Manti Te'o hoax (wth?!?)

[jonboy79]

Jonboy. don't you think before you pass that judgement you should hear an explanation?

I ask because, he told the ND AD the "we met" and the ND Ad said "wait what do you mean we met" T'eo said "yeah, we met online" (that is the Ad's account anyway).

When he says he starred into her eyes, is it possible he meant the pictures he had over her?

The most beautiful woman he ever met, not jsut her physical beauty, but inside her, etc... SURE, I can buy that not necissarily meaning met in real life.

Staring into someone's eyes, is not something I associate with pictures... that' a face to face thing to me. Is it "POSSIBLE" that's how he meant it? I guess.

They "met" supposedly at a game at Stanford? Any other way to take that? His parents knew she came to Hawaii and they spent time together there? Not sure how else to take that. Perhaps he went to go party with his boys and wanted to make his parents continue to believe he met his future wife...

Yes, I would liek to hear an HONEST account from his perspective, not sure we ever will.

Too much smoke for me. I think he was involved. The more I hear, see, and think, the more strongly I feel that way.

[NCRAVEN]

The most beautiful woman he ever met, not jsut her physical beauty, but inside her, etc... SURE, I can buy that not necissarily meaning met in real life.

Staring into someone's eyes, is not something I associate with pictures... that' a face to face thing to me. Is it "POSSIBLE" that's how he meant it? I guess.

They "met" supposedly at a game at Stanford? Any other way to take that? His parents knew she came to Hawaii and they spent time together there? Not sure how else to take that. Perhaps he went to go party with his boys and wanted to make his parents continue to believe he met his future wife...

Yes, I would liek to hear an HONEST account from his perspective, not sure we ever will.

Too much smoke for me. I think he was involved. The more I hear, see, and think, the more strongly I feel that way.

Yeah, the met after the Stanford game is the one that sticks out to me. I wonder if that is what he said then or what he told people after "being together"...

I think it could be a coverup he is gay, I think it's more likely he's virgin was desperate for a relationship that didn't have the pressure of pending sex, got duped and made a few white lies not knowing what was really going on. Who knows if the full truth comes out though.

[Dade]

I think it could be a coverup he is gay, I think it's more likely he's virgin was desperate for a relationship that didn't have the pressure of pending sex, got duped and made a few white lies not knowing what was really going on. Who knows if the full truth comes out though.

This is the most likely explanation.

What bothers me is if someone was just trying to scam him...Scam him to what end? Money, favors, gifts? There doesn't seem to be any clear indication of any potential gain from a scammer's prespective. Unless that person is just sick and gets their jollies off by doing stuff like this.

I lean to him being involved because I can see I can see how he gained from having his "girlfriend" die tragically. National level exposure, 2nd in Heisman voting (a defensive player mind you), potential 1st round draft choice, etc.

All in all a very strange story.

[jonboy79]

Yeah, the met after the Stanford game is the one that sticks out to me. I wonder if that is what he said then or what he told people after "being together"...

I think it could be a coverup he is gay, I think it's more likely he's virgin was desperate for a relationship that didn't have the pressure of pending sex, got duped and made a few white lies not knowing what was really going on. Who knows if the full truth comes out though.

Another plausible explanation of why he could be involved...
The long-distance GF thing sut screams of me as something one would say to get the boys off his back for not scoring with chicks at parties.

[Paintballguy]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...re-suspicious/

Apparently he's an attention whore.

[NCRAVEN]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...re-suspicious/

Apparently he's an attention whore.

Is this the expansion of the tweet you posted?

[Paintballguy]

Is this the expansion of the tweet you posted?

Looks like it. I just saw it on PFT, so I posted it.

I talked to a former Notre Dame teammate of Te'o's today, who told me that most players always thought that this wasn't really Te'o's girlfriend," Holtzman reported. "And that they always suspected that this didn't really add up with the story. (The teammate) also told me that Te'o loved the attention and that even though the story may not have been what it seemed to be, that he was more than happy to play along with it." Holtzman's report would seem to support the notion that Te'o was complicit at least with the furtherance of the deceased-girlfriend story.

