Yeah guys, don't pass judgment on Te'o until given another fully healthy season and see if he gets hoaxed again. No other way to ditermine if this was just an anomaly.
This situation reminds me of this: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/N-TZ8Z5S9rI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Possible? Sure. Maybe even started out in a "My girlfriend, she lives in canada, so you've never met her" type of way. But Occam's razor tends to indicate that at some point (if not at the beginning...) he became aware of the situation and became an accomplice profiting from the lie rather than a victim.
Umm the former would be the right thing to do. I'd expect a religious Mormon with morals would know that. He doesnt even have to call any media outlets. This day in age, a tweet would make news. I don't believe he just wanted to live in denial and hope it all went away. This kid was going to be a high NFL 1st round draft pick. This story was not going to just go away. Especially going int the NFL, where the real marketing comes in to play. And how do we even know he's so socially awkward? I watched his interviews, he seems fine. ^^its not that cut and dry!!
Deadspin is putting espn, si, Nytimes to shame. Tmz, Deadspin > NYtimes and SI. Media sure has changed.
I doubt he came up with this plan 3 years ago to one day win the heisman off sympathy votes...however, I think its very plausible that he used this "death" when he felt like it could help out.
To be fair, Occam's razor also suggested that he had a real girlfriend who died of cancer. This whole thing violates all the principles of logic or common sense.
I credit you for keeping an open mind about all this. Have you yourself ever been a victim of a hoax? I have never been a victim of a hoax, and I have never known anyone else victimized by a hoax, but I suppose it isn't something someone wants to talk about.
Occam's razor does not really indicate that at all. It's just as simple/plausible an explanantion to believe he was duped the whole time.
Occam's razor @OccamRazorBot RT @doliversub13: Final thoughts on Manti Te'o situation: use Occam's razor principles, the simplest solution is probably right. He's in on it. Sad. https://twitter.com/OccamRazorBot
I have. Nothing like this. But I was a little too trusting in a situation before and subsequently ended up lying to people out of embarassment to cover my own ass.
There's successful middle aged men - doctors, priests, lawyers - who believe a 14 yr old girl has been chatting with them for months and can't wait for them to come over for sex. Not to mention the more innocent 'catfish' stories. And I can believe a late bloomer (especially some raised so devout) would be too trusting in his/her first relationship.. I've seen friends who didn't get a girlfriend until their early 20's and they're just as impetuous as a tweener who just had their first kiss. That said, with all his quotes over the past few months/years, there are way too many holes in this story. One thing though: why would he want/need additional sympathy outside of his grandmother's death? Seems really greedy to trump up that angle.
No s***. Doesn't mean it's the easy thing to do. I guess you and I have wildly different expectations of the moral capabilities of religious people. That's the whole point. Embarass himself to the entire country, by his own hand? Not likely. I said it before, we're not dealing with a very intelligent or mature person. He's a young (seemingly sheltered) guy. I think he's fully capable of making short-sighted decisions in the interest of self-preservation. Everything I have heard about him indicates he is a very reserved person and not socially adept at all. Add in his conservative upbringing and it makes even more sense. There are parts that are cut and dry, times, dates, etc. But there's a lot we don't know, you can't dispute that.
Can I just make the point that Occam's Razor is a ****ty principle in general and especially useless in this situation?
If you believe him, the most plauseable explanation would seem to be that some unattractive girl used a fake picture to hit on him, and it worked. She really did like him, and that is why she was willing to spend hours together on the phone and online, but she knew she wasn't who she said she was, so she had to get in a wreck when things got serious and then have lukemia after she recovered from that. Te'o would have to be an ******* to confront her about not meeting after a near fatal car wreck or accuse her of faking lukemia. Her lies snowballed up until her "death", but then she still wanted to be in contact with Te'o which is why she ended up calling again and saying she wasn't dead. I don't know that I would believe that story, but if he was hoaxed it seems the most plauseable at this point. It would explain why this person wanted to keep contacting Te'o after the hoax was revealed. Which all still leaves him as extremely gullible if the relationship really did last 3 years with out ever video chatting or meeting. Still it would make more sense as a motive than someone including Te'o doing the whole thing for publicity or as a prank for that long. It still leaves alot of lieing to at the very least cover up his embarassment, and if he was THAT embarassed, it makes you wonder why he would admit he was fooled to his coaches and atheletic director. Unless he knew they were going to find out anyway because Deadspin contacted him to comment on or research the story and his side of it all.
