<p>mom2collegekids’ idea of checking phone records is the key to solving this mystery. Let’s see if they’re released.</p>
<p>As fishy as this all sounds, I can’t always hope that he has someone really, really supporting him emotionally - whether he is involved or not - but with allegations of lying, sexual orientation, etc. --I can’t help but worry about his emotional stability…</p>
<p>
He’d better make sure the team he signs with actually exists.</p>
<p>^^
lol</p>
<p>stealing this joke:</p>
<p>Brent Musberger: “Oh, you middle linebackers, you get all the imaginary women!” Herbie: “Wow!”</p>
<p>Good one, Hunt:)</p>
<p>re #40. On this point, according to the deadspin article they did.They used photos from the facebook account of a woman deadspin called “Reba.” “Reba” was facebook friends with a high school classmate. That classmate asked her to pose for a rather strange photo for a friend he said had seen her photo and thought she was pretty. The friend had been in an auto accident. So, just one photo wasn’t from her facebook page.</p>
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</p>
<p>Oh goodness I hadn’t heard this. Whatever the motivation, I truly hope this isn’t it. How sad that this could even be a possibility in this day and age.</p>
<p>So strange and upsetting. My 15 year old proudly wears his #5 ND shirt because he thinks Te’o is cool/admireable. As unlikely as it is, I really hope Te’o is just a naive victim who got caught up in a fast moving media train. I cannot imagine the pressure on T’eo over the last couple of years. I also hope he has some support from people who genuinely care for him for the right reasons. Even if he acted unethically, this speculation/spotlight has got to be brutal for him and his family. No matter what the truth is, Te’o has been a great teammate and done a lot of good with his fame. For now, I will give this very young man the benefit of the doubt and - if the worst is true and he was part of the scam - forgiveness.</p>
<p>I hadn’t heard the sexual orientation thing, but at least that would make some sense and sounds plausible to me. Even if he wasn’t deeply involved in the hoax, he at the very least lied. He claimed to have met her in 2009 when he didn’t, etc.</p>
<p>My initial reaction was B.S. Now, I’m not sure. I seriously doubt ND would go that far out on the limb for him if they didn’t have pretty good reasons. And the timing of this is weird for me too. The GF death back in Sept…this was way before anyone had a clue that ND (unranked at beginning of season) would go undefeated. Way before anyone had a clue that Teo would be in running for Heisman. From all accounts, Teo is a deeply religious Mormon guy–not likely to have premarital sex, so maybe he was happy with
their phone sex 
And now this a former pro player said the GF was real… Like I said, not sure what or who to believe.</p>
<p>[Manti</a> Te’o girlfriend hoax: Former NFL player says Lennay Kekua ‘real,’ met her in person - NFL - Sporting News](<a href=“http://aol.sportingnews.com/nfl/story/2013-01-16/manti-teo-girlfriend-hoax-lennay-kekua-reagan-mauia-notre-dame-catfish?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl2|sec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D258241]Manti”>http://aol.sportingnews.com/nfl/story/2013-01-16/manti-teo-girlfriend-hoax-lennay-kekua-reagan-mauia-notre-dame-catfish?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl2|sec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D258241)</p>
<p>At least Lennay didn’t suffer.</p>
<p>This is one of those stories even the best Hollywood writers couldn’t come up with.</p>
<p>This all reminded me of Ronald Regan’s fake relationship with George Gipp.</p>
<p>“Interestingly, in a 1940 speech to Notre Dame alumni in Los Angeles, Reagan provided a glimpse of his talents at dramatically re-creating events that did not happen. He bragged to the alumni group that he had the occasion to talk to Gipp when Reagan was a radio sports announcer. Problem is that Reagan was nine years old when Gipp died.”</p>
<p>[The</a> Myth of the Gipper](<a href=“http://archives.citypaper.net/articles/072095/article032.shtml]The”>http://archives.citypaper.net/articles/072095/article032.shtml)</p>
<p>The article that gosmom posted actually makes me somewhat more inclined to believe Te’o’s story. There is ample evidence that Lennay didn’t exist, and, unless I’m missing something, no obvious reason for this player to lie about meeting a woman who used that name. This suggests that he, too, may have been a target of a hoax. On the other hand, the fact that, according to the Deadspin article the man who seems to be the main person behind the “prank” is Te’o’s friend makes it more likely that he was in on it.</p>
<p>I think it is barely possible, although unlikely, that Te’o is a naive guy from a conservative religious background who became involved in an online relationship and edited his public remarks (and perhaps even his comments to his parents) to make it appear that he and his “girlfriend” had actually met. In this scenario, the people behind the Lennay persona would have always had a reason the two couldn’t meet - her flight got cancelled, a friend got sick, etc. If he asked to skype, she would have claimed the videochat function didn’t work on her computer. When he wanted to visit her in the hospital, she would have said that she didn’t want him to see her in such a poor condition on their first meeting And so on. He’d have to be incredibly gullible to believe it, but once a person is alread emotionally invested, he is more likely to suspend disbelief.</p>
<p>I don’t think the closeted theory holds much water, since it would be beyond easy for a popular football player at Notre Dame, of all places, to find a beard closer to home and use his religious scruples as a reason not to have sex. If he did feel the need to create a fake girlfriend, that wouldn’t require him to kill her off in dramatic fashion, which would actually make it more likely that the ruse would be discovered. The motivation for the lie about the car accident/cancer would in that case still be career related, in which case there is no reason to add in the gay angle at all.</p>
<p>What a sensational story!!! I can’t figure out whether this equates with the Judge Crater mystery or the Tawana Brawley fiasco.</p>
<p>If you are a closeted gay Mormon going to a Catholic school a fake online girlfriend is the perfect cover. I can see him setting this up with a friend and when others asked why she never comes to games he uses the excuse that she is sick. The press gets a hold of the sick girl friend story and the whole thing just snowballs. What originally started as a relatively innocuous online beard is now an elaborate hoax. And how do you end it. You “kill her off” the same day your grandmother dies. Hey, you didnt even go to grannies funeral…why would you go to your girlfriends funeral? It is all too “convenient”.</p>
<p>Right, musica. That’s why I think the gay story is plausible, and he’s involved. I’m not saying that I think this was hatched years ago in preparation for the 2012 Heisman run. I do think it’s plausible that this was hatched to cover up his being gay and that it all kind of got away from him. The friend who ran the whole thing could be gay as well, maybe waiting for a handsome payoff when Te’o goes pro. I’ll be curious to see if he still goes first round.</p>
<p>It works even if he is not a closeted gay man. He might be a devoted Mormon sick of fending off the attentions of young ladies. “Sorry miss, I have a devoted sick girlfriend that I chat with every night”.</p>
<p>Maybe my team (28th pick) has a chance to get him now!<br>
I hope that he was not primarily involved and his part in this was a stupid media snowball mistake. He’s young and has a ton of pressure on him. I would love him to learn from this and move on to a successful future.<br>
Teachable moments for my son (a ND fan): beware of internet “relationships” and one lie will lead to another to cover it up and then another and so on…</p>