My bet is on him being WAAAAAAAAAAY deep in the closet and trying to find a good cover and that shit just got out of control. He probably tried to make her disappear before people wanted to meet her, they started asking where she was at games, etc.

1/16/2013 5:15:18 PM

Notre Dame released a statement saying he was the victim of a hoax LOL

1/16/2013 5:19:27 PM

Yeah, nobody actually believes that do they?

Congrats on your overly elaborate modern take on the "Canadian Girlfriend" getting busted. Now your university is going to look phenomenally stupid too.

If you think Lance Armstrong got buried recently you ain't seen nothing yet.

1/16/2013 5:27:45 PM

he rode this lie all the way to nearly winning the Heisman, showing how ridiculous Heisman voters are

holy fuck

1/16/2013 5:30:59 PM

i wish he had won now. fuck.

especially since i wouldn't feel bad at all if it didn't go to johnny football as a freshman.

1/16/2013 5:33:41 PM

ahahahaha

this is awesome

1/16/2013 5:33:58 PM

Explains his shitty performance in the BCS title game. He prob got wind this was about to be released.

1/16/2013 5:36:08 PM

My belief is that Manti is gay and that his "family friend" and he created this fake girl as a way to hide their affair. As his dad stated, "She would come to Hawaii and Manti would meet up with her because he would be home." I call bullshit. The dude would come to hawaii to hang with Manti and he would tell his parents he was going to hang out with this chick. Time to check flights and see if this "family friend" was on any to hawaii during this time...

1/16/2013 6:20:03 PM

How many NFL teams will pass on him, based solely on him being an apparent sociopath?

1/16/2013 6:24:38 PM

He released a statement:

Quote :

""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.""

Of course this doesn't really mesh with his past stories that he met her numerous times and that she would fly out to Hawaii.

1/16/2013 6:25:59 PM

Keep digging

1/16/2013 6:27:23 PM

Quote :

"How many NFL teams will pass on him, based solely on him being an apparent sociopath?"

less than than the number who would pass on him if the speculation of him being gay were true

1/16/2013 6:31:52 PM

1/16/2013 6:38:56 PM

LOLOL

1/16/2013 6:40:25 PM

He'd be a great cyclist.

1/16/2013 6:41:00 PM

I dont think he was in on it UNLESS it was just a cover for him being gay with this friend of his.

Otherwise, why would he do it? there's no value in creating some fake chick with a friend that HE is the victim of. Maybe if it was some random dude they were messing with.

Either is GAY or his "friend" catfished him.

1/16/2013 6:42:17 PM

Winning the Heisman would be a pretty strong motive.

Like it or not stuff like that matters for that award.

[Edited on January 16, 2013 at 6:45 PM. Reason : ]

1/16/2013 6:44:17 PM

I'll go ahead and call it now

only way he turns this around is coming out as gay, saying he did it out of fear, and become hailed as the first openly gay football player of any relevance

1/16/2013 6:46:10 PM

But with the gay theory, why would he kill her off?

[Edited on January 16, 2013 at 6:47 PM. Reason : ]

1/16/2013 6:47:09 PM

Imagine how devastated he is going to be when he finds out that Nigerian Prince isn't real either.

1/16/2013 6:47:50 PM

I'm betting that his story changes by the morning. Quite possibly forcing him to come out.

Quote :

"I'll go ahead and call it now only way he turns this around is coming out as gay, saying he did it out of fear, and become hailed as the first openly gay football player of any relevance"

Yup. And you have to get rid of the girl, they played Stanford this year, there were going to be questions, people wondering why they'd never seen or met her, etc.

1/16/2013 6:49:08 PM

I'll bite on the gay theory, but only if his lovers name is Lenny (pronounced with a slack jaw accent)

1/16/2013 6:52:13 PM

1/16/2013 6:52:24 PM

Quote :

"But with the gay theory, why would he kill her off?"

b/c people were starting to realize that she wasn't real. also, the "we don't live in the same city" thing doesn't really fly when you make $3m per year.

1/16/2013 6:52:53 PM

But wouldn't it make more sense to say they broke up? That would've ended the questions too. Just seems too convenient to me that it occurred about the time the Heisman campaign got going.

[Edited on January 16, 2013 at 6:55 PM. Reason : ]

1/16/2013 6:55:01 PM

so here's a question: if he eventually says it was to win the heisman, does everyone buy it? if he was gay it'd be an ugly enough confession to be believable without coming out.

that's probably a good move for now. you can't be the first openly gay nfl player and a rookie.

