Today's Top Story is of course the saga of University of Notre Dame football player Manti Te'o, and the perplexing hoax involving a girlfriend he never met who died and to whom he dedicated his season but she actually didn't exist and yet is still tweeting somehow.
The Vandals predicted all of this in their 1998 album Hitler Bad, Vandals Good:
I heartily recommend the Deadspin post that broke the story; it's a long read but excellent reporting.
There are suggestions Te'o participated in the hoax to build his Heisman resume, or cover up the fact that he might be gay. This all seems... interesting. But it's really just a sports page story, right?
The "real" issue here that should concern all of us is not that Te'o was duped, or that he perhaps duped the media; but that the media were all duped so effortlessly and completely. Journalists covering the tragic but inspiring story of Te'o losing his girlfriend and playing through his pain should have (and apparently did) looked for Lennay's family; records of the car crash that supposedly led to discovery of her leukemia; asked for photos of her; just *any* proof she existed. It seems obvious now, but when those questions went unanswered, the mainstream media just let it slide.
If an otherwise inconsequential story like this can explode so easily, what about the stuff that really matters?
Also, have you seen the new meme of #Te'oing?
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Wow. All of these Catholics are crazy upset about Lennay not being real. You can only imagine the kind of s***storm it's going to be when they finally find out about Jesus."
- Anyonymous Deadspin commenter, on the Te'o story
OTHER STORIES I WORKED ON TODAY
- A computer programmer lost his job once his bosses discovered he had outsourced his job to China. No, really.
- Just when you thought it was safe to sell your house, real estate markets in three states have collapsed.
READ THIS
- A majority of Americans seem to be okay with abortion laws just the way they are.
- If your doctor says you need a poop transplant, you're in good hands. Wait, what?
- Jamie Kennedy claims his New Year's Eve TV special disaster was totally planned that way. Yeah, right.
TODAY'S OBSCURE MOMENT IN HISTORY
On January 17, 1966, an American B-52 bomber collided with a refueling plane over Spain, dropping several unarmed hydrogen bombs near the town of Palomares. Two of the bombs leaked plutonium radiation over the area. This was very nearly the worst nuclear holocaust ever.
RANDOM THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Jessica Simpson was on Leno the other night. Seems like she's been pregnant for two years straight, doesn't it? I'm guessing she was on the delivery table with right after the first one and shouted to Eric Johnson, "Fill 'er up!"
