Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend

Every so often the sports world gets rocked by a scandal that captivates us all by being so outrageously beyond belief that we can't help but be pulled into the story as it unfolds.  In today's world of 24/7 news coverage and social media, you'll find endless amounts of content written and said about these stories.  Typically the stories involve an athlete being disgraced for cheating or getting into trouble with the law.

This story is even more bizarre.

Notre Dame's run to the BCS title game came with a captivating sub-plot involving Manti Te'o, the Heisman Trophy runner-up who claimed the tragic death of his girlfriend inspired him to another level of greatness on the field.  The only problem with that story is that it wasn't true... because Te'o's girlfriend never existed.

Several reports have come out, and continue to come out, updating this story.  There have been so many twists and turns over the past few days that it's still unclear exactly what happened or what version of the story is true.  Apparently Te'o had become involved in an online relationship with a woman he never met.  This is far different from the socially acceptable method of using online dating sites to meet someone.  In this case, the relationship somehow evolved into this woman becoming his girlfriend, despite the fact that they had never met in person! 

It has since been revealed that Te'o was the victim of a hoax.  Multiple people conspired to create this imaginary person under the name Lennay Kekua, then built an online relationship with Te'o using this fake persona.  Ronaiah Tuiasosopo is the man identified as starting the hoax, but there must have been others involved.  Te'o claimed to have spoken to Lennay on the phone, which Tuiasosopo explained by saying his cousin was the one he had been speaking to.  Once the rouse had apparently gone too far, the conspirators decided to end the fake relationship by killing off the fictitious character by claiming she died of leukemia.

If that were the full story, it would be bizarre enough as it is, but it leaves plenty of unanswered questions that just don't add up.  Here are the potential scenarios for how this unfolded.

1) Te'o is the victim of a cruel prank gone too far.  He was too naive to realize this woman wasn't real and somehow developed a relationship with someone he never met.  In this version, Te'o is the tragic figure who is left heart broken and humiliated.
2) Te'o was in on the hoax all along, using his imaginary girlfriend's tragic death as a way to selfishly draw attention to himself as his team contended for a national title. 
3) Te'o was initally the victim of a hoax, but continued to carry on the story as if Lennay Kekua actually existed even after he found out the truth.

The third option seems to make the most sense, particularly since Te'o referred to his girlfriend in interviews that took place after he claims to have found out about the hoax.  Perhaps he was involved in it all along, but it's more likely that he was just too embarrassed to admit he had been tricked into believing the relationship was real, so he then went along with it hoping it would eventually blow over.

Yet there are still holes in the story.  Here are just a few of them.

• Te'o claims he didn't attend Kekua's funeral because he promised her before she died that he would play in the game instead.  If that were true, how would Kekua have known her funeral would take place at the same time as the game if she hadn't died yet? 
• If the news of her death had been broken to him by someone else, wouldn't he have known right away that the person who told him that must be the one behind the hoax?
• Te'o reportedly took a trip to Hawaii, where Kekua was from, but never met up with her.  Why would he need to travel all the way to Hawaii if they were just going to continue to text or chat online?
• An Arizona Cardinals player claimed Kekua was a real person - and he had met her!  Was he in on the hoax too or was he confusing her for a different person?
• Reports have claimed that Te'o claimed to have received a phone call in December from someone that sounded like Lennay Kekua, calling from a number he recognized as being hers, claiming that she was not actually dead.  Well, that would certainly freak anyone out!  Assuming it's true.

How much of this is true and how much of it has been fabricated by Te'o or others remains unclear.  My guess is that Te'o was initially the victim of a prank that got far too out of hand, but he realized the hoax sooner than he's admitting to.  He may even have been the one to make up the part about Kekua dying of leukemia - perhaps to take advantage of the situation by using it to boost his own popularity with a tragic story or maybe just because it was the only way he could think of to make the story go away without admitting he had been duped.

More confessions may continue to spill out, but when they do, can we hold them as truth or should we remain skeptical that they may just be a deeper part of this cover up?  Fairly or not, even Te'o's reputation has been tarnished to the point where we can no longer fully believe his side of the story.  Either he's a shameful liar or he's unbelievably naive to have fallen for this imaginary girl.

No matter how this turns out, I think we've all learned some valuable lessons from this story.  You can't believe everything you read on the Internet.  You certainly can't trust everyone you meet online.  Too many creepers and scammers out there.

Oh, and no matter what your feelings for someone may be, don't allow the relationship to develop to the point where you're calling her your girlfriend unless you've actually met the girl.  Who knew that didn't have to go without saying?