[lovefootball]

Haven't read this post at all, but I wonder if one of these two thoughts might be true. One,Te'o is gay and used this gimmick to cover him and win over others. Two, he saw the scene in Animal House where they go to a sorority house after reading the girl had died in the obituarie, knowing other girls would go out with them to help the guys over come the news.
This story is crazy and if it is fraud, what can the authorities do about it. Hell, the bengals or pats will draft this guy, they have a habit of bringing players on their teams that have bad images. Te'o is sure getting a lot of headlines this week, isn't some teams playing for division titles this week?

THese were my thoughts, sounds like one or both is the reason behind his story of a girlfriend dying.

[Ravenous1]

Another plausible explanation of why he could be involved...
The long-distance GF thing sut screams of me as something one would say to get the boys off his back for not scoring with chicks at parties.

Teo is a mormon as I understand it. There could be some legs to this idea you have put forth. Nobody likes to feel different. It could have been a little white lie concocted with friends to give him an excuse to not partake in some of the activities that others do rather than just simply saying I am not down with that. That little lie may have spun out of control eventually leading to were we are now.

Honestly this thing is more about tearing down a guy that was built up (something we love to do as a society) than anything else. Its not like he ran a foundation to help a person who never existed. He did not father a child out of wedlock, did not lie under oath, did not get caught doing drugs, paying hookers or hanging out with gangbangers. At worst he told a lie that spun out of control and did an extremely poor job of managing the fallout.

I think its sad that in a society with so many inequities, so many issue and problems to solve that this is what so many people are worried about. Outside of this incident which to this point I see no illegality to, this kid seems like a decent and kind person. If we are going to condemn every person who has ever told a lie and had it spin out of control, well there will be very few of us who are not condemned. Myself included. The key is to learn and to move forward and not repeat the mistake. I tend to think Teo will do this based on his character prior to this story.

I know I will get flack for saying this but someone please explain to me how Teo lying about a girlfriend is more of a story than an established defensive player of the year (Suggs) allegedly smacking his significant other around? I am not saying Suggs did that...just saying it was alleged and speculated about just as MUCH of this is speculation and allegation at this point. That story got just a minuscule percentage of the attention this has gotten. That says something to me about our priorities. I love Suggs the player, I would not advocate the Ravens drop him. I would advocate if true he gets the counseling he needs. Why should Teo be any different. Even if he knowingly lied about this stuff in an effort to save himself embarrassment at worst the kid needs some counseling on how better to handle these types of situations. I find it sad that so many find so much glee in tearing down a kid who seems to be trying to do his best to be a decent person but made a huge and embarrassing mistake.

[RavenScallywag]

The previous PFT story seemed more opinion than anything...

But here's a fact: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...ied-of-cancer/

Maybe he was just trying to keep up the story because he was still processing the hoax and all, but this is a record of him, two days after the hoax was fessed up to him, saying his girlfriend died of cancer.

[HoustonRaven]

Delaware's QB, Tim Donnelly, was on The Junkies this morning. He knew Te'o in High School.

He is saying that Te'o had a "girlfriend" all through high school that nobody ever saw and who Te'o claimed lived in another state.

Segment 9 of today's podcast.

[Ravenous1]

Delaware's QB, Tim Donnelly, was on The Junkies this morning. He knew Te'o in High School.

He is saying that Te'o had a "girlfriend" all through high school that nobody ever saw and who Te'o claimed lived in another state.

Segment 9 of today's podcast.

Which could lend credence to the idea that this was his method of dealing with peer pressure related to some activities we all know many football players engage in. Not the best way to handle it and maybe it just all went sideways on him.

[festivus]

Deadspin, not SI.

No, I meant the SI piece is one of the examples of where the story started to spin out of control.

Not if he's facing fraud charges, which is why I think the money matters. The conclusion to the money angle will decide if he's the victim or will be in a courtroom come draft time.

I'm not saying there *won't* be a money trail. I just don't think this is necessarily about money.

I did have another idea rattling around in my head, which is why I hinted at it with my reference to why he might want a fake girl to establish "machismo," but I was reluctant to state it bluntly.

Jonboy, however, was not so shy as I was.

I think Te'o is gay, and this story was a cover-up.

