Manti Te'o's dead girlfriend?

[WoodyHayes1951]

Note to Nebraska fans:

Don't let your school hire an AD who received a degree from the University of Notre Dame

Don't be UNC, Duke, GaTech? And don't be Wake Forest President Nathan Hatch? And don't be the man who outfoxed Delaney and spoke for all conference commishes to present the playoff to the media!

Exactly. Dont be one of them. Be The University of Nebraska Athletic Director.

current or recently retired?

I think it's tough for Te'o to dig himself out of this unless he says what people want to hear, and at this point, a lot of the evidence and speculation suggests he inflated this relationship. He'll also have to explain whether it was inflated out of embarrassment, inflated for exposure, or both.

At this point, it's difficult to believe he's 100% innocent.

No but Manti could easily be 90% innocent. That means he had a bona fide belief that there was a real Lennay with with whom he was friends. Manti then told a fish story about the relationship he thought that he had. For some this is a bloody glove, but romantic suspected or known fairy tales populate my facebook newsfeed every day.

Besides the obvious biases that everyone brings, I side with Teo over the known frauds because of plausibility. Do people really think that Teo invented a story and didn't notice that it could be debunked with a single phone call to the Stanford registrar? And for what benefit? a few extra Heisman votes that he shouldn't need to beat a true freshman. But he was willing to risk getting locked out of the NFL draft and becoming a millionaire, because the story was so cool.

Ray Lewis murdered two people and the NFL is giving him a big, fat goodbye kiss.

I think Teo will have no problem being drafted. His lack of talent is what could keep him from the first round

EDIT: should say COULD keep him from the first round.

 

[knapplc]

Besides the obvious biases that everyone brings, I side with Teo over the known frauds because of plausibility. Do people really think that Teo invented a story and didn't notice that it could be debunked with a single phone call to the Stanford registrar? And for what benefit? a few extra Heisman votes that he shouldn't need to beat a true freshman. But he was willing to risk getting locked out of the NFL draft and becoming a millionaire, because the story was so cool.

I'll side with him regardless. If this were a crime it would be jaywalking. What's he done wrong? He hasn't bilked anyone out of money, unless you count the people that donated $$$ to leukemia research and if so... oh well? That's a charitable donation we should all be making, considering that cancer is going to affect about 100% of every one of us or our loved ones in our lives. So if that's a crime, give him 20 hours of community service and call it good. But I just don't see it as a crime, at least not yet. Something awfully huge would have to show up in this story for a crime to be involved, and nothing points to that.

At worst it's a story that got out of control, and at worst Te'o knew about it and lied about it. SportsIllustrated and every other media outlet out there got a TON of eyeballs to their publications and websites over this, so they've profited from it. I supposed Pete Thamel's journalistic integrity took a bit of a hit, but he's repaired any "damage" by putting out the transcript, and again, his story is getting a ton of publicity from this. He's the point man again with his latest article.

So... where's the harm? It's a bizarre story, someone lied, but it's entertaining.

 

[HuskerLuke]

No but Manti could easily be 90% innocent. That means he had a bona fide belief that there was a real Lennay with with whom he was friends. Manti then told a fish story about the relationship he thought that he had. For some this is a bloody glove, but romantic suspected or known fairy tales populate my facebook newsfeed every day.

Besides the obvious biases that everyone brings, I side with Teo over the known frauds because of plausibility. Do people really think that Teo invented a story and didn't notice that it could be debunked with a single phone call to the Stanford registrar? And for what benefit? a few extra Heisman votes that he shouldn't need to beat a true freshman. But he was willing to risk getting locked out of the NFL draft and becoming a millionaire, because the story was so cool.

