TE’O TEE University’s slogan gets update.
‘DREAM’ GIRL: A jokester gets in on the “Te’oing” craze, posing with a “girlfriend” in a pic posted to a blog mocking the Notre Dame star. (
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First there was Tebowing — and now there’s Te’oing.
Social-media users poked fun at Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o’s fabricated girlfriend by posting pics of themselves posing with phantom sweethearts.
The meme was dubbed “Te’oing” — echoing the one-time “Tebowing” craze, in which people mimicked Jets quarterback Tim Tebow’s on-field prayer pose.
“Just proposed to my girlfriend,” Shaun Boylan, a k a @TheGiantInMe, tweeted, along with a photo of himself kneeling in front of empty air.
The trend blew up yesterday, with a flurry of users posting solo poses hashtagged “#teoing.”
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One photo of an empty shower bore the caption “naked picture of Manti’s girlfriend.”
It wasn’t long before the phenomenon got its own Tumblr blog, teoing.tumblr.com, featuring mocking photos, including one of a smashed car with the caption, “Hit Manti Te’o’s girlfriend. Never saw her coming.”
Te’o went underground after the sports news Web site Deadspin revealed his “girlfriend” was a hoax, but the Internet relentlessly lampooned him.
“Holding hands with my girl as we anxiously await to see the Dr. to find out the sex of our baby,” read one caption with a photo of an empty waiting-room couch.
“Picture of my gf modeling at the beach. We met online, can’t wait to meet her in person,” said one caption with a photo of a beach with no one on it.
“Just made a BIG bowl of lucky charms for my amazing and alive girlfriend,” posted Colton Creer, ”@coltoncreer.
Another hashtag, “#mantiteoplaylist,” also popped up, featuring songs that could serve as inspiration for the fake romance.
“#mantiteoplaylist U2 – With or Without You (not the live version),” one user, ”@FakeSportsCentr, tweeted.
Other songs included “Kiss Me Through the Phone,” “Just My Imagination” and “Dream Lover.’’
And thanks to Te’o, Notre Dame has a new catchphrase.
The slogan “Play Like a Champion Today,” which has been used at Fightin’ Irish games since 1986, got the Te’o treatment.
The Web site Barstool Sports was selling a “Play Like Your Fake Girlfriend Died Today!” T-shirt for $24.95.
“I defy anybody to ever come up with a better [Notre Dame] hater shirt than this. Cha-Ching!” the site read under a photo of the shamrock-adorned shirt.
Dave Portnoy, 35, the site’s founder, said the idea came from a comment on a blog post they did on the Deadspin story.
“Once I saw that, we had the shirt up within a half-hour,” he said.
The site had sold about 2,000 shirts as of last night, he said.