According to Tim Donnelly (Delaware QB who played on the same HS team with Manti for 3 years) on local radio: - he doesn't think Manit is gay, but he always claimed to have a girlfriend back home (1 hour away from school) that was never around school - Manti is very intelligent - Manti has two very close friends who would know everything about his life. If he was duped, all 3 would have to be duped. If he was in on it, all 3 would know about it. According to random Polynesian lady on radio who claims to have ties to the family: -Polynesian boys have ongoing online relationships without meeting the girl more often than normally occurring in society. -Tuasosopos and Te'os run in the same circles
Well, the Jack Swarbricks of the universe are being paid to be in denial. Plus, they have a pretty close relationship with the guy. Closer than any of us, at least. So it's possible they're convinced Te'o is (mostly) the victim here. I admire them for not throwing him under the bus, which would be the easy way out. Notre Dame doesn't have much to gain by supporting him. I thought the press conference was a little too "showy", though. I'd like to see someone show me where Te'o went out of his way (i.e. in an unprovoked manner) to bring up his girlfriend or gin up sympathy for himself *after* he found out she wasn't real/was not dead. This is where I have trouble hating on him. I can absolutely see a scenario in which he is asked about his gf in interviews, etc, where he perpetuates the lie to avoid public humiliation. But the fact that he benefited from lying does not automatically mean he lied for self-promotion instead of self-preservation.
Sorry, this thing has apparently had a few wrinkles added since I stopped reading about it last night. I'll go back and check. Feel free to post a direct link if you have one. Edit: I cannot find this post you're talking about. Help a brother out. Edit #2: In the event Te'o kept this lie going, even without provocation, it is very possible he did so to keep people in the dark about the fact it was a hoax and prevent himself from being humiliated on a national stage. This is my main point; there are two motives here, but they are not necessarily exclusive of each other or competing against one another.
I know ESPN lists a few of the public comments post supposed realization. But they don't really list what prompted the comments. http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8856519/manti-teo-talked-girlfriend-knowing-hoax
I don't see how this fits the description of what I asked for. He was apparently being interviewed about these hardships, his grandfather's death from cancer (?) specifically, and he brought up his grandmother and girlfriend (both of whom died from cancer). That seems like something someone would probably bring up when in an interview about this subject. Like, can you imagine if he said "and so when I lost my grandmother to cancer" and didn't mention his widely publicized girlfriend's death from cancer? Wouldn't that be, weird? Why would he want to act suspicious like that? I don't see that as him being advantageous or trying to milk sympathy. I see that as him trying to keep his story as legit looking as possible so he wouldn't get made to look a fool.
The SI interview he gave in October is full of lies and this was supposedly before he found out (which is only believable to the gullible). Will post links later...busy now. That said, I do think there is a legit chance he found out later, but his credibility in terms of being truthful about timing is shredded (see Lance Armstrong).
Semantics. Your artificial distinction between "unprovoked" and "he had to keep the lie up in order to not lose face" is ridiculous.
I seriously don't get you on this. If Te'o is blowing up his twitter, going to the press constantly, releasing videos and statements, all geared towards "hey did i mention my dead girlfriend yet?" Then yes, I think that is done for self-promotion. But that is obviously not what he was doing. All of the mentions of the girlfriend (post hoax reveal) seem to come as part of circumstance. Is it possible he enjoyed the attention/pity party? Absolutely. But I'm not seeing that so far. Especially after Dec 6. What is ridiculous is thinking that any mention of his girlfriend, after he learned of her false identity, indicates that he is lying for his own personal gain, and not just to save his own hide. That's a very important distinction, and I have no idea why you're dismissing it so readily, pitchfork in hand. Is this just your moral compass at work? Meaning, all lies to you are the same? If so, then fair enough. That's your flag to fly, and I'm not interested in changing your opinion on that, so we need not discuss these distinctions anymore.
The funny thing is if he had told the truth about the relationship in the beginning, he wouldn't have had to lie later. Instead he lied from the beginning and just kept digging his own grave with more lies. Funnier (to me) is what I like least about his character are the actions/inactions he had while he was 'dating' Ronaiah.
This whole thing is so freaking bizarre. He started dating a REAL woman after the dead gf. See below. http://www.tmz.com/2013/01/18/manti-teo-girlfriend-rebound-notre-dame-st-marys-alexandra-del-pilar/
Obviously. Nobody forced him to mention the girlfriend anymore after Dec. 6. I am convinced he knew about it even before then. But apparently, at the very latest, he knew on Dec. 6. Still, on Dec. 8 and Dec. 30 (at least), he brings her up again and again. Your artificial differentiation "as part of circumstance" and "self-promotion" is nonsense. Nobody forces him to mention her in an interview. He could not give any interview at all. He could say I don't want to talk about this anymore. But he didn't. Thus: self-promotion. It is not an important distinction. It is an arbitrary, artificial distinction you made up. Lying to save his own hide = lying for his own personal gain. In the two instances quoted in the post I made the effort to look up for you, he was not asked specifically about the girlfriend, yet he brought her up. You seem to sometimes argue for the sake of the argument, but you were wrong about Armstrong, and you are wrong here, and everyone sees it but you.
That singer is like some unholy experiment where Getty Lee's voicebox has been grafted onto Jonah Hill's body.
I was listening to Vikings' center (and former Notre Dame player) John Sullivan earlier on local sports talk radio talk about the situation. He said that even if Manti Te'o is completely innocent this still might hurt his draft status because opposing players will use this to get into his head. Also NFL teams run psychological tests on players to see how mentally tough and sharp they are and if Manti Te'o is that easily duped or unbalanced many teams might not want him. One other thing that John Sullivan mentioned that was pretty interesting was that if there was a gay player on the VIkings he and the rest of the team would stand up for that player. He said most likely every NFL team would do so. One thing that I was thinking about is if Te'o goes pro how his situation might relate to the situation with Royce White. As a star at college he is coddled and protected but as an NFL rookie that won't be the same and any problems that he has from this will get magnified.
^^Exactly. You've been defending this guy since page 4 of this thread. Any way you look at it, Te'O covered up a pretty outrageous lie that effected a lot of people. He completely deserves the roasting he's getting, especially since he's still trying to cover it up. His school defended him for at least 1 of 2 reasons. 1. He brought them tons of publicity as well and 2. Most universities try to cover for their students. Their ass is on the line too. Perhaps ND told him, we will run with what you tell us and we'll believe you. Class act, as you said. But at that point, Te'O should have came out with the truth. ND, where people have to find their girlfriends online...
