Star Linebacker's Fake Girlfriend

Hazys

A bizarre story that is just breaking in the US at the moment:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/17/sport/manti-teo-controversy/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

tldr verison:

• Manti Te'o is a star college linebacker who plays for Notre Dame and up until this story was widely expected to be a star in the NFL
• Te'o told people that his Grandmother and his girlfriend died within the same 24 hrs
• Te'o told reporters that his girlfriend, Stanford student Lennay Kekua, endured a car accident and died after battling leukemia.
• Deadspin investigates, finds no record of girl called Lennay Kekua dieing or that anybody with that name that went to Stanford
• Deadspin publishes an article that the whole story was a hoax, with fake internet profiles and that Te'o's friend was the one running it
• Te'o has a press conference to say he was the victim of the hoax not the perpetrator
• NFL player comes out and says that Lennay Kekua is real

A couple of theories that are floating around are that Te'o was in on the hoax and it was a cover for the fact that he is gay so he will fit in with the guys in the locker room and that it wouldn't hurt his career in the NFL.

Another is that he made up the story to inspire his team to make it to the College National Championship and also influence the voting for the Heisman Trophy (College Football's MVP award).

Or he is the most nieve man in the world.

There is a lot more to come out on this very bizarre story.

ballsymchugh

i've honestly no idea why this story is making the news here. what's the whole point?

orestes

Maybe he was planning on going on US X-Factor at some point and was hedging his bets early?

Boombastic

Stephen Ireland all over again :pac:

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

ballsymchugh wrote: »

i've honestly no idea why this story is making the news here. what's the whole point?

Peer pressure and the need to confrom in an elledgly free society.

thomasm

Ahhh the old Stephen Ireland dead Granny sympathy play

Dravokivich

ballsymchugh wrote: »

i've honestly no idea why this story is making the news here. what's the whole point?

It didn't make news here, the article linked was on CNN.

davet82

sounds like a shíte movie

Killer Wench

I come to boards.ie, emphasis on ie, for a pretty good reason.

It's absolutely hilarious that deadspin copped but SI,CNN and the new york times did not fact check this story.

Dravokivich

Killer Wench wrote: »

I come to boards.ie, emphasis on ie, for a pretty good reason.

What do you have against boards.com?

davet82

Killer Wench wrote: »

I come to boards.ie, emphasis on ie, for a pretty good reason.

i'm a dot org man myself :cool:

jhegarty

I'm confused, so the cops knew internal affairs were setting them up all along ?

Killer Wench

Dravokivich wrote: »

What do you have against boards.com?

The level of spam is ridiculous. Spam and eggs. Spam sandwiches. Spam souffle.

Hazys

ballsymchugh wrote: »

i've honestly no idea why this story is making the news here. what's the whole point?

There is a lot of stories posted in AH that don't make the news here, like a woman falling down hole in China, a man in Russia chasing a cat, etc.

I thought this bizarre story of setting up fake internet profiles and a high profile person falling for it would be somewhat interesting to the AH audience.

Especially if the motive behind it comes out and it turns out he is Gay, it would be a massive talking point around the world.

Killer Wench

davet82 wrote: »

i'm a dot org man myself :cool:

Oh la de da.

iDave

American football :rolleyes:

davet82

jhegarty wrote: »

I'm confused, so the cops knew internal affairs were setting them up all along ?

did you not read the story?

he made it all up to impress a girl who wouldn't have noticed him because she was too popular but now after learning valuable life lessons they will live happily ever after ffs :rolleyes:

jhegarty

jhegarty wrote: »

I'm confused, so the cops knew internal affairs were setting them up all along ?

So is Manti.

Gone Drinking

Feel sorry for the guy. He's made this stuff up for some reason or another and caught himself caught.

MORTOOOOO.

ballsymchugh

Dravokivich wrote: »

It didn't make news here, the article linked was on CNN.

it's on thejournal.ie too

http://thescore.thejournal.ie/manti-teo-notre-dame-fake-girlfriend-hoax-catfish-757570-Jan2013/

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Killer Wench wrote: »

I come to boards.ie, emphasis on ie, for a pretty good reason.

To bury your head in the sand amidst scenarios thta could never possibly happen outside the US?

sheesh

so his Grandmother is alright? oh thank god!!!:)

Thrill

thomasm wrote: »

Ahhh the old Stephen Ireland dead Granny sympathy play

Would that be an offensive or defensive play.

I think it's offensive myself.

Medusa22

This reminds me of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catfish:_The_TV_Show

Annasopra

who cares?

Annasopra

Hazys wrote: »

There is a lot of stories posted in AH that don't make the news here, like a woman falling down hole in China, a man in Russia chasing a cat, etc.

I thought this bizarre story of setting up fake internet profiles and a high profile person falling for it would be somewhat interesting to the AH audience.

Especially if the motive behind it comes out and it turns out he is Gay, it would be a massive talking point around the world.

