Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax: What is 'catfishing'?

Published this piece to newsnet5.com Thursday morning after questions mounted following the Manti Te'o revelation.

In a press conference Wednesday night addressing the purported fake girlfriend hoax involving Notre Dame Linebacker Manti Te’o, the school’s athletic director Jack Swarbrick called the incident a case of ‘catfishing.'

“I would refer all of you, if you're not already familiar with it, with both the documentary called "Catfish," the MTV show which is a derivative of that documentary,” Swarbrick said.

So just what was Swarbrick talking about?

“Catfish” is a 2010 documentary about two filmmakers who follow their colleague Nev Schulman’s online relationship with a woman on Facebook.

The film tracks what ultimately becomes a ruse, the woman Schulman talks to posing as someone else through photos and a personality that weren’t her own.

MTV airs a series spawned from the movie, “Catfish: The TV Show.” In this episodic version, Schulman and his filmmaking friend Max Joseph help people discover the truth about their online relationships. They work to set up meetings, which uncover the mystery.

The show’s site defines the verb "catfish" as: “To pretend to be someone you're not online by posting false information, such as someone else's pictures, on social media sites usually with the intention of getting someone to fall in love with you.”

But the idea of "catfishing" is more complex. The term spawns from a soliloquy by one of the film version’s characters about catfish being put in a tank with cod and keeping them active.

People who "catfish" keep others on their toes but can also use the method to inject meaning into their own lives.

In a recent episode on MTV, one person "catfishes" because he doesn’t like himself and channels what he wants to be through the online personas he assumes. Meeting the person he dupes helps him realize the consequences of his actions.

“As hard as it is for me to get my arms around this, there's apparently some sport in doing this, in being able to do it successfully,” Swarbrick said.

Te’o is in the limelight, as much remains unanswered about the bizarre story of the Heisman candidate’s relationship with a woman named Lennay Kekua, who Deadspin reports never existed.

"To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating," Te'o said in a statement released Wednesday night.

Arizona Cardinals Fullback Reagan Mauia alleges he met Kekua in a story reported by The Big Lead.

Stories from numerous established and respected outlets, including ESPN and Sports Illustrated, cite Te'o's grief in dealing with the deaths of his girlfriend who had cancer and grandmother in a period of less than 24 hours.

Give Chud a chance

At their end of season briefing, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam called himself and CEO Joe Banner two of the most impatient people in the world. Haslam would be better off recognizing his Pittsburgh past to see that patience is the most important virtue in building a winning tradition. 

Friday morning, Haslam kicked off another new era in Browns history, announcing Rob Chudzinski as the franchise’s 14th head coach. 

The Browns need to do everything possible to make sure they’re not naming number 15 before Ohio’s electing a new governor or current high school juniors are saying bye to mommy and daddy. The two-year plans need to be put in the past. 

Chudzinski’s introductory press conference was good, if not typical, in many ways. It’s difficult not to like a coach in one of those. They tell you how they’re going to put a winner on the field and how excited they are to do it. 

But with Chudzinski, the Toledo native and Browns fan, the meaning this job holds all feels a little more genuine. 

“For me, personally, it’s the best job. There have been other head coaching jobs that I’ve seen or potentially had opportunities for but this is the one that is special to me,” Chudzinski said. 

Passion is what showed through when Chudzinski spoke for the first time as the Browns’ new head coach. It wasn’t just passion for the game of football but for this team, the orange helmets and the Dawg Pound. 

“I was the kid that in the backyard playing, pretending I was Ozzie Newsome or Brian Sipe or the greats that played for Cleveland,” Chudzinski said. 

You will never have to have the feeling this fall that the man on the sidelines wearing a Browns coat and headset will be apathetic to your cause. As you cheer on the Browns, take solace in knowing he understands your place. 

“We wanted to be in that stadium, in the Dawg Pound so bad that we would watch games in December out in the snow and we’d flip the TV around in the window so we could be there,” Chudzisnki said. 

Now Chud will not only be in the stadium but down on the field leading his favorite team, trying to prove that Haslam and Banner took the right risk. 

Haslam called finding a head coach an art and science. If it’s a science, it sure is an imperfect one. 

