Notre Dame LB Manti Te'o has disclosed that his girlfriend (Lennay Kekua) that died of Luekemia in September never actually existed. Te'o had a rough week prior to ND playing the Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing Michigan. He lost his grandmother (which IS true) and his girlfriend on the same day. He used their memories to fuel his desire to play well in that game. He had 12 tackles, a sack, and recovered a fumble. The Irish won 20-3 to move to 3-0 on the season.

Well it turns out the gf never existed. I think. Apparently, the entire relationship played out on line, via Twitter, and through phone calls. Although Te'o has mentioned seeing her in the past and his father talked about her visiting Hawaii. There was also talk of the flowers that were sent to her funeral. After the Michigan State game, Te'o talked about losing 2 women who meant so much to him and he knew he would see them AGAIN. Again as in he has seen the girl before. Which is confusing because now he says it was all internet and phone calls.

Notre Dame has hired private investigators and computer forensic specialists to find out who Te'o had been communicatiing with. Some sources say that Te'o was involved in an eloaborate hoax for publicity and to garner sympathy among Heisman voters. The University states that this is clearly a scam and that Te'o is the victim. They also state that their investigation has revealed the identity of the person who was behind all of it. The Fighting Irish think that the responible parties did it just for fun, and maybe to get Te'o to commit an NCAA violation of some kind.

Here is where it gets weird. Or weirder. In December, he got a call from a number that he thought belonged to the gf. He answered it and spoke to a female he belived to be Lennay Kekua. Who, if you recall, had died in September. The pictures of Lennay that Te'o had were actually facebook pics of another woman, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo. Kekua was supposed to be a student at Stanford, but the University has no record of her being enrolled. Some media sources claimed Tuiasosopo created Lennay Kekua.

Now here is where it gets REALLY odd. Arizona Cardinals fulback, Reagan Mauia, says he knows Kekua and is close with her family.  He says he met her in June of 2011. He and Steelers CB and Head & Shoulders pitchman Troy Polamalu went to American Samoa to do charity work with some other Polynesians.

SO...either some sick person decided to play a trick on this kid and humiliate him. Or...he was involved in the hoax as a publicity stunt. Or...I am not really sure. There seem to be LOTS of grey areas in Manti's story. He says they met at Stanford in 2009, and had a relationship for 3 years.Remmeber that Stanford has no records confirming her as a Cardinal.  His father says they met when the 2 where at home in Hawaii. Te'o says that every time they were supposed to meet, she came up with an excuse on why she couldn't.  Real or not, this girlfriend ran over Te'o like the Alabama running backs did in the BCS Title game.

Maybe there are 2 Lennay Kekuas? That is possible. There are 2 guys named Steve Smith in the NFL. (Although we ALL know there is only 1 Steve Smith and he plays for the Panthers.) I have not heard either way if Polomalu met Lennay or not.  All I know is this is a very bizzare story.