gambitsgirl: This is why I try to consume the news for about 12 hours and then wander away and look again after everyone slugs it out.

That's the problem with this story. I stepped away from it for a few hours last night and was more confused by it when I caught up.

desertgeek: Now a former teammate says Te'o liked the attention.

The teammate portrayed the move as part of the All-American's personality, telling ESPN that Te'o liked attention so much that he would sometimes point himself out to friends when he was on television.

I think that if Te'o was involved (and it would be quite an upset if he wasn't), this may put "being an attention whore" has a slight favorite over "hiding his sexuality" in the motive for this hoax.

/Of course, it could always be C) All of the above

That's what I figured as well. Why else would he "kill" his girlfriend right after his grandmother?

Lunchlady: desertgeek: Now a former teammate says Te'o liked the attention.

The teammate portrayed the move as part of the All-American's personality, telling ESPN that Te'o liked attention so much that he would sometimes point himself out to friends when he was on television.

I think that if Te'o was involved (and it would be quite an upset if he wasn't), this may put "being an attention whore" has a slight favorite over "hiding his sexuality" in the motive for this hoax.

/Of course, it could always be C) All of the above

That's what I figured as well. Why else would he "kill" his girlfriend right after his grandmother?

That is EXACTLY why I am prone to believe he was not part of that part of it. I believe at some point he found out and continued to lie about it, but that would be such a disrespect to his grandmother's memory if he decided to throw in a fake dead girl that day too.

Not saying in the end he wasn't involved but that is the one key that leans me to think he found out later and was genuinely duped but then continued to play it up.

This nonsense is getting out of hand.

I'll never forget that one night, when I was preparing my next game, and we surrendered to temptation...and it was pretty good.

ha-ha-guy: FinFangFark: He's either a conman or just epically stupid.

That's the beauty of this. Te'o is:

1. The dumbest farking person on the planet (sup Notre Dame admission standards)
2. A soulless con man.
3. Covering up the fact he's gay.

I'm going with #3 considering how Samoan culture, Mormonism, the NFL, and the Catholic Church view homosexuality. Plus if that was the case, his boyfriend was a pastor.

/also if it is #3, Te'o has to be farked up in the head

He's a linebacker, of COURSE he is farked up in the head. It is part of the job description. See: Ray Lewis, Jovan Belcher, Junior Seau, et al.

_{/Yeah..I'm trollin'}

my_cats_breath_smells_like_cat_food: ha-ha-guy: FinFangFark: He's either a conman or just epically stupid.

That's the beauty of this. Te'o is:

1. The dumbest farking person on the planet (sup Notre Dame admission standards)
2. A soulless con man.
3. Covering up the fact he's gay.

I'm going with #3 considering how Samoan culture, Mormonism, the NFL, and the Catholic Church view homosexuality. Plus if that was the case, his boyfriend was a pastor.

/also if it is #3, Te'o has to be farked up in the head

He's a linebacker, of COURSE he is farked up in the head. It is part of the job description. See: Ray Lewis, Jovan Belcher, Junior Seau, et al.

/Yeah..I'm trollin'

'Twas a mighty fine troll if I say so myself.

Ghey!

This is awesome

So now that I've read all 460-some-odd posts on this thread, and seen it mentioned in numerous places with almost no idea what the hell is going on...

What's the cliff's notes version? I mean, what actually happened that kicked this entire bullshiat storyline off in the first place?

As far as I've been able to tell, "nothing".

OK, now that I've read the 'story'....it's that there are some folks involved in college sports, players and coaches alike, and some folks in the 'media'...that are liars.

Bowl me over with a feather.

Sports media would run with a 'less than true' story for *airtime* and clicks? THE HELL YOU SAY.

Crom's bones. How the hell is this even a thing?

xaks: So now that I've read all 460-some-odd posts on this thread, and seen it mentioned in numerous places with almost no idea what the hell is going on...

What's the cliff's notes version? I mean, what actually happened that kicked this entire bullshiat storyline off in the first place?

As far as I've been able to tell, "nothing".

Last week Deadspin received an email from a female saying the Te'o story was a fraud.  They sat on it for a few days, and then after looking in to it, found it out there were no records of the girl, then they compiled a timeline of everything, while researching the Twitter acct.

Stupid polypnesians

xaks: So now that I've read all 460-some-odd posts on this thread, and seen it mentioned in numerous places with almost no idea what the hell is going on...

What's the cliff's notes version? I mean, what actually happened that kicked this entire bullshiat storyline off in the first place?

As far as I've been able to tell, "nothing".

Best synopsis I've read

Link

srhp29: Here is the promised statement from the LennayKay Twitter account...

My statement: This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but I have been told by Alabama's offense that Manti Te'o is not real.

Link

That tweet was funnier when Frank Caliendo did it, yesterday.

Everyone needs to read the deadspin article....they broke this story. No way you can come away from that feeling he wasn't involved. A few things I have seen mentioned elsewhere. Even if he didn't go to her funeral because she asked him not to, why would have not talked to her family or gone to her grave site after the game? That was supposedly in September, she was the love of his life. Supposedly he sent white roses to her funeral, does he have a receipt, did the floral company not call him back and says there is no funeral to take this to?

