Deadspin is saying Te'o's girlfriend's death was a hoax created for publicity

TIDE-HSV

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I don't know, but seems like having stronger morals would require you to come clean as soon as you found out the truth. But to wait several days before telling your team/school who were totally vested in your story and letting the media and the nation fawn over you for a few more weeks, does not sound like strong morals to me. More like preserving your media-made image for as long as you can.

Now, the reason for ND keeping quiet is very simple. They were enjoying positive publicity for the first time in a while: a winning season with a shot at their first national title in 24 years and a potential Heisman winner with a heart-wrenching human interest story. They were going to ride that house until it dropped.
To be technical, it was about three weeks, according to his best story. That's if you ignore all the other holes in his story...
 

cuda.1973

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In this day and age, they didnt have video chats? If the love of your life had cancer would you go see her, at least once, in the hospital? If she was in a car wreck, wouldnt you move heaven and earth to get to her?
From the Deadspin article:

Te'o talks to Lennay nightly, "going to sleep while on the phone with her," according to Sports Illustrated. "When he woke up in the morning his phone would show an eight-hour call, and he would hear Lennay breathing on the other end of the line."
SI's Pete Thamel described how Te'o would phone her in her hospital room and stay on the line with her as he slept through the night. "Her relatives told him that at her lowest points, as she fought to emerge from a coma, her breathing rate would increase at the sound of his voice," Thamel wrote.
Hope he had an unlimited calling plan, or "free nights and weekends". And he remembered to have the charger, for his cell phone, plugged in, the whole time.

If that bit doesn't set off your BS detector, nothing will.

Ah............but he is the innocent victim of a hoax. You mean this one:

Nov. 28, 2009: Te'o and Kekua meet after Stanford's 45-38 victory over Notre Dame in Palo Alto, according to the South Bend Tribune: "Their stares got pleasantly tangled, then Manti Te'o extended his hand to the stranger with a warm smile and soulful eyes." Kekua, a Stanford student, swaps phone numbers with Te'o.
Hard to be the victim, claiming it was all an on-line affair.

I can honestly say I heard none of this, until I read about it here. I live in a bubble, isolated from the blathering idiots on EPSN, and the rest of the media. I only watch ESPN when one of our games is on (FB, BB, and some baseball and softball), and turn it off the second the game ends.

Now you see why.

Ditto for the news. Can't say any more, since it is not NS. But, I'll let you guess. Seems I am not really missing anything.

Makes erasing that 39 year hole in my stomach all that much more enjoyable.
 

IH8Orange

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I vaguely remember some TV show in which a kid lied about something in order to get out of school or something. Word got around, the school had a fund-raising drive, businesses had collection jars out for donations to help, there were bake sales and all kinds of stuff. Finally, the kid owns up that he lied because he knew that it would be wrong to take the donations from all the hard-working people. He's punished for lying, but also lauded for doing the right thing.

Manti T'eo was likely invited to many events and banquets instead of another player because of sympathy based on that story. Those other players missed out on an experience that they really earned because of T'eo's lies and that can never be given back to them. He may have to return the awards, but he stole the chance to be a part of those events from other players through his misrepresentations. We know that he was lying all along because there are interviews where he states that he MET this girl face-to-face. Regardless of whether it was a hoax that he felt he had to continue or whatever, he had to know that he wasn't receiving all of these accolades merely because of his defensive performances. He had to know that his story (of lies) was giving him an advantage over equally or more deserving players and he didn't do anything to set things right. He just accepted all of his ill-begotten bounty with no apparent remorse.
 

RollTide1224

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Sorry. Too much out there already. They just dug their hole deeper. It's worked for them in some other cases, but this is too public and too widespread...
Yeah I'm saying I don't believe it there are way too many holes, but for them to come out so strongly in support of him gave me a bit of pause. I mean the entire media world is going to be devouring this story from every angle trying to get to the full truth. It seems strange for him to risk his professional reputation for a situation that he knows is doomed.
 

CrimsonSEC

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Yeah I'm saying I don't believe it there are way too many holes, but for them to come out so strongly in support of him gave me a bit of pause. I mean the entire media world is going to be devouring this story from every angle trying to get to the full truth. It seems strange for him to risk his professional reputation for a situation that he knows is doomed.
We may just find out how thick Notre Dames teflon is with this one. I can see the egg sticking when everything comes out.
 

TIDE-HSV

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I vaguely remember some TV show in which a kid lied about something in order to get out of school or something. Word got around, the school had a fund-raising drive, businesses had collection jars out for donations to help, there were bake sales and all kinds of stuff. Finally, the kid owns up that he lied because he knew that it would be wrong to take the donations from all the hard-working people. He's punished for lying, but also lauded for doing the right thing.

Manti T'eo was likely invited to many events and banquets instead of another player because of sympathy based on that story. Those other players missed out on an experience that they really earned because of T'eo's lies and that can never be given back to them. He may have to return the awards, but he stole the chance to be a part of those events from other players through his misrepresentations. We know that he was lying all along because there are interviews where he states that he MET this girl face-to-face. Regardless of whether it was a hoax that he felt he had to continue or whatever, he had to know that he wasn't receiving all of these accolades merely because of his defensive performances. He had to know that his story (of lies) was giving him an advantage over equally or more deserving players and he didn't do anything to set things right. He just accepted all of his ill-begotten bounty with no apparent remorse.
Those are very good observations. I feel sorry that he lost his grandmother, but we've had numerous players lose their grandmothers during their careers. In fact, we had one player lose his grandmother (who raised him and with whom he lived), and our coach at the time, who shall remain unnamed, punished him for absence from practice. Hell, I lost my father my freshman year at Bama...
 

Matt0424

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I hope one of the major news media members has the...testicular fortitude to call this what it is, and not suddenly become "unbiased" media...
 

RollTide1224

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Those are very good observations. I feel sorry that he lost his grandmother, but we've had numerous players lose their grandmothers during their careers. In fact, we had one player lose his grandmother (who raised him and with whom he lived), and our coach at the time, who shall remain unnamed, punished him for absence from practice. Hell, I lost my father my freshman year at Bama...
Nico's mom died during the season. They ran a special on it the day of the national championship. Marcel Dareus also had one of the sadder stories I remember reading about a player.
 

RollTide1224

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I hope one of the major news media members has the...testicular fortitude to call this what it is, and not suddenly become "unbiased" media...
I think there is enough egg on the face of major news outlets that they are going to put all the effor they can into finding the truth. Not to mention the fact that this is probably going to be one of the most viewed stories of the year if not longer.
 

westide

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If Te'o talked every night to a woman whom he thought was Kekua then he should be able to produce the phone records to prove his story.
 

Ole Man Dan

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Or option #3
this whole thing started as your #2 but without the intention of the girlfriend dying. When the Heisman hype starter going nuts early in the season he realized:
A dying Grandmother only would only help a little.
A dying girlfriend would help a lot.
A girlfriend dying in the same day as grandma? That'll get me invited to New York!

Saddest part of all this is that his grandma is actually dead and he chose that day to publicly kill his girlfriend. That says more to me about who he is than anything else.....
Like a lot of liars; Manti tends to provide too much information about some things,
and hardly any about relevant questions.
Applying 'Statement Analysis' to his stories pretty quickly exposes them.
I need to watch some video of him telling these lies to see if he fails
'Body Language' # 101...
Hee Hee.. Interview and Interrogation Techniques prove useful long after retirement. :)
 
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Airborne Tider

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