I'd try this one if I could set up a good narrative for it to work.
Great article written by Pat Forde about how he's convinced Notre Dame is telling the truth after watching the press conference. This dude goes full-on retard explaining how he "just knows" that Te'o got legitimately duped. Such a joke...
Agreed. If I was in this situation that is the play I would make.
The other strategy won't work. Deadspin has culled a lot of evidence of how many times he has said he has said he met her and hung out with her and son on and so forth. Both in print and on tv. That strategy of his is toast.
Plus Deadspin also said that they will be publishing a comprehensive list of all the respected authors & columnists who didn't do their job in reporting this incredulous story. Looking back on it, it definitely looked a bit too good to be true.
EDIT: Just read the Pat Forde story. I can't believe he has the balls to call out Deadspin for saying that they tried contacting Te'o, Te'os dad and ND and ran the story with no confirmation. They had a mountain of evidence to bury this story and they sure weren't going to wait for it.
Has there even been one guy that came out during his playing career in one of the big 4 sports leagues here? Guys like Amaechi and Wade Davis were retired before they came out. These locker rooms are filled with alpha males (and aside from guys like Kluwe/griffin most are dumb as shit) and I doubt there's any sort of HR intervention like you'd see at a bank if someone gave another guy problems for being gay. Ever see what the Giants did to Amukamara last year?
Two people I do not trust
Teo's father- in one article his dad mentioned how they were together in Hawaii on some occasions. Either he was being fooled (which raises the question: why weren't they the lease bit suspicious?) or the fam was in on it
"Reba" (or whatever they called her) - She never noticed her pictures were being used all over the news until Deadspin tracked her down? She sent a random ass picture holding a random ass sign to someone she doesn't even consider a friend?
And what a coincidence that the man behind the profile is someone they both knew. I don't buy her 'clueless' claim. She probably knows Te'o and Tuiasopo a lot better than she led on.
And why did she ask Deadspin to blur out the additional photos, if the media already has that black and white photo? Because more people could identify her and expose her. And I'm curious to find out what Reba's real name is.
Definitely gay
You guys realize 7 Americans were kidnapped in Algeria, right?
You realize that we can be aware of two stories at the same time, right?
Don't see a 40+ post thread on Algeria.
Dude either got duped, is gay and is trying to cover it or made a dumb mistake. The fact that news stations are covering this non event is the epitome of American stupidity.
We were waiting for you to make one.
Someone just Rick Roll'd the entire world on Twitter... best Alabama fan of all time
The fake account right? That was fucking awesome.
just come out of the closet already
Now it appears his friends are trying to cover him. Tuiasasopo now said to someone that he played the prank using his cousin, and another group of people also said they were victims of Tuiasasopo in the past. Unfortunately one thing they can't cover is everything Teo said BEFORE Dec 6 (the day he claims to have found out). That would mean that he and his father had claimed to see her before they supposedly found out she was fake.
Unfortunately the other thing they can't cover is eveyrthing he said after he found out she was fake either...
http://deadspin.com/5977167/what-did-manti-teo-say-about-his-dead-girlf…
Per Deadspin:
"Also on Dec. 8, Te'o went on ESPN Radio with Freddie Coleman and Mel Kiper Jr. (Starts at the 4:23 mark.)
Coleman: You lose your girlfriend and your grandmother the same week, right? I just want to make sure I've got that correct.
Te'o: "Correct—same day, same day."
Coleman: "Same day. So what do you think both of those ladies would say to you, being a Heisman Trophy finalist?"
Te'o: "I hope that my grandmom, and my girlfriend, would say that they're proud."
That same day, Te'o held a press conference in New York. A South Bend, Ind., TV station later aired it.
"I don't like cancer at all. I lost both my grandparents and my girlfriend to cancer.""
He also played USC in November. Carson (where it was said she was buried) is in LA county, yet he didn't visit her grave? He can play off everything after Dec 6 as "well I was so embarrassed, and it progressed so far I panicked and just kept it going." It's still pretty bad, but everything before Dec 6 is a hell of a lot worse and impossible for any of his friends to cover for.
Clearly his camp has decided to cover for him in order to preserve his draft stock, but just like the hoax itself the cover missed some key bases.
Yeah...That is true too. But whats worse...that the hoax continued this long or the fact that the media was too damn lazy to do anything about it. So many sports writers are saying that they never found crucial pieces of evidence like a death certificate or the fact that a person called Lennay Kekua ever attended Stanford or anything and this should have tipped them off in the first place. Now every writer is publishing a mea culpa story.
Also - now the big question as far as draft stock goes...
If he is THIS fucking gullible/dumb and based on his performance from the national championship game which exposed him to be a pedestrian linebacker at best, then he immediately drops to low 2nd round, high 3rd round AT BEST. I mean, you have to have some smarts to play linebacker in the NFL and clearly he doesn't have even those.
If he's a crazy liar who created an entire girlfriend to hoax a nation into knowing his name for Heisman voting and get him noticed (while his family supported it)...well would you want that kind of integrity in the first round?
What he lacked in skill (he's not Ray Lewis, Patrick Willis, Brian Urlacher, etc.) he made up for in intangibles, character and leadership being two of them. I'm sure pros are already ridiculing him and he will have to work twice as hard as every other rookie to gain respect from his team. I still don't think he'll drop out of the top 20 though, maybe not even the top 10. I REALLY REALLY want the Jets to take him. How much fun would that be?
Thats the issue with this report. Character & leadership? After either being gullible OR a fraud. That shit doesn't fly man. The pros are ridiculing him all over Twitter.
But YES! Oh god do I want the Jets to take him. In the first round too. (Contradicts where I believe he will fall, but adds to the lolz and I am ok with this)
He's definitely not a top 10 pick. I say late first round, somewhere in the 18-26 range. Anyone remember when Mel Kiper had him at #2?
Yea he's definitely a late first rounder. I had a conversation earlier today with my brother about this, not only did his stock for the draft plummet during the BCS game, (Lacy made him look like a boy among men) this whole saga definitely is not helping.
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