I'll eat my hat if that's all this is. I admit to having a strong anti-Notre Dame bias (disclaimer, there are precisely two schools in the country that I despise more than Notre Dame), but this isn't about Notre Dame for me. As of right now, I'm assuming that the school's PR hit is largely collateral damage in this. The lack of motive argument does basically nothing for me because people are prone to do immensely stupid irrational things. Particularly young people. But no matter how dumb Manti Te'o is (and I suspect he's at least average intelligence), there is no plausible explanation for how he could've been fooled for four years. Skype and video chatting and the like are natural things for a couple dating online to use. If you believe that a division one college football player is perfectly content to date a girl for a year without seeing her live, ever, and apparently never even making the effort to see her live, ever, and to never visit her in the hospital when she's critically ill/injured, if you believe all that, even after we know basically everything he's on record saying about her is a lie....then I've got a lovely beachfront property out by Kearney to sell you.

 

[ZRod]

I am not equating scenarios, but that same BS attitude is how things like Penn St. happen. As a general statement the threats and information strangleholds around major programs needs to stop somehow. It is a dangerous practice.

That just reminded me that Notre Dame is a private institution, right? So doesn't that means freedom of information requests are null? A major asset in the Penn St case most likely. You could read everyone's school emails from that alone.

Say good bye to any more real investigative journalism at the institutional level. That's kind of handy if you need to do any form of cover up...

 

[Notre Dame Joe]

I'm not a lawyer but I occasionally watch them on tv.

what lawsuit could come of this? all at stake is more embarrassment, which nd asked for by rushing to have a press conference.

Defamation. The lawyer would need to prove that Notre Dame "knew it wasn't true" and could argue 'ND knew it all along, see what their Special Assistant of Sanitation said in this Jan 17th quote in American Dumpsters Daily ...'

Ray Lewis murdered two people and the NFL is giving him a big, fat goodbye kiss.
I think Teo will have no problem being drafted. His lack of talent is what could keep him from the first round

EDIT: should say COULD keep him from the first round.

That's sounds like a big pay cut to me but the other poster pointed out that people don't have to act rationally or what we see as rational.

That just reminded me that Notre Dame is a private institution, right? So doesn't that means freedom of information requests are null? A major asset in the Penn St case most likely. You could read everyone's school emails from that alone.

Say good bye to any more real investigative journalism at the institutional level. That's kind of handy if you need to do any form of cover up...

Sometimes. People were able to glean BK's salary from looking at tax forms that even private non-profits are required to file. It had no names, but they someone in the athletic department was pulling in over a million dollars.

 

[sd'sker]

I'm not a lawyer but I occasionally watch them on tv.

what lawsuit could come of this? all at stake is more embarrassment, which nd asked for by rushing to have a press conference.

Defamation. The lawyer would need to prove that Notre Dame "knew it wasn't true" and could argue 'ND knew it all along, see what their Special Assistant of Sanitation said in this Jan 17th quote in American Dumpsters Daily ...'

lying is not a crime. someone would have to be defamed, meaning someone would have to suffer an economic loss from the assertions.

 

[Notre Dame Joe]

Besides the obvious biases that everyone brings, I side with Teo over the known frauds because of plausibility. Do people really think that Teo invented a story and didn't notice that it could be debunked with a single phone call to the Stanford registrar? And for what benefit? a few extra Heisman votes that he shouldn't need to beat a true freshman. But he was willing to risk getting locked out of the NFL draft and becoming a millionaire, because the story was so cool.

I'll side with him regardless. If this were a crime it would be jaywalking. What's he done wrong? He hasn't bilked anyone out of money, unless you count the people that donated $$$ to leukemia research and if so... oh well? That's a charitable donation we should all be making, considering that cancer is going to affect about 100% of every one of us or our loved ones in our lives. So if that's a crime, give him 20 hours of community service and call it good. But I just don't see it as a crime, at least not yet. Something awfully huge would have to show up in this story for a crime to be involved, and nothing points to that.

At worst it's a story that got out of control, and at worst Te'o knew about it and lied about it. SportsIllustrated and every other media outlet out there got a TON of eyeballs to their publications and websites over this, so they've profited from it. I supposed Pete Thamel's journalistic integrity took a bit of a hit, but he's repaired any "damage" by putting out the transcript, and again, his story is getting a ton of publicity from this. He's the point man again with his latest article.