There’s no book on what type of coach is the perfect hire. Look at the head coaches who have won Super Bowls in the past decade. Half were fired and given a shot with another franchise, the Patriots’ Bill Belichick and Giants’ Tom Coughlin combining for four and Colts’ Tony Dungy another. First-job head coaches Bill Cowher, Mike Tomlin, Sean Payton and Mike McCarthy account for four and Jon Gruden comes in as an anomaly, a coach who was traded. 

All that says is it’s nearly 50/50 in recent history on what gets you to the promised land and yields a Lombardi trophy. 

Eric Mangini fit the profile of a Belichick or Coughlin, while Pat Shurmur was in the vein of a Tomlin. Both ended up out of a job in two years. 

It all comes down to personnel and patience. There were a number of times where Coughlin was on the hot seat but narrowly clung to his job. Had he been fired who knows if the Giants would have reached Super Bowl XLII and pulled an upset for the ages. 

Haslam should know that patience pays dividends when it comes to coaches. The Steelers, for whom he was a minority owner, stood by Bill Cowher through a 15-season tenure. Cowher didn’t win a Super Bowl in his first six years and after two sub .500 seasons in 1998 and 1999, he could have been on the hot seat. 

But Cowher became a Super Bowl-winning coach later in his career because the Steelers never cut ties with him. They hired him young, at the age of 35, and let him grow in the Steel City until he finally hoisted the Lombardi in his 14th season as Steelers head coach. 

In the past 44 seasons, the Steelers have had three head coaches. They also have 26 playoff appearances, 20 division titles and six Super Bowls in that time. The Rooneys do it right. 

Their model shows change is not always for the better in the NFL. New is not en vogue if you want a consistent winner. Whether Haslam gets that is up for debate. 

When describing the coaching search Friday, he struck a different tune than the note of impatience a couple weeks earlier. 

“"Joe [Banner] and I have both come from organizations where there has been little change in terms of leadership. This organization has had a lot of change in terms of leadership. We wanted to spend a little bit more time,” Haslam said. 

Chudzinski may not be the “sexy” hire. He’s not the big-name college coach or fired NFL head coach with Super Bowl experience. But he was the Browns’ choice and one they now need to stand by to end the revolving door of head coaches and establish a new identity as a formidable contender. 

It would be all too whimsical, a story written in fairytale, if Chudzinski could be the man to get his boyhood team its first Super Bowl title. Dreams can come true though - just ask Chud.

Mike Shanahan hinders Redskins chances, RGIII's health with QB mismanagement

Mike Shanahan's been accused in the past of having his players fake injuries. There was nothing fake about Robert Griffin III's knee injury Sunday, yet Shanahan failed to take him out of the game putting his player's health at risk and ultimately dooming his team's season.

As the Redskins were driving down the field in the first quarter, Griffin appeared to tweak the injured knee as he rolled right. The rookie quarterback still threw a touchdown on the drive, giving the Redskins a 14-0 lead.

But that was Washington's last score of the game in their 24-14 Wild Card playoff loss to Seattle. 

Failed drive after failed drive, Griffin continually trotted back out. There's no doubt in my mind he probably wanted to go back out there and fought to do so on the sideline.

His coaches should have known better.

Watching RGIII try to move on the torn up sod of FedEx Field was cringeworthy. One fourth quarter play call appeared to be a designed run, Griffin gaining nine yards, running on a limp out of bounds.

He should have stayed there and taken a spot on the bench. Long before that play, he should have been pulled from the game. That's what Shanahan would have done not only if he wanted to perserve his franchise's star player but win the game.

Over and over, it was more than evident that RGIII's knee injury was not one that was just affecting his ability to run but also to pass, rendering him a "non-factor," as Troy Aikman rightly pointed out. 

On an Earl Thomas interception, Griffin underthrew Pierre Garcon deep down the field, uncharacteristic of the rocket-armed quarterback. Many plays before that Griffin struggled stepping into his throws on that gimpy right knee, just as he did on the Thomas pick. 

Washington's offense thrives on the option read and getting the quarterback outside off the play action fake. Griffin's injury negated that. It also took away the threat of a deep passing game.

