Manti Te'o

[Who'sYourData?]

I did read that Te'o turned over phone records to the ND investigative team, but I can't find that quote right now.

 

But the link above is much more interesting.  Evidence that the flowers sent by Manti and the flowers sent by his parents were received.  And just a couple of houses down from where the flowers were sent is a family named....wait for it....Kekua.  

 

Still think he was in on it?  Why would he send two dozen roses to someone he knows doesn't exist?

[EduBull]

Still think he was in on it?  Why would he send two dozen roses to someone he knows doesn't exist?

 

OK, so let's assume that he wasn't in on it.  That he was truly duped by mean people on the Internet.  Given the factual info we have concerning the lies he and Notre Dame continued to tell both explicitly and by omission, what does this say about him?  What does it say about Notre Dame?  Would you want your favorite NFL team to draft him?

[Who'sYourData?]

Still think he was in on it?  Why would he send two dozen roses to someone he knows doesn't exist?

 

OK, so let's assume that he wasn't in on it.  That he was truly duped by mean people on the Internet.  Given the factual info we have concerning the lies he and Notre Dame continued to tell both explicitly and by omission, what does this say about him?  What does it say about Notre Dame?  Would you want your favorite NFL team to draft him?

 

I have said over and over again that he obviously lied about some facts, clearly ND sat on the story before the NC game.  I almost don't criticize them for that, given the timing right before the huge game.  But they certainly could have released this the following day or the day after.

 

I am not arguing that Te'o isn't partially to blame.  He has some issues.  But he isn't the sick, demented person that made up an entire person and then faked their death.  Te'o is gullible and exaggerated, but the real sick person here is Tuiasosopo.  There is more and more evidence to confirm this, including a new witness:

 

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8860258/friend-manti-teo-recalls-car-accident-phone-call-april-28

[NCBull]

A read from Pete Fuitak at CFN:  http://cfn.scout.com/2/1259094.html

 

The big unanswered question for me that makes me continue to question Manti's "explanations" that Fuitak touches on:

 

"There are still a million different moving parts to this story and we still don’t really know anything. As much as Schaap tried, nothing is adding up here with new angles popping up by the minute.

According to the timelines and according to when Te’o reportedly knew what was happening, HE KEPT TALKING ABOUT HIS “GIRLFRIEND†AFTER HE SUPPOSEDLY KNEW SHE WASN’T REAL. His explanation to Schaap is that he “catered†his answers so people would think “he met her before she passed away.â€

WHAT?!"

[charsibb]

Still think he was in on it?  Why would he send two dozen roses to someone he knows doesn't exist?

 

OK, so let's assume that he wasn't in on it.  That he was truly duped by mean people on the Internet.  Given the factual info we have concerning the lies he and Notre Dame continued to tell both explicitly and by omission, what does this say about him?  What does it say about Notre Dame?  Would you want your favorite NFL team to draft him?

 

I'm the oddball on this board since I don't really follow the NFL until the playoffs, but if Teo can play NFL-level ball, I could care less about how naive he is in his personal life.

[slick1ru2]

Still think he was in on it?  Why would he send two dozen roses to someone he knows doesn't exist?

 

OK, so let's assume that he wasn't in on it.  That he was truly duped by mean people on the Internet.  Given the factual info we have concerning the lies he and Notre Dame continued to tell both explicitly and by omission, what does this say about him?  What does it say about Notre Dame?  Would you want your favorite NFL team to draft him?

 

I'm the oddball on this board since I don't really follow the NFL until the playoffs, but if Teo can play NFL-level ball, I could care less about how naive he is in his personal life.

+1. Who CARES?

[EduBull]

 But he isn't the sick, demented person that made up an entire person and then faked their death.  Te'o is gullible and exaggerated, but the real sick person here is Tuiasosopo.  

 

Whatever Tuiasososop did, it doesn't erase what Manti (and/or the people around him) did.  There is no excuse for it.  Nor for Notre Dame perpetuating the lie.  Remember, the extent of Tuiasopopo's hoax was a couple of fake social media accounts and perhaps a voice accomplice.  This was far from "elaborate."  Doesn't justify Tuiasopopo's actions, but it's just not possible that no one around Manti who benefited from the story didn't know something was amiss.  Tuiasopopo and his accomplice aren't the only bad guys.

 

Regarding Manti's NFL prospects - certainly this doesn't kill him, and on some level it doesn't matter.  But it does tarnish his image, and almost certainly makes him less valuable than he was a month ago.  He's got baggage now, and that reduces his worth as a marquee player.

[slick1ru2]

Who cares? When he is out sacking qbs and tackling running backs for a loss no one will.

[Gismo]

NFL will take him. They have plenty of folks with more serious criminal charges. I still think Manti purposely manipulated the media regarding his relationship. Even his teammates knew this story he told the media was BS and hugely exaggerated and when asked if he was a good actor said "very good." ND is saying they investigated and showed Manti she wasn't real, then he keeps it going, then he even says he didn't believe it until the deadspin article broke. Then he says they (Lennay and others) were at the hotel the night of the championship game? But then ESPN removes all references to that after the article was published??? WHY??? It's all too crazy. Even if duped I still think Manti is lying about stuff. C'mon he was skyping with a "black box?" "Black box, I love you...!" The guy has serious issues, issues of gullibility and intelligence for being duped, and issues of character for blowing this whole thing up to the media how the love of his life tragically died of leukemia when she clearly didn't mean that much to him considering the reports of his partying and hooking up with other women.

Edited January 20, 2013 by Gismo

[Gismo]

http://m.deadspin.com/5977416/notre-dames-lennay-kekua-investigation-basically-consisted-of-a-few-guys-using-google-and-nexis

Again, deadspin with some good analysis.

No one has verified these phone calls Manti claims. And Notre Dame just sat on this until deadspin exposed it. I just don't get how with reports like this Manti says he wasn't convinced she never existed until the deadspin article. He's really playing up the dumb card.