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I don't understand where the gay angle plays into this? If he was gay and was that desperate to conceal the fact, he could easily find a genuine beard. I think he's just a dork that was played online.
He is not a dork, he is an attention seeking lame who just got caught in a very stupid lie and now it is blowing up in his face.
He is the star player at Notre Dame, don't you think he had prime A+ tail thrown in his face all day on campus? He is not some college nerd who has Lord of the Rings posters on his dorm wall with a face full of pimples who can't get a date in real life so they have to go on the internet, he is the Hiesman runner up. He had the choice pick of women. Not just on campus but probably anywhere he went. The dude lied completely and totally, all the way around. I really think he is that much of a diva. And to be honest I think that is kind if scary. I would be really wary of someone like that if I was an NFL GM looking at him in the draft. Not to mention that I think his football skills are way overrated anyway. He played for a cupcake team that played cupcake opponents, and he got exposed very badly when he played Alabama. Who also is as close to an NFL size and speed as he had seen up to that point. Yall wanna see what he will do on Sunday's? Just watch the 'Bama/Notre Dame game again. He is going to be a bust. And this should be a red flag.
I think this situation is odd but the media is overblowing this thing.
How is it going to affect his draft position? Really? The NFL has shown that it will take on drug abusers, drunk drivers, murder accomplices, drug dealers, dog killers, etc as long as they have the talents/skills -- that is something you can't lie about.
Manufacturing a story to boost his popularity? Meh.
I don't understand where the gay angle plays into this? If he was gay and was that desperate to conceal the fact, he could easily find a genuine beard. I think he's just a dork that was played online.
I can't buy that he's the victim here. The "dork" angle is possibly the least believable of all. At the very least, he lied repeatedly in interviews about meeting her in person.
So, you say he got played online? He still took advantage of the situation and exploited this fake death (whether he knew it was fake or not -- I'm going with he knew) to gain publicity. He could not stop talking about it, and the media couldn't get enough of it, despite his story being inconsistent as hell.
And my question is, what is the endgame of whomever is duping him online? Extortion? $#!%s and giggles? The idea that someone is willing to dedicate not just a few hours, but days and days of time over the course of a few years, supposedly talking to him over the phone (when she was "dying") all night until they fell asleep. Pranksters, even dedicated ones, aren't going to spend that amount of time just for a cheap, personal thrill. If pranksters are behind it, they expose it to embarrass him. Or they extort him.
And who exactly finds the "most beautiful woman" and "love of their life" online, but has never seen her in person or even video chatted? This isn't Napoleon Dynamite, here.
Manti the victim is a cheap spin put out there by Notre Dame (who has a damn good interest in him to protect their own image). People who buy into that (like Pat Forde, who is a total moron) are naive. This was just another chapter of great Notre Dame lore that turned into a total disaster.
I can't buy that he's the victim here. The "dork" angle is possibly the least believable of all. At the very least, he lied repeatedly in interviews about meeting her in person.
So, you say he got played online? He still took advantage of the situation and exploited this fake death (whether he knew it was fake or not -- I'm going with he knew) to gain publicity. He could not stop talking about it, and the media couldn't get enough of it, despite his story being inconsistent as hell.
And my question is, what is the endgame of whomever is duping him online? Extortion? $#!%s and giggles? The idea that someone is willing to dedicate not just a few hours, but days and days of time over the course of a few years, supposedly talking to him over the phone (when she was "dying") all night until they fell asleep. Pranksters, even dedicated ones, aren't going to spend that amount of time just for a cheap, personal thrill. If pranksters are behind it, they expose it to embarrass him. Or they extort him.
And who exactly finds the "most beautiful woman" and "love of their life" online, but has never seen her in person or even video chatted? This isn't Napoleon Dynamite, here.
Manti the victim is a cheap spin put out there by Notre Dame (who has a damn good interest in him to protect their own image). People who buy into that (like Pat Forde, who is a total moron) are naive. This was just another chapter of great Notre Dame lore that turned into a total disaster.
If you watch the documentary Catfish or the MTV show that spun off of it, you'll see that some of the motivation
behind these elaborate hoaxes are pretty innocuous ... even downright stupid.
I think Manti was played and he was too embarrassed to admit it so he carried on the charade.
If you watch the documentary Catfish or the MTV show that spun off of it, you'll see that some of the motivation
behind these elaborate hoaxes are pretty innocuous ... even downright stupid.
I think Manti was played and he was too embarrassed to admit it so he carried on the charade.
Stupid and elaborate, yes. I can believe it. But this one would have been insanely time-consuming (3 years?)
So he was too embarrassed to admit he had been played. I can believe that. So why doesn't he just say "we broke up"? Or do you think he seriously thought she was in a car accident/coma/leukemia? Are you suggesting that he never found time to visit this poor dying girl? I mean, if the love of my life was dying, I would at least like to see her in person before she died.
