I read that. Here is my guess as to what happened:
Mati meets girl online and falls hard for her. Too much stigma around online relationships so he makes up the story about how he was introduced.
He gets duped for quite a while. He finds out about the hoax early December this year. He is so embarrassed it takes him 3 weeks to talk to the school.
When asked about her at the BCS press conference, notice he doesn’t really answer the question, he just says his teamates were their for him.
I think we have a very insecure, inexperienced, relationship neophyte getting his ass handed too him by a make believe woman.
That or he chugs cock and is trying to cover it up. Could be that too.
I’m starting to lean that way pretty heavily. Except I think he figured it out way before December but kept the story alive. I’m thinking he was duped at some point, found out about it, maybe after she fake died, and then kept the story going because he was in deep an dthis was a good story.
When he did the ESPN interview apparently he told Wojciechowsky (sp?) that the family didn’t want to be contacted and that they didn’t want him to use pictures. That seems pretty suspect in how he already knew they didn’t want to be contacted by ESPN. And the whole not going to the funeral of the love of your life is pretty off too.
So in the question of whether he was duped or was the dupee. The answer I think will end up being both.
Agree that not going to the funeral is WTF material. As is not going to the hospital when she is there for 2 months after a car accident.
But something tells me this guy has the romantic relationship experience of a 12 year old.
And my guess is that the woman on the other end of the phone was giving him what he felt were plausible reasons for not seeing each other. And others were in on the hoax and were probably messing with his head as well.
Agree that not going to the funeral is WTF material. As is not going to the hospital when she is there for 2 months after a car accident.
But something tells me this guy has the romantic relationship experience of a 12 year old.
And my guess is that the woman on the other end of the phone was giving him what he felt were plausible reasons for not seeing each other. And others were in on the hoax and were probably messing with his head as well.
I’m more under the impression that there was never a woman on the other end of the phone, never phone conversations, and the whole thing was one big made up publicity stunt. That’s all.
He was telling people he talked to her 4-8 hours a day EVERY DAY on the phone. That’s literally BS. He would have no time for practices, class, and sleep if he did that. It’s mathematically impossible. Not to mention the fact that NO COLLEGE KID EVER would EVER do that. Period. It’s a tough sell to me that he would do that, it’s an even tougher sell that someone would put in the time and effort to do that. Just didn’t happen.
He fabricated a story to tug at the hearts of Heisman voters and get himself TV time and he got caught in the lie, and continues to lie to try and get out of it.
Which I’m fine with. Maybe his draft stock will drop him to the Bears and he’ll be a great linebacker for us in two years when no one gives a shit about this anymore.
I will try to find the link again but it looks like the Tuiasosopo dude involved here auditioned for The Voice (or one of those singing try-out shows) and told a tale of his band crashing their van leaving one member with brain damage or some such.
It seems both of these dudes were willing to tell any tale to advance themselves.
But he had friends that had talked to her. He had friends/teammates that saw and heard him talking to her all the time.
And in the the interview itself, he said he would talk to her for a long time at night and they would leave the phones on while they slept. He thanked ATT for the free calling.
My reason for not believing the gay angle: this would be the most insane, preposterous ruse in the history of mankind to divert suspicion from chugging pole. I mean, to invent a g/f you talk to constantly, to have her in a car accident then battling leukemia, then dying…it’s just so over-the-top insane and so involved and complicated a hoax to avoid the pink elephant. Plus, in the interview with the teammate who said they had their suspicions about Te’o and his ‘girlfriend’ the player mentioned that Te’o frequently hooked up with chicks on campus…whether or not it’s second-hand, it’s more of a coverup or what I don’t know, but I tend to think college teammates attend the same parties and see who’s hooking up with who, it’s not necessarily heresay.
Anyway, I tend to believe the theory that he was duped initially but by the time he found out about the hoax–probably around the ‘car crash’ or maybe the cancer diagnosis–he had already told too many people and was too involved to ‘break it off’. He certainly couldn’t tell people that he was being duped by an internet hoax, way too embarrassing…and how bad would it play if he told people one day ‘my g/f was just in a horrific drunk driving accident’ then a few days later say ‘oh by the way I just broke things off with my shattered girlfriend’.
