The Manti Te'o dead girlfriend story is a hoax (Deadspin)

[IlliniSF]

I pity da fool! - Mr. T

[carmelillini]

Originally Posted by HeartofaChampion

Funny: http://www.usatoday.com/story/gameon...night/1844689/

Road trip!

[DaytonIllini]

Brian Hamilton‏@ChiTribHamilton

Meanwhile, SB Trib reports #NotreDame investigators didn't examine cell records or emails. Never spoke to Manti Te'o. http://bit.ly/W8Q1qE

[JSpence]

Girlfriend found!

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dal...manti-te-o.ece

[gibb52]

It fits the ND agenda nicely for Te'o to be an innocent victim. Why would anybody be surprised when their "investigation" turns up just that?

I loved AD Swarbick crying at the presser. What a tool.

ND spent a few token hours searching some websites before they anointed Te'o a victim, crack investigative team those Irish are.

Truth is Te'o has known this Tuiasisopo guy for quite some time. They cooked up this whole scheme to get Te'o the maximum amount of exposure and press so he could get his name into the Heisman talk, and it worked. The boys at ESPN and SI did a bang up job on fact checking. Both now don't have egg on their face, they have the whole hen house.

I didn't pay that much attention to this while it was going on, but when it blew up a few days ago Pete Thamel of SI released the transcript of his interview he did with Te'o around Oct 1. All you had to do to determine Te'o was in on it was read the part about him flying home to Hawaii for the summer while the love of his life is near death in LA. When Thamel asks him why he didn't stop in CA to see her he says "it never crossed my mind". I called BS right there.

If I was an NFL GM I'd think long and hard about investing 1st round money in this guy. He's got nutbag written all over him.

[Juice]

I guess Te'o is having a televised taped sit down interview with Katie Couric

[Hoppy2105]

It looks like in his interviews and "official statements" he is maintaining that all of the times he said, or his father said, or ANYONE said they had met or were in the same area, it was simply Te'o telling people a lie to cover the embarrassment of not having a tangible girlfriend to show people even though he "felt" she was the one.

That's his stance anyway. And, it's really convenient too. He could definitely get off the hook by just saying he was embarrassed it was all online, and that he lied to everyone about THAT and ONLY THAT because he didn't want to deal with the "hassle" of explaining things or the embarrassment of people making fun of him.

I don't buy it though. What is the penalty for the "sick joke" that Tuiasisopo played on him vs. the penalty Te'o could get if, in fact, Te'o was complicit? Does Tuiasisopo get a slap on the wrist? Could Te'o get slapped with defrauding a charitable organization? (I'm sure tons of his community service had to do with cancer this and that and tooting his "dead girlfriend" horn probably made him a poster child for an organization or too but I don't know legal ramifications of all that) What about his NFL status?

I could see the dialogue going something like this:
Te'o: "Can you take the wrap on this? You won't be hit with nearly as much crap as me."
Tuiasisopo: "No way man, people will hate me."
Te'o: "I'll hook you up with whatever you need when I get drafted and paid."
Tuiasisopo: "Hmmm"

This is just wild speculation. But I don't trust very many big name sports figures. This all just screams guilty to me.

[SteakSandwich]

ESPN seems to be doing everything in their power to protect Manti and themselves here. They help build him up to be Superman and now they are trying to soften the fall from grace.

[gibb52]

Originally Posted by SteakSandwich

ESPN seems to be doing everything in their power to protect Manti and themselves here. They help build him up to be Superman and now they are trying to soften the fall from grace.

Anything to admit that they are a collection of dimwits.

[Groundhogday]

Originally Posted by gibb52

Anything to admit that they are a collection of dimwits.

Just imagine. Not one reporter bothered to check the Stanford online directory. Inconceivably pathetic reporting.

[ctblaisdell83]

Originally Posted by Groundhogday

Just imagine. Not one reporter bothered to check the Stanford online directory. Inconceivably pathetic reporting.

Contrast this to folks on this site checking our student directory to see if players are, in fact, on campus. IL posters are more diligent and curious in our spare time than ESPN writers are in their jobs

:laugh:

[GilThorpe]

Originally Posted by Groundhogday

Just imagine. Not one reporter bothered to check the Stanford online directory. Inconceivably pathetic reporting.

I cant believe that not one reporter tried to find out anything from this "girls" family -- parents or siblings or friends and get their take of the "Teo inspiration of the girls death". 99% of the time the press wants to get that side of the story too.

How the press dropped the ball on this is mind boggling. It borders on the notion that others were in this too and didnt want the story to end.

[champaignchris]

At this point, I'd say justice has been done. Te'o has been exposed as either an idiot or a liar (or both). Pre-draft interviews are going to be excruciating. He might drop a few spots in the draft, and lose a few grand or ten. Where he'll really lose money is in endorsements.

Both the mainstream media and Notre Dame have been exposed as self-serving. Hopefully, the media will tone down their aggrandizement of athletes and the programs they play for. Hopefully the public will start taking the "back story" spoon-fed them by the press with a bit more of a grain of salt.

[illinicb]

Originally Posted by Groundhogday

Just imagine. Not one reporter bothered to check the Stanford online directory. Inconceivably pathetic reporting.

I know what you are saying, but I'm not sure I expect them to check out his girlfriend's existence and more than I expect them to check out the validity of his grandmother's death. What's the consequence of not being able to expose his non-girlfriend sooner? Now if he was driving around campus in a late model 700 series BMW and no one checked that out, I'd be more critical.