Griffin finished the day 10 of 17 for 84 yards through the air with just 12 yards rushing. After the first quarter, he threw for only 16 yards.

He ended his season laying on the turf after his knee finally gave out on a fumbled snap late in the fourth quarter. It was also the end of the Redskins' season, as the Seahawks recovered the fumble and took a two-possession lead.

Some will blame Griffin for wanting to stay in the game but that's just wrong. 

It is the fault of his coaches who could not see the obvious and pull the quarterback. 
The Vikings played a road playoff game with a backup who hadn't thrown a pass all season. Washington backup Kirk Cousins started and won a game this season. 

Cousins would have given the Redskins a better chance to effectively utilize their scheme, something Robert Griffin III, for all his talent and determination, just couldn't do Sunday. 

Not seeing that is on you, Mike Shanahan. 

The End: Jets season & Mark Sanchez era

The burning image of how this Jets season came to an end is so fitting, so much so that Monday Night Football play-by-play man Mike Tirico summed it up this way: "That's the way this game should end. That's the way this Jets season should end. Ugly and a loss!"

Play-by-play guys don't typically opine but in this sense it was brutal truth. One that was so clear you'd have been remiss not to say.

Mark Sanchez fumbling a low snap to seal defeat.

The quarterback who has had so many problems holding onto the ball again couldn't Monday night. Now he will no longer hold onto the starting job. 

An ugly performance from the Titans gave the Jets opportunity after opportunity to capitalize. It was never more put on a platter than after the shanked punt that gave the Jets the ball back at the Tennessee 25 with 47 seconds left.

That's when Sanchez lost the ball and the game, just as it seemed he had the drive before with his aimless heave down the field that Tennessee safety Michael Griffin pounced on.

Sanchez had plenty of those types of throws, picked off four times. He threw 28 passes and completed just 13 of them for a measly 131 yards.

The Jets, the team that hasn't just had nine lives but 11 or 12, had it all so tellingly wrapped into Monday night's loss, which was really a microcosm of a whole season in one game.

Tennessee played such an ugly game that over and over again the Jets were given new life. Mark Sanchez was given the ball not once but twice with a chance to win the game, set up so beautifully that all he had to do was be careful, making one or two good throws. 

Now, though, the end is here for the enigmatic fourth year quarterback from USC who has proven he is just flat out bad. There are no more excuses or support to be given for Sanchez. His quarterbacking has been so utterly painful to watch it makes you yearn for the days of Brooks Bollinger or Kellen Clemens. At this point, Greg McElroy sounds like Joe Namath in comparison.

As the Jets defense does its best to keep a game within reach, the stagnant offense sputters and worse so, Sanchez makes their rest on the sideline a short one. 

It really is amazing that the Jets were not officially eliminated from playoff contention until this Week 15 embarrassment. Truth be told, the 14 weeks preceding it were not very much to write home about.

The Jets reached a climax in a Week 1 beatdown of the Bills and spiraled downward from that point on, somewhere along the way festering in a place just better than the NFL's most hapless.

Finally though the hammer dropped after weeks of this ongoing charade. Any logical observer knew full well the lifeless Jets team that lost in Seattle was not going anywhere. With an offense this bad, the playoffs would have been a joke. 

Somehow though, in typical Jets fashion, they clung to life for a few weeks, stringing you along into a false belief of hope. They gave you the inkling to care again after disconnecting weeks earlier. Should've known better than to commit again, but like someone burned by a guy or girl over and over, who just can't get enough, you go back for more.

You want to remember the good times with Sanchez, the playoff and comeback wins, but you need to be slapped back to reality if that's the only way you can see it now. 

Roping you in is what the Jets do best on a yearly basis, no matter who the head coach or general manager or quarterback is. 

New pieces are put in place with the same result, a vicious cycle of failure. Getting rid of offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer did nothing to change the offensive pitfalls, just like getting rid of Paul Hackett injected no new life nearly a decade earlier. From Herm Edwards to Eric Mangini now to Rex Ryan and Chad Pennington to Brett Favre to Mark Sanchez, the end has always been the same - the guys in green and white walk off the field losers, hoping for better luck next year. 

