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The guy played the media even after he found out she was false. When asked he could've just said, "that's behind me now - I just need to focuse on what's ahead." or some sort of similar deflection. Instead he kept it going mentioning her and his real dead grandmother in the same breath. The guy is going to get burned at the stake by the media until this is over and the ND AD was stupid to get in front of this with his sobby press conference.
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.
They got "burned" but instead of being responsible and waiting for all the information to come out they acted like jilted lovers and just started burning Te'o when there's no real proof he was in on some epic conspiracy to orchestrate a Heisman campaign based on sympathy votes. What's more any Heisman voter who voted for Te'o on the basis that his girlfriend died is foolish anyway and shouldn't be voting on the Heisman. The Heisman is about on field production and fluffy "human interest" drama shouldn't factor in to it anyway.
The fact is all people have at this juncture is their opinions and their overreactions. The more information that comes out the less likely it seems as though Te'o knew anything was up until he got a phone call from "Leenay" on December 6th. Of course people who view Te'o as a liar know will cling to their perceptions and opinions regardless of what comes out. People will see what they want to see in any situation. I don't know what Te'o did or didn't do because I'm not privy to all the facts and information and neither is anyone else here yet I see a lot talking in concretes as if people "know" anything for certain. No one does other than Te'o and the person behind the "Leenay" character. A lot of assumptions are being passed off as facts and that is not wise.
The guy played the media even after he found out she was false. When asked he could've just said, "that's behind me now - I just need to focuse on what's ahead." or some sort of similar deflection. Instead he kept it going mentioning her and his real dead grandmother in the same breath. The guy is going to get burned at the stake by the media until this is over and the ND AD was stupid to get in front of this with his sobby press conference.
Well the only time we know for sure that he knew something was rotten in Denmark was December 6th so that gives us a little more than a month when he was "playing the media." At that point it was likely humiliation, embarrassment, and shame over being duped that led to him lying. But again no one knows anything concrete, including you, so we should all cool it with the character assassinations. This is the frustrating part of the court of public opinion...you're guilty until prove innocent and then you're still probably guilty.
You seem to want to substitute your own conjecture and opinion for mine because yours is easier for you to deal with. Notre dame has a big PR machine and have been media darlings for a long time. Thats the main reason this is a big story. We can wait as you say but there's enough out there for draw a conclusion.
The more information that comes out the less likely it seems as though Te'o knew anything was up until he got a phone call from "Leenay" on December 6th.
The more information that comes out, the more questions it leads to. It is in the best interest of Te'o, Notre Dame, and probably even Tuiasasopo for their to be a single villain and for Te'o to be completely vindicated.
I'm still not buying the idea that Te'o knew nothing was up before December 6th. If he didn't, he is truly the most sad, gullible human being on the planet.
And it STILL does not excuse him for LYING about the details (i.e. meetings) of the relationship in interviews.
I don't see how people are so willing to overlook that fact. None of his story, nor the times and dates match up. He's either a liar or an idiot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NorthGAbound12
Of course people who view Te'o as a liar know will cling to their perceptions and opinions regardless of what comes out.
And on the flip side, Notre Dame fanbois are going to cling to their perceptions and opinions, and defend him regardless of what comes out.
Top Ten Manti Te'O's List Of Other Mistakes He's Made.
10. Sent a condolence card to the family of Daffy Duck after a safe fell on him.
9. Bought a new car after he got a letter saying he had already won the Publishers Clearing House.
8.Screamed and called 911 after a team mate " got his nose".
7. His letter to Santa came back postage due, he forgot the stamp.
6. Fell twice for " Nudist Day" on campus.
5. Bought a book on storks for extra study in his sex education class.
4. Kept saying " Give me the weiner" thinking it was what they called a football in college.
3. Wa smade a " Special Security Officer" on campus.
2. Joined the army to beat the upcoming draft.
1. Would only fly Kiwanis airlines out of New Zealand to away games.
Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o was completely and cruelly fooled in a fake girlfriend hoax, and clearly not in on the con, one of his childhood friends said Friday.
