| FTBL Deadspin: Manti Te'o's dead girlfriend, the most heartbreaking and inspirational story of the colle

[Swamptick]

Thanks for the share. I find it fascinating that his own teammates were suspicious/weird about it so early on .. I didn't hear that side of the story. And the whole lei thing .. Wow.

You know, one weird theory that has been floating around is that Te'o was actually gay and that he DID have a relationship; just with a man. This relationship was real but the woman he met in person and talked about was a fabrication/someone paid off to pose as her. When the pressure began to mount (from himself, his parents, his faith, etc), he ended the secret relationship and either pretended he/she died to end it and go off with a big publicity stunt bang, or that the person actually did perish and Te'o was mourning someone .. just not the woman we were led to believe.

VERY strange and dark stuff floating around. There's even a rumor that he KILLED his girlfriend and tried to cover it up :chat_headscratch:

I think those rumors have started because there is some thought that Ronaiah Tuiasosopo may be gay. I've also read that this isn't the first time Ronaiah Tuiasosopo has done this. Haven't heard the murder rumor yet, but I can't see that at all.

As far as Wojo and the media, I'm sure he wanted this story to be true, but reporters are taught to check facts and get multiple sources or confirmation before publishing. He bailed on his responsibilities as did the rest of the media. I would have thought at least one reporter would have tried to attend her funeral.

Bingo

 

[PhillyGirl]

ND didn't. Once Manti came to them, Swarbrick started the investigation. Manti had already graduated and was no longer a student, so the decsion was to let Manti and his agent handle it since it wasn't a school matter in the first place.

Still confused about the handling of this ..

"Yahoo! Sports’ Pat Forde has found that Notre Dame administrators waged an internal debate after the BCS Championship on whether or not to go public with the Lennay Kekua-Manti Te’o hoax.
According to Forde, some university officials desired to immediately release the details of this tragic story when they pieced it all together, while others—those who eventually won out—wanted Te’o and his agent, Tom Condon, to handle the message.
The linebacker and his representatives were preparing to tell their version of the tale this coming Monday (Jan. 21), but Deadspin beat them to the punch and released everything on Wednesday.
An interesting thing of note is that the school apparently knew that this would eventually go public and had no interest in suppressing the information.
"There was never a belief in any quarter that it wouldn't get told," Forde’s source said, and also noted that the details of the hoax began surfacing on campus in early December.
Notre Dame and Te’o had a chance to be honest and forthright with this story, but they simply waited too long.
Its conceivable that public perception of Te’o and the hoax would be much different if he had a chance to come clean first, rather than react to the news."

Why is it their place to decide to go public or not, if it's not a school matter and he isn't even there anymore? Why was it a discussion in the first place? Like, I know the story itself brought them PR and all, but this is all just too weird. The whole thing is just .. :suspect:

 

[CrimsonPirate]

 

[bcracker]

ND didn't. Once Manti came to them, Swarbrick started the investigation. Manti had already graduated and was no longer a student, so the decsion was to let Manti and his agent handle it since it wasn't a school matter in the first place.

Not a school matter? He was representing the university in the national championship game. They were still supporting him--food, housing, etc. It doesn't matter that he had already graduated. He did an interview on Jan 2 or 3, as a representative of ND, and continued to perpetuate the myth about his "girlfriend."

 

[Rolltide24]

All I heard about leading to the game is how ND was a better school and how they graduate a higher percentage of athletes. All I can say is, it's great to be from Alabama!

 

[PhillyGirl]

Not a school matter? He was representing the university in the national championship game. They were still supporting him--food, housing, etc. It doesn't matter that he had already graduated. He did an interview on Jan 2 or 3, as a representative of ND, and continued to perpetuate the myth about his "girlfriend."

See my last post. Apparently it WAS a school matter to them since the school spent time debating when to go public with it. It was totally a school matter, and it seems like they made it so. Their handling of this is pretty bad ..

 

[planomateo]

Their handling of this is pretty bad ..

Meh, they actually did a great job handling this by Catholic standards

 

[planomateo]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>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.</p>&mdash; L K (@LennayKay) <a href="https://twitter.com/LennayKay/status/291991188607758336" data-datetime="2013-01-17T19:31:38+00:00">January 17, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[TerryP]

So true.

I don't think he signed with his agent until after the game.

I don't want to argue with myself, but although signing is important, if he has someone acting as his agent during the season, signing is not necessary. This could lead to NCAA complications.

RTR,

Tim

I've seen some explanations thrown out there that I scoffed at due to the my "logic test."

This one, "the agent was supposed to handle it before ND did" doesn't pass the test.

