Of course -- as a law enforcement matter. There's nothing saying the athletic department or university can't take a parallel look to see if the players should still be on the team. That kind of thing happens all the time. Some schools have Student Disciplinary Councils and the like that look at such things.

Fair enough. I thought you were suggesting the investigation should be led by the university.

@2200: I thought my post may have been out of line so deleted it. Glad you saw it first and enjoyed it. :)

I was trying to keep him out of it!

OK. You're forgiven. I always loved when I pulled a Manu Tuiasosopo card form a pack of football cards. That's just a fun name to say.

I thought my post may have been out of line so deleted it. Glad you saw it first and enjoyed it. :)

Trust me, I would have loved to. And at the time I was single and had the disposable income to make the trip if I had fallen hook, line, and sinker. I cannot imagine showing up on the other side of the US only to find out I'm playing homewrecker.

Thankfully it takes more than a pretty face and a love of Cowboy Bebop to snare this angler. Not a lot more, mind you, but more :)

A friend of mine from Toronto recently went to Newfoundland to meet a girl he met online. (Or not, I'm a bit fuzzy on the details, it's possible he met her in person in Toronto, but continued the relationship online for some time).

Anyway, he was telling me about his trip, and mentioned off-hand that the girl was married. So naturally I consoled him with a "bummer".

But apparently he had already known about the husband before the trip. As did the husband know about him, and was cool with it.

So I guess there are some happy stories in online romance.

Newfies, amirite?

If there's a TV show about catfishing, one naturally wonders whether the catfishing is created for the TV show.

I tend to think that his only way out of this is literally to claim that this was for the show or something.

----

Keep in mind that this wasn't just "Oh, I have a girlfriend, oh sure I've met her" as a cover for an online relationship. He spent several media interviews pimping the fact that he was helping her as she was dying from cancer, basically making himself into a hero for all he did and had to deal with. So really his story HAS to be true - he has to be the biggest dupe in teh world - for him not to be seen as just a complete jackass.

You visited each other for a week, twice. Therein lies the material difference.

Yes. At some point there should have been a visit or three, a video chat or thirty, a face to face meeting. It's not like she was overseas.

My wife showed me a TMZ article where Tuiasosopo auditioned for The Voice and told them some outlandish sob story about a car accident where a friend was rendered comatose. Apparently he just likes to do this stuff for fun and/or attention.

That's one of the things that struck me about Te'o's story: the sheer amount of death and near death situations involved. Just major, life threatening or life ending issues. The girlfriend was in a car accident. She nearly died twice - was in a coma, on life support or something, etc. At one point he was "told" she was about to die from the car accident so he said his final goodbyes. Then she lived. But she had debilitating injuries. Then she found out that she had cancer. Then "she" died. Meanwhile, her father had recently died or something. Etc etc. How unlucky did this 22 year old girl have to be for this to be true? And the media swallowed it whole.

It's becoming clearer that Tuiasosopo is indeed a stone cold sociopath, so I guess that does make the elaborate conspiracy required by Te'o's story somewhat more believable. But still, Ray sums it up pretty well.

EDIT: For what it's worth, I typed that before 2209...though I don't disagree with that either.

ESPN:

Te'o's agent, Tom Condon, said the athlete had no plans to make any public statements in Bradenton, Fla., where he has been training with other NFL hopefuls at the IMG Academy.

As for me, I cannot believe how incredibly gullible and naive people are about online relationships. Until you see them on Skype or in person, THEY ARE A MAN.

welcome to the internet: where men are men, women are men, and childrne are FBI agents.

welcome to the internet: where men are men, women are men, and childrne are FBI agents.

"I was chatting with a 12 year old girl last night. Turns out she's an undercover cop. How cool is that for someone her age?"

Te'o's agent, Tom Condon, said the athlete had no plans to make any public statements in Bradenton, Fla., where he has been training with other NFL hopefuls at the IMG Academy.

Poor Jack Swarbrick. He's been so trusting and supportive of Te'o during this whole situation. Now, it turns out Te'o has changed his mind about speaking out and made Swarbrick to look foolish.

TMZ:

Manti Te'o is telling friends ... he knew the truth about Lennay Kekua in early December ... but continued the lie for 20 days for the sake of his team.

