Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/109499
T By Dan Murphy he feelings you felt on Jan. 16 and in the week that followed probably aren't all that much different than what Notre Dame captain Manti Te'o felt a little more than a month earlier. Confusion reigned that day when Deadspin.com, a muckraking sports and pop-culture website, broke the news that the Irish linebacker's tragic and motivational love story was a fairy tale. Te'o says the emotions he felt for the character Lennay Kekua were real, but she was not. Kekua, her backstory and her purported battle with leukemia and subsequent death were all conjured out of the ether by a man who claims he was just as confused in his own right as the rest of us. Two weeks of a captivated nation digging for answers created enough evidence to support whatever view one wants to hold. Was Te'o part of the plot? Was he innocent prey? Each attempt to answer came with a new farcical twist and a fresh set of questions. As this story winds to a merciful conclusion, here is what is left to consider. What Actually Happened? On the night of Dec. 6, 2012, Te'o accepted three prestigious awards at a nationally televised ceremony outside of Orlando, Fla. He had returned to his hotel room hoping to catch a few precious hours of sleep during a busy week when he received a phone call that changed his life. The name and voice on the other end of the phone belonged to Lennay Kekua, the woman Te'o called the love of his life. Kekua, he thought, died on Sept. 12 after a months-long battle with cancer. Te'o spent hours with the voice on the phone during the previous summer talking about their shared troubles, values and beliefs. Te'o said he fell in love with the voice during those conversations despite never meeting Kekua in person. Hours after learning his real grandmother passed away, Te'o got a call Te'o Hoax Timeline (Click for more details, where indicated by: ✚ ) Nov. 28, 2009 — Notre Dame freshman Manti Te'o reportedly meets Lennay Kekua for the first time following a 45-38 loss at Stanford. The manufactured story appeared on Oct. 12, 2012, in the South Bend Tribune — which cited Te'o's father, Brian, as its source. ✚ December 2009 — Te'o and Kekua first connect on the social media website Facebook. Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the man who created Kekua, said Te'o initiated contact by sending her a friend request. October 2011 — After years of online and telephone conversations, Kekua tells Te'o her father has died, which took their relationship past friendship. Dec. 31, 2011 — Te'o plans to meet Kekua in Hawaii during his semester break. She tells him she's unable to make it. Te'o tells his father they met anyway, which creates more confusion when that story becomes part of media coverage in 2012.