This just seems like something that went alot deeper than expected against a kid who was probably pretty naive when the hoax was perpetrated.
Hopefully, this will shut up the dumbasses who cry “publicity stunt” carried out by Teo and ND.
He was punked. He might have embellished the relationship but he was far from devious.
As far as still talking about it after Dec. 6th - this is a 22 year old kid. What did people want him to say at that impromptu moment as cameras and microphones are in his face for a media moment = “oh, by the way, I have been totally embarrased by someone…” Hardly. He just wanted it to go away.
Then WTF was up with him talking about how he met the chick and described how they met? And his dad saying that they had met?
i still call BS.
I think this is an example of Notre Dame getting someone to fall on the sword for Te’o.
Wow. You are a bigger idiot than I thought. (sorry ND declined your application)
Lets see… I have an internet girlfriend. My strict Mormon parents want to know how I met her, etc. So, to avoid embarassment with them and my friends, I make up a story about how we met. My dad repeats this to the South Bend Tribune. Deviously far fetched. OMG.
Then WTF was up with him talking about how he met the chick and described how they met? And his dad saying that they had met?
i still call BS.
I think this is an example of Notre Dame getting someone to fall on the sword for Te’o.
Wow. You are a bigger idiot than I thought. (sorry ND declined your application)
Lets see… I have an internet girlfriend. My strict Mormon parents want to know how I met her, etc. So, to avoid embarassment with them and my friends, I make up a story about how we met. My dad repeats this to the South Bend Tribune. Deviously far fetched. OMG.
ND has a sh1tty engineering program and no wrestling team - I’d never go there. That said, I’ll be an “idiot” in your eyes - no worries here.
That’s possible - but even if that’s the case - it doesnt explain all the farfetched BS and lies Te’o came up with to garner attention for himself about this (the tears, never going to her “funeral”, etc). Even if it was a hoax that he fell for - it just doesn’t seem plausible that someone would put that much effort into it. It also doesn’t excuse or explain how he continued to lie to garner attention for the Heisman. Then there’s the whole fiasco about how he and his family took donations for the girl (although I don’t know the details on that - that comes from reports).
Also, all of this just doesn’t add up. Apparently his buddy (the guy who supposedly pretended to be the girl and is being accused of hiring a girl to act like Lenny Kekua when Manti met her in person) tried out for the Voice or American Idol or something - and had some story where all of his band mates were almost killed in a horrific crash or something.
I dunno. Something doesn’t add up. Obviously this guy is a dirtball - but the behavior between these two guys (who are friends I’m guessing - I heard yesterday on the radio that one of Te’os requirements for recruitment was that this guy was brought to ND with him - unless I’m getting them mixed up) leads me to notice a pattern. shrugs Could be nothing, I guess. I’m speculating just like anyone.
He was punked. He might have embellished the relationship but he was far from devious.
You have got to be kidding me. Let’s assume he was duped. Fine. But, he did not just “embellish” the relationship a little. He made the whole damn thing a national story. His teammates have come out yesterday and today saying he played it up even after he found out it was a hoax. He gained national attention for this and even scored Heisman points for it. This propelled him to the national spotlight and increased his potential NFL stock (b/c of that added attention). Come on, man.
Te’o issued a statement Tuesday afternoon: "This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online. We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her. "To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone’s sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating. But it’s okay, I donated a large sum of money to a poor woman from Saudi Arabia so she can move to the US.
Te’o was interviewed by Jeremy Schapp (sp?) last night. He claims the guy who pulled the hoax has apologized. He also said he kept going with the dead girlfriend story b/c he felt trapped.
All signs are pointed to my original theory – he was part of a hoax but embellished the story grossly and then continue to run for it. So, it appears he is incredibly naive, not very smart, and still insanely douchey for turning an internet love interest into a national love story.
my post #17 still stands tall - but then I’ve got the advantage of being over 30 yo and have a solid habit of using the term ‘girlfriend’ only in the context of a real girl with real physical feedback
.
That said, I’ll be an “idiot” in your eyes - no worries here.