So... where's the harm? It's a bizarre story, someone lied, but it's entertaining.

and ND football is finally on Bill O'Reilly as I type, I was wondering what it would take to get on Fox News. Bill is going off on the internet in general. (25% of Americans still don't have access? Is that counting children?)

There may not be financial harm, but many believe fraud in general is harmful or evil. Like if a Prof or grad student intentionally commits fraud out of his office, the uni will sue him for damaging their reputation.

(Now Bill is asking why if Teo loved her did he not go to the funeral. HE didn't mention the funeral was conveniently scheduled during a game).

It certainly did get out of control. The question, at least for me, is whether it ever was in control by Teo.

(Jim Gray supporting the general Fox news position that it was a fraud created by Teo and covered up by the ND Athletic department) If true that is pretty dang harmful even before the NCAA comes for revenge.

 

[Notre Dame Joe]

No but Manti could easily be 90% innocent. That means he had a bona fide belief that there was a real Lennay with with whom he was friends. Manti then told a fish story about the relationship he thought that he had. For some this is a bloody glove, but romantic suspected or known fairy tales populate my facebook newsfeed every day.

Besides the obvious biases that everyone brings, I side with Teo over the known frauds because of plausibility. Do people really think that Teo invented a story and didn't notice that it could be debunked with a single phone call to the Stanford registrar? And for what benefit? a few extra Heisman votes that he shouldn't need to beat a true freshman. But he was willing to risk getting locked out of the NFL draft and becoming a millionaire, because the story was so cool.

I'll eat my hat if that's all this is. I admit to having a strong anti-Notre Dame bias (disclaimer, there are precisely two schools in the country that I despise more than Notre Dame), but this isn't about Notre Dame for me. As of right now, I'm assuming that the school's PR hit is largely collateral damage in this. The lack of motive argument does basically nothing for me because people are prone to do immensely stupid irrational things. Particularly young people. But no matter how dumb Manti Te'o is (and I suspect he's at least average intelligence), there is no plausible explanation for how he could've been fooled for four years. Skype and video chatting and the like are natural things for a couple dating online to use. If you believe that a division one college football player is perfectly content to date a girl for a year without seeing her live, ever, and apparently never even making the effort to see her live, ever, and to never visit her in the hospital when she's critically ill/injured, if you believe all that, even after we know basically everything he's on record saying about her is a lie....then I've got a lovely beachfront property out by Kearney to sell you.

Well that's why some people initially suspected that it was a real girl but Manti only convinced himself that he was her man. I really don't know how young people think about an online relationship, but I don't doubt that Manti made a smokescreen over whatever it was.

sorry I can't reply to everyone, this is a good group of diverse opinions.

 

[4skers89]

What if Tuiasosopo knew a beautiful girl and got her to represent herself as his cousin? She is the girl that Te'o met at Stanford 4 years ago and Reagan Mauia met in 6/11. Eventually she gets cold feet and doesn't like the game Tuiasosopo is running just as the con on Te'o is getting serious. Tuiasosopo needs to set up the Twitter account so he gets this Reba girl to give him a picture. From that point on it's Tuiasosopo that is in contact with Te'o. Not sure who was on the phone calls though.

It doesn't give less implication for The Te'o. Because as post #352 shows, he implies a description of meeting her in person. He purportedly says, in words so delicate and articulate so as to seem from a page of Shakespeare:

"We met just, ummmm, just she knew my cousin. And kind of saw me there so. Just kind of regular."

She saw me there.

Awsome. There it is. So that's at least the anchor point for his part in it.

I think you missed the point of my post. I theorized that he did meet a real girl initially.

 

[sd'sker]

rudy sucks.

 

[hack]

agreed.