We would have to be talking about someone who is unfathomably naive. Some loser Joe Schmo...maybe I can buy that. Superstar linebacker who can likely choose from hundreds of girls on campus (and beyond)? No.
^^^
Some have even suggested that Lennay couldn't have been his "girlfriend" since he was known to have relations with other girls on campus. I'm sure more will come out from that later...
I don't know the exact extent to which Te'o was involved in this hoax. But he was involved, and he did blatantly lie about it.
I mean, for God's sake...read the transcript from his interview with Pete Thamel:
Stupid and elaborate, yes. I can believe it. But this one would have been insanely time-consuming (3 years?)
So he was too embarrassed to admit he had been played. I can believe that. So why doesn't he just say "we broke up"? Or do you think he seriously thought she was in a car accident/coma/leukemia? Are you suggesting that he never found time to visit this poor dying girl? I mean, if the love of my life was dying, I would at least like to see her in person before she died.
We would have to be talking about someone who is unfathomably naive. Some loser Joe Schmo...maybe I can buy that. Superstar linebacker who can likely choose from hundreds of girls on campus (and beyond)? No.
Agreed. I doubt anyone who would put this much time in to a hoax would been it just for the laughs. A local caller to one of our radio shows thought a person(s) behind such a scheme wouldnt kill off the character on the eve of the guy signing a big fat contract to the NFL but would be trying to extort him. But if it was just a harmless prank gone way out of control I think he found out about a long time ago and just kept it going to serve some sort of sick sociopathic self serving purpose.
I love the overreaction by some on here and around the country over this. I have not posted about this or given this much thought, even as a ND fan and Te'o supporter, because quite frankly I don't give a damn about this. This is possibly the stupidest story I've heard. All the people on here and in the media dragging Te'o's name through the mud, calling him gay or a liar on the level of Lance Armstrong or Jerry Sandusky really need a reality check.
I don't know whether or not Te'o knew from the beginning but I'll people the benefit of the doubt initially and the longer this drags out the more it looks as though Te'o just got played and then was too embarrassed to come out and admit it when he first found out which was December 6th. Is it possible he's still lying? It is but who knows, who really cares? Let's not act like football is a venue for saints or something. Every year in college and pro football players lie, cheat, steal, deal and do drugs, drink and drive, etc. This story is pretty stupid and the people who are acting like this is the worst thing to ever happen concocting this crazy theories about it are even more stupid.
Also the sports "journalism" that has been going on over this is really chicken little and irresponsible. The media built up Te'o and his story to irresponsible levels to begin with and now they are acting like jilted ex-lovers out for blood. How much better the world would be if people took a step back, took a deep breath, and waited for all of the details and facts to come out before everyone leaped to their own opinions based on 10% of the information. I'm not saying Te'o is completely innocent (he certainly lied to an extent most likely out of embarrassment) but the facts that continue to come out seem to break in Manti's favor. However so many people "know" that Te'o lied and they "know" so much that isn't necessarily so that I'm sure they'll cling to their opinions no matter what happens.
It would provide an interesting twist if Manti Teʻo and Diane O'Meara actually met and started dating...
I think it is certainly plausible that this started off as a hoax from Tuiasosopo, and he "got" Te'o. That, I can buy.
What I don't buy, though, is that Te'o remained a victim throughout this process, and didn't learn of the "hoax" until December 6th. He certainly used every opportunity possible to milk the publicity and use it as a way to boost his Heisman profile. I know that I probably sound cynical as hell, but with the number of lies he told (about meeting her at games, her visiting him in Hawai'i)...I just can't come to the conclusion that he didn't know until this late in the game.
I understand the "Catfish" angle. What I don't understand is the "committed girlfriend" aspect. He blatantly lied about meeting her...and if he had not, how was he supposedly so in love with her. I am 27. I went to college during the internet age. I was there for the origins of facebook and the rise of e-dating. While I didn't do that myself, I know people who did. I know about people who misrepresent who they are on the internet. I also know that people who get repeatedly lied to (i.e. "let's meet up" and they don't show) tend to lose trust and interest, and eventually dig into the story. I understand that one can be naive, but Manti Te'o wasn't just naive. He embellished the story to make it appear that him and Lennay were in a very serious relationship, and told tales of their love and how they met. There was no mention of this being merely an online romance. It was made out to be a very real long distance relationship.
That's what made her apparent death a human interest story. Had it been "this girl I'm friends with online is very sick and I feel very bad for her"...well...that's no story. It doesn't get picked up by the news and no one cares. But even if it was Tuiasosopo who concocted this Lennay persona, Te'o certainly took the liberty to add false details of his own. And it worked out to his favor.
