It’s tough to beat Lance Armstrong, but Manti Te’o came pretty close. The former Notre Dame linebacker is in a virtual dead heat with disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong for the dubious title of “most disliked athlete.”

Both had 15 percent public appeal in a survey by Nielsen Sports and market research firm E-Poll. But Forbes ultimately declared Armstrong as most hated athlete, given his higher name recognition. 

Forbes.com reports:  

Te’o claims he was duped, and many believe he was. But they also think the ‘girlfriend with cancer’ angle he’d been playing up since early in the season was too much for someone, it turned out, he’d never even met in person. Teammates commented that that they thought he played up the relationship for attention. Sitting at 88% appeal at the time of the BCS title game, Te’o plummeted to 15% nearly overnight.

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