...But sources tell us ... Manti didn't tell his coaches about the hoax until Dec. 26 ... because he thought it would be a huge distraction while the team prepared to face Alabama in the BCS Championship.

During the 20 days, we're told Manti struggled over how to handle the situation ... but eventually felt compelled to come clean to his coaches.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com#ixzz2ILVJaaYh

"I was chatting with a 12 year old girl last night. Turns out she's an undercover cop. How cool is that for someone her age?"

Did you nail her?

If he really did know about it on the 6th and tweeted about his "dead girlfriend" on the 8th, that's damning evidence.

Te'o's agent, Tom Condon, said the athlete had no plans to make any public statements in Bradenton, Fla., where he has been training with other NFL hopefuls at the IMG Academy.

I don't think there's much incentive for Te'o to speak at the moment. Every NFL team has a security team that will be investigating Te'o. That means 32 separate, in-depth investigations, plus those be conducted by most major and minor US news outlets.

If Te'o is lying, it does him no good to tell more lies before the results of those inquiries go public. If he's telling the truth and is (rightfully) humiliated, then the least painful route is to admit to only those facts that the investigations disclose.

Personally, I would get out there and say something. But I don't know if that would actually be rational.

Did you nail her?

No cam, no slam. That's my motto.

Te'o should have paid attention to the message!

And, yes, that is a young Carlton!

I can relate to this story, as I was once Catfished to an extent. This was in my younger, stupider days, ~10 years ago. Short form of the story:
- Girl contacts me through an old university roommate (i.e., old college classmate connected the two of us). I don't remember her, but she claims to have met me, roommate, and several other acquaintances.
- We began chatting. Over the course of several months, we became pretty good friends and chatted pretty frequently -- a few times per week, on average. This isn't nearly to the extent of the Te'o story, as this was purely a friendship -- nothing romantic. I was in a relationship at the time, and so was "she." Nevertheless, we talked about some things going on in our private lives, our relationships, etc.
- My friend vanishes for no apparent reason.
- Several months later, the friend reappears to email me and my girlfriend at the time our _entire_ chat logs covering those several months. Girlfriend at the time was obviously not happy to see me refer to her in less-than-flattering terms, so that was the beginning of the end of that relationship.
- The friend hasn't resurfaced since.

I never found out who this person was, how or if she was connected to me (i.e., whether she actually knew any of my acquaintances in university), or why she selected me in the first place.

Anyway, needless to say I learned my lesson about talking with strangers on the interwebs. Better earlier than later.

If he really did know about it on the 6th and tweeted about his "dead girlfriend" on the 8th, that's damning evidence.

Nah, he'll just say what Ray quoted -- I kept it quiet and continued the charade for the sake of the team. That story has the added advantage of explaining away his awful performance in the "national championship" game -- how can you have expected me to play well when all this was going on?

Nah, he'll just say what Ray quoted

Yes, and the problem is that he has to walk too many prior statements back. "Well, yes, I was deceptive there, but here's why. Yeah, I was deceptive there too, but it was for this reason. Sure, I stretched the truth with that comment also, but I had a good reason. I continued the charade after I found out it was a hoax? That was for the team."

This is one of the reasons I believe Clemens over McNamee in their steroids dustup. McNamee constantly had to walk various statements he made back. Over and over again McNamee had to admit to a lie and then explain it away. "Yes, I lied to the media, but it was for this reason. Yes, I lied to the feds initially when I told them Clemens was clean, but I did it to protect Clemens. Yes, I lied to the feds when I told them I didn't have any physical evidence, but I did it because I didn't want to hurt Clemens as much as I could. Oh, sure, I lied about the number of Knoblauch injections - but let me tell you why I did that."

Meanwhile, Clemens never had to explain away a lie, never had to walk a statement of his back, not a single time.

If he hadn't made an unsolicited tweet about cancer, then his teammates certainly would have noticed that something was wrong.

The plot thickens:

Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the man who has been publicly identified as being behind the Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax, called a church friend in early December crying and admitted to duping the Heisman finalist, the friend told Outside the Lines Thursday.

Here's Teo's best story, and it works:

1. Just because she turned out not to be "real" doesn't mean I didn't heroically play through my "girlfriend's" death from leukemia. Just because there wasn't a "girl" and she didn't "die" didn't mean I didn't think there was, and that's all that matters.(*)

2. Once "she" called me after "she" "died" to say that she was no longer dead, making me suspicious, I didn't want to harm my team's preparation for the BCS final. So I continued to act as if nothing had changed. I'm a leader and all about the team.