[AzIlliniFan]

Originally Posted by champaignchris

Both the mainstream media and Notre Dame have been exposed as self-serving. Hopefully, the media will tone down their aggrandizement of athletes and the programs they play for. Hopefully the public will start taking the "back story" spoon-fed them by the press with a bit more of a grain of salt.

Dream on my friend, dream on!

[mattcoldagelli]

Originally Posted by illinicb

I know what you are saying, but I'm not sure I expect them to check out his girlfriend's existence and more than I expect them to check out the validity of his grandmother's death.

You should expect it. It's not as if they needed to file FOIA requests or something, just a basic checking of facts that should be available easily and publicly.

[gibb52]

Originally Posted by Juice

I guess Te'o is having a televised taped sit down interview with Katie Couric

I'd love to tape Katie Couric.

Oh wait.....

[illinicb]

Originally Posted by mattcoldagelli

You should expect it. It's not as if they needed to file FOIA requests or something, just a basic checking of facts that should be available easily and publicly.

My greater point is if someone wants to hold media outlets like ESPN accountable for investigating something, this guy's imaginary girlfriend might be the worst example possible.

[I Hate Lemonier]

Originally Posted by illinicb

My greater point is if someone wants to hold media outlets like ESPN accountable for investigating something, this guy's imaginary girlfriend might be the worst example possible.

I disagree. Particularly when the girlfriend is the central piece to the story of how poor Teo was able to overcome so much and still lead Notre Dame to a magical season. It was amateur hour by ESPN and SI.

If she was casually mentioned once in having been a graduate of Stanford or something I could see it, but with this magical tale of wonder, they should have done the background

[mattcoldagelli]

Originally Posted by illinicb

My greater point is if someone wants to hold media outlets like ESPN accountable for investigating something, this guy's imaginary girlfriend might be the worst example possible.

Look, I know we're all having a good time making Te'o a national punch line, but not confirming someone purported to be dead is actually dead is far from "the worst example possible" of the media not investigating something. In fact, it's pretty stark, and I hope it is taught in j-schools as a cautionary tale from this day forward.

[champaignchris]

Originally Posted by mattcoldagelli

Look, I know we're all having a good time making Te'o a national punch line, but not confirming someone purported to be dead is actually dead is far from "the worst example possible" of the media not investigating something. In fact, it's pretty stark, and I hope it is taught in j-schools as a cautionary tale from this day forward.

The problem is - according to both Wojchikowski with ESPN and whutsisname with SI, they did preliminary background investigations and were told by Te'o to back off "to respect the family's privacy." That's fine and all. It's not like it's Watergate and there's any real reason to dig deeper. But still, if you can't corroborate the story... You don't run the freakin' story!

[KJKobs]

Report: Tuiasosopo falsetto voice of Te'o girlfriend

The lawyer for alleged hoax scammer Ronaiah Tuiasosopo tells The (New York) Daily News that it was his client, in a falsetto voice, who spoke on the phone to Te'o, impersonating fake girlfriend Lennay Kekua.

Te'o "thought it was a female he was talking with," lawyer Milton Grimes told The News. "It was Ronaiah as Lennay."

If Te'o spent 500+ hours on phone not realizing it was a dude on other line, maybe football-related brain injuries are worse than we thought

[mattcoldagelli]

Originally Posted by champaignchris

The problem is - according to both Wojchikowski with ESPN and whutsisname with SI, they did preliminary background investigations and were told by Te'o to back off "to respect the family's privacy." That's fine and all. It's not like it's Watergate and there's any real reason to dig deeper. But still, if you can't corroborate the story... You don't run the freakin' story!

Yeah, there's a pretty substantial difference in being told to back off when you've confirmed the basic facts and are looking for more detail and being told to back off when you can't find a record of the person's existence.

[Illini87InClt]

Originally Posted by KJKobs

Report: Tuiasosopo falsetto voice of Te'o girlfriend


If Te'o spent 500+ hours on phone not realizing it was a dude on other line, maybe football-related brain injuries are worse than we thought

I agree that this could be the case. :laugh:

I haven't followed this case real closely but it strikes me that there is so much wrong here on many levels - T'eo, Tuiasosopo, UND covering for T'eo, certain journalists not pursuing the case vigorously, and the list keeps growing.

[gibb52]

Originally Posted by mattcoldagelli

Yeah, there's a pretty substantial difference in being told to back off when you've confirmed the basic facts and are looking for more detail and being told to back off when you can't find a record of the person's existence.

Yes.

You can check student info at Stanford to see if a person with that name attended/graduated without the family knowing.

You can check LA County death records to see if a dad with that name died in Oct 2011, and a girl with that name died in Sept 2012.

You can check accident reports in jurisdictions around Carson and Fullerton to see if a person of that name was involved in a traffic accident.

You can order MVR (driving record) from state of CA to see if that person has a drivers license in CA.

You can do all those things without anyone in the family knowing you are doing it.

Strange that SI or ESPN never thought of any of this.

I called BS on the whole thing when Te'o said "it never crossed my mind" to stop in CA and see this girl while on his way home to Hawaii.

The "love of your life" is dying in a hospital in Fullerton and it never crosses your mind to stop in LA and spend time with her before heading home for the summer? Whatever.

Te'o was in on this from the beginning, or was being pranked at the start, then figured it out, then figured the whole thing could bring him a boatload of free attention and publicity with zero risk. If no one calls him on it he looks like the All American Boy. If it blows up he can say he was Catfished. Brilliant.

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck....