The "new" Deadspin

[gk]

The twitter is actually cracking me up right now.

RT@nachosarah: ugh always a bridesmaid never an imaginary dead girlfriend

RT @celebrityhottub: Alabama has placed Lennay Kekua on medical scholarship.

RT @mengus22 [Posnanski deletes Te'o book proposal]

RT @netw3rk: How to write a story about someone: 1) does this person/persons exist?

RT @sethmeyers21: These Te'o jokes are all very funny but let's all try and remember that person who never existed is dead.

[fatmenace]

@unite: "Attractive Stanford Girlfriend." ...we should've known.

[fatmenace]

by the way, if you want to watch a meltdown in real time.

www.irishenvy.com/forums/leprechaun-lounge/84692-lennay-kekua-possible-hoax-9.html

[fatmenace]

Manti

"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."

[fatmenace]

Problem is all the quotes that are flying over twitter from Manti himself about meeting her in person, going to Hawaii with her.

This dude is not a victim but was in on it from the beginning.

[fatmenace]

ND Recruiting ‏@nd_Recruiting

This is kind of terrifying... this was tweeted 30 mins ago: "@lennaykay I miss you too snugglebunny RT @mteo_5 @lennaykay I miss you! "

[fatmenace]

[fatmenace]

ESPN has known about this story for at least 10 days. Yeah, if there was any doubt that ESPN has ceased being a news outlet and has become an agenda machine, this situation removes it all.

[fatmenace]

A Notre Dame source told ESPN that Te'o was vetted heavily when the school learned in December that Kekua was a hoax, and said he believes Te'o was not involved. But a friend of Tuiasosopo told Deadspin he was quote "80 percent sure" that Te'o participated and did so with publicity in mind.

[fatmenace]

mike freeman ‏@realfreemancbs
Theory about why Manti did what he did has reached NFL team circles and if true absolutely explains his actions.

[mayor]

Chad - I'm Counting on you to be on top of this

[mayor]

I think I believe Manti.

[fatmenace]

I just read the transcript of the press conference. It sounds like they're NOT going to release the results of their investigation, which is ludicrous to me. They're keeping everything under wraps.

The media questions, most of whom were local, we're on par with the Austin media. Weak and pathetic.

I'm listening to Mike and Mike and they're making the point that Swarbick is going all in and wouldn't have done so if the investigation showed he was complicit. But I'm also reading all the quotes he gave about this girl. Maybe he didn't initiate the hoax, but he was knee deep.

Also, I don't believe for a minute that ND or ESPN were going to release this next week. I think Deadspin embarrassed them and forced them to reveal part of their hand.

It's like nobody learned from PSU. Just release the freaking report. What are they hiding?

[fatmenace]

Getting weirder....

from the updated espn article
Reagan Mauia, an Arizona Cardinals fullback, said he believes Kekua existed because he met her in person when he and other Polynesian teammates and Pittsburgh Steelers star Troy Polamalu went to do charity work in American Samoa in June 2011. "This was before her and Manti," Mauia said Wednesday evening. "I don't think Manti was even in the picture, but she and I became good friends. We would talk off and on, just checking up on each other kind of thing. I am close to her family. When she was going through the loss of her father, I was -- I offered a comforting shoulder and just someone to bounce her emotions off. That was just from meeting her in Samoa." Mauia said Tuiasosopo -- whom Mauia believes is Kekua's cousin -- introduced the two. After the initial meeting, Mauia said he met her at an "after-party" for all of the athletes involved in the camp. "She was tall," he said. "Volleyball-type of physique. She was athletic, tall, beautiful. Long hair. Polynesian. She looked like a model ... " He said it is his understanding that Kekua's mother is operating her Twitter account. He said he'd never met her mother. When told by a reporter that she apparently might not have existed, Mauia said "No, she is real."

[mayor]

Bizarre stuff