Ok. I've had a couple days and currently 3 Dog Fish Head 90 minutes to think this over. And here's my current thoughts on it. In other words, THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED in the mind of stevestojan:
Manti, a Mormon who doesn't drink, and is a good kid, goes to what is the equivalent of South Buffalo when it comes to a drinking school.
He wants nothing to do with the party scene for the above reason. He stays home as his friends/teammates go out. Therefore, he's labeled an introvert.
For reasons that all of us with a penis know, Manti still wants female contact. Gets an email from a girl who said "hey we met/we made eye contact after the 'fill in the blank' game and I'd love to talk")After god knows how many emails, IMs, whatnot he develops a relationship.
Not wanting to be the "most available man in sports without a girl" he tells friends that he has a girl that, as others have joked, "goes to another school." (Or lives somewhere else)
Manti, in an attempt to keep his "manhood" asks his dad "Hey pop, if someone asks about my girlfriend be a pal and just say 'yeah we've met her, great girl' just so I don't have to explain anything."
Many lies are told to Manti, from why she can't Skype to why he can't come visit her, but being a trusting man of God (whichever one he chooses to believe it) he "falls" for it. THIS point is obviously, and with good reason, is the toughest one to believe. But again, love turns us stupid.
She "dies."
He's as upset as you could think, especially since the scammers picked her death date to be the same day his grandma died.
Yes, he finds out he's been scammed and doesn't go to Notre Dame and/or ESPN immediately, which pisses some people off. Weird how he doesn't want to tell the world his "love life" was nothing but a sham.
Naive? You bet.
This is me giving the benefit of the doubt after reading everything I can about this.
Do what you will.