Dafuq did I just read?

Some time during his first days on campus, his teammates most likely tried to get him to hook up with some drunk chick overly willing to make it with the star football player, and he quickly came up with the "I can't - I have a girlfriend" cover story, and it just snowballed from there.

"Thirdly, our investigators through their work were able to discover online chatter among the perpetrators that is sort of the ultimate proof of this, the joy they were taking, the sort of casualness with which among themselves they were referring to what they had accomplished and what they had done."

Whoever finds this first is going to be Internet famous.

What happened to the power of Fark?

Jim_Tressel's_O-Face: czetie: And if he is fabulating, it's not merely Making Stuff Up on the level of a Canadian girlfriend; he sincerely believes his own fiction.

Baron von Mantihausen?

muwaryer: There was absolutely no reason for ND to unequivocally support Te'o.

The Catholic school that earned its following flaunting the legends of 'winning one for the Gipper' and 'Rudy' certainly wouldn't double down on claiming the new legend of their star linebacker's dead girlfriend was just a cruel internet hoax and not anything that could be further damaging to the university football program. Nope, they're completely trustworthy here, cross their hearts and swear on Touchdown Jesus(tm).


I get where you're coming from...but this one is going to be very easy to prove/disprove. It would be a colossal mistake for ND to double down on this one unless they are 100% sure. I'm not saying that they're right -- Te'o may have duped them too -- but I do think they're convinced that they're right.

IAmRight: Incorrigible Astronaut: One more-

Peter King @SI_PeterKing
RT @slacker_mike: Why did major outlets like SI, ESPN not identify this with fact checking?

In fairness, I can probably understand taking people at their word for it if there's a whole family talking about how they knew this person. Most of the time you're not going to assume they're lying and go check for a death certificate. If it were for a book, sure. For a random article or a brief mention on TV? Let's not assume reporters have all f*cking day to work on just one story.

Pete Thamel was in South Bend for four days working on that story. Notre Dame limited access to Manti Te'o to the last of those four days.

/ pass the tinfoil

ATRDCI: Yes, I am aware. My point was that the only "built story" around Manziel, other than the nickname, was slightly misleading terminology when regarding him as a freshman

"After Johnny Manziel's first media appearance, Joe Posnanski wrote a gushing essay on the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner, dripping with the nostalgia evoked by a nickname like "Johnny Football." After he talked about how refreshing it was that Manziel's long media silence spared him from overexposure, you couldn't tell if Posnanski was talking about Manziel or Mickey Mantle. He lamented how they don't make 'em like they used to -- even placing scrambling quarterbacks in that category, as if no one's told him about MACtion -- before becoming enthralled by the "aww shucks" aesthetic accompanied by things like Manziel's modest statement that he didn't "see [himself] as Johnny Football."

Well, here's the other thing about that media silence -- it allowed people like Posnanski to create the "Johnny Football" of their dreams. Truth is, the real Johnny Manziel is out here flashing the money he won at a casino on Twitter. He might sip champagne here and there. He sits courtside at NBA games, and when people have a problem with any of it, he either tells them to keep hating or stop. He doesn't seem to give a damn either way, but he's not stopping because they don't like it. Johnny Manziel wants to ball. Not just on the field, but in his life. He retweets 50 Cent lyrics to reinforce this. Oh, and he goes back and forth with Larry Fitzgerald, Bubba Watson and some guys I'm told I should be aware of." Full article with links here.

So this guy met her in person but Manti is no claiming he never met her in person even though he told many stories about in person meetings?

Manti ran with a lie at some point.

The only question now is was he a player in the lie or was he duped and then ran with it after the fact?

ha-ha-guy: sigdiamond2000: Yep, you nailed it.

But, my God, the sheer shamelessness it takes to write an article like that. Wow.

Also, attack Deadspin is not a good move. Daulerio is giant farking douchebag, but he's one who digs up dirt and nails people with ease. I'm not sure if I'd want to get into a pissing match with him.

AJ moved to be the Editor at Gawker a while back and just recently stepped down from that position as well.

LucklessWonder: DamnYankees: This is gonna be a hilarious 30 For 30 some day.

What if I told you that "Weekend At Rudy's" was based on a true story?

"Te' It Ain't So", directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman.

El Uno Magnifico: ATRDCI: El Uno Magnifico: ATRDCI: IAmRight: Incorrigible Astronaut: it's interesting that this is where the "real journalism" is coming from.

And as a PR person I find it funny that BOTH of the top Heisman finalists were helped dramatically by complete bullsh*t stories that had nothing to do with their production on the field.

I'm not saying that neither deserved to be there, I'd just remind people that Manziel wasn't allowed to talk to the press while A&M created a whole image for him that also seems to be BS. Te'o was allowed to talk to the press apparently with a made-up story.

