Manti Te'o

[smazza]

kid has issues

[Markeymark]

He needs to be candid and come clean about why he said the things he did. It really sucks for him right now.

[tamiamibull05]

He was either incredibly naive and stupid or an incredible liar. I choose to believe the latter. There's too many holes in this story for me to think he was catfished.

 

I do think there's some merit to the assertion that he's a closeted bi/gay Mormon football player at a very religious university and that he was using this as a cover. When family, friends and teammates started asking too many questions, he had to kill off the cover.

[GaUSFBull]

He needs to be candid and come clean about why he said the things he did. It really sucks for him right now.

Sounds like you feel bad for him.  He did this to himself.  I, for one, will be shedding no tears for Manti Te'o.  

[Gismo]

He needs to be candid and come clean about why he said the things he did. It really sucks for him right now.

Sounds like you feel bad for him.  He did this to himself.  I, for one, will be shedding no tears for Manti Te'o.  

 

 

 

His uncle did a radio interview... and I have to say... as things come out it just gets crazier and crazier... about thirty minutes long, it really dives in about the 4:00 mark, but listen to what he says about the first time he met Ronaiah, which was at the USC game. 

 

 http://1280thezone.com/index.php/audio/listen/alema_teo

 

My reaction listening to the Uncle's encounter with this Ronaiah guy was just... WWWHHHHAAAAA?????

 

I would listen to that interview before making any final judgements, actually, as this story just keeps getting more and more like a South Park episode... I mean this stuff is way more wild than even South Park is capable of dreaming up.... maybe we should all just reserve judgement for a few weeks and wait for all of the facts and investigations of this thing. Maybe I am being conned too, but I am starting to feel bad for Manti as well, but will have to wait for more details. It could be the whole family was in on this con, and this is just the uncle perpetuating it, who knows, but the uncle sounds legit, but again, who knows.

 

I don't know what to believe anymore, maybe Manti was conned and did believe that Lennay existed, and that she died BUT that he totally fabricated all of these details about meeting her at Stanford, about visits to Hawaii, and about their long phone conversations while she was going through cancer treatment. I think his motivation for fabricating this stuff was because he was a embarrassed by being so attached through an internet relationship (that even his teammates thought was kinda BS) and that he knew people would think it was weird, so he just led people on so he wouldn't have to face questions like... "You mean you've never met in person???"

 

But based on what the uncle has said, I am really dying to know to what extent this Ronaiah guy went to con Manti.... without a doubt this Ronaiah guy is pathological con, now the only remaining questions are to what extent did he go, because once we know that we will know how much Manti fabricated for the media, which was at a minimum was that they met at Stanford, and almost certainly their phone calls.  

[Who'sYourData?]

Apparently Lennay Kekua has been on the web for years, and this Ronaiah guy duped others into believing she existed.  They usually figured it out quickly, however.

 

At this point I clearly believe that Manti was duped.  I also believe that he greatly exaggerated his relationship with this girl, and that is where he started to get into trouble.  Then he found out she wasn't real, and instead of fessing up quickly, he probably felt trapped and kept up the ruse.  I think Manti used very poor judgement, but this Ronaiah dude likely has serious mental issues.

[LifeIsBully]

Gary Shelton nailed it on the radio the other day- When he called the florist to deliver a flower for her funeral, how did the florist not call back and say "This funeral doesn't exist"? 

 

When he called her everyday in the hospital after her accident, how did the hospital not say "This patient doesn't exist"?

 

 

Kid knew she was fake and probably had a hand in it. Just a very little chance that he didn't know as far as I'm concerned.

[Who'sYourData?]

Not sure about the funeral. Maybe they gave him a house address to send flowers to, maybe they said she was being cremated and they were not having the service at a funeral home.

Why would he call a hospital, or even know what hospital. She has a cell phone. Who calls the hospital anymore?

Edited January 18, 2013 by DataBull

[Who'sYourData?]

As I said, I firmly believe he was catfished. If you read all of the evidence out there, there is a bunch of evidence to show this guy made up this girl even before she "met" Manti he did the same to other people.

But I also firmly believe he made up a lot of stuff after she died to make his story sound a lot more tragic than it really was. Then he didn't know how to fix things once he found out she wasn't real.

[crambone]

That Texas AGs website is AWESOME!!!