Deadspin: Manti Te'o's dead girlfriend story was a hoax

Depends if we're going to get more than the three inches that AP moved.

I'm thinking skybox and briefs lead .... or skybox and inside story and kill ANOTHER day of Lance Armstrong (Because I'm Lanced out).

 

Not really. If he was trying to hide The Gay, how does killing off his imaginary girlfriend help?

 

Wouldn't you be inspired if your imaginary girlfriend - who apparently never put out - died suddenly?

 

Te'o statement:

"This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online. We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her.

"To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating.

"It further pains me that the grief I felt and the sympathies expressed to me at the time of my grandmother's death in September were in any way deepened by what I believed to be another significant loss in my life.

"I am enormously grateful for the support of my family, friends and Notre Dame fans throughout this year. To think that I shared with them my happiness about my relationship and details that I thought to be true about her just makes me sick. I hope that people can understand how trying and confusing this whole experience has been.

"In retrospect, I obviously should have been much more cautious. If anything good comes of this, I hope it is that others will be far more guarded when they engage with people online than I was.

"Fortunately, I have many wonderful things in my life, and I'm looking forward to putting this painful experience behind me as I focus on preparing for the NFL Draft."

 

Bull Shit.

 

Gerry Faust wouldn't have let this happen.

 

That's fine.

This is more a referendum on lazy sportswriters than Manti Te'o.

 

if Sportwriters don't take every word of this statement and test it against his prior statements and those of his family and friends, then it would truly be a referendum on the lack of sports writers

 

The only logical explanation is that Teo is gay.

 

Is that an actual statement from him or a guess at what his statement will look like?

I actually can buy that he was duped and he was in an online relationship. But I have a lot of trouble believing that he just found out about the hoax.

My best read on the situation is he got into an online relationship (which he admits), was embarrassed by that but also embarrassed further when he realized he'd been duped (which he also admits) and then he kept the lie going long after the fact because of his embarrassment. That's my initial conclusion but I feel like we need more info.

 

ESPN's Gene Wojciechowski — who did big print and TV pieces on Te'o in October — just said on SportsCenter that Te'o told him that the girl's family "preferred not to be contacted" and didn't want to provide photos of her, citing privacy.

FootballScribe, that's his actual statement. They read it in its entirety on SportsCenter and it's been used in several stories, including this one:

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8851033/story-manti-teo-girlfriend-death-apparently-hoax

 

How is it playing at the Honolulu Star Advertiser?

Will the family now put that paper on Double Secret Probation? (second Animal House reference)