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Occasionally a sports scandal comes along so bizarre, so inherently twisted and tragic, it is as if it was lifted straight from some schlocky, over-wrought made for television melodrama shown when it’s raining at the cricket.
The case of college football player Manti Te’o, and the possible death of a woman who may or may not actually exist, is definitely one.
For those out of the loop, time to take a seat, pour yourself a drink and set your expectations to stunned.
The story goes that Notre Dame captain Te’o, one of College football’s highest profile players, suffered dual tragedies on the 11th September 2012 when his grandmother and girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, died within hours of each other.
In front of an entire nation and the most fabled college football program in the land, Te’o assumed an air of stoic bravery, didn’t miss any matches and continued his rise to superstardom, right up until his sub-par performance in the recent BCS championship game.
For anyone who has dealt with the extreme stress following a loved one’s passing it was an amazing feat, and there was little more you could do than wear a pair of sunglasses indoors and complain about dust getting in your eye.
All of this would have made a great ‘Rudy’ style movie, except for the M Night Shyamalan twist that exploded yesterday.
While no one is doubting the validity of Grandma Te’o and his sandess after her death, Teo’s ‘girlfriend’ is another story.
Turns out Te’o had never met Kekua, their relationship being purely digital. All photos of her were of another woman. Stanford, the college she claimed to attend, had no knowledge of her.
She did not, according to media investigations revealed yesterday, actually exist.
(X-Files music plays in background)
To put it frank, there’s scandals and then there’s claiming to a national audience that your girlfriend has died, only to have it uncovered by the press that no such girlfriend may have existed at all.
Honestly, you could lock the entire playing roster of the NRL in the club showers with an open bar for a week and not come up with something quite so stupid.
Due to the insane nature of proceedings theories have been quick to develop; take your pick:
Te’o was the victim of a cruel ‘Catfishing’ prank, possibly by friends or members of the US Samoan community.
The story of his girlfriend’s death was created to inflate his chances of winning the Heisman trophy
It was a conspiracy by disgruntled cardinals looking to overthrow the current pontiff and have Irish coach Brian Kelly take his place
Chuck in current NFL player Reagan Mauia saying he actually did know a Lennay Kekua, and you feel like you should sit one of those football head injury cognition tests yourself.
No one quite knows what to make of Te’o at the moment. At worst he is a manipulative charlatan, at best a gullible young man whose trusting nature was taken advantage of.
As someone who has continually extolled the abilities of Te’o to American football sceptics, I personally feel like my team has blown a six point lead on the last play of a match thanks to an 80 yard hail Mary pass. Deflated, yet slightly bemused and wanting to see how the whole train wreck unravels.
Whatever does end up happening though, it is likely Te’o will be drafted and turn pro. I mean hey, there are players in the NFL with serious fire arms and burglary charges against their name. Teams just want to win.
Whether the fans will be quite so quick to put their trust in Te’o, or Te’o his in the fans, is something only time will tell.
Follow Chris on Twitter @Vic_Arious
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