Can someone tell me WHY this is news and not an episode of Catfish? Was there a murder? Drug deal? Did I miss something?

roflmaonow: This is awesome

[i637.photobucket.com image 528x429]

Holy... that is pretty farkin' awesome. lulz.

Incorrigible Astronaut: [25.media.tumblr.com image 455x382]

Literally loled. Well done.

Sure does make that Lou Holtz speech about "They are living a lie" seem even funnier

CADMonkey79: Everyone needs to read the deadspin article....they broke this story. No way you can come away from that feeling he wasn't involved. A few things I have seen mentioned elsewhere. Even if he didn't go to her funeral because she asked him not to, why would have not talked to her family or gone to her grave site after the game? That was supposedly in September, she was the love of his life. Supposedly he sent white roses to her funeral, does he have a receipt, did the floral company not call him back and says there is no funeral to take this to?

you have to read the sports illustrated article too, blows his official response out of the water

that none of his teammates believed this "person" was his girlfriend, and that he was just using the story because he loves attention and wanted publicity? i mean that's pretty damning by itself, much less the whole fake person

AdamK: CADMonkey79: Everyone needs to read the deadspin article....they broke this story. No way you can come away from that feeling he wasn't involved. A few things I have seen mentioned elsewhere. Even if he didn't go to her funeral because she asked him not to, why would have not talked to her family or gone to her grave site after the game? That was supposedly in September, she was the love of his life. Supposedly he sent white roses to her funeral, does he have a receipt, did the floral company not call him back and says there is no funeral to take this to?

you have to read the sports illustrated article too, blows his official response out of the water

that none of his teammates believed this "person" was his girlfriend, and that he was just using the story because he loves attention and wanted publicity? i mean that's pretty damning by itself, much less the whole fake person

What should have raised massive red flags for the SI reporter was that he didn't go to her when they "were going to pull the plug" after the car accident. He claimed that he was flying home from South Bend to Hawaii for summer break at the time they were going to pull the plug. That part of the story in and of itself makes so little sense that they should have started questioning what the deal was.

And that part of the story, in and of itself, makes me think he wasn't duped. If it's a person you love that much and you know you have one chance to see her before she dies, you're on the plane to California, not going back to Hawaii for summer break.

HideAndGoFarkYourself: How is A&M's policy of not allowing first year players to speak to the media an issue?

It's not; it just enabled the media to fabricate a backstory and legend of the guy before ever actually talking to him or seeing him in real life. And that backstory and mystique is as bullsh*t as Te'o's girlfriend. Manziel is a typical dumbass 20-year-old who happens to be really elusive on a football field.

Well, this thread showed me how much weirder this whole deal is than I expected.

so Carson is a real city in Southern California.

i saw somewhere the pictures were of someone else that has now been identified and this girl won't comment without a lawyer. saw a video of her getting into her car.

the girlfriend was known by lennay kekua, went by lala. Melelengei was her real name.

manti thinks she worked for Clark's Construction Company. there is a clark's construction group in costa mesa, ca.

If he is gay, this should serve as a reminder to us all of just how brave Jackie Robinson really was. Not everybody is cut from that same cloth. Just because he's a great athlete who may happen to be gay, doesn't mean he's ready or willing to deal with all the massive amounts of irrelevant bullshiat that the eventual Pioneer Outwardly Gay Star Male Athlete will have to deal with.

Whoever POGSMA is, he will instantly be thrust into a position of having to be a voice of gay America, likely for life. He simply won't have the option of living even a remotely "normal" life. And to take on all that extra baggage while trying to stay on a pro team AND produce at a star level.

Chris Kluwe gets bullshiat from national sportswriters after shanking a couple of punts because he wrote some tweets and emails suggesting that gay people should be able to get married. If he came out as gay, Te'o would get, what, a thousand times more scrutiny? It's certainly enough to make The Closet look a lot more appealing.

Jackie, of course, never had that choice. But went for it anyways. Because he's a hero.

IAmRight: HideAndGoFarkYourself: How is A&M's policy of not allowing first year players to speak to the media an issue?

It's not; it just enabled the media to fabricate a backstory and legend of the guy before ever actually talking to him or seeing him in real life. And that backstory and mystique is as bullsh*t as Te'o's girlfriend. Manziel is a typical dumbass 20-year-old who happens to be really elusive on a football field.

Who also won the Heisman as a red-shirt.

HideAndGoFarkYourself: Manziel graduated High School in 2011, and began at A&M in the fall of that year as a Freshman, he did not play.  In 2012 he played, as a redshirt freshman. He's not "hours wise" a Junior. He's a Sophomore by class, and a Redshirt Freshman by playing eligibility.  He didn't turn 20 until December, so he's actually relatively young for a college Sophomore.

How is turning 20 in December of your sophomore year relatively young for a sophomore? I worked a year between high school and college and still didn't turn 20 until I was in my sophomore year. Turning 20 as a sophomore is somewhere between average and old for a sophomore.

