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


Punch

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Not sure if posted before, but here is an article on SI.com from the guy who interviewed him back in October. Interesting stuff. The amount of detail is staggering.

 

Manti Te'o in his own words

 

He says he knew her for four years, but that they dated formally since the prior October, so for a year. Could a hoax like this really be perpetrated for four years, including one as intimate friends? Who in the world has the stamina to stay on the phone with him for hours at a time, every day?

 

Yeah this is required reading. It is a one-on-one interview between Sports Illustrated's Pete Thamel that happened less than two weeks after Manti's grandmother and girlfriend died.

 

As Rubes said, the amount of detail is staggering. Again based on this interview there should be zero problem providing phone records and e-records of these letters that Lennay wrote on her iPad and that were read to Manti by her family members and then later sent to Manti, I'm assuming email. Manti also talks at length about the numerous marathon phone calls between the two. It should be very easy to document the statements he made in his SI interview.

 

It's been over 30 hours since the story broke. I'm guessing the silence will end tomorrow. Manti needs to clear his name and his silence is nearly deafening at this point.

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Lots of pictures, her social network sites, and chatted with on the phone. Just like Te'o, so yeah, you can say it is odd, but in all honesty, I do not care if she is a fat blown up fuggly wench, doesn't mean much to me.

 

 

 

Gosh, I've had lots of chats with chicks on the internet. My favorite. Back in the day when Prodigy was out and the Packard Bell was king (94? 95?) I talked to a girl from the New England area. I do not remember her name or anything like that, and about 4 or 5 years later I realized it was awful funny that I talked to a girl with the screen name JimS. Hey, I was 13 or 14...I only remember this because it was just so f'n funny I was probably talking all about whatever kids talk about to an old creep.

 

But, my generation was one of the first of the AOL online chatting lifestyle. I talked to classmates regularly, more so online then in school. I'd talk to their friends I had never met, and their friends and so on. I'd end up in chat rooms with friends, and then their cousin from Colorado, and their cousins friend, and eventually you chat with people all over. Two guys I went to school with knew two girls in Maryland. The two girls talked to me all the time. There was never a reason to question if they were real or not. This was before picture sharing was easily done - scanners were there the main method.

 

Eventually, eventually and throughout high school I met a lot of girls that you'd feel special about, and it'd be mutual. A girl in Tennessee here, one in California there, it goes on and on and on. Sure, they could have been "catfish," but I have my doubts. I am very good at cyber sleuthing, and using common sense. A long time ago I even had a girl who was way in to me and extremely hot fly me out to see her (this was only after video chat made it possible to verify who they were).

 

The internet is a wide open world of whatever you want it to be...

 

Exactly.

 

And I imagine a naive/trusting Mormon from Hawaii and at catholic school around the globe with the weight of the notre dame nation on his shoulders might be prone to wanting someone that he doesn't have to be the big shot on campus for. Someone that's a bit anonymous to vent his stuff to.... And then the connection starts. Then you trust a bit more cause she's a friend of a friend and this guy (who is the son of a preacher and from a major Samoan football family) knows her it becomes a bit more legit.

 

It takes teo overlooking some major red flags but.... It happens. For every "weird we can't Skype" there's a "well I met ronaiah and he seems legit." For every "she couldnt come see me this weekend" there's "but she took that picture with the sign" then when he finally might've started really pushing - dead. No one thing was proof she was fake at the time but looking back I'm sure he's thinking how the hell did I miss connecting these dots sooner. Odds are on some level he didnt want to connect them.

 

Again - thanks for not being "too cool" to talk about your personal experiences. I really think some of the guys in the thread are baffled by online relationships forming

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The question I want answered is why would an All American linebacker settle for some stupid online relationship when he can get all the women he wants? Real life ones!

 

Unless he's not interested in women at all, and invents an imaginary 'beard' on a campus 2000 miles from South Bend who also happens to be dying of a terminal illness .

 

That would certainly eliminate any question of why an All Amercian, stud Notre Dame linebacker, Heisman candidate, and future gazillionaire doesn't have a super-hot squeeze right there on campus.

