Lennay Kekua, A Hoax!

[In Lou I Trust]

I do find some irony in random people on an online message board finding it difficult to believe Te'o formed a relationship with someone he only knew online. I've seen quite a few friendships form on IE over the years and I doubt many of us know each other outside of this site. I know exactly one person from here in real life and that's because I told a long-time friend and ND fan to join. For all we know, Old Man Mike is just a highly intelligent, wise beyond his years 15 year old.

Very true. pkt and I have been dating for a few months now and I've never even seen his face.

 

[BurningRiver]

This is a complete generalization, but I have met a handful of people who are part of the LDS church and all had similar personalities. They are all very family oriented, do not use profanity, do not drink alcohol or even caffeine, and most would think they are socially awkward relative to today's social norms because of their lifestyles and beliefs. I think this is a significant part in creating a perfect storm for Te'o to be sucked up into something like this.

Te'o, an LDS Hawaiian comes to a Catholic school in the middle of Indiana. He's surrounded by people who celebrate the Jesus that turned water into wine and have different cultural, social, and religious beliefs than him. Although he is well-loved and respected by the ND community, I'm sure at times he has felt like an outsider. Along comes a good-looking woman who shares his values and is much closer to his home and everything he knows so he feels he can better relate to her. I think he is so kind, compassionate, and trusting that it made him naive in his approach to this situation. Imagine you are a midwestern Catholic man starring for the BYU football team and a pretty Catholic Chicago girl starts chatting with you. You're surrounded by Mormon girls that are different than you and she reminds you of home.

I also strongly believe the fabrications of meeting in person are a result of Te'o telling his family white lies because of the stigma associated with online dating. A star football player at ND shouldn't have trouble meeting girls in person or want to meet a woman across the country online. He's probably a bit embarrassed and tells his family he actually met Lennay in person. His father then relays these stories to the media. To be honest, these types of meetings happen way more than most of us are aware. Approximately 20% of marriages today started as online relationships, whether it be through a dating website, facebook, twitter, or a message board (any IE romance tales out there?). I guarantee most of you know someone who is or has been in a relationship or at least dated someone they met online, you just might not be aware of it since many do cover it up.

To conclude, at this point and with what I know, I believe Te'o was the victim of a cruel deception which took advantage of his trusting nature. All we can do now is wait and see how this plays out as more information is uncovered and becomes available.

Excellent post

 

[sharksamardzija8345]

this whole thing is a total mind f*ck.. really starting to understand how some people in the 90s got caught up in the OJ trial to the point where it consumed their lives.. I'm definitely not on that level, but I will say I've had this thread open on a tab on my browser for the last 2 days and refreshed it everyone once in a while when I thought to.. has definitely been on my mind.. life would be so much cooler if we could all just live in New York with Jerry, Elaine, George and Cosmo and worry about how our girlfriends eat their peas or how their names rhyme with female anatomy, not if they actually exist.. if you get my Seinfeld references, God Bless You

 

[Booslum31]

this whole thing is a total mind f*ck.. really starting to understand how some people in the 90s got caught up in the OJ trial to the point where it consumed their lives.. I'm definitely not on that level, but I will say I've had this thread open on a tab on my browser for the last 2 days and refreshed it everyone once in a while when I thought to.. has definitely been on my mind.. life would be so much cooler if we could all just live in New York with Jerry, Elaine, George and Cosmo and worry about how our girlfriends eat their peas or how their names rhyme with female anatomy, not if they actually exist.. if you get my Seinfeld references, God Bless You

"..I was swimming!"

 

[Jason Pham]

One of the biggest bonehead errors of an individual mind is that the mediocre ones, or the ones who cannot empathize, continuously live in the fantasy that other people are basically just like themselves and so "they couldn't POSSIBLY have done this or that". In short they make up personalities for the people that they don't know but are criticizing.

I've been stunned [though I shouldn't have been] at how many people are making up Manti's personality for him even down to the point where he must use certain technology in his daily life. It is little wonder that so many people can be taken in by well-played tricks, since their own social intelligence is so limited.

Manti himself had undeveloped social intelligence, but at least he is a great and quietly introspective guy.

This is exactly one of the most frustrating part about others chiming in on this. They don't understand (or as you more aptly put it empathize) with doing or failing to do something, and if they don't understand it, nobody rationally could do or fail to do it, therefore anyone who claims to have done or not to have done something is lying.

 

[wizards8507]

As I refreshed my page I said to myself, "the last post I read was two-two-oh-two," and I couldn't help but think that Tutuo'tu is probably a Samoan guy who's involved in all this somehow.

 

[PraetorianND]

I do find some irony in random people on an online message board finding it difficult to believe Te'o formed a relationship with someone he only knew online. I've seen quite a few friendships form on IE over the years and I doubt many of us know each other outside of this site. I know exactly one person from here in real life and that's because I told a long-time friend and ND fan to join. For all we know, Old Man Mike is just a highly intelligent, wise beyond his years 15 year old.

This is a great point. I want to mention what happened to me (and probably most people on this board) today and how it struck me.

I have a friend I frequently talk CFB with at work who is a big Cal fan. I came in today and I asked him if he'd been following the Manti stuff. He was like, "ya it's crazy!" I asked him what his thoughts were on this and he said, "Ya he clearly made all of this up to get attention, nobody dates (falls in love with forget which he said) someone they have never met before online." So his conclusion didn't require proof, which sucks because he will probably continue to think Manti made this up despite the proof that comes out (has been coming out).

