OT: Deadspin article on story of the death of Manti te'o's girlfriend being hoax *UNLOCKED*

This story would have broken say, five hours ago, so I could have been on tr company dime while reading these updates....

I read the article and I'm still utterly confused. What the hell was the point of all this? I get the increased sympathy publicity but it doesn't make any sense past that. This is as strange as it gets.

I'm starting to question whether Teo is real. Now that I think of it, I dont remember him playing in the NC game, can anyone provide evidence to support his existence? Maybe post a picture of him and his girlfr...oh...

two things upset me regardless of whether teo is stupid or malicious

1.  Notre benefitted from this story greatly yet did not issue a statement when they found out (before the big game so why get bad publicity)

2.  Even if Manti Teo was duped, that he could be moved to the point of tears for someone so much but not even to console with her family upon death suggests that he should not have made it a big deal to the press.

Teo's statement:

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8851033/story-manti-teo-g...

I bet this whole thing is actually part of an ongoing hoax all done to create buzz for the MTV show. Peal back the layers, man.

Fooled you again!  She wasn't real!  I just needed to gain your sympathy.  I needed to tug at your heartstrings to win the Heisman.  Psych!

Has anyone ever actually met this "Brian Cook"?  

"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."

Sounds like a classic case of meeting a beatiful woman online, only to find out she was a 40 year old dude.  Anyhow I am not buying his story, since he was fine with rolling with all the goodwill until he got caught.

This is low.

He almost pulled this off and won an extremely undeserved Heisman.  Johnny Football saved them from a very embarrassing winner.

Total bullshit. ND coverup as usual. Who would go through the effort to perpetrate this hoax? Creating a fake persona, speaking to T'eo nightly for months? For what? I've seen Tommy Boy, the real money is when you marry the bastard. Not faking a death.

This is straight up freaky. Hollywood stuff. It blows my mind. I can't wait for T'eo to tell his side of the story

Notre Dame has a long history of inventing stories out of thin air.  No program is perfect...but ND portrays itself as perfect.

The Gipper speach didn't happen, the Gipper went a whole year without attending classes as he was a pool shark and was much older than the players he played against and etc...

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/01/inspiring-tale-of-notre-dame-hero-totally-fake.html

So T'eo is admitting he never even MET this woman??? He says it was an online romance?

...who in the living hell perpetrates something like this?  Does the obvious answer of "nobody" nulify his claim that he was a victim?  That's a Sawyer-esque long con, but for what gain?  Simply to embarass him?  No financial reason or other reason?  Fascinating, this whole thing is just beyond fascinating.

EDIT: mildly disregard, I did not read the entire thing carefully enough, thus not processing Tuiasosopo's involvement.

Okay here's why I believe Te'o: this story got no attention prior to "her" "death."  If this was actually a publicity stunt he was carying on a fake long-distance relationship with someone for years and talking about it so that he could cash in on her fake death years later?  That makes no sense.

There are quotes from the South Bend tribune about them meeting. Direct quotes from the father.  

ESPN apparently new about it 10 days ago.

Bruce Arthur (canadian sports writer) who is always great to follow on twitter has been amusing to say the least in his coverage of teo.

I can't believe someone would craft a story like this to earn sympathy points (if that is indeed the case). Either way, this whole thing is messed up, and the fact that ND sat on it and used it leading up the championship game is seriously fucked up.

Can't believe somebody would make up a fake person.

Who does that?

Breaking News: Brian Kelly to Oregon

I can buy overblowing an online affair, or getting convinced someone is someone they say they are, and aren't. But man, they're replaying the ESPN interview, and there's too much BS in the story. Went to sleep on the phone together....do people go to that effort for a joke? And of course ESPN didn't follow up on any pictures, no death notice, accident report, or contacting the family.

I don't think Te'o's a victim, but he probably should be pitied. He obviously has some serious issues, and other than 10 minutes of fame, I'm not sure what he got out of it. Second place in Heisman voting? Not going to be worth it when his 10 minutes turns into 10 weeks of infamy.

Options here:

1.  He fell for a girl he "met" online.  He started having feelings for her and at least saw "attractive" pictures so he thought it was real.  He felt somewhat silly about it so he made up the parts about meeting the girl, visiting in Hawaii, etc.  He was essentially duped but he contributed somewhat.

2.  He was in on this from the beginning, him and some friends having fun maybe.  Seems kinda odd to kill off a fake person though right?  Unless it was for fame and empathy.

3.  He was in a gay relationship with that Tuoisoopsid0pu (sp?) kid.  They made up this girl so they could profess "love" to each other and not "out" him nationally.  Then things got a bit crazy b/c people were starting to look into this, so they killed her off, and he benefited from it on a national stage.

Those are the 3 main ways this can go, in my opinion.  What do you guys think?