That still has not come. 

Monday night, the Jets reached another ending point, not just of a season but an era. 

Most teams are defined by their quarterback, the league's glamour position. Nothing about Mark Sanchez's play is glamorous. It has become downright putrid.

Photographic learners remember things based on pictures. I'll remember this season for a few very similar ones: Sanchez strip-sacked in overtime to lose the game in New England, "butt-fumbling" on Thanksgiving night to lose his dignity and Monday night in Tennessee finally fumbling away his job.

Pat Shurmur: 'We did some fun stuff,' as Browns crush Chiefs

Fun was the adjective the Browns used to describe their victory over the Chiefs Sunday. 

That’s right, fun, not nail-biting, stressful or squandered. Pure, unadulterated entertainment was on display at Cleveland Browns Stadium, with trick plays abound in the Browns’ 30-7 win. 

“The flow was really, really good especially on those drives where we were able to get points,” quarterback Brandon Weeden said. 

Travis Benjamin catapulted it all, answering a big bang 80-yard touchdown run from Jamaal Charles on the Chiefs’ opening play from scrimmage with a 93-yard punt return, setting a Browns record.   

Benjamin switched spots with Josh Cribbs on the play called 'Bonsai,' where Cribbs moves up to try to block the punt. Instead, it sprung a touchdown.

“It’s a very dangerous duo knowing that me and Cribbs are back there,” Benjamin said. “They're gonna try to kick it away from Cribbs so I have to build the momentum and build my name.” 

Trent Richardson described Benjamin as "the fastest man I’ve ever, ever seen in person.” Weeden called Benjamin’s return the biggest play of the game. Up 10-7, the Browns went on the attack, opening up the playbook. 

“We did some fun stuff and it worked out. We could’ve run two wildcat plays and you guys would’ve been happy,” Shurmur said to the press. 

Shurmur’s usually answering questions about 3rd or 4th and short playcalling decisions but this week they were about new offensive formations. So why the wildcat 14 weeks into the season? 

“We just thought it’d be fun,” Shurmur said.

Fun - that was the buzzword after all. 

The offensive chicanery gave Weeden a chance to try some different stuff, like blocking from the receiver spot. The “trick plays" got the Browns to the doorstep, Josh Cribbs coming up short on a snap from the wildcat and Greg Little on a toss from the backfield, places the two aren’t typically lined up.   

“Anytime you do plays like that it’s tough on defenses,” Weeden said. 

Cribbs and Little, as well as Josh Gordon, became part of what Shurmur jokingly coined the “tackled on the one” crowd. 

“They all had their shots. I’m sure they’re gonna try to let that nickname go away,” Shurmur said. 

Their work didn’t go for naught though, setting up Trent Richardson at a place where he can excel. 

“When you have a running back that has a nose for the goal line, you want him to have those opportunities,” Shurmur said. 

Richardson seized those, reaching paydirt twice and earning a Browns milestone, tying Jim Brown’s franchise record of nine rushing touchdowns as a rookie. 

“Something like that is an honor. Jim Brown is an icon and always will be. He’s one of those guys you wanna follow in his footsteps every which way you go in the football division,” Richardson said. 

Those two scores aided what became a Browns blowout, the defense suffocating Brady Quinn, last week’s AFC Offensive Player of the Week, and the Chiefs offense once Dwayne Bowe left the game with a rib injury. Come the fourth quarter, the Browns had a big lead and that was a new feeling. 

“I’m not used to that math,” Shurmur said teasingly, the Browns up three scores. 

For now, the Browns remain mathematically alive in the playoff race, clinging to life at 5-8. They’ll need help but they have a shot. 

“We’re just thinking about winning. We’re still in the hunt,” Montario Hardesty said after one of his best games of the season. 

“Guys are excited," Weeden said. "We realize we’re in a tough spot but we still have a chance. Crazy things have happened.” 

Crazy as it might be, it’s not impossible. December is here and the Browns won’t just be playing the role of spoiler, at least not next week, with playoff implications for both them and their opponent the Redskins.

Kent St hurt in sham of bowl system

It's a seasonal ritual as predictable as Aunt Cathy wearing a cheesy sweater to your annual family Christmas gathering.

