Bank it: The Te’o girlfriend hoax story will get even weirder before it’s over

Blarney.

Yesterday produced what is being described as the most bizarre sports news stories ever. We’ve heard about the mind-blowing story from the website Deadspin, which lays out a damning case against Notre Dame’s Manti Te’o, his family and possibly some of their associates in conducting an elaborate hoax involving a dead girlfriend that never existed. There’s no way that story ends here.

Unfortunately for Te’o, his family and the perpetrators of the hoax, there’s also no way that this story has a happy ending.

There’s also no way that the days ahead won’t leave you shaking your head, jaw agape and wondering if this is all real or a hoax about a hoax within a hoax. This strange story is probably about to get weirder.

There are just too many holes to fill and too many loose ends to tie off, and there are too many journalists caught flat-footed in failing to do basic research. Some of the country’s most prominent sports media organizations have been Played Like a Champion Today, and they’re not going to let that good deed go unpunished. There are many high value targets and angles of attack now, and with the 2012 college football season now in the books, lots of journalists were sitting around and looking for something to do.

That was yesterday.

Beginning today, some of those holes are going to be poked, just to see what scurries out. Some of those loose ends will get tugged, just to see what might unravel. Given how bizarre this story already is, you can lay long and strong odds that something even more mind-boggling will be sanitized by sunshine. More contradictions will be found and more people will be exposed.

The more elaborate the lie, the more difficult it is to remember your story and keep it straight with all the other stories being told by all of the other people involved. It’s easy to remember the truth. It’s difficult to remember a lie and that difficulty grows exponentially with the number of lies told.

The ease with which so many prominent journalists were fooled by the Lennay Kekua hoax won’t be quickly forgotten and if these organizations want their pound of flesh for having been deceived, then have it they will.

This is going to get very interesting. Bank it.

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