Just as Notre Dame football fans were recovering from the heartache of getting trounced by Alabama in the BCS National Championship game, they were struck with more depressing news on Wednesday.
It involved their school's golden boy, the one who could do no wrong and essentially led them to their first undefeated regular season since 1988. The player credited his exceptional performance this season to the inspiration he received from the loss of his grandmother and girlfriend, who he said passed away only six hours apart from each other.
This player was Manti Te'o, who was reported to be engaged in a long-distance and long-term relationship with Lennay Kekua.
Kekua never actually existed.
As the reports of the farce surfaced, Te'o called himself the victim of a hoax.
But I'm asking, how do you last that long in a relationship without meeting your significant other or at least getting proof of their existence?
Nobody is that dumb, and I'm not buying it.
To make it worse, his parents are caught in a lie now, too. They said Te'o and Kekua had met in Hawaii and after a game at Stanford in 2009.
Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick said they never actually had face-to-face contact.
What's with these people?
I smell something fishy, and I think he's no victim.
I think there's a lot that we still don't know and have yet to find out. The only thing that's for sure is that we should get ready for "Te'o-mania" on ESPN.
Reach the columnist at adrian.martinez@asu.edu