/topic LOCKED

 

[Count 'Bility]

Note to Nebraska fans:

Don't let your school hire an AD who received a degree from the University of Notre Dame

Don't be UNC, Duke, GaTech? And don't be Wake Forest President Nathan Hatch? And don't be the man who outfoxed Delaney and spoke for all conference commishes to present the playoff to the media!

Exactly. Dont be one of them. Be The University of Nebraska Athletic Director.

current or recently retired?

Why does it matter. I could care less where our AD got his degree. Just direct the athletics of UNL in a positive manner. I could care less the AD's of those schools got there degrees at Notre Dame. I wouldnt care if Osborne did or didnt get his at ND or even our current AD. And, when UNC, Duke, and GT's Depts are even worth wiping our a$$, then I might care little. but probably not.

 

[Mavric]

No but Manti could easily be 90% innocent. That means he had a bona fide belief that there was a real Lennay with with whom he was friends. Manti then told a fish story about the relationship he thought that he had. For some this is a bloody glove, but romantic suspected or known fairy tales populate my facebook newsfeed every day.

True. But I find it VERY hard to believe that he fell that hard for someone he never met. Could he find them interesting? Yes. Could it be such that, even though she never showed up when she was supposed to and that he had several other options on campus, he still felt she was the love of his life? Not likely. Even his teammates were pretty sure it wasn't real.

Also, this requires you to believe that he is fine with a few "small" lies but would never tell a "bigger" one. If you believe this, you've obviously never had kids.

Possible? Yes. Probable? Not at all, imho.

Besides the obvious biases that everyone brings, I side with Teo over the known frauds because of plausibility. Do people really think that Teo invented a story and didn't notice that it could be debunked with a single phone call to the Stanford registrar? And for what benefit? a few extra Heisman votes that he shouldn't need to beat a true freshman. But he was willing to risk getting locked out of the NFL draft and becoming a millionaire, because the story was so cool.

Yes. But he wasn't counting on people nation-wide trying to check his story. He only had to fool the people around him and keep his family at bay (assuming his dad isn't in on it, which I'm not entirely convinced of, either). Chance that your 18-22 year old friends are going to start calling Stanford to check your story: 0%. It's only when the story gets away from you that you can't control what you have to keep coming up with to cover it anymore.

 

[Count 'Bility]

The theory I am solidly on now is that he was dooped. He was the "victim" (I hate using this word, because no crime was comitted)-AT FIRST. But I also believe that once he realized how beneficial it was in the PR category, he proceeded to embellish and blow it out of proportion. Then, when the alarm went off that she was not real, he panicked and pulled the plug.

What I really want go know that seems to go unasked is why the hell ESPN did a pregame segment about Te'o and his girlfriend on the 7th, and why did Scott Van Pelt have an interview with Te'o a couple days before that about it if they knew as of the 26th of December that it was a hoax?

Lastly. I kinda wish he would'a won the Hiesman now. Could you imagine what the story would be then. Let's face it. The guy was an average to good linebacker with a story. Without this story putting his face on ESPN and SI every week, he has no more chance at the Heisman than Will Compton or Alonzo Whaley (cue ND fan saying "who?"-my point exactly). It would also finally expose the bias fraud that the Hiesman and ESPN's College Football coverage has become.

 

[Mavric]

The theory I am solidly on now is that he was dooped. He was the "victim" (I hate using this word, because no crime was comitted)-AT FIRST. But I also believe that once he realized how beneficial it was in the PR category, he proceeded to embellish and blow it out of proportion. Then, when the alarm went off that she was not real, he panicked and pulled the plug.

So when do you think he figured it out?

The thing that doesn't work for me in that scenario is that the other guy was bragging about pulling the catfish so others on his side knew about it. He had it on twitter if I'm not mistaken so who knows how many people knew about it. After she "died" and it became a huge story, wouldn't SOMEONE who knew about it from the other side let it slip - or go to the press - with the proof that it wasn't true? As long as they think they're in on the joke, I can see them keeping quiet but wouldn't someone want their 15 minutes by breaking the story?