/also, never even heard of Te'o's story before this either
//it's amazing how much bullsh*t you escape when you don't watch ESPN or other crap sports programming that gives you zero information about sports and 100% fabricated crap to "humanize" the athletes

The only really misleading thing about Manziel was that announcers kept calling him a redshirt freshman, while hours-wise he is actually a junior

/hell the family had to take control of the "story" so that there wouldn't be NCAA violations because somebody sold Johnny Football Tshirts or something like that

Redshirt freshman refers to the fact that he redshirted during his first year of college. Manziel this year played during his first year of eligibility (his second year in college). Next year he'll be a redshirt sophomore, which means he's been with the program for three years but will be playing in just his sophomore year of eligibility. Two years from now, assuming he doesn't go to the NFL, he'll be a fifth-year senior and will exhaust his eligibility.

Yes, I am aware. My point was that the only "built story" around Manziel, other than the nickname, was slightly misleading terminology when regarding him as a freshman

It's not misleading at all to people who know what the term means. He's a first-year player. He and a true freshman, before this year, had the exact same playing time experience - none. It's the first time a f ...

Yeah, I understand that, and its more a personal hang up than anything that's actually significant. Its just to me, even though he doesn't have the experience, he still had the workouts/body development, that a junior has. I mean, take the Europeans drafted in the NBA. You'd expect a 25 year old whose been playing in Euro leagues for say 5 years to do better than a 21 year old from St John's even though they are both rookes because the european has had more time to develop his body

/tbh, not that big a deal, the reason I brought it up is that while he wasn't allowed to talk to the media, there really has been zero story building by the university in regards to him
//I'll try to stop thread jacking

Can we just kill off the damn Heisman Trophy already? It's been the worst award in sports for decades.

muwaryer: I get where you're coming from...but this one is going to be very easy to prove/disprove. It would be a colossal mistake for ND to double down on this one unless they are 100% sure. I'm not saying that they're right -- Te'o may have duped them too -- but I do think they're convinced that they're right.

Maybe. I've just seen enough unforced errors from people and institutions in the sport that should have known better. After Sandusky, nothing really surprises me any more.

ha-ha-guy: CADMonkey79: Or maybe they are just trying to cover for him.

Yeah, the two NFL who met her are Samoan and the claim is they met her way out at American Samoa IIRC, not in Cali. The Arizona guy and the AZ guy says Polamalu also met her. It will be interesting to see if Troy confirms that, denies that, or just stays the hell away from all this.

All too strange. This is more complex than the Petraeus scandal.

ha-ha-guy: Yeah, how come you haven't found that chatter yet man?

I've been looking for it, seriously. But I suck at the internet.

I notice Deadspin is being a smart ass in a defensive way about the internet chatter.

If I ran an internet consulting/security firm, I would have ten people busting their asses to track this down. That would knock Deadspin right out of the headlines, and be worth millions in publicity.

I can't even look at pictures on the Facebook.

ATRDCI: /tbh, not that big a deal, the reason I brought it up is that while he wasn't allowed to talk to the media, there really has been zero story building by the university in regards to him

The story building is done by the media, which is helped by not having the QB act like a typical dumbsh*t 20-year-old. So everyone runs with the "Johnny Football" crap and all the old-school imagery it evokes while never hearing the dumbsh*t stuff he does on Twitter and how he's going to NBA games courtside, going to casinos and flashing money all over the place, etc. (All of which is legal, BTW, but it's nowhere near the image they made of the guy).

As someone pointed out in the last thread, Manti said he would talk to her over the phone all frickin' night and would sometimes wake up hearing her snore on the other end of the line.

Either:

(A) That's one dedicated group of pranksters
(B) Manti is in on it

/the answer is (B)

Tsar_Bomba1: I was just talking to my girlfriend about this!!!
[images.hollywoodpix.net image 449x600]

Yeah! That's the ticket.

AliceBToklasLives: As someone pointed out in the last thread, Manti said he would talk to her over the phone all frickin' night and would sometimes wake up hearing her snore on the other end of the line.

Either:

(A) That's one dedicated group of pranksters
(B) Manti is in on it

/the answer is (B)

Also, that's a pretty good phone plan if someone not making illegal money on the side while in college can do that.

/or a really good cell phone battery

Wow, that is a WHOLE STACK of nonsense names right there

sigdiamond2000: More likely that this "online chatter" doesn't exist.

Well, I saw some of it on Twitter last night. I assume it is what they speak of.

Link

Take from that what you want.

AliceBToklasLives: As someone pointed out in the last thread, Manti said he would talk to her over the phone all frickin' night and would sometimes wake up hearing her snore on the other end of the line.

Either:

(A) That's one dedicated group of pranksters
(B) Manti is in on it

/the answer is (B)

Especially when you consider the hoaxter was a guy and would have had to convinced some girl to be that dedicated.