That would mean that not only was Manti ineligible for even having contact with an agent, the ND administration knew about it and allowed him to play in the BCSNC game. If they would have won, it would have been forfeited.

Putting this in reference for some of the people here, think Andre Smith being sent home from the Sugar Bowl after the 2008 season. It wasn't because he had signed with an agent, it was due to the contact with an agent and it wasn't Andre who instigated the contact.

(For what it's worth, he was sent home for lying to staff members and compliance people about the contact. He wouldn't have played as it was.)

 

[mrchase]

 

[Swamptick]

Their handling of this is pretty bad ..

Meh, they actually did a great job handling this by Catholic standards

Ouch lol.

 

[PhillyGirl]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...end-quotes-from-sept-23-pete-thamel-interview

Yeah yeah, I know it's BR, but it's a decent analysis/look at the discrepancies of what we learned from Te'o about the accident, the death, etc.

You know how people make up dumb nicknames for folks when they get in trouble/do dumb stuff? Like A-Roid, or Sydney Crysby? Well, looks like the Te'o one floating around the internet is: GIRL-ti Lie'o. Weak.

 

[Splittine]

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=da_2ZAOsoSs&desktop_uri=/watch?v=da_2ZAOsoSs

 

[bamaraider]

I've seen some explanations thrown out there that I scoffed at due to the my "logic test."

This one, "the agent was supposed to handle it before ND did" doesn't pass the test.

That would mean that not only was Manti ineligible for even having contact with an agent, the ND administration knew about it and allowed him to play in the BCSNC game. If they would have won, it would have been forfeited.

Putting this in reference for some of the people here, think Andre Smith being sent home from the Sugar Bowl after the 2008 season. It wasn't because he had signed with an agent, it was due to the contact with an agent and it wasn't Andre who instigated the contact.

(For what it's worth, he was sent home for lying to staff members and compliance people about the contact. He wouldn't have played as it was.)

Could ND face any punishment for him contacting with an agent and not taking action?

 

[TerryP]

Could ND face any punishment for him contacting with an agent and not taking action?

IF he did and IF they knew about it, most certainly.

That was my point. There are some that are saying ND didn't make a move until they did because Condon was supposed to earlier. There have been insinuations Condon has been involved before the BCSNC. That's what doesn't pass the logic test.

If he was involved in any capacity—with the exception of being employed by Notre Dame—it's a violation.

---

---

EDIT: I just came across this while surfing over the News forum:

According to a report from Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports, representatives of linebacker Manti Te'o and Notre Dame officials had been at odds in recent weeks regarding how to handle the revelation that a story involving the death of Te'o's girlfriend last fall was a hoax.
The report cites anonymous sources saying that in the days following the BCS National Championship loss to Alabama, Notre Dame wanted to handle the story through its athletic department but was convinced by Te'o's agent Tom Condon to let Te'o and his representatives handle it via a planned press release and news conference on Monday. After Condon and his agency failed to release the information, a lengthy investigative report from Deadspin broke the news.


Forde's sources said that Notre Dame was confident that the news would come out eventually after learning about the hoax from Te'o on December 26.


The source also claimed that the discovery of the hoax affected Te'o's demeanor leading up to the BCS National Championship Game.

"He wasn't the same spark in the locker room," the source told Yahoo! Sports. "He was a different kid wearing the same number."


Read the full report from Yahoo! Sports here.

 

[planomateo]

I've certainly laughed alot about this whole thing.

I'm kinda past that now (its still funny), but I have to say, I'm starting to wonder how Manti is gonna deal with this. I'm serious, does he just blow all of this off or go the opposite direction - I don't want to get all dark and gloomy here.

Most of the fan boards are still having a field day with this, I can imagine the crap he is gonna hear from people when he really gets out in public. If someone ever puts the pieces together (which I'm sure TMZ or someone is working overtime on this), it could get way worse for Manti. What kinda mental state will the guy be in...

Hope he has alot of really strong people around him.

 

[Swamptick]

It has certainly and completely changed his public image. All I see when I look at him is crazy eyes.

 

[PhillyGirl]

Apparently the other guy confessed. As did some random family. Still leaves many questions. Such as: why did Te'o lie repeatedly? And maintain the charade a full month after the apparent relegation?

Wouldn't be surprised if Te'o paid off his buddy to fess up haha.

This whole thing is ridiculous.

Did Te'o ever have that press conference the news mentioned yesterday?

 

[0LDSCH00L]

What a mess!

I don't know what to believe or who to believe?


[video=youtube;mq5_pEO8a8U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq5_pEO8a8U[/video]

 

[BAMA JAMMA]

Did Te'o ever have that press conference the news mentioned yesterday?

Nope but he did ride around in a golf cart all day :icon_lol: