I don't think that's fair to Kes, Sid. He's just asking questions and like a lot of people out there want more information. Most of the questions asked now relate to why Manti made statements that indicated he had met with her and stuff like that. I do think though that many people are still having a hard time thinking that Manti didn't use this to his advantage in his Heisman run. I think they are wrong, if you assumed that he knew she was not real and that he knew that then sure...but the evidence is clear he didn't know that. He let his play on the field esp the OU game at Norman, that was huge for him as it came at a time that other candidates like Colin Klein, Geno Smith, Matt Barkley were falling by the wayside. Manti still has questions to answer. But one of them is not that he dreamed this whole thing up to bolster his Heisman run, that assertion is ridiculous.
Manti <t>Terry, <br/> Just let Kes keep stepping on his stuff. If he can't see by now how things are turning on this story even this evening then he just doesn't want to believe the truth. Manti Teo deserves an apology from the media who have tried to turn this into something that it just isn't.</t>
I've been keeping silent on this for reasons. Those reasons are this: 1. When the story broke, it was obvious that there would be much more to come from this. For those of you who know how to internet, you would have found that the premise of the Deadspin story began to unravel within hours. They obviously had rushed to paint Te'o complicit. They should have taken the same measured approach to proving Te'o's guilt as they did Kekua's non-existence. With that in mind, I love train wrecks. I've been watching people run their mouths on this. Now I know what KP felt like watching all of us hopeful ND fans just before the title game. 2. This story immediately resonated with me because I've experienced something VERY similar to this not once, but twice in my life. To make it worse, and to STFU all the naysayers that say 'but he never met her'... I met both of the people who pulled off extensive frauds like this. I think this addresses KP's question about 'player from another school' although it was not directed at me. If Terry doesn't mind, I'll answer it. Yes.. I would absolutely believe it is possible. One of those situations, I just won't go into but it has a lot to do with why I'm here. The second of those situations could have possibly gone as badly for me as the first. However, my experience with the first 'catfish' in my life taught me lessons I've never forgotten. I smelled out the rat and hit the eject button. Still, there's no denying that is what this person was doing..and it wasn't for money, or a child or anything like that (which has to do with my first encounter).. they were simply just ******* with me. I found they had actually ruined several lives over the years. There's some messed up people in the world. 3. Deadspin is about to put the gun in their mouth and pull the trigger in terms of credibility. They kicked in the door with this article and took credibility by the throat. That's fine. The problem is, sometimes you don't have it 100% right and how you handle that sets your measure as a credible news source. When first confronted with a series of stories and evidence that really hit the 'Teo was in on it' angle, their response was to say 1. ND is full of **** and it's a coverup. then 2. What about the ND coverup of rape? Seriously, those are their responses. One of the 'anonymous' sources of their article, was just outed in a news article by them today. Since that person went on ESPN saying that Tuiasosopo was the person behind this (and thus seriously damaging the weight of the Deadspin articles main premise), Deadspin ran a piece saying basically "Oh yeah, well that's the guy who said he's 80% sure Teo was in on it." While I am sure that carries some weight with the Deadspin fanboys, it actually destroys their credibility further. It's not because of the sophomoric tone, but rather it shows you how flimsy their original sources on Teo were. In the ESPN interview, the guy flat out said he didn't know Teo. He heard the story, googled the guy and that's when he saw the Kekua name. At that point, he knew it was a fraud. This is the guy (per Deadspin's own words) that they used as the crucifix nail to Teo in the article. He's a guy who doesn't know Manti... so yeah, there's that. I've always liked Burke. He's kind of a dick, but then so am I. He's funny, usually. He can be petty though. They wanted to play on the big stage. They are getting their shot...and right now, in 24 hours they've gone from the phenom getting the call up to the bigs, to being the kid who looked at 3 down the cock and was sent back to the bushes with a wet spot between his legs. (if that's too much baseball jargon, I can translate for you but I'm sure you get the premise).. The real story behind this story is the media and it's accountability (or lack thereof).. Now they all know everyone is watching, let's see who the real pros are.