OMG OMG OMG a real gay person.

OMG OMG OMG

Hazys

mango salsa wrote: »

OMG OMG OMG a real gay person.

OMG OMG OMG

?

ITS_A_BADGER

What a crazy story

syklops

Hazys wrote: »

Especially if the motive behind it comes out and it turns out he is Gay, it would be a massive talking point around the world.

I know Gay Byrne is popular but I think the world talking about him hoaxing a football player is a bit of an exaggeration.

Pherekydes

Killer Wench wrote: »

I come to boards.ie, emphasis on ie, for a pretty good reason.

You're interested in Irish news, some of us are interested in US news.

Is his name pronounced Te-apostrophe-o?

Brendan Flowers

ballsymchugh wrote: »

i've honestly no idea why this story is making the news here. what's the whole point?

Bit ironic that you'd say that considering you started this thread in AH

Hazys

mango salsa wrote: »

OMG OMG OMG a real gay person.

OMG OMG OMG

If true, he would be the most prominent active male Gay athlete in the world.

If your sarcasm is to be understood, you don't think that it would a big deal. Obviously it shouldn't be but it will be.

You don't find it strange that of the the 1000's of professional male athletes in the world today, that not one of them is gay?

Killer Wench

Pherekydes wrote: »

You're interested in Irish news, some of us are interested in US news.

No, I'm interested in Irish opinions on Irish news.

pickarooney

mango salsa wrote: »

who cares?

Yesterday you didn't care about football, now you don't care about American football... methinks the laddie doth protest too much.

My name is URL

ballsymchugh wrote: »

i've honestly no idea why this story is making the news here. what's the whole point?

Very thin line between 'news' and drama these days

AnonoBoy

Hazys wrote: »

You don't find it strange that of the the 1000's of professional male athletes in the world today, that not one of them is openly gay?

There have been openly gay athletes. Slowly but surely it's becoming a bit more accepted.

Gareth Thomas came out while he was still playing rugby didn't he?

Pherekydes

Deleted User wrote: »

Is his name pronounced Te-apostrophe-o?

Just the way O'Sullivan is pronounced Oh-apostrophe-Sullivan? Yes.

My name is URL

Hazys wrote: »

If true, he would be the most prominent active male Gay athlete in the world.

If your sarcasm is to be understood, you don't think that it would a big deal. Obviously it shouldn't be but it will be.

You don't find it strange that of the the 1000's of professional male athletes in the world today, that not one of them is gay?

There have been and are loads of openly gay professional athletes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lesbian,_gay,_bisexual,_and_transgender_sportspeople

If the guy in the story did come out it might be news but it wouldn't be at all groundbreaking

Pherekydes

Killer Wench wrote: »

No, I'm interested in Irish opinions on Irish news.

Yeah, but some of us are interested in US (and other) news stories and opinions.

Thrill

Hazys wrote: »

If true, he would be the most prominent active male Gay athlete in the world.

Really?

I've never heard of him until now.

Pherekydes

My name is URL wrote: »

There have been and are loads of openly gay professional athletes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lesbian,_gay,_bisexual,_and_transgender_sportspeople

If the guy in the story did come out it might be news but it wouldn't be at all groundbreaking

Not saying he is, but if he came out it would be a huge story because of the religious aspect (he's Mormon).

Hazys

AnonoBoy wrote: »

There have been openly gay athletes. Slowly but surely it's becoming a bit more accepted.

Gareth Thomas came out while he was still playing rugby didn't he?

Very near the end of his career. He knew he was gay long before that but only choose to come out near the end. Very brave thing to do in the "macho" world of male sports, especially after what happened to Justin Fashanu.

They're are no other major Gay athletes that play in top tier of sports around the world. There is obviously a lot of stigmatism in the sports world towards gay people and there is a big risk in coming out.

Although i feel most people have matured since the era when John Fashanu came out that if one prominent athlete takes the first step, he would be widely respected and it would be a lot easier for others.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Killer Wench wrote: »

No, I'm interested in Irish opinions on Irish news.

This is not really "national" issue. it's a soceital one. If it had been a GAA star the same vewpoints would be raised.

Sounds like Max Clifford to me

Mint Sauce

Gone Drinking wrote: »

Feel sorry for the guy. He's made this stuff up for some reason or another and caught himself caught.

MORTOOOOO.

Maybe he just didn't want to play, manager should just wait for him to make the call, and the fans hope he never plays for them again.

Sounds very familiar.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

I wonder what Sir Alex Ferguson thinks of it? The BBC haven't published it yet.

Jimmy Iovine

I like to eat pizza.

Witchie

Catfish creator Nev Schulman has spoken about this here

dd972

Hazys wrote: »

Especially if the motive behind it comes out and it turns out he is Gay, it would be a massive talking point around the world.

Can't see people in Laos or Venezuela being too bothered.