Weird that Thamel never went further. Reading between the lines it seems as if he's doubting the story as Te'o's telling it.

Easy to say now, but if you challenge the guy and he is telling the truth, then you come off as a huge superdouche.

I think "give the college kid the benefit of the doubt about losing his grandmother and girlfriend on the same day" is a pretty reasonable approach, even if you've got concerns.

"TE'O: It's a CTR ring. It stands for choose the right. I always wore it. I had to switch it from my right to my left."

Subtle foreshadowing imo

Master storyteller get this man on a writing team

Only so much I can do.

Where does the Leukemia come into this story?

Edit: I see it now on the longer part of the story. But I still am confused about the timing. Was the Leukemia before or after the car crash?

SI: I can call Stanford and check. They have to have some record or note that she passed.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/col...d-hoax-quotes/

i got this as far superior to those two

What were we thinking... a next day presser game changing performance after studying Swarbrick tendencies and having weeks to prepare? Roll tide

This. Just look at the client list. It's the Who's Who of Who's Who in entertainment.

This is tough. Seems like it ups the extravagance too much for a top-notch agency. Remember that the agency is investing in Te'o's future; they haven't been paid yet.

An NFL Draft prospect coming out -- even saying lying that he's gay because nothing else can be likely to stick -- raises the risk for a client without a contract. Not saying that his stock will greatly plummet for saying he's gay, but why would CAA enter unknown territory, putting their client in a position to actually get further isolated when he enters the league?

Maybe I have less faith in the acceptance of the sports world for a gay athlete of such a popularity caliber than I should, but -- again -- there's no precedence to show this can work and you don't pull a first with a client that doesn't have a contract like this, I'd think.

CAA didn't sign him to be the a long-term advertising asset; they signed him to milk his status as the most popular Notre Dame alum in a very long time with anything after the next few years being gravy.

nbcnews.com has a pretty great summary of all the questionable stuff

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...iend-hoax?lite

Even if he doesn't want to deal with the media, NFL teams have good investigative staffs. He can't avoid this.

First openly gay athlete in the NFL is how I think this all ends up.

SI random comment:
"Lennay was incredible. Although she was hospitalized for 8 straight months, she was able to step into her father's role at the construction company in October when he died. From the hospital, working in a senior administrative position! Amazing! What strength and courage. And what kind of idiot listens to someone read him 12 pages of letters from his girlefreind each week. Please."

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/col...#ixzz2IH8peCYr
WAT. Another person claims to have met this girl.

yeah it seems pretty difficult, given that it seems almost impossible that he was legit duped. but i mean, if that is the case do you just get out there and prove that he's an idiot or something?

definitely seems like they're trying to cover the story up and hope people just move on. is CAA really gonna tell him to like never talk about this in public and hope people believe that he was some duped fool rather than something worse? he's never gonna answer questions, like say about Ronaiah Tuiasosopo? (who he apparently knows, and seems to be behind "Lennay")

Mormons can't be gay. He will get kicked out of the church. The church's stance is that being attracted to members of the same sex is a life challenge that needs to be overcome. If he's gay he'll never admit it.

Caller on Francessa just tried to claim that the reporters from Deadspin were the people behind everything (they were the fake girl, tweets, etc) in a effort to make a name for themselves.

We're through the looking glass here people.

I'm just guessing, of course. I can see the angle of CAA using their other talent to rally around Te'o and turn him into a pop culture icon.

This story is relentless

edit: in response to the danny ocean post

ya, the last point is the most important one to me - none of the people who act like teo is the victim can come up with any reasonable motive for why someone or many people would continue this hoax. Were supposed to believe that he was getting pranked for fun? eventhough theres no explicit reward and it would be really time consuming? Its ridiculous and absurd.

THIS

I'm 100% sure Te'o was in on it at this point. Deadspin goes to Te'o, says, "We've got a deal for you. The payoff isn't for a couple of years, but oh baby when it hits..." and then they proceed the level the **** out of all of us.

That would be amazing. No, amazing wouldn't begin to do it justice. This would be the greatest sports story in history, and possibly the greatest story period.

Nice fact checking Thamel

lol

Has this been said?

Tim Burke, the writer from Deadspin, basically just called the Notre Dame AD a liar. He said that none of the people that he interviewed had been talked to by Notre Dame. The AD said they had interviewed all involved parties.

things are blowing up again