Each and every December, the selection of bowl games is just as mind-boggling as the year before and the one before that. It almost certainly leaves your head spinning. Even when there's no controversy over the two teams playing for the title there is still plenty that simply doesn't add up.

Example one in 2012: the local feel-good story Kent State Golden Flashes, a top 25 team that lost just two games. After one of its best seasons in school history, there's no doubt the players will, and should, revel in going to a bowl game, the program's first in 40 years. But they deserve more. 

A loss in the MAC Championship game, in double overtime, does not warrant the massive freefall that college football's haphazard system perpetuates. Ranked 17 in the BCS coming into the game, a win for  Kent State would have in all likelihood propelled them to the top 16 and a spot in the Orange Bowl, especially after Nebraska and UCLA losses. 

The Flashes lost to top 25 Northern Illinois in a valiant effort on the doorstep of an unprecedented feat. Their reward for that is a trip to the GoDaddy.com Bowl against Arkansas State of the Sun Belt. They don't get a shot to be a Boise State and become national sweethearts. 

Instead, Kent State is buried away in one of the post-New Year's Day games without prestige. No trip to Miami and a date with the ACC champion Florida State. 

Northern Illinois gets a trip to the BCS. Kent State goes to Mobile and a bowl named after a website that lets you create a website. Not the way their season should come to a close. A cruel system it certainly is. 

It's not just the proverbial little guys that get the shaft either. Take example two this bowl season, Georgia. A heartbreaking, close loss to Alabama moves the Bulldogs from a potential chance at a title to the Capital One Bowl.

The 'Dawgs don't even get to play in one of the top BCS games. Losing a de factor national semifinal minimizes them to a matchup with a team that just gave up 70 points to a five-loss team in their conference championship game. Some reward, eh?

Again the BCS has failed to give fans the best matchups. Northern Illinois justifiably earns a spot by finishing in the top 16 and ahead of an automatic-qualifying conference champion. Yet they do not take the place of that team, unranked Louisville, defeating any value of the provision. 

It doesn't make sense. The BCS and bowl system have long been full of these ludicrous inequities. 

Continually lost in this is a fulfilling end to one of sport's most exciting regular seasons. Bowls often fall flat because they fail to capture the unpredictability and excitement of the games that precede them. 

Unlike college basketball where 68 teams have a shot at a championship, just two do in college football's final stanza. The rest of the games are just cash cows full of sometimes nice vacations for players depending on a bowl's location and pride. Stakes are diminished. The little guy rarely gets a shot to slay the Goliath. 

When they do, like in the case of Northern Illinois this year, pundits gripe about why that's the reason the system is flawed. 

But really that's where college football fails.

Kent State should have a shot to take on one of the establishment powerhouses. The Flashes deserve a shot to make a splash, like Ohio did in basketball upsetting Georgetown and Michigan in two of the past three seasons in the NCAA Tournament.

Georgia deserves a shot at a bigger game in primetime on the national stage. But they won't get that either. 

Big or small you're always at risk of getting screwed in this system where too many have to feign excitement when really they're not getting their just due. Months of buildup end in a payoff that leaves you feeling empty, kind of like clicking a broken link, especially when it comes to Kent.

Time for NFL to tackle issues head-on after Jovan Belcher murder-suicide

The NFL has a problem and it's one that not only can no longer be ignored but has to become a focus. Substance abuse, depression and head trauma are all possible factors leading to violent repercussions in the lives of the league's athletes and those close to them.

Again, a player has committed violence upon himself or others in a tragic and rattling incident. Jovan Belcher was 25, his girlfriend who he allegedly murdered was 22. Their daughter is only three months old. She is now an orphan, a child whose life is forever changed and she's too young to even know it yet.

Belcher killed Kasandra Perkins before going to Chiefs facilities and taking his own life Saturday, according to police.

A Deadspin report attempts to shed some light on the situation and not shockingly head trauma is part of the discussion. A friend of Belcher told Deadspin that Belcher was "dazed and confused, suffering from short-term memory loss" after taking direct hits to the head in the last game he played in on Nov. 18 vs. the Bengals.