[shine]

I think it's generational...
It's about "likes" and "posts"...
What looks good online.
Gen Y would rather be online than doing actual Real live stuff... Even when they are there, they are not there.
Texting a girlfriend is easier than doing stuff with her.

And Suggs - say what you will...
Married her a week later. About 2 or 3 weeks ago - smh

[HoustonRaven]

No, I meant the SI piece is one of the examples of where the story started to spin out of control.


I'm not saying there *won't* be a money trail. I just don't think this is necessarily about money.

I did have another idea rattling around in my head, which is why I hinted at it with my reference to why he might want a fake girl to establish "machismo," but I was reluctant to state it bluntly.

Jonboy, however, was not so shy as I was.

Ah, ok. I see now.

Yeah, I am starting to see the gay angle now too. Later in the show, The Junkies had a reporter from CBS Sports on, talking about the Polynesian culture. It's still VERY taboo to be gay and the family is basically shut out of the community once its discovered a relative is gay.

Who knows if that's the real motivation but its going to be one hell of a story for quite sometime.

[festivus]

Polynesian culture? How about *football* culture?!

I 100% guarantee you there are people reading these words right now thinking "I've seen that guy play. He's a beast! He can't be gay! Gay men are [generalization]!"

Anyway. I hope he's ok. I don't think there's anything truly sinister going on here. I doubt anybody set out to hurt anybody else, and I think what Robert Irvine did was worse because he was motivated by greed.

I could be completely wrong but I think Te'o is responsible for this hoax and it was a response to some kind of social pressure. I am going to guess what happens next is he won't discuss it any more, and it will quiet down, and some team will draft him because he haz skillz.

It should have been blown up by the sports media early on, but investigative journalism is basically dead, so that wasn't going to happen. God bless the reporters out there actually digging for stories, but there are not enough of them to do the digging. You make a *lot* more money being Skip Bayless, who is perfectly happy to be paid to be controversial and wrong. It's less work and more money for the network and for the talking head. Win/win, unless you count what happened to Te'o, and then realize maybe we (and he, in a way) are the losers.

Ah well. It's a rising tide, and complaining won't make it go down.

[JAB1985]

In a nation thats 3-4% gay you have to assume that theres at least a few out of 2000 NFL players that is gay, even if its below average that still translate to a few just by odds. If it comes down to that, I really wish for his own sake hed just learn to be himself. Sad, but wouldnt be the first person to lie to cover up a gay lifestyle.

[ActualSpamBot]

I remember thinking the fake girlfriend might be a beard as I was reading the story. Between Mormon family, Catholic school, football culture, and Polynesian values, he has a massive MASSIVE amount of cultural baggage coercing him to conform.

Heck, I wonder if the alleged "Hoaxster" who was always meeting Teo in places the fake girlfriend was supposed to is or was Teo's actual significant other. It sorta makes sense. Have your secret boyfriend make a twitter account of a female, now you two can flirt and tweet and chat all you want and no one blinks.

I doubt the truth will ever come out, but if it turns out he's really simply the victim OR this was a desperate attempt to stay in the closet out of shame, I would be fine with the Ravens selecting him.

[NCRAVEN]

I remember thinking the fake girlfriend might be a beard as I was reading the story. Between Mormon family, Catholic school, football culture, and Polynesian values, he has a massive MASSIVE amount of cultural baggage coercing him to conform.

Heck, I wonder if the alleged "Hoaxster" who was always meeting Teo in places the fake girlfriend was supposed to is or was Teo's actual significant other. It sorta makes sense. Have your secret boyfriend make a twitter account of a female, now you two can flirt and tweet and chat all you want and no one blinks.

I doubt the truth will ever come out, but if it turns out he's really simply the victim OR this was a desperate attempt to stay in the closet out of shame, I would be fine with the Ravens selecting him.

The more this things sits around and he says nothing, the more I am starting to think it's either this or he's an attention whore. I'll still give him the benefit of the doubt for now, but it's getting harder.

I'll say this, if he comes out and says he's gay (and actually is) this whole thing goes away.

[Paintballguy]

I'll say this, if he comes out and says he's gay (and actually is) this whole thing goes away.

I agree. Just tell the truth and end the drama.