Tessi Tolutau, a former Miss South Pacific, grew up five doors from Te'o in Hawaii. She has Facebook messages from Te'o as far back as September 2010, checking on the legitimacy of the fictitious Polynesian beauty Lennay Kekua, who would become his "girlfriend." Te'o even wondered out loud if Kekua might be a "prank."
Tolutau responded that she only knew Kekua from online messaging, and wondered if she was causing trouble.
Te'o ignored his own instincts and eventually began an online and phone "relationship" with her, the start of a three-year ruse that ended in national humiliation for him this week.
"Manti wasn't in on this," says Tolutau, 25. "He checked with a lot of us about her. I believed she was real. We all did."
Tolutau said Kekua messaged her "out of the blue" on Facebook in late 2008, pretending to want information on beauty pageants and dance teams.
"She told me she played volleyball at Stanford, and that she was an aspiring model, and that she modeled for Victoria's Secret," Tolutau said Friday night via phone from her home in Utah. "She said she dated Mark Sanchez for a while. I thought, 'OK, she's trying to make herself sound really good.' But the picture of her was of a tall, skinny, really pretty dark-haired girl. I totally believed she was a real person, so I can see how Manti would."
Tolutau even planned to have lunch with Kekua, "but she canceled." It was probably not a coincidence that in LA, Tolutau wound up meeting a man named Ronaiah Tuisasosopo, who Te'o now says was one of three people -- two men and one woman -- behind the elaborate con.
She doesn't remember exactly how she came to meet Tuiasosopo, but does remember what he looked like.
"He was about 5-8, with sort of chubby cheeks," Tolutau said. "He took me to another dance team's practice. I thought that was kinda weird."
You seem to want to substitute your own conjecture and opinion for mine because yours is easier for you to deal with. Notre dame has a big PR machine and have been media darlings for a long time. Thats the main reason this is a big story. We can wait as you say but there's enough out there for draw a conclusion.
Well the more that comes out the harder it is to conclude that Te'o was some sort of shadowy mastermind that launched some elaborate hoax.
The more information that comes out, the more questions it leads to. It is in the best interest of Te'o, Notre Dame, and probably even Tuiasasopo for their to be a single villain and for Te'o to be completely vindicated.
I'm still not buying the idea that Te'o knew nothing was up before December 6th. If he didn't, he is truly the most sad, gullible human being on the planet.
And it STILL does not excuse him for LYING about the details (i.e. meetings) of the relationship in interviews.
I don't see how people are so willing to overlook that fact. None of his story, nor the times and dates match up. He's either a liar or an idiot.
And on the flip side, Notre Dame fanbois are going to cling to their perceptions and opinions, and defend him regardless of what comes out.
Hey, Jack Swarbrick said it's true....it must be!
However the more information that comes out the more it backs up those who believe and support Te'o. The only thing the people who believe that he's some sort of monstrous pathological liar have to back them up is the initial knee jerk tantrum the media had after the story first broke where they acted like a woman scorned.
Well the more that comes out the harder it is to conclude that Te'o was some sort of shadowy mastermind that launched some elaborate hoax.
If you actually read my posts you would see that I was always open to the idea that he was not the one behind the hoax. The problem is how he handled himself once he found out. There's also the problem I have with how much juice the press gives to nortre dame in general. But now were seeing how quickly the media can turn on a media darling because they feel they got played. This would be a non story had they not run non stop coverage of ND and Manti love coverage pre game and it wouldn't be nearly as funny if they hadn't gotten worked by Alabama so badly. And yes the hesiman committee would have been embarrassed had he won because the human element story of te'o's background was played up there as well.
All that little excerpt you quoted tells me is that there is another person out there as stupid as he is. Or is a liar trying to back him up.
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