This human tendency toward believing is what allows not-so-true tales like Armstrong's and Te'o's to flourish.
Te'o's parents, Brian and Ottilia Te'o, were on hand for the interview.
Scouts have questioned Te'o's lateral agility, tight hips and explosiveness, but Te'o was happy with how he did.
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This, many agreed, was the greatest triumph of Dame Te Ata's long reign.
The notion that today's sports journalism can be anything other than aggressive and tough-minded is now as fictional as Manti Te'o's imaginary girlfriend.
Part Manti Te'o's inspirational story turned out to be the result of an elaborate hoax.
The players on my TV were suddenly harder to see than Manti Te'o's girlfriend.
Te'o's parents were summoned and they were tearful and clearly agonized by the whole episode.
In the second voicemail, the person was apparently upset by someone else answering Te'o's phone.
After a two-and-a-half hour interview, veteran sports reporter Schaap said Te'o's story sounded convincing.
Te'o's father was quoted in the article saying they exchanged phone numbers and a love affair began.
Te'o's wrenching story fit into this playbook perfectly. (Too perfectly which should have been a tipoff.) Of course it worked.
Many Internet denizens took the opportunity to bash Te'o's performance on the field.
Within days, the hoax about Manti Te'o's girlfriend broke, and Emmert was briefing two NCAA committees on the Miami case.
Te'o's father, Brian, told the South Bend (Indiana) Tribune last fall that his son did have the opportunity to meet Kekua.
His fellow All-American, Notre Dame's Manti Te'o, was still on the board.
Kekua was said to have died within hours of Te'o's real-life grandmother, who passed away on 11 September after a long illness.
Her death, as well as that of his grandmother, broke Te'o's heart.
But Mr. Te'o's father had been quoted as saying the two met.
The most interesting name available in the draft is Notre Dame's Manti Te'o, who led the Fighting Irish to the national championship game.
Swarbrick said he met with Te'o's family two days before Notre Dame played in the January 7 championship game and lost to Alabama.
Deadspin said it had traced the hoax to a former classmate of the woman whose face appears in the Twitter profile of Te'o's alleged girlfriend.
The hoax lasted longer than Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o's girlfriend.
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And Te'o's heart-wrenching tale of determination on the face of two tragedies -- the death of his grandmother and his girlfriend -- had all the elements.
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Te'o's mother talked to the woman many times on the phone, and his father texted biblical passages to the woman and discussed them with her, Couric said.
The too-good-to-be-true story began with Te'o's incredible performances after learning his grandmother and what he believed was his girlfriend had died within hours of one another in September.
And Te'o's heart-wrenching tale of determination in the face of two tragedies -- the death of his grandmother and his girlfriend within hours -- had all the elements.
Te'o's mother talked to the woman many times on the phone, and his father even texted biblical passages to the woman and discussed them with her, Couric said.
The fairy tale story ended on Wednesday when sports website Deadspin published a piece dismissing as a hoax the existence of Te'o's girlfriend and suggesting he was complicit.
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