Manti Te'o

[Gismo]

The reality where he supposedly met her??

That is one of those details that he made up.... he could have met her online and thought she existed, but made a bunch of stuff about their relationship. 

[Who'sYourData?]

So Manti is guilty of making up all of these details to play it up to the media... but the whole time he thought his story was based in some reality that Lennay existed. 

 

Exactly.

 

It makes sense.

 

"How long has she been your girlfriend?"  

"Three Years"

"And you've never met her?"

"Oh, wait, I've met her many times.  There was the Stanford game, she visited Hawaii a few times..."

 

He knew he sounded like an idiot saying he never met her, so he added some meetings.  And he probably made the relationship sound more serious than it was.  The football team didn't believe he was in love with her, just that he liked her.  When the publicity angle comes up, he wants to make it sound in depth so he isn't a fool talking about someone he can't even prove exists.  On some level, even he must have realized this was pretty far fetched.

[Who'sYourData?]

The reality where he supposedly met her??

 

Did you read the link I posted

 

More people coming out now saying they know the people behind the Lennay character.  The main guy had two cousins helping him out.  Says it was done to another guy before him, and whenever there was a meet set up the Ronaiah Tuiasosopoo character would show up instead.  Says he showed up with a kid, and later told the guy that the kid had Lupus.  Not sure if it is on this thread, but this Ronaiah Tuiasosopo tried out for The Voice and had a convoluted story about his singing group at church having been in a big accident one person nearly died of a head injury.

 

I think it is nearly impossible to believe now that he wasn't duped.  Still think he exaggerated his side of the story.

 

Impossible?!  Can you explain how he fell asleep every night talking to this non-existent girl?  So some girl in on the scam talked to him every night for three years?  Or what about the story about how they actually met?  How can anyone be that naive??

 

Ok, did you read the link I posted?  There were three disturbed and likely very bored individuals working together to create this fake persona.  This guy even admitted to the phone calls that lasted all night.  That is how.

 

Different people say their cousin had the EXACT same thing happen to him by the same guy.  There are other football players that have interacted with this same Lennay via Twitter over a period of several years.

 

There is LOTS of evidence that this was a fraud perpetrated by Ronaiah Tuiasosopoo.  If you don't want to bother to read it yourself, don't criticize me because I have read all the different evidence that has been dug up in the last two days that all points in the same direction.

[Who'sYourData?]

Pat Forde is on top of things.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaaf--manti-te-o-needs-to-address-public-s-questions-about-girlfriend-hoax-145103669.html

 

Good, long article.  Here is an excerpt:

 

 

The premise that many in today’s for-or-against world – nothing in between – seem unwilling to entertain is this: Te’o was duped and embellished to enhance a flattering storyline. Maybe it’s not all black or white.

And given the timeline, it is easy to see where a pattern of playing up the story became a rhetorical prison as the Notre Dame season and Te’o’s own star turn reached a crescendo.

 

 

In late September, Te’o at least ostensibly believed his girlfriend was real and had died. Teammates, coaches and others have described his grief in reaction to the news, most notably in Pete Thamel’s transcripts of his Sports Illustrated interviews that were published Thursday. At that point, the idea of him crassly playing up the story to accrue Heisman Trophy consideration is far-fetched – he simply was not on the Heisman radar then.

In the weeks that followed, the story was told and re-told – often without a lot of specific input on the girlfriend from Te’o himself. His father, Brian, shared many of the details that turned out to be untrue.

[88Alum]

Just can't see Teo not being somewhat complicit in this thing

[EduBull]

So at best Manti is an emotionally immature and poorly adjusted individual who was taken advantage of by three groups of sleazeballs:  Ronaiah Tuiasosopoo and associates, a cadre of reporters looking for a captivating sports story, and the U of Notre Dame attempting to create another mythical hero and rebuild their brand.

 

The media can pass the buck - they are entertainers anyway who's only responsibility is to their advertisers.  But this is damning to Notre Dame.  They either knew the story was a hoax and flat out lied to the public, or they failed to protect a psychologically impaired student in their care.  