So while Te'o may have not created this mess, he is certainly involved in it -- heavily -- and he is not blameless, whether or not he and Tuiasosopo had conspired together to turn this into a PR human interest story. Certain aspects of Te'o's "Catfish" defense are valid...but not to the degree that this whole thing played out. It is just too far-fetched.
Te'o continued to talk about his relationship up until the National Championship Game. If he knew it was a hoax by then, why did he continue to act as if it was real? I understand not coming forward before the big game...but it honestly wouldn't be too hard to deflect such questions from the media. Who would pursue it?
I view the press conference as complete bull$#!%. It's more or less like watching a politician sit there and lie. No real details about anything. Just denial and weak excuses. It amounted to saying a whole lot of nothing and deferring any explanations to Te'o, who has yet to provide any real thorough explanation for any of this. I imagine it will be some time before he sits down and lays out a well-prepared line of excuses that "exonerates" him from any wrongdoing. Again, that's the cynic in me. But the longer this drags out, the less I am capable of believing him.
You're right, though. The real victim here is the girl who had her likeness stolen in order to perpetuate this hoax. She's the only one I can believe right now that was actually taken advantage of.
And Te'o's grandmother. This whole thing, especially with the timing of the girlfriend's death -- and the fact that Te'o spent so much time talking about his girlfriend, not his grandmother, dishonors her memory.
I love the overreaction by some on here and around the country over this. I have not posted about this or given this much thought, even as a ND fan and Te'o supporter, because quite frankly I don't give a damn about this. This is possibly the stupidest story I've heard. All the people on here and in the media dragging Te'o's name through the mud, calling him gay or a liar on the level of Lance Armstrong or Jerry Sandusky really need a reality check.
I don't know whether or not Te'o knew from the beginning but I'll people the benefit of the doubt initially and the longer this drags out the more it looks as though Te'o just got played and then was too embarrassed to come out and admit it when he first found out which was December 6th. Is it possible he's still lying? It is but who knows, who really cares? Let's not act like football is a venue for saints or something. Every year in college and pro football players lie, cheat, steal, deal and do drugs, drink and drive, etc. This story is pretty stupid and the people who are acting like this is the worst thing to ever happen concocting this crazy theories about it are even more stupid.
Also the sports "journalism" that has been going on over this is really chicken little and irresponsible. The media built up Te'o and his story to irresponsible levels to begin with and now they are acting like jilted ex-lovers out for blood. How much better the world would be if people took a step back, took a deep breath, and waited for all of the details and facts to come out before everyone leaped to their own opinions based on 10% of the information. I'm not saying Te'o is completely innocent (he certainly lied to an extent most likely out of embarrassment) but the facts that continue to come out seem to break in Manti's favor. However so many people "know" that Te'o lied and they "know" so much that isn't necessarily so that I'm sure they'll cling to their opinions no matter what happens.
Lance Armstrong was a massive cheat, no doubt. He lied about blood doping. But he did it in a sport where virtually everyone cheats and lies about it. Does that make it right or justifiable? Hell no. But it is the culture of that sport...so it's understandable, even if incredibly dishonorable, that he cheated.
It has not been proved if Te'o was fully involved in orchestrating this hoax -- but one thing is for certain, it is not the culture of college sports to fabricate human interest stories in order to gain media attention -- at least not on such an epic scale. So if he was involved -- it would be new territory. And in my mind, a lot more sick and less forgivable than what Lance did.
Sandusky is a sick child molester. He has no place in this discussion. The only people to compare him to are other sick child molesters.
As for "who cares?" Well, the people that were led to believe this is true, for one. Lots of time and energy was devoted to this story. People even donated to a leukemia fund in her honor. While the media is partially to blame for fueling this fire, they had no reason to believe this was made up. And had they known the true nature of the relationship (I'm not talking about the suggestion that Te'o knew all along -- but rather that the two had never actually met in person), then it would not have been such a big story. Te'o finished second in the Heisman voting. Of course, much of that had to do with on field accomplishments and what school he played for -- but don't underestimate the human interest aspect. That certainly got him a lot of sympathy votes. A lot of his Heisman campaign was based on his perceived overcoming of adversity. So I would say the Heisman voters certainly "care."
You have some fair points about the media. The truth is, they should have fact checked. And when they saw red flags, they should have investigated them rather than just "run with it" or trust him. They are certainly to blame, as they are the vehicle that was used to magnify this hoax into a national story. Had they done their homework the first time around, we would've known about this in September or October.
But I can fully understand why the media is going after him. They got burned, and he played no small part in it. He knowingly misrepresented the nature of the supposed relationship, and for that, he deserves a lot of this blowback.
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