IAmRight: HideAndGoFarkYourself: How is A&M's policy of not allowing first year players to speak to the media an issue?

It's not; it just enabled the media to fabricate a backstory and legend of the guy before ever actually talking to him or seeing him in real life. And that backstory and mystique is as bullsh*t as Te'o's girlfriend. Manziel is a typical dumbass 20-year-old who happens to be really elusive on a football field.

Do you have any examples of this myth-making for Manziel? All I really remember about him was that he dressed up as Scooby for Haloween and clearly had an awesome night. And he beat Bama, while being fun as hell to watch.

ShonenBat: Can someone tell me WHY this is news and not an episode of Catfish? Was there a murder? Drug deal? Did I miss something?

Because he was born in the same hospital as Obama. Everyone is just connecting the dots so we can impeach.

roflmaonow: This is awesome

[i637.photobucket.com image 528x429]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHhahahhahahhahahahhahahhahahhahahhah a ha

LeafyGreens: Who also won the Heisman as a red-shirt.

Which has nothing to do with the point.

Now That's What I Call a Taco!: Do you have any examples of this myth-making for Manziel? All I really remember about him was that he dressed up as Scooby for Haloween and clearly had an awesome night. And he beat Bama, while being fun as hell to watch.

Google "Legend of Johnny Football." All of it is probably true, but the reverential tones, as though the kid is a superhero, are laughable when you see dude's twitter where he's flashing cash and saying "stop hatin'" and talking about sitting courtside at NBA games.

You know why he had to play linebacker?

Well, there was no way he could be a tight end anymore....

HideAndGoFarkYourself: rynthetyn: HideAndGoFarkYourself: Manziel graduated High School in 2011, and began at A&M in the fall of that year as a Freshman, he did not play.  In 2012 he played, as a redshirt freshman. He's not "hours wise" a Junior. He's a Sophomore by class, and a Redshirt Freshman by playing eligibility.  He didn't turn 20 until December, so he's actually relatively young for a college Sophomore.

How is turning 20 in December of your sophomore year relatively young for a sophomore? I worked a year between high school and college and still didn't turn 20 until I was in my sophomore year. Turning 20 as a sophomore is somewhere between average and old for a sophomore.

I'm working simply off the sampling of people from my collegiate experience, where sophomores were all turning 20 either over the summer, or early in their sophomore years.  A sampling of the A&M line-up shows that Manziel is one of the younger sophomores on the team as well.


Fwiw, while I fully understand the implications of redshirt vs. true freshman/sophomore (so no argument there), turning 20 in your sophomore year seems unusual to me. However, it can probably be explained by grade school admittance cut-off dates. I went to school in NB, which drew the line on Dec. 31st, whereas a friend I met in university went to school in NS, where the cutoff was August 31st. So, while neither of us skipped ahead or fell back, our birthdays (1 year + 2 days apart in November), made us 19 and 20, respectively, in sophomore year.

So, that's probably what happened with Johnny Football. Makes sense, too, as most non-freak-of-nature pro athletes are born in the first few months after the cutoff dates, as per Freakonomics (since they end up more physically mature/developed come tryout time, so they get more coaching attention).

HideAndGoFarkYourself: Your problem with him seems to be that he's got a pretty sweet life for a 20 year old, one that you and I did not enjoy, and hating on him for scoring some sweet courtside, all while pulling tail we farkers only wank about.

Keep reading into sh*t. Yeesh. I don't mind that he does all that. I'm just saying that the media ran with whatever they wanted to about his story and made him into something he wasn't. You're making up everything else. When you stop acting as though athletes are different from other people in significant ways, you'll eventually not end up with situations like Te'o's, where everyone buys into the narrative and even gives a sh*t about this dumbass story.

As the warrant officer said in Catch 22, "Who gives a sh*t?"

FinFangFark: Look, IF he was catfished for 4 years....IT WAS 4 FARKING YEARS.

If he is lying to cover up something, he'll be the butt of jokes for a long time.  If he legitimately was hoaxed...he'll be the butt of jokes for a long time.

He's either a conman or just epically stupid.

Or he's a gay young man from a very religious familly and area and made up a long distance beard girlfriend with the help of some friends then had to "kill her off" when people started making too many inquiries and got so far in over his head that he didn't know how to get out.

I believe that's what happened, but then again he STILL lied in a very very detailed and personal way hundreds of times.

We need a new Te'o thread. Whar Te'o thread?!

notatrollorami: FinFangFark: Look, IF he was catfished for 4 years....IT WAS 4 FARKING YEARS.

If he is lying to cover up something, he'll be the butt of jokes for a long time.  If he legitimately was hoaxed...he'll be the butt of jokes for a long time.

He's either a conman or just epically stupid.

Or he's a gay young man from a very religious familly and area and made up a long distance beard girlfriend with the help of some friends then had to "kill her off" when people started making too many inquiries and got so far in over his head that he didn't know how to get out.

I believe that's what happened, but then again he STILL lied in a very very detailed and personal way hundreds of times.

Well there's this which suggests he's either obviously involved in the lie, or yeah, he's gay (my initial reaction to the whole story), and his family is going to great lengths to cover for him now.