My brother had a "relationship" with someone he met online in an MMORPG (online game). I thought it was weird but he wasn't the best with the ladies IRL (in real life for those non dorks) and in the game they could relate and talk about something they both liked to do. They never ended up meeting, but he met with several of his buddies from the game, and I did too and they were really cool guys. Incidentally one went to Stanford (totally non-verifiable).

My boss and I got to talking (he's like 55ish) and he is recently divorced and he meets girls all the time online and goes on dates with them. He said it's like a buffet (which is gross and funny). The fact that people can't wrap their minds around online relationships is comical considering how much time most of us spend online daily.

 

[sharksamardzija8345]

"..I was swimming!"

close, bro.. "I was in the pool! I was in the pool!"

 

[pkt77242]

Very true. pkt and I have been dating for a few months now and I've never even seen his face.

Oh someday we will. Then we will make sweet love to my whisky bottles and beer.

 

[Booslum31]

I repped him for you.

Thanks

 

[johnnykillz]

Oh someday we will. Then we will make sweet love to my whisky bottles and beer.

Bad visual.

Terribly bad visual.

 

[JughedJones]

close, bro.. "I was in the pool! I was in the pool!"

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/d-MtW7hbzWk?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Mr. McGibblets]

The story still intrigues me, but what is done is done. I can't keep speculating because all of the information combined with the lack of info has lead me in multiple directions-- So much so that I couldn't stand to her Manti's voice today talking about "Lennay" and then a little later, I felt bad for him.

No one is bigger than the ND, but Manti was almost equal. More than anything, the position this put Swarbick in bothers the hell out of me. I really hope his wording was calculated and most of all, honest.

 

[pkt77242]

Bad visual.

Terribly bad visual.

You are welcome.

 

[STLDomer]

“@brianstelter: Oprah's producers reached out to Manti Te'o today. No booking yet... as @erin_gs said, maybe they're waiting to see how it goes for Lance.”

 

[JughedJones]

Oh, God help us.

 

[BurningRiver]

Te'o and his camp need to know that the longer they wait to call a press conference or schedule an interview, the crazier the conspiracy theories will get and the more suspicious people will become. To most people, Te'o's silence indicates some level of guilt, and the time he remains silent is directly proportional to the guilt he shares. Would an innocent person be so hesitant to comment?

I'm not saying that I believe this, because I firmly believe that, with the information I've seen, Te'o's (relatively) innocent. However, he needs to come out and nip this in the bud. If he truly believes he's innocent, he owes it to himself to comment as quickly as possible. IMO, he screwed up by remaining completely silent today as the speculation continues to burn out of control.

 

[IrishLion]

Be better if the producers of Maury were reaching out.

 

[Mr. McGibblets]

Be better if the producers of Maury were reaching out.

You ARE the father!!!

 

[BurningRiver]

Dan Fox, who updated his twitter photo to prominently include Te'o:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Media makes me sick to my stomach</p>— Dan Fox (@DPFoxy) <a href="https://twitter.com/DPFoxy/status/292117420632584192" data-datetime="2013-01-18T03:53:15+00:00">January 18, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I love that this team has Te'o's back like this, and that the "anonymous former teammate" really was an outlier.

 

[Mr. McGibblets]

Dan Fox, who updated his twitter photo to prominently include Te'o:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Media makes me sick to my stomach</p>— Dan Fox (@DPFoxy) <a href="https://twitter.com/DPFoxy/status/292117420632584192" data-datetime="2013-01-18T03:53:15+00:00">January 18, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I love that this team has Te'o's back like this, and that the "anonymous former teammate" really was an outlier.

Assuming the Mr. Anonymous isnt a senior---Do You think Kelly would dismiss the teammate or the team would motion to have him removed if it was discovered who made those anonymous comments? I dont even know if thats legal--freedom of speech, etc...just wondering.

 

[IrishLion]

I don't think they would dismiss him, but his life would be so much hell and awkward that he would probably leave of his own accord.

 

[sharksamardzija8345]

I don't think they would dismiss him, but his life would be so much hell and awkward that he would probably leave of his own accord.

yeah he not only burned that bridge, he burned all the supplies he'd need to build a new one.. if his name ever comes out, he's most likely going to transfer.. no way someone could stand being in a locker room where 84 people don't trust you/hate you when you're supposed to be family.. he gone

 

[BMT]

Espn reporter on radio said player was on campus but played with Teo 2 years ago. Not this year, pretty 100% sure thats what he said on radio.

 

[PraetorianND]

Espn reporter on radio said player was on campus but played with Teo 2 years ago. Not this year, pretty 100% sure thats what he said on radio.

2 years ago? So the dude doesn't know ****. Good.

 

[stlnd01]

Espn reporter on radio said player was on campus but played with Teo 2 years ago. Not this year, pretty 100% sure thats what he said on radio.

So, what, like some former walk-on?
Not trying to start a witch hunt, but trying to get a sense of how reliable a source this "player" might even be.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Dammmmm let's not start guessing with this level of non-information.

 

[Jebediah Springfield]

Dammmmm let's not start guessing with this level of non-information.

But Pepperonsports is a leader in the sports world... oh wait nvm

 

[STLDomer]

Pretty sure he's been dating a girl from St Mary's for awhile.

 

[BobD]

To me the delay in Manti doing a press conference or interview is a little unnerving. Generally, communicating facts doesn't take long, constructing stories on the other hand....