Let me break down the sequence of news events and some of the sideshows:
- Deadspin reports that Te'o's girlfriend was fake, and at a minimum, he lied about some of the interactions he had with his girlfriend (they never met);
- Notre Dame comes out with a hastily prepared media conference to outline that they had learned about this, weeks ago, and had hired an independent investigator, saying that Te'o was a victim of catfishing;
- USA Today's sports writer Christine Brennan notes that ND athletic director shed more tears over a hoax, than he did for a real woman who committed suicide when no one believed her story that a ND player raped her;
- A former Arizona Cardinals running back, Reagan Maui'a, states unequivocally that he met this fake woman;
- TMZ says that ND has told all staff to keep their mouths shut, or else they will be fired;
- TMZ then follows up with a look at the person Deadspin pointed the finger at: Ronaiah Tuiasosopo;
- A timeline appears from the awfulannouncing blog, and shows that Te'o had been perpetuating this hoax (lying to the media) long after he supposedly discovered that this was a hoax;
- SI's Pete Thamel releases his entire notes from his interview with Te'o, over his girlfriend's death;
- Jackie Peppers reports that an anonymous source inside of ND football, revealed that many players felt that Te'o had been vastly exaggerating his relationship and that he had actually had on-campus relationships with other women all this time;
- Finally, Deadspin covers the numerous errors / discrepancies reported in the media, over the years.
What happened and what was the motive? I have read many explanations, but none seemed very plausible, including the narrative being offered by Notre Dame and Te'o. I can visualize two possible scenarios, and in both cases, Te'o's actions were for personal gain (vanity or glory).
First scenario: Te'o really didn't know this was a hoax, but seized upon the relationship and embellished and perpetuated it (long after he realized it was a hoax) so that he could turn into an epic Notre Dame sports hero. Because Ronaiah's father was himself a USC football player as well as one cousin (Fred Matua, RIP), and as a response to Te'o picking ND over USC at the last second, Ronaiah misguidedly played a prank on a family friend (Te'o) that got out of control, so he killed the characters off. Embarrassed that he had fallen for a hoax, Te'o tried to remain quiet and hoped to let the story die, but it wouldn't, so he eventually came out to Notre Dame officials.
Second scenario: Te'o realized that he was turning into a huge Notre Dame star and a potential Heisman candidate, and hatched up the legend of Lennay with his family friend (Ronaiah). The plan was to show Te'o as a heroic football player who pushed through personal adversity. When trouble bubbled up with a confrontation with a third party over the lies Te'o has been involved with, Te'o came out to Notre Dame with another hoax -- that he was a victim of a hoax.
Much of the media has simply accepted Notre Dame's and Te'o's story that he was a victim of an elaborate hoax. Not many are talking about how, regardless of which story is true, that Te'o lied to the media before and after the hoax was revealed to ND officials. Complicit to the hoax, neither ND nor Te'o quashed the proliferation of these stories, once they understood that a hoax had been perpetrated. Instead, they chose to remain silent.
So what's the bottom line? Notre Dame's attempts to manufacture a legendary player from a legendary season has fallen short on both fronts. They were embarrassed by their performance in the BCS NC game, and they were embarrassed by the hoax that their star player was involved in. He's still a really good player, but clearly everything about him and the story about his legend has been greatly exaggerated.
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