3. It shouldn't have, but the whole situation affected my play in the BCS final.

Barring new evidence, there's nothing there to disprove any of the above.

(*) Which is why I mused yesterday about the nature of "existence" here. Given the apparently accepted parameters of online relationships, Teo's girlfriend did die of leukemia.

1. Just because she turned out not to be "real" doesn't mean I didn't heroically play through my "girlfriend's" death from leukemia. Just because there wasn't a "girl" and she didn't "die" didn't mean I didn't think there was, and that's all that matters.(*)

2. Once "she" called me after "she" "died" to say that she was no longer dead, making me suspicious, I didn't want to harm my team's preparation for the BCS final. So I continued to act as if nothing had changed. I'm a leader and all about the team.

3. It shouldn't have, but the whole situation affected my play in the BCS final.

4. God, I am insanely stupid.

.

From DA's link:

Swarbrick said that the relationship took place online and over the phone. Te'o had described staying on the phone with whom he thought was Kekua for hours each night over many months. Tuiasosopo's friend from church told ESPN that Tuiasosopo admitted to having his female cousin speak to Te'o over the phone.

Ok, so, according to this in fact there _was_ a girl posing as Kekua. If true, that obviously helps Te'o.

And apparently two people say that their cousin - a different person - was duped as well in a scam by Tuiasosopo using the same name of Kekua:

Finally, the family convinced Vaosa's cousin that something wasn't right and he needed to cut things off not only with Kekua, but Tuiasosopo, whom they were convinced was the real Kekua, Tuioti-Mariner said.

But I don't understand this part. The two cousins of this other person who was duped began tweeting/joking as if they were in on the scam when they weren't?

Then this fall, Vaosa and Tuioti-Mariner saw the story of Te'o's dying girlfriend.

"When I found out about the Samoan football player (and) his girlfriend, his Grandma died the same day, I was like, 'Whoa this is crazy,' I feel so bad for him, so I just looked him up," Vaosa said. "I found out his girlfriend's name was Lennay Kekua. And right when I read the name Lennay Kekua, I immediately thought of Ronaiah. Then I thought of my cousin -- that this has to be the same person."

The cousins say they were convinced Te'o was being victimized, but say they were uncertain of what to do. They say they began tweeting their suspicions. Many of their tweets were laced with sarcasm including claims that "they" were the real Lennay Kekua. After Deadspin.com broke the story on Te'o and Swarbrick held a news conference, Vaosa and Tuioti-Mariner found reporters at their door and say there were threats made to them and their families on Twitter.

Lots of cousins flying around.

Also, they've identified the girl in the pictures:

Another person involved in the hoax has come forward as well. The woman whose photos were portrayed as Kekua was identified by Inside Edition as Diane O'Meara. Her lawyer told the program that her client is also a victim and that her photos were stolen and used to create the illusion of Te'o's girlfriend.

I don't think the Te'o as patsy story works, because it doesn't make any internal sense. Yes, he could have been fooled by an online romance. But not *this* kind of romance in *this* way. Nor are his past statements consistent with what he's saying now.

Poor idiot kid. Next thing you know, some conman will try to feed him some ####-&-bull crap about golden tablets & a god who lives on a planet called Kolub.

Oh, wait.

Barring new evidence, there's nothing there to disprove any of the above.

There's a lot that still wouldn't add up.

But phone records, phone records, phone records. Show the phone records. I want to see evidence of the hours per night he spent talking to this fake person.

Also, if he's innocent, no reason not to talk. There are no criminal issues for him to worry about, and his best-case reputation as a blazing fool couldn't possibly get any lower.

If Te'o was a victim then he:

1. lied about meeting her in 2009 at Stanford.
2. lied to his father (or had his father lie) about her visiting him in Hawaii multiple times
3. did not get suspicious when she failed to show up in Hawaii multiple times
4. probably lied about talking to her on the phone every night
5. gave his parents the impression that she might be his future wife despite the paucity of their interaction.
6. gave different dates of death during different interviews
7. lied about sending flowers to her funeral
8. mentioned her dying of cancer at least twice after he knew that she was fake

When can we start talking about the NFL again?

