Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o, who led the Fighting Irish to an unbeaten regular season and finished second for the Heisman Trophy, said in a statement Wednesday that he fell in love with a girl online last year who turned out not to be real.

   Te'o said during the season that his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, died of leukemia in September on the same day his grandmother died, triggering an outpouring of support for Te'o at Notre Dame and in the media.

   ND athletic director, Jack Swarbrick, said they have been investigating the hoax since Te'o approached officials on December 26th  to say he believed he had been fooled.

 Responding to a story first reported by the sports website Deadspin, Te'o has acknowledged that Kekua never existed, whick leads me to think that Te'o is a good hearted, naive and gullable person or has a wharped, sick mind who was part of the hoax to help drum up support for himself.

   love the idea that someone can be more than a man, be special. . However, over the years in sports we have become skeptic.  We have constructed  a wall of cynicism making it  harder to believe in the goodness of any athlete or superstar.

   In the end though the truth always comes out.