domeronaroll said:

So here's my list of the five most likely outcomes:

1.) The perp confesses to everything and takes credit for working for three years to inflict harm on a young man in the public eye. He does this in a 1-on-1 interview with Deadspin or some other non-traditional media organization and cashes in on his 30 seconds of infamy. I put the probability at 40%.


I assign this high of a probability because there are several plausible factors that might force this option. First, if this was indeed a catfisher, if they do not reveal themselves then they do not get the glory. For a sociopath, that would take all of the gloryhole out of it. Second, CAA and Manti's lawyers may be putting the squeeze on them. Third, if it's just some jackhole living in his Dad's basement, then he will probably cave under the sign of pressure.


2.) The perp confesses but claims Manti is a willing co-conspirator. This statement will also likely be made to Deadspin or their ilk. I put this probability at 15%.


If the perp drags Te'o into it (rightly or wrongly), he's denying himself credit for pulling off a great (from his/her point of view) scam. However, the one thing catfisher/sociopaths love more than attention is ....ing people off.


3.) Manti's lawyers and CAA are waiting for the perp to make a move before saying anything because they've got a truckload of evidence on their side. So, they are waiting for this perp to come out with something hoping to swoop in, do a massive document drop to several outlets and completely discredit whoever is behind this. I assign a probability of 20%.


4.) Manti lied about everything and is in sociopathic cahoots with the bad guys. CAA knows this and is hoping that the other perp won't down him. Or, they have bought silence. Since he has zero documented problems in his history with authority, I assign a probability of 5%.


5.) There was an attempt to extort Manti in the last few weeks and law enforcement is now involved. I am envisioning federal grand jury, so the whole thing is sealed, and he was advised not to speak on the matter until an indictment is handed down. I assign a probability of 20%.

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B1GTide said:

Skip Bayless defends Manti as a victim, nothing more. That settles it in my mind. No one on television is wrong as often as Skip Bayless.

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KrimsonNinja said:

It would be an embarrassment to the NCAA and previous Heisman winners. I guess we should be happy the Heisman is basically awarded to offensive players.

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TIDE-HSV said:

The "Bama Hats" thread and the closed MegaThread on AU's Cam problems...

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rgw said:

Skip Bayless is the encapsulation of the modern ESPN journalistic mission.


Yesterday on Finebaum a reporter was talking about an editor who years ago told him, "I'd rather be right than fast." I thought he said fat instead of fast at first. I think my mind was playing a trick to lead me to the bigger point: ESPN is too fat to provide hard journalism. Journalism can only thrive when the business has a singular goal: providing what they believe to be the truth. ESPN may have plenty of guys behind the camera and on the screen who desire to meet that goal but there are too many stakeholders at ESPN. The hard truth may be good business for a newspaper or magazine, but it may not be the best goal for an entertainment content provider.

When ESPN was still growing, yes, they had some content rights but the over-the-air broadcasters still controlled most of the bell cows of sports entertainment. They put their stake down on high quality journalism and Sportscenter became the gold standard for the whole industry. I'd argue that with a detailed study of ESPN's reporting habits (first-of-it's-kind investigative reports, breaking stories, etc) has a strong correlation with their growth in broadcasting rights with major players in American sports. Correlation doesn't always mean causation but I think a strong case could be made that my theorized correlation has a true causation.

You can even see their contract rights affecting their coverage of issues like the NBA and NHL lockouts over the last two years. Hockey is almost nonexistent on the ESPN networks since they ended their live game coverage of the sport. Still, the NBA lockout was a major talking point nearly every day until it's resolution. I think it would be fair to suggest that ESPN pushed the narrative on that dispute to encourage reconciliation because they had a stake in the broadcast of the games. No surprise, they reached agreement just in time for ABC's major Christmas Day marathon of NBA basketball. The NHL was not so lucky, their dispute dragged on to the point that it will almost be the NBA ASG and NCAAB tourney season before they get into swing.

ESPN is fat and has their tentacles wrapped around too much in the industry to be reliable news source. I mean, deadspin is breaking more stories than ESPN these days and this is one of the first times ESPN correctly cited deadspin on a story. Before ESPN would simple say they had "sources"...and the sources being "they just read the deadspin report."

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RollTideTA said:

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bamahippie said:

At what point do the organizations of the other umpteen awards that he DID win begin to back away and take the awards back?

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peariver said:

I haven't read the entire 66 pages of stuff here so if this has been said already ignore this post...

Friend of mine who is also a Notre Dame fan believes a story he is hearing is a possible explanation of this entire story.

Te'o is gay. He and his friend created this girlfriend to help hide that fact from his teammates in the beginning. As he became more popular his teammates wanted to meet his girlfriend. That is when the car wreck and leukemia came in. When his grandmother died that gave them the idea of how to bring an end to the lies with an even greater lie, but it was better than being exposed. It almost worked, now they wonder if he will come clean and admit to being gay or go back into telling lies. Someone even said maybe Tebow will come to his aide.

No clue but did want to share this spin.

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peariver said:

I haven't read the entire 66 pages of stuff here so if this has been said already ignore this post...

Friend of mine who is also a Notre Dame fan believes a story he is hearing is a possible explanation of this entire story.

Te'o is gay. He and his friend created this girlfriend to help hide that fact from his teammates in the beginning. As he became more popular his teammates wanted to meet his girlfriend. That is when the car wreck and leukemia came in. When his grandmother died that gave them the idea of how to bring an end to the lies with an even greater lie, but it was better than being exposed. It almost worked, now they wonder if he will come clean and admit to being gay or go back into telling lies. Someone even said maybe Tebow will come to his aide.

No clue but did want to share this spin.

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peariver said:

I haven't read the entire 66 pages of stuff here so if this has been said already ignore this post...

Friend of mine who is also a Notre Dame fan believes a story he is hearing is a possible explanation of this entire story.

Te'o is gay. He and his friend created this girlfriend to help hide that fact from his teammates in the beginning. As he became more popular his teammates wanted to meet his girlfriend. That is when the car wreck and leukemia came in. When his grandmother died that gave them the idea of how to bring an end to the lies with an even greater lie, but it was better than being exposed. It almost worked, now they wonder if he will come clean and admit to being gay or go back into telling lies. Someone even said maybe Tebow will come to his aide.

No clue but did want to share this spin.

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RollTide1017 said:

That LSUfreek thing is pretty stupid IMO, not very clever. Plus, I'm sure it will be removed soon as I doubt it is considered appropriate for this board.

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