1/16/2013 7:01:54 PM

Agreed.

1/16/2013 7:04:57 PM

Quote :

"his "friend" catfished him."

That was exactly my first thought when I read his statement.

1/16/2013 7:15:21 PM

Free PIGPEN

1/16/2013 7:17:35 PM

I had never even heard of her. Why couldn't he have met some woman? If she says that's her name and has a Facebook or anything, why wouldn't you believe her? If he didn't ever really meet her, then some bitch and the gaggle of dudes that are porking her are loving today. I think I believe him... Maybe..

1/16/2013 8:27:34 PM

Because the girl whose photo he was using had no idea any of this was going on (allegedly).

1/16/2013 8:30:32 PM

i would like to believe he's that dumb... but... i can't help but think it'd be equivalent to believing lance armstrong didn't dope at this point

1/16/2013 8:31:03 PM

Fuck this athletic director standing up here having an hour and a half long press conference, calling it a "tragedy" and crying his eyes out. Where was the tragedy when one of your players raped someone who then killed herself?

1/16/2013 8:50:12 PM

Quote :

"I dont think he was in on it UNLESS it was just a cover for him being gay with this friend of his."

How was he not in on it? He claimed meeting her several times. If he wasn't in on it, who was he meeting? This girl didn't exist and her twitter photos were of some other random girl's facebook who claimed no knowledge of this.

Honestly, while reading the article I was thinking about the gay angle. I don't know how plausible that is, but who knows...

[Edited on January 16, 2013 at 10:17 PM. Reason : dd]

1/16/2013 10:16:15 PM

http://www.thebiglead.com/index.php/2013/01/16/lennay-kekua-manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend-was-real-says-arizona-cardinals-fullback-reagan-mauia-who-claims-to-have-met-her/

That's just weird. Maybe it is possible that some chick was running a scam, trying to snake some athletes.

1/16/2013 10:18:38 PM

ESPN's report on it said he only talked to her online and by phone...lol yeah, cause some heisman finalist stud D1-A player can't find a better girlfriend than some internet chick he's never met

moral of the story: ESPN is full of shit

1/16/2013 10:19:05 PM

dude is gay with marques tuisasosopos cousin AND they concocted the story for fame/the heisman sob story

1/16/2013 10:19:55 PM

lol wrong thread

[Edited on January 16, 2013 at 10:23 PM. Reason : .]

1/16/2013 10:22:26 PM

off (and in the wrong) topic but teo's defensive instincts are overrated. he's a pretty mediocre linebacker and would have been average in the pros if he didnt just have his life ruined

1/16/2013 10:24:30 PM

Kuechly had like 90 more tackles his senior year than Te'o did

but i guess the heisman committee had to pick some player from an undefeated team to put in the running to lose to johnny football

1/16/2013 10:25:37 PM

they chose him BECAUSE of his of his sob story

(his "girlfriend", not grandma)

1/16/2013 10:28:11 PM

That's one of the most bizarre stories I've ever read. WTF.


nigga gay.

1/16/2013 10:29:19 PM

1/16/2013 10:32:09 PM

cant believe he was ever in the heisman discussion. the dude is a middle linebacker.

Any kickers going to get nominated this year?

1/16/2013 10:41:49 PM

good point face

Mason Crosby = Patrick Willis

1/16/2013 10:42:54 PM

i'm skeptical of this story as it stands now, because it seems like he would have tried to go to her funeral, unless i'm missing something

1/16/2013 10:55:32 PM

1/16/2013 11:05:27 PM

Deadspin did a great job uncovering this, ESPN and the rest of mainstream sports media just report whatever they're told to report.

Brian Kelly missed out on his chance to bail to the NFL.

1/16/2013 11:21:33 PM

So are there any reports that Notre Dame had a hand in this to try to help him win the Heisman, or was Teo acting strictly on his own?

It seems odd to me that they'd interject themselves into this elaborate cover up unless they were a part of perpetuating the lie in the first place. If I was Notre Dame and had nothing to do with this, I'd back far off this story and let him die on the vine on this one.

If it comes out that Notre Dame was purposely spreading this thing to try to win a grassroots Heisman campaign and get voted into the BCS championship they deserve to be put on probation, thats just ridiculous.

1/16/2013 11:31:31 PM

Imagine how devastated he is going to be when he finds out that Nigerian Prince God isn't real either.



Ftfy

1/17/2013 12:15:08 AM