When can we start talking about the NFL again?

After your Falcons lose.

And not before.

When it stops being boring?

I.e. never?

Lots of cousins flying around.

That's a Samoan thing, pretty much any friend of the family who is Samoan will be referred to as cousin.

Lots of cousins flying around.

Growing up, I spent several years in Hawaii. To say it is insular would be an extreme understatement. I'm still not sure which people were actually related to which other people.

EDIT: Coke to Flynn

6. gave different dates of death during different interviews

We don't know that's true. It could have been simple media ########## - God knows they get enough other things wrong.

7. lied about sending flowers to her funeral

We don't know that isn't true, either. He might have been sent an address for the funeral home by one of "Lennay's relatives", and FTD or whoever just made the delivery to whomever lived there.

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/bulls/content/behind-teo-hoax-qa-deadspins-burke

Brief interview with the Deadspin editor who co-authored the original story. Basically no new info, just a bit of context, except that Burke says they began investigating 'Kekua' because of anonymous email they received on the 11th (this part was new to me anyway).

At the end of all this, there really isn't much to the Deadspin story other than the guy saying he was 80% sure Teo was in on it. There isn't any corroboration for that and this is shaping up to be a non-story, even on its own terms. Teo professing to be more valiant and devoted than he actually was (the phone call length, the flowers) isn't remotely a story.

In any sane world, Notre Dame paying lawyers/investigators on Teo's behalf, and the university's wildly disparate treatment of Teo and the two dead students would be far bigger stories.

There isn't any corroboration for that and this is shaping up to be a non-story, even on its own terms.

Yet. There will be more dominoes to fall here, and it remains to be seen whether they will be good or bad for Te'o. This isn't over by a long shot.

In any sane world, Notre Dame paying lawyers/investigators on Teo's behalf, and the university's wildly disparate treatment of Teo and the two dead students would be far bigger stories.

Disparate? In all three cases ND made inquiries and found out that ND was blameless! They're a hallmark of consistency...

Giving Te'o the benefit of the doubt:

1. lied about meeting her in 2009 at Stanford.

Plausible white lie that I am sure people who have "dated" online only have and continue to give. Online-only relationships are perceived as strange things weirdos do.

2. lied to his father (or had his father lie) about her visiting him in Hawaii multiple times

Also plausible. Didn't want to tell his dad he was embarrassed and let him down.

4. probably lied about talking to her on the phone every night

I can buy the theory that they had text-only communication and he lied about it to make it sound more real.

Disparate? In all three cases ND made inquiries and found out that ND was blameless! They're a hallmark of consistency...

Exactly.

We don't know that isn't true, either. He might have been sent an address for the funeral home by one of "Lennay's relatives", and FTD or whoever just made the delivery to whomever lived there.

If they gave him a non-funeral-home address as a funeral home, that's a huge risk to be taking.

If they gave him a non-funeral-home address as a funeral home, that's a huge risk to be taking.

As opposed to contacting some totally unconnected woman and having her hold up a sign she doesn't understand and take a picture of it? This whole thing is just a big heap of stupid risks - what's one more?

Some interesting details in this piece, which summarizes an interview given by Te'o's uncle Alema Te'o.

The three items that were of the most interest to me:
*Ronaiah introduced a nine-year-old girl to Alema and claimed that she was Lennay's cousin. The girl actually appears to have been Ronaiah's sister.
*Ronaiah spoke about starting a leukemia charity, and collecting money for a supposed cancer-stricken friend of Lennay's who needed money for tuition at Stanford. That would give him a financial motive for pursuing the hoax.
*Alema speculated that Ronaiah may have hired a similar-looking girl to meet with Te'o and pose as Lennay during one or more of their reported meetups. That seems unlikely to me, but I guess it's not any stranger an idea than anything else we've learned so far.

tweet d'jour

RJ Bell @RJinVegas

Teams that score 40+ in the playoffs are 3-20 against the spread the next week.

Teams that score 40+ in the playoffs are 3-20 against the spread the next week.

A common betting heuristic. Another one is betting on teams that are playing at home the week after getting trounced on the road. When Arizona came home after getting drubbed in Seattle, I pretty much emptied my betting account wagering on them.