I just overheard this part of a conversation at lunch from some mouthbreather: "You know, Troy Polamalu sounds kinda gay when he talks. I wonder if they're all gay together and he's just helping to cover it all up? It will be interesting to see what he has to say about this."

I'll admit, I laughed.

Manti kinda reminds mw of this guy.


I can't wait to lose my virginity.

WhiskeySticks: Off in the distance, teammates heard rhythmic hash tagging coming from the shower.

Nice.

sigdiamond2000: srhp29: sigdiamond2000: More likely that this "online chatter" doesn't exist.

Well, I saw some of it on Twitter last night. I assume it is what they speak of.

Link

Take from that what you want.

Well that's interesting.

Now there is this...

Link

person behind LennayKay acct claims they are going to release a statement around 11AM...they do not mention a time zone.

srhp29: sigdiamond2000: srhp29: sigdiamond2000: More likely that this "online chatter" doesn't exist.

Well, I saw some of it on Twitter last night. I assume it is what they speak of.

Link

Take from that what you want.

Well that's interesting.

Now there is this...

Link

person behind LennayKay acct claims they are going to release a statement around 11AM...they do not mention a time zone.

OMG she is back from the dead.

Well, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt... but it looks like a lie that Lance Armstrong would approve of.

WhiskeySticks: CADMonkey79: WhiskeySticks: CADMonkey79: Plausible, but how would the NFL guys claiming to know her fit?

Obvious, he's gay with this college kid.

Gay Samoan football club?

Sounds like an excellent fark handle...or a band name.

Hey, HEY...what's the first rule of the Gay Samoan Football Club??

PsyLord: Well, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt... but it looks like a lie that Lance Armstrong would approve of.

There is no doubt in my mind that he lied at some point. Just not sure at which point.

There is also the possibility that many were involved in this ruse and that the "chatter" was part of the cover up.

ha-ha-guy: srhp29: sigdiamond2000: srhp29: sigdiamond2000: More likely that this "online chatter" doesn't exist.

Well, I saw some of it on Twitter last night. I assume it is what they speak of.

Link

Take from that what you want.

Well that's interesting.

Now there is this...

Link

person behind LennayKay acct claims they are going to release a statement around 11AM...they do not mention a time zone.

I'd assume Pacific since the controller of that account likely lives in Cali. Hopefully not Hawaiian time.

That puts it sometime between 2EST and 5EST depending on whether its 11-12 PST or whatever Hawaii is. (5h difference from EST).

CADMonkey79: srhp29: sigdiamond2000: srhp29: sigdiamond2000: More likely that this "online chatter" doesn't exist.

Well, I saw some of it on Twitter last night. I assume it is what they speak of.

Link

Take from that what you want.

Well that's interesting.

Now there is this...

Link

person behind LennayKay acct claims they are going to release a statement around 11AM...they do not mention a time zone.

OMG she is back from the dead.

Nah. I'm sure there is Twitter in the afterlife.

srhp29: PsyLord: Well, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt... but it looks like a lie that Lance Armstrong would approve of.

There is no doubt in my mind that he lied at some point. Just not sure at which point.

There is also the possibility that many were involved in this ruse and that the "chatter" was part of the cover up.

Seems like this lie was also pretty unnecessary unless he was trying to score some sympathy points for the Heisman or something. But then again, if he did win any awards, the truth would come out later to tarnish it. So I'm not sure what the thinking was behind this whole thing if it was a lie to begin with.

sigdiamond2000: Holy Christ. Has anyone read this Pat Forde article on this yet?

Laughter LOL out loud.

FTFA: "Physical interaction might not have been at the top of his relationship wish list."
Really? I thought physical interaction was at the top of every young man's wish list, straight or gay.

srhp29: CADMonkey79: srhp29: sigdiamond2000: srhp29: sigdiamond2000: More likely that this "online chatter" doesn't exist.

Well, I saw some of it on Twitter last night. I assume it is what they speak of.

Link

Take from that what you want.

Well that's interesting.

Now there is this...

Link

person behind LennayKay acct claims they are going to release a statement around 11AM...they do not mention a time zone.

OMG she is back from the dead.

Nah. I'm sure there is Twitter in the afterlife.

#YOLF(orever)

Former Stanford defensive tackle Matthew Masifilo thinks Manti Te'o was truly duped by his fake girlfriend.

Masifilo, who played at Stanford from 2007-2011 and signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in November, claims Te'o was always asking Stanford players if they knew his mystery girlfriend.

Never trust a Tuiasosopo...

It is clear that Ronaiah Tuiasosop was in on this if not the leader of this hoax.

Since it has been reported he and Manti are connected in some way, it starts to look like maybe Manti knew the whole time?

Link