Did Manti Teo know, how much and why? Poll

[calminnfan]

I think younger people fail to appreciate the social media network and its ramifications and simply do not know how to deal with it once goofing around goes rampant. Whether he knew or not, I doubt if any involved realized it would turn out to be far more then a sick practical joke.

Personally think it is time to get it out of the spotlight, learn the lesson and move on. About the only thing worth remembering is the need to realize actions have consequences and with social media, multiply those consequences by 1000!

 

[Sportsfan24]

The LDS church is very emphatic in it's teaching that homosexuality is a mortal sin. Manti may have wanted to make sure his parents weren't ostracized for having a gay son, if he is (not claiming he is or even caring). I don't know that this is the case, but it is as viable as any other explanation.

Truthfully none of the explanations make that much sense to any rational person.

1. Propelling his career - he plays at a very high profile college. All he had to do was play well to be noticed. Did that story really result in him being second in the Heisman voting? I guess it's possible...

2. Cover for being gay - why have one girlfriend for 4 years? Why not have a few for reasonable (he is Mormon) times, like 6-8 months? Then no one would be surprised not to meet her, etc.

3. Thought it would be funny - had to know people would figure it out eventually
and would not find it very funny. And would his parents be inserting their stories
unless Manti punked them too? Though it would explain how a handful of people
have claimed to have met her.

4. Not initially, but figured it out prior to the Deadspin article - could be, and could
have felt trapped into the lie. Would have to admit how dumb he was. But then
why talk about it? Why not just say it was private and that he didn't want to talk
about it?

5. No, he's that stupid - it goes beyond stupid, and really attacks his character.
Doesn't try to visit a sick girlfriend. Doesn't try to attend her funeral. Doesn't try
to send flowers to the service. Doesn't try to talk to her family. Spends 4 years in
a relationship with a girl (even if online only) and never tried to spend time with
her in person? Even as a Mormon, even if he wants to remain chaste, he can still
at least be in the same room as her. Even if he has to have a chaparone present, wouldn't you want to meet her in person somewhere between the first message and
year 4???

It could be a combination. Started off not knowing, then figured it out but stuck
with it to propel his career?

So the conclusion? He's not a rational person. And if I were an executive for an
NFL franchise I would consider that before I drafted him.

Well said and I couldn't agree more. At best he's not at rational person and at worst he is a world glass lair.

 

[everybody knows my name]

A few thoughts.

1. Not everyone in the world is like you, whether you're a cynical middle-aged man, a porn-obsessed college kid, or an alcoholic loser who stalks young athletes. I know most of the posters here fall into one of those three categories, but there are actually a lot of earnest, religious, naive young men out there. I think Teo is one of those.

2. In case you haven't been following the news, there's a young man in southern California named Roniah Tuiasosopo who has confessed to hoaxing Teo, and says he's done the same thing before to other people. He stole pictures off the Facebook page of a girl he went to high school with and persuaded a female cousin to talk to Teo on the phone, and he went to great lengths to fool Teo. You can learn more about this angle from these links:

"Woman in Fake Photo Speaks Out" http://espn.go.com/college-football...an-manti-teo-fake-girlfriend-photo-speaks-out
Hoaxer continued to try to fool Teo up to January 5th http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_...ng-manti-teo-bcs-title-game-miami-source-says

3. The hoax went on for months, not years. Obviously it's more feasible to sustain a hoax for months than for years.

 

[Eagan]

From ESPN, Chicago dated today (Jan 23, 2012):

"A source close to Te'o gave ESPN's Jeremy Schaap documents that the source says are Te'o's AT&T phone records from May 11 to Sept. 12. Their veracity could not be independently confirmed, but the source insisted they are genuine.

The records show that in that four-month span -- when Te'o has said he believed Lennay Kekua to be in a Los Angeles hospital, recovering from an accident and being treated for cancer -- Te'o made and received more than 1,000 calls totaling more than 500 hours in length from the same number in the 661 area code. The 661 area code covers Lancaster, which is part of Los Angeles County. The source told Schaap that Te'o believed the 661 phone number in question was Kekua's."

If this were from May 11 to Sept 12, it's actually a 16 month period. It will be interesting for the news media to find out whose telephone number it belongs to and who Te'o was talking with for 500 hours (equivalent of 12.5 -40 hour work weeks) over the course of 1,000 calls. That's the first question I would ask of Roniah Tuiasosopo in an interview. What woman is going to go along with something that involves that much time committment to prank someone she has never met?

 

[Sportsfan24]

A few thoughts.

1. Not everyone in the world is like you, whether you're a cynical middle-aged man, a porn-obsessed college kid, or an alcoholic loser who stalks young athletes. I know most of the posters here fall into one of those three categories, but there are actually a lot of earnest, religious, naive young men out there. I think Teo is one of those.

2. In case you haven't been following the news, there's a young man in southern California named Roniah Tuiasosopo who has confessed to hoaxing Teo, and says he's done the same thing before to other people. He stole pictures off the Facebook page of a girl he went to high school with and persuaded a female cousin to talk to Teo on the phone, and he went to great lengths to fool Teo. You can learn more about this angle from these links:

"Woman in Fake Photo Speaks Out" http://espn.go.com/college-football...an-manti-teo-fake-girlfriend-photo-speaks-out
Hoaxer continued to try to fool Teo up to January 5th http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_...ng-manti-teo-bcs-title-game-miami-source-says

3. The hoax went on for months, not years. Obviously it's more feasible to sustain a hoax for months than for years.

You're gay too....now where's my just for men hair dye, porn, Jack Daniels and copy of rivals?

FYI; if a earnest, religious, naive young man can lie about his fake girl friend (which he all ready has admitted to) why can't he lie about the rest? It doens't make him a bad person...just someone who did something bad.....you know human....and gay.

 

[calminnfan]

A few thoughts.

1. Not everyone in the world is like you, whether you're a cynical middle-aged man, a porn-obsessed college kid, or an alcoholic loser who stalks young athletes. I know most of the posters here fall into one of those three categories, but there are actually a lot of earnest, religious, naive young men out there. I think Teo is one of those.

2. In case you haven't been following the news, there's a young man in southern California named Roniah Tuiasosopo who has confessed to hoaxing Teo, and says he's done the same thing before to other people. He stole pictures off the Facebook page of a girl he went to high school with and persuaded a female cousin to talk to Teo on the phone, and he went to great lengths to fool Teo. You can learn more about this angle from these links:

"Woman in Fake Photo Speaks Out" http://espn.go.com/college-football...an-manti-teo-fake-girlfriend-photo-speaks-out
Hoaxer continued to try to fool Teo up to January 5th http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_...ng-manti-teo-bcs-title-game-miami-source-says

3. The hoax went on for months, not years. Obviously it's more feasible to sustain a hoax for months than for years.

wow...what a statement concerning most of the posters here...does this include you?

 

[everybody knows my name]

wow...what a statement concerning most of the posters here...does this include you?

Well you know, we go through stages in life. I'm approaching middle age.