I missed the ESPN piece last night but if I understand their take on the interview, Teo did not know it was a hoax until December 2012. Apparently he mislead his family by saying he actually met the girl when in fact he never met her face to face. So that explains the discrepancy between his father's statements and his. That was one my main questions. It sounds like he was just extremely naive but he realized that something was off (or he wouldn't have lied to his family) and was extremely embarrassed so he tried to cover the story after he found out the truth. Sad. Like I said before, he is not guilty of any crime or of breaking any NCAA regulation (although I am sure they are checking just to make sure they can't do some type of investigation just for the hell of it) so time to move on. I feel sorry for Teo for a lot of reasons.
KP, Agreed. Basically, you have a kid lying to his parents about how he 'met' a girl to avoid the stigma attached to it. How in the hell was he suppose to know that in the next few months this 'girl' would have a near fatal car accident, be diagnosed with leukemia, have 2 near death flat lines in the hospital, a bone marrow transplant and then die? I think the kid told his dad one thing to avoid things being socially awkward, then when all this insanity broke out he was between a rock and a hard place. He's manned up and basically admitted to be a socially awkward goober. I'd like to see Tuiasasopo make a public statement. I know that his church congregation is demanding one.
Thanks, Corey, for your savvy, intelligent, and reasoned analysis, albeit expressed in Corey-speak. :wink: (Definition of Corey-speak: tough talk from a tough guy, full of intelligent insight) Thanks, kp, for your unbiased observations and for your fairness. Terry, Kes is a big boy. As such, he can't expect to say the things he's said in a forum full of ND supporters without reasonable expectation of blowback. I just contributed my two cents' worth, which I will continue to do so unless and until he lightens up and decides to use his obviously keen analytical skills in a fair and unbiased manner. So far, he seems satisfied only with expressing cynicism without foundation.
yeah still some questions, now my primary curiosity is why would someone do this? Was the object to eventually go public and embarrass Teo? Why would you do this? :?
I am a 50 year ND supporter and I will not be eating crow for anything I said. I think Kes' opinion was a valid one. Just another stupid, unecessary peripheral embarassment. I forgotten it already. Gearing up for the next one. This is something I wrote in another forum that expresses exactly how I feel about it: "Now that he has faced this down it is time to move on. Notre Dame is in his rear view mirror and he should be in ours. He was the naieve, gullible victim of a three year hoax. He admits to lying about certain details of this "romance" but I think we fleshed that reality out about five days ago. He leaves on a down note and it's a minor embarassment to the University. In a week it is forgotten. Swarbrick put it on the line for him early so he is the big winner here. We all survive unscathed, Teo will soon be a multi-millionaire and we all still be "punching a clock". Like nothing happened! On to bigger and better things for Notre Dame.
Ok, let me see if I got this. :lol: Manti's either incredibly gullible, or an incredible liar....or mostly this with a dash of that......right?.....
Manti <r>Corey,<br/> <QUOTE><s> </e></QUOTE> Problem here Corey is they had no credibility to begin with and they don't care. Right or wrong the get they're name on this and that's what they want.</r>
Boy am I glad none of here here on Skybox would ever fall for something like this! :lol: However you have to be somebody to attract attention, so that leaves me out from the get go. I hope we all can learn something from this exercise.
Almost child-like gullibility. My take is that after almost three years of this charade, he started telling lies to cover himself out of complete humiliation. As far as the press needing to apologize, I ask why? For most of this season they have followed a story sympathetically that turned out to be myth. It became as central to his personal achievement and awards as it was to the team's incredible run.
The part I struggle the most with is why he continued to perpetuate the myth even after he became aware that he'd been duped....the whole 12/6 as per swarbrick then the 12/8 interview......why????
So right after the Heisman voting, 2 days before the ceremony he's supposed to reveal that the girlfriend story was a hoax. Yeah, non of the cynics that make up our media would buy that. Then there is the circus that has and would have happened. This of course would be as the team was beginning practices for the NC game. That wouldn't have been a distraction. Talk about having to run out a weak grounder.....he was in a no win situation.
Just seems that he had much better options than continuing to fabricate....he certainly wasn't compelled to say what he said 12/8 after the hoax was apparent to him. Knowing he was preparing to take game's largest stage, they did not do him any favors by not being better prepared......i believe the kid was duped, but at that point in time, on that stage he had better ways to respond, imo