 

Sorry, but I can't think of any other reason to concoct and perpetuate such an elaborate ruse.

 

(Not that there's anything WRONG with that!)

 

 

Anyway, now the Bills can go ahead and draft Matt Barkley at #8, and probably still get Te'o in round two...

 

 

GO BILLSSS!!!!!

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Exactly.

 

And I imagine a naive/trusting Mormon from Hawaii and at catholic school around the globe with the weight of the notre dame nation on his shoulders might be prone to wanting someone that he doesn't have to be the big shot on campus for. Someone that's a bit anonymous to vent his stuff to.... And then the connection starts. Then you trust a bit more cause she's a friend of a friend and this guy (who is the son of a preacher and from a major Samoan football family) knows her it becomes a bit more legit.

 

It takes teo overlooking some major red flags but.... It happens. For every "weird we can't Skype" there's a "well I met ronaiah and he seems legit." For every "she couldnt come see me this weekend" there's "but she took that picture with the sign" then when he finally might've started really pushing - dead. No one thing was proof she was fake at the time but looking back I'm sure he's thinking how the hell did I miss connecting these dots sooner. Odds are on some level he didnt want to connect them.

 

Again - thanks for not being "too cool" to talk about your personal experiences. I really think some of the guys in the thread are baffled by online relationships forming

 

I think we are just older and more prone to wanting to "close the deal." Enough of this Platonic BS. Sorry.

 

It really is scary how a whole generation is being raised to be even more desensitized than the prior generations. Cameras all around, tech everywhere and people still can't close the deal face to face.

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News stories are fleeting in the wake of bigger news stories. Never say never. Remember Gary Condit-Shandra Levy thing... Boom comes 911...

Won't even take that. Unless he was complicit in anything but mildly exaggerating the seriousness of the relationship, this blows over fast and becomes nothing more than a footnote on his wiki profile. Big thing will be what's learned about/or disclosed by the perpetrators. If that clears teo, his credibility is restored and he earns sympathy votes.

Edited by Joe_the_6_pack
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News stories are fleeting in the wake of bigger news stories. Never say never. Remember Gary Condit-Shandra Levy thing... Boom comes 911...

That's a good point, although I think this story is bigger. Plus, like SJBF pointed out, the evidence is there & people are going to keep digging. He'd need a Jerry Sandusky style scandal to break to push this to the back page & even then I don't see it going away. Also, Condit disappeared into obscurity (only to be exculpated 10 years later), while Te'o is heading to a bigger stage. He's gotta come clean with whatever the truth may be.

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I think we are just older and more prone to wanting to "close the deal." Enough of this Platonic BS. Sorry.

Well, then you have to look at other aspects of online relationships. I used to work with a guy who had 7 kids by 4 different women, he now has at least 8 kids by 5 women. He used POF (plenty of fish), as they called it, and would meet girls all the time. He had next to nothing going for him, mid 30's, uneducated and ex con, and he would get laid all the time. Another coworker would use Craigslist and meet all types of women, despite being an overweight balding mid 40 year old man with nothing more going for him then driving his 95 Dodge Caravan and leading the shipping docks. Our truck driver at the warehouse was a good looking fella, muscular and smooth and he used some site like onlinebootycall or something to meet chicks all over the place....

 

That was in 2005-06... I imagine now its changed a lot, and probably easier with Facebook, etc...platonic going no where relationships can exist but there are places that people go that get you 0-100 in no time.

 

That's a good point, although I think this story is bigger. Plus, like SJBF pointed out, the evidence is there & people are going to keep digging. He'd need a Jerry Sandusky style scandal to break to push this to the back page & even then I don't see it going away. Also, Condit disappeared into obscurity (only to be exculpated 10 years later), while Te'o is heading to a bigger stage. He's gotta come clean with whatever the truth may be.

And even then this is a story that has to get rehashed. The next week it will fade. Then come April it is back in the headlines. then come the team that signs him - big splash in that city, then TC comes and it's up front again, then every so often it comes out in the local sports/news...