 

Interesting that Notre Dame sat on this and let the hoax continue until after the BCS championship, and came forward only came forward once the Deadspin article broke.  Also, now that CAA is handling Manti instead of Notre Dame, suddenly the sports media has no trouble finding witnesses to corroborate the "Manti was duped by mean people on the Internet" narrative.

 

Remember, all Deadspin had to do to break the story was simply try to locate a Lennay Kekua at any of the places she was reported to have been.  This was no elaborate hoax - it was a couple of social media accounts.  An actual con artist would have at least picked a name that would have surfaced in a call to Stanford or the supposed hospital - something that could have withstood the most meager of scrutiny.  

[Gismo]

So at best Manti is an emotionally immature and poorly adjusted individual who was taken advantage of by three groups of sleazeballs:  Ronaiah Tuiasosopoo and associates, a cadre of reporters looking for a captivating sports story, and the U of Notre Dame attempting to create another mythical hero and rebuild their brand.

 

The media can pass the buck - they are entertainers anyway who's only responsibility is to their advertisers.  But this is damning to Notre Dame.  They either knew the story was a hoax and flat out lied to the public, or they failed to protect a psychologically impaired student in their care.  

 

Interesting that Notre Dame sat on this and let the hoax continue until after the BCS championship, and came forward only came forward once the Deadspin article broke.  Also, now that CAA is handling Manti instead of Notre Dame, suddenly the sports media has no trouble finding witnesses to corroborate the "Manti was duped by mean people on the Internet" narrative.

 

Remember, all Deadspin had to do to break the story was simply try to locate a Lennay Kekua at any of the places she was reported to have been.  This was no elaborate hoax - it was a couple of social media accounts.  An actual con artist would have at least picked a name that would have surfaced in a call to Stanford or the supposed hospital - something that could have withstood the most meager of scrutiny.  

 

Personally... the anonymous church friend of Ronaiah that ESPN interviewed and supposedly Ronaiah confessed to.... Well I'm not convinced that this anonymous person isn't also a part of the whole thing. How am I to know that Ronaiah and Manti's handlers aren't behind that as well... 

 

It could be anyone. It could a ND fan for all I know claiming that Ronaiah confessed to it. 

 

I don't know what to believe anymore, but considering how poorly the media vetted Manti's story, why should I believe they properly vetted any of these other anonymous people coming forward blaming Ronaiah? 

[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.  

Empathy, not sympathy. Try to act a little human sometimes tough guy.

I am more machine now than man ... twisted and evil, so empathy is useless and impossible, human weakling.

Seriously though ... If you got duped, man up and admit it when you realize it, not when the evidence finally comes out and you are forced to. If it never came out, you think he would voluntarily brought it up? It's like a kid saying he's sorry but he's really sorry he got caught, not sorry for what he did.

[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.  

Empathy, not sympathy. Try to act a little human sometimes tough guy.

I am more machine now than man ... twisted and evil, so empathy is useless and impossible, human weakling.

Seriously though ... If you got duped, man up and admit it when you realize it, not when the evidence finally comes out and you are forced to. If it never came out, you think he would voluntarily brought it up? It's like a kid saying he's sorry but he's really sorry he got caught, not sorry for what he did.

 

Empathy is the capacity to recognize emotions that are being experienced by another sentient or fictional being.  You keep confusing it with sympathy.

I know what the difference is. I choose to have neither sympathy nor empathy for him, can't you read in between the lines?

[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.  

Empathy, not sympathy. Try to act a little human sometimes tough guy.

I am more machine now than man ... twisted and evil, so empathy is useless and impossible, human weakling.

Seriously though ... If you got duped, man up and admit it when you realize it, not when the evidence finally comes out and you are forced to. If it never came out, you think he would voluntarily brought it up? It's like a kid saying he's sorry but he's really sorry he got caught, not sorry for what he did.

 Empathy is the capacity to recognize emotions that are being experienced by another sentient or fictional being.  You keep confusing it with sympathy.

I know what the difference is. I choose to have neither sympathy nor empathy for him, can't you read in between the lines?

Empathy means understanding how one feels. Doesn't mean you agree or disagree with it. So I am not shocked at all that you would go on and on about a person and not even attempt to consider how they feel.  Says a lot about you.

Thanks for your opinion, my son's first poopy diaper this morning means more to me than that does.