It has been a long several weeks filled with nothing but ridicule for college football player Manti Te’o, and it is actually not because he plays for Notre Dame.

Te’o, a linebacker for the Fighting Irish, was the hero of the team because he had not only made runner-up for the Heisman trophy, but he had helped them clinch the Bowl Championship Series in December. 

Unlike most football players though, he had to do it while choking through two throat punches from life. In September, Te’o had gotten the news that his grandmother had passed away from leukemia. About six hours later, he found out that his long-distance Internet girlfriend Lennay Kekua had also died of the same thing.

Most men would have been grounded under the twin tragedies like a roach under a boot heel, but Te’o used them as emotional fuel to better himself and his team. It is a story so heartwarmingly inspirational that it could be a Sandra Bullock movie. And it might as well have been, because after the sports blog Deadspin put out a story saying they could not find any record of Kekua even existing, it came out that Te’o had been tricked and that his “girlfriend” had been completely faked. A media firestorm ensued, bringing with it an inevitable hurricane of memes, puns and jokes.  

Investigation has implicated California resident (and Jon Stewart punchline) Roniah Tuiasosopo as the perpetrator of the hoax. Apparently the Te’o and Tuiasosopo knew each other the same way Te’o “knew” his girlfriend, through the Internet. Recently, Tuiasosopo has said in a Dr. Phil interview that  his motivation was based out of love for Te’o.

You may be feeling sorry for Te’o since it appears that he did not start this himself and was completely fooled. But do not get too caught up in your pity. According to ABC News, Te’o knew the relationship was fake as far back as December 8th and yet continued the lie until the story broke. If he had just come clean publicly and admitted he had been foxed, he might have gotten sympathy instead of jokes about “Te’oing.” After all, it is not that hard to admit you do not really have a girlfriend you were talking up.

It is baffling to believe that people are still being fooled by fake information on the Internet in 2013, when it is a common joke and vital information in teaching about the Internet. But unfortunately, it is true. So will this be a large enough wake-up call for people to stop blindly trusting what they find on the Internet, or do we continue to spur ourselves on in the race to the bottom?