Crazy article about Notre Dame player Manti Te’o - Says dead girlfriend is a hoax

[TUA TAGOVAILOA]

 

[Stress Welker]

The big question is: What did he know and when did he know it? We may never get a straight answer from Te'o. Nor from his family, who have thrown hissy-fits anytime the media doesn't work as Manti's PR agency. But what about those who spent the most time with Te'o over the last few years. According to reports, Teo's teammates had suspicions about Lennay Kekau going back to the beginning of this season.

Sports reporter Jackie Pepper spoke to a member of the Notre Dame football team who declined to be named. That player said Te'o's story didn't add up, but they never confronted him about it.

The Notre Dame football player, who asked for anonymity, told Pepper On Sports, "No we all knew he had only seen her once. But when the media was saying how he went through both deaths we knew," said the source, referring to the back-to-back deaths of Te'o's grandmother and girlfriend Lennay Kekua, who allegedly died of Leukemia.

[...]

In response to my follow-up question asking if the source thought that Te'o kept the story going because of the media attention, the player replied, "Yeah. Right after the Michigan [State] game. He should have never brought her in the media. His grandma passing was enough."

Notre Dame's victory over Michigan State and subsequent media explosion appears to have been the turning point for the source and many of his teammates.

The source said while the players discussed their suspicions amongst themselves, they never confronted Te'o.

"We would never bring it up. But we would look at him when he would get all emotional during media about his girl," the player said.

When asked if he thought Te'o was a good actor, the player replied, "Very good."

That player believes Te'o initially fell for a hoax, but carried on with it for the publicity even after he discovered the truth. That fits with what Tyler Moorehead, the Notre Dame rep for college sports network College Spun, recounts from the on-campus gossip:

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.

Last night, AD Jack Swarbrick hitched his and the university's wagon to Te'o's flawed version of events. The crux was that Te'o only learned he had been hoaxed on Dec. 6, and the university didn't find out until Dec. 26. But if Te'o's teammates knew something was up going back to September, and he continued to repeat the lie to reporters throughout the season, then something doesn't add up with his story. And remember, it's Notre Dame's official story now, too.

 

[boskey]

For the record, ESPN is 90% responsible for this. Only reason this is news is becuz they've been selling this story all year. Players lose loved ones all the time, players lie all the time. And noone cares until they make us care. This lie shouldve never left South Bend.

I don't know much about the rules of journalism, but I saw The Wire Season 5, and even for the "feel good" stories, if you can't confirm it, you don't report it.

 

[nalej]

Everyone taking turns in clowning this guy

http://mashable.com/2013/01/16/fake-facebook-girlfriend/

 

[Stress Welker]

From TMZ


Manti Te'o Hoax All SCAMS Lead to Ronaiah Tuiasosopo

The Manti Te'o not-really-dead-girlfriend hoax was perpetuated by a man named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo -- who served as a representative for the family of the fake "Lennay Kekua" ... and TMZ has the photo proof.

Here's what we know ...

While Manti was "dating" Lennay ... a Notre Dame die-hard fan who we'll call "Jan" (to protect her identity) reached out to Lennay on Twitter and began an online friendship.

After Lennay's supposed death, Jan became involved with a group called "Wear a Lei 4 Manti" -- in which fans wore Hawaiian leis to ND football games to show their support for the football star.

When the "Wear a Lei 4 Manti" movement began to receive media attention, Jan says she noticed she gained a Twitter follower named U'ilani Rae Kekua.

Jan tells TMZ ... she reached out to U'ilani and asked if she was related to Lennay -- to which U'ilani replied, "Yes, that's my baby sister." The two became friends.

In fact, Jan says they both mentioned how they were going to attend the Notre Dame vs. USC game in L.A. on November 24, 2012 ... so Jan sent U'ilani her cell phone number in case she wanted to meet up.

Here's where the story takes a turn ... Jan tells TMZ she got a phone call from U'ilani on the day of the game directing her to the famous Tommy Trojan statue in front of the stadium, so they could meet up.

But when Jan arrived to the statue, U'ilani was NOT there ... but guess who was -- Ronaiah Tuiasosopo. Jan and Ronaiah even took a photo together (see above).

According to the Deadspin article, Ronaiah was the person who obtained the photo of the woman everyone believed to be Lennay ... and is suspected of having a major role in the hoax.

Jan tells us Ronaiah was with a little girl during the USC meeting who they called Pookah -- and together, they explained how Lennay's sister couldn't come down to visit, so U'ilani sent them instead. Jan says Ronaiah "made it seem as if he was a member of Lennay's family."

After Jan and Ronaiah took the picture together -- Jan says Ronaiah began to act paranoid ... and told her, "Make sure you don't post this photo online."

Soon after the game, Jan says she was contacted by U'ilani ... who also urged her NOT to post the picture of Ronaiah. She didn't explain why.

U'ilani later sent a photo to Jan showing a woman at a cemetery -- and told her, "This is me and my family at Lennay's gravesite. We're spending the day here."

Clearly, the woman in the photo is not U'ilani ('cause she doesn't really exist) ... and some digging suggests the woman in the photo is actually a woman named Donna Tei, who doesn't seem to have a relationship with anyone involved in the hoax.

There's more ... Jan tells TMZ Lennay's "sister" continued to reach out to her after the USC game ... and delivered some more bad news -- that little Pookah had been diagnosed with lupus and was dying in a children's hospital in Orange County, CA.

Jan said she wanted to send flowers -- so Lennay's "sister" gave her an address. TMZ has learned the address belongs to a member of the Tuiasosopo family.

Jan also gave us the phone number Lennay's sister would use to contact her -- and we found out the number is registered to a man named Titus Tuiasosopo -- Ronaiah's father.

We tried to reach out to Ronaiah -- but we couldn't get a hold of him. So far, he has yet to comment to the media about the story.

 

[Patrick Kane]

 

[ItzDaKiing]

Sent from Seattle, by way of Ann Arbor on Tapatalk: The Remix

I just dont see why everyone is making such a big deal out of it. If it all just was a hoax then cool, let him live in his own fantasy world. All kinds of other shyt going on in the world and everyone's going crazy cause some college football player lied about having a girlfriend that died..

 

[Atlrocafella]

I swear I hate how funny you nikkaz are sometimes. I just busted out laughing in the office

 

[The Message]

This is like Season 5 of The Wire - but with a gay twist...haha

 

[boskey]

This is the greatest story ever

 

[Trojan 24]

From TMZ


Manti Te'o Hoax All SCAMS Lead to Ronaiah Tuiasosopo

Ronaiah the Goat Troll

 

[OG Talk]

This is the greatest story ever

It really is man... So many layers of fukkery...

 

[ExodusNirvana]

Let me say a couple quick things:

I. I do not believe Manti Teo, at all.

II. I also can't completely discount him being scammed, even with the lie he told about meeting her. Online shyt is so stigmatized. I have found myself flat out fronting about shyt on SOHH and The Coli. When we had the podcast, if certain people in my life were like "how do you know IV/Reb/Rick?" there were definitely moments when I embellished a bit, like "oh, I know dude from... way back."

 

[Ronnie Lott]

What I don't get I why a superstar college athlete, heisman finalist playing in the national championship, potential top 10 draft pick would have an online relationship with a broad he has never met?

He could have been baggin damn near any chick on campus and any broad within a 100 mile radius of South Bend. Wy do all this shyt man?

 

[Theo Penn]

Can this dude Ronaiah get some cash outta this somehow?