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New York Post Chooses Easiest Headline Pun Ever Covering Manti Te’o Girlfriend Hoax (Photo)

by on Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 9:59AM

The story of Manti Te’o and his hoax of a girlfriend is an unbelievable one, and one that seems to have shone a light on both the best and worst of sports journalism.

On the one hand, the exhaustive detail apparent in Deadspin’s investigative report speaks to what can be accomplished when a couple of reporters catch on to a story and hunt for the truth. On the other, the truth they uncovered was a somber reminder of how easily the many reporters that came before and spoke about Te’o's girlfriend had been duped, and how easy it is to fall into a narrative when telling the story of someone’s life.

Somewhere in the middle of all that gray area that can be journalism is the New York Post, with its reputation of sensational headlines being put to the test thanks to the absurdity of the situation. With a million different directions to go in and a million puns to play with, the Post opted to play things fairly straightforward.

Eschewing a rare opportunity to brainstorm something involving catfish and football, the back cover of the Post was instead a down-the-middle pun that almost leads you to believe that the editors of the Post, like the rest of us, still don’t exactly know what to say about all of this craziness.

Check out the back cover of Thursday’s New York Post in the photo below.

Photo via Twitter/@jorcohen

Photo of the Day

How big was the catfish, Jim Harbaugh?

Jim Harbaugh

Quote of the Day

“Their stares got pleasantly tangled, then Manti Te’o extended his hand to the stranger with a warm smile and soulful eyes.”
– The South Bend Tribune’s reporting of how Te’o met his girlfriend, from a story since taken off its website

Tweet of the Day

Sounds about right.

Video of the Day

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