The friend also claims that Belcher was abusing alcohol and prescription medications, a toxic combination of factors that led to this senseless ending.

It should never come to this. But this issue is not a new one for players who have been a part of this game. It's becoming a trend and a scary one at that.

In May, former Chargers linebacker Junior Seau committed suicide, shooting himself in the chest. Seau's former teammate Gary Plummer told USA Today he believes Seau suffered more than 1,500 concussions in his career. An autopsy concluded that there were no obvious brain problems or drug abuse, however tissue from Seau's brain will be researched by the National Institutes of Health at the request of his family.

Last year, former Bears player Dave Duerson also shot himself in the chest, and left behind notes telling his family to donate his brain for research. Scientists at Boston University's School of Medicine found he had "moderately advanced" brain damage and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) related to blows to the head.

Thousands of lawsuits from former players accusing the NFL of hiding information that connects head injuries to further brain damage and illness were consolidated into one major one.

That alleged connection is still not certain and remains a controversial subject. There's evidence for and against it. A Slate article disputes the link citing research that says suicide among former NFL players is below the national average.

However, concussions continue to be rampant throughout the NFL. CBS Sports put together a list of team-by-team concussions through Nov. 16 that included 77 players.

A particularly jarring example this season came when Bears quarterback Jay Cutler suffered a concussion and continued playing for that series and the next before leaving the game at halftime and missing the next game. The team said Cutler's symptoms were not immediately visible. 

The Browns have been in this firestorm too. Last year, Colt McCoy was not properly checked for a concussion after being illegally hit by James Harrison and was put back in the game. It prompted the NFL to assign concussion-specific trainers to each team's sideline.

Last week, Brandon Weeden suffered a concussion after his head slammed into the lower body of Joe Thomas. The Browns had to hide Weeden's helmet to keep him from trying get back on the field. He was cleared by team doctors and started against the Raiders Sunday.

Now 49ers quarterback Alex Smith has said, "I feel like the only thing I did to lose my job was get a concussion." It makes you wonder if players will hide concussions in fear of losing their spot. Do they realize the potential long-term severity of a head injury? It's not like a knee injury where you can't walk or return to the field. The effects are not as obvious to the naked eye but the potential impacts are just as dangerous, if not more.

What is certain is that the NFL needs to continue increasing support for its players. The institution of the concussion spotters on the sidelines is a good step.

It extends beyond just concussions though. Players are suffering through substance and prescription drug abuse. It is unimaginable the pain that a player endures week after week of bone-crushing action. When most retire in their 30s or early 40s, many give up all they've ever known, what made them important and gave them a sense of belonging. Just like that, it's gone.

Since April, four former or current NFL players have committed suicide. It spreads to team employees too, a member of the Browns staff found dead from suicide in Berea this weekend. Depression is an illness that too often goes untreated, men particularly too afraid to come forward and admit it.

It's not something to be embarrassed about. Like any other disease it's a sickness that has to be treated. NFL players and staff need to know that. All of us do.

The NFL has to make sure its players know it. Their new wellness program is another positive step in that direction. They need to provide that support and make it more than just a website or phone number to call.  Even more so, we need to be there for each other.

Chiefs quarterback Brady Quinn summed that up eloquently Sunday.

"We have contact with our work associates, our family, our friends, and it seems like half the time we are more preoccupied with our phone and other things going on instead of the actual relationships that we have right in front of us," Quinn said.

Paying more attention won't alone end tragedies but you hope it can help decrease incidents like Saturday's murder-suicide.

Maybe you can't always stop them but it's worth trying.

Caring - genuinely caring - for people is worth it.

Because a little girl shouldn't be left alone in this world in a couple pulls of a trigger. Violence shouldn't alter lives if there's a chance to prevent it. Life is precious. Shattering it is too easy and picking up those pieces is grueling.

In a race to find a rationale, to make sense of a senseless tragedy, we can't try to make it black and white. You can't boil this down to solely a gun or a hard hit or a prescription drug. It's much more complex than that.

There's not an easy solution or quick remedy. But we can all do a little more - or at least try to - as individuals. The NFL must make sure it does too.