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Unless he's not interested in women at all, and invents an imaginary 'beard' on a campus 2000 miles from South Bend who also happens to be dying of a terminal illness .

 

That would certainly eliminate any question of why an All Amercian, stud Notre Dame linebacker, Heisman candidate, and future gazillionaire doesn't have a super-hot squeeze right there on campus.

 

Sorry, but I can't think of any other reason to concoct and perpetuate such an elaborate ruse.

 

(Not that there's anything WRONG with that!)

 

 

Anyway, now the Bills can go ahead and draft Matt Barkley at #8, and probably still get Te'o in round two...

 

 

GO BILLSSS!!!!!

 

I agree... Back in the day even up a few years ago... The line would be: "I gotta girlfriend." Even more for a chick that wanted to throw off bothersome suitors: "I gotta boyfriend." Now, it is like: "Show me the evidence." :-O

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Unless he's not interested in women at all, and invents an imaginary 'beard' on a campus 2000 miles from South Bend who also happens to be dying of a terminal illness .

 

That would certainly eliminate any question of why an All Amercian, stud Notre Dame linebacker, Heisman candidate, and future gazillionaire doesn't have a super-hot squeeze right there on campus.

 

Sorry, but I can't think of any other reason to concoct and perpetuate such an elaborate ruse.

 

(Not that there's anything WRONG with that!)

 

 

Anyway, now the Bills can go ahead and draft Matt Barkley at #8, and probably still get Te'o in round two...

 

 

GO BILLSSS!!!!!

 

I think that has as good of a chance as any of being what happened. Except why kill her off!?!

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I would still draft Te'o without hesitation.

 

I would too... He's got something to prove. Better if he could slip ad to a low round and have the Brady factor working for him... BUT that won't happen. He won't leave the first. AND it would be stupid for him to be on the board when NE picks... He is exactly what the doctored has ordered in Foxboro...

 

Heard on the radio that Mike Golic, whose kid plays for ND said when they go to team parties Te'o never shows. Said no one really knows the guy. The Senator may be on to something.

 

Could be an introvert... Nothing wrong with that.

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I would too... He's got something to prove. Better if he could slip ad to a low round and have the Brady factor working for him... BUT that won't happen. He won't leave the first. AND it would be stupid for him to be on the board when NE picks... He is exactly what the doctored has ordered in Foxboro...

 

He sure is: teddy bruschi part 2. And as much as I can't stand the guy, as a player he'd have made a world of difference on the current bills defense

Edited by Joe_the_6_pack
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Heard on the radio that Mike Golic, whose kid plays for ND said when they go to team parties Te'o never shows. Said no one really knows the guy. The Senator may be on to something.

 

The last two days when espn radio is on GR, they've been advertising 7 straight hours of Greenberg and Cowherd together (personally, I'd rather stick ice picks in my eyes) because Golic isn't going to be there. I was wondering if it was connected.

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I don't know what to think. What are people's motives for pulling these scams? What is the gain? Why?

 

I'm with you there.....

 

In my mind....

 

For a short period,

I can understand a mentally unstable(ill) person committing a hoax like this for mental reasons.

I can understand a small cadre of people committing a hoax like this for scamming financial gain.

I can understand a small cadre of people committing a hoax like this for schits and giggles.

I can understand a relatively normal person committing a hoax like this for schits and giggles.

 

 

For a long period,

I can understand a mentally unstable(ill) person committing a hoax like this for mental reasons.

I can understand a small cadre of people committing a hoax like this for scamming financial gain.

I CANNOT understand a relatively normal person committing a hoax like this for schits and giggles.

I REALLY CANNOT understand a small cadre of people committing a hoax like this for schits and giggles.

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The last two days when espn radio is on GR, they've been advertising 7 straight hours of Greenberg and Cowherd together (personally, I'd rather stick ice picks in my eyes) because Golic isn't going to be there. I was wondering if it was connected.

 

But if you stick ice picks in your eyes you can still hear them.

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