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Deadspin: Manti Te’o’s Dead Girlfriend Is A Hoax


Punch

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I just sent that link to my wife to decipher. It's WAAAAY too soap opera for me to even begin to understand. I do like the angles that could happen in the near future.

 

A) This has already been initiated... The damage control angle, where Te'o gets ND to back him and they both claim hoax. This is a great angle, because if he is lying, then he also drags ND down with him.

 

B) Te'o is gay and this is all a big cover to hide his true lover. The Catholic university as well as his own and family's Mormon faith play a large role too, especially since his father is now either in on the coverup or is being used by his son unknowingly.

 

C) Te'o and his co conspirators made up the whole thing to enhance his position.

 

D) Te'o was hoaxed, he found out, and was blackmailed. this could tie into the gay angle.

 

I don't watch too much in the way of soap operas, but this is like a February Sweeps storyline here.

 

I just can't get behind the idea of him being duped. To do that you have to say his dad was lying, what about the meeting at Stanford? Going to Hawaii? Over this 3 years he never Skypes this person? College kids are the largest users of technology, and he failed to use any of it to see this girl. He said he spoke with her family...how? There is a very large missing piece here.

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People are just too focusing on whether Te'o is the victim of the hoax or he is part of it, and seem to think he is off the hook if he is the victim of the hoax.

 

This article posted by Jauronimo was buried in this thead which provides a different angle: http://deadspin.com/5976762/manti-teos-teammates-had-their-doubts-about-lennay-kekua?tag=manti-te.o

 

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The debate among teammates wasn't whether or not Manti actually knew this girl - it was clear that they had been in contact; no, players just didn't think that it was fair to call Lennay Kekua Manti's girlfriend, period (it is well-known on campus that he has had relations with other girls during his time at Notre Dame). They recognized what was going on for what it was - a terrible publicity stunt used to fuel Manti Te'o's Heisman campaign. In fact, many of the players privately commented that they didn't want the students to wear leis in support of Manti and wouldn't participate themselves - they cited that the team never responded so publicly to tragic events for other players. But there was also the feeling that Manti didn't deserve to benefit from publicity from the death of somebody he barely knew.

 

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Early in my conversation with the source, the Notre Dame player said, “He lied, but the media blew it up.” In response to my follow-up question asking if the source thought that Te’o kept the story going because of the media attention, the player replied, “Yeah. Right after the Michigan [state] game. He should have never brought her in the media. His grandma passing was enough.”

 

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When asked if he thought Te’o was a good actor, the player replied, “Very good.”

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People are just too focusing on whether Te'o is the victim of the hoax or he is part of it, and seem to think he is off the hook if he is the victim of the hoax.

 

This article posted by Jauronimo was buried in this thead which provides a different angle: http://deadspin.com/...?tag=manti-te.o

 

---------------------------------

 

The debate among teammates wasn't whether or not Manti actually knew this girl - it was clear that they had been in contact; no, players just didn't think that it was fair to call Lennay Kekua Manti's girlfriend, period (it is well-known on campus that he has had relations with other girls during his time at Notre Dame). They recognized what was going on for what it was - a terrible publicity stunt used to fuel Manti Te'o's Heisman campaign. In fact, many of the players privately commented that they didn't want the students to wear leis in support of Manti and wouldn't participate themselves - they cited that the team never responded so publicly to tragic events for other players. But there was also the feeling that Manti didn't deserve to benefit from publicity from the death of somebody he barely knew.

 

---------------------------------

 

Early in my conversation with the source, the Notre Dame player said, “He lied, but the media blew it up.” In response to my follow-up question asking if the source thought that Te’o kept the story going because of the media attention, the player replied, “Yeah. Right after the Michigan [state] game. He should have never brought her in the media. His grandma passing was enough.”

 

---------------------------------

 

When asked if he thought Te’o was a good actor, the player replied, “Very good.”

 

Guess who's gonna come out of this whole mess completely unscathed?

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Let me address a few points here...1) I personally know people who had a relationship almost entirely of phone or internet connection for a long time who are now married and very happily married. One example...One of my friends met a girl over sees in Europe on his last day there...they kept in touch via phone and internet for about 6 months and were already in love with each other before she flew out to see him. They are now married for 2 years and still are like newylyweds. Point is, its not unusual in todays society for a long distance relationship via phone, text, email etc to elevate to a position of love with little to no in person time. In fact, if you ask people who have done that, like my friends, they will tell you that you get to a know a person on a substantially deeper level because all you can do is talk and communicate in those early months. So I don't find it unusual at all that they dated long distance this way for 4 months, which isnt even that long.

 

2) Lets address not visiting her grave - November 2nd 1994 when I was 18, my father was murdered with a gun shot to his head executioner style in an orchard. A man loved by so many, this was an absolute shock, and I was very close to him. I could not get myself to go to the viewing, was terrified of what I might see. I went to the funeral but after that I could not bring myself to visit the grave until Fathers day the following June about 7 months later. I did not go for thanksgiving, Christmas, or his birthday in February. I wanted to, but it was too much reality at a time of my life I felt I couldn't take that reality. Teo was in the middle of an undefeated season, so maybe he felt he just couldn't handle that much reality, especially considering he also was grieving from the loss of his grandmother and he is so close to his family.

 

And how one person deals with things has no relation to how you would deal with things. Maybe you would visit the grave of her or your deceased father every week, but that isn't how someone else would deal with it always. Or maybe you could never do a long distance relationship the way they had, doesn't mean others feel the same way. I definitely can relate to him not visiting the grave as I still have a hard time today 18 years later and I think its pretty silly to question him as to why he had not gone yet, especially considering he was engulfed in their football season, which I can tell you first hand provides an escape and distraction during such a heavy grieving period.

Great point Alpha, and not just in relation to this story. I try my best not to judge peoples actions during such emotional and complicated times. Its a highly personal thing, there's no "right" answer.

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Probably not all the Notre Dame haters. They're going to be mighty upset if T'eo isn't sacrificed on an alter somewhere.

 

My thought was the media. How much of this could have been cleared up long ago if they'd bothered to fact check anything in any one of the dozens of stories that were ran?

 

Now we are questioning whether he was duped or not, if he was duped when he because aware of the truth and did he ever knowingly lie, what does ND know, and when did they know it, and who are all these crazy Samoan impersonators?

 

But hey, dead grandma and dead gf makes a great sales pitch.

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