Manti Te'o and His Imaginary Girlfriend

[Brian Fein]

Damn it, who told you?  Was it my alternate personality?

[Sunstroke]

Brian. He's portraying himself as a lowly engineer when in actuality he is really actor Ryan Gosling.

I always thought of Brian as the Goose, rather than the Gosling...

[Spider-Dan]

You have no idea how convincing these people can be. She probably told him they met after that game and he couldn't remember it, so he believed it happened. Perhaps he did meet some girl after that game and had told this person about that meeting, but it wasn't this person, he could have easily been convinced it was this person.

His family said the girl visited him and met them, in Hawaii.  If this girl doesn't exist, who is the girl that met his family, and where is she?  And why did he delete his tweets (before this story broke) to the supposed sister of this dead imaginary girl?

The guy is a liar and a fraud.

[SCFinfan]

His family said the girl visited him and met them, in Hawaii.  If this girl doesn't exist, who is the girl that met his family, and where is she?  And why did he delete his tweets (before this story broke) to the supposed sister of this dead imaginary girl?

The guy is a liar and a fraud.

Because, per Swarbrick, he learned about the matter on 12/26 and informed ND officials on the day after.

I'm actually starting to come around to his side. He's a young kid, and appears to be very, very good in his personal life. People like that (if I've characterized him correctly) often assume (wrongly) that everyone is nice like them. They bend over backwards to believe and agree w/ people because they want the same for themselves, and they hate being misunderstood and not taken at their word. I say this because I am this way. Or was that way.

I find it odd the way ESPN is reporting on this. They seem to be taking Te'o's side, which they normally never do: ESPN is infamous (in my view) for turning on an athlete immediately when sensationalism calls for it. That said, ESPN, a few months ago, was a victim of a fraud itself, wasn't it? Anybody remember Sarah Phillips? http://deadspin.com/sarah-phillips/

[SCFinfan]

I'm a bit of a cynic myself, and I would drop a dollar on Te'o being "in the know" about his phantom sick girlfriend...

Edited out your personal bias for accuracy's sake...

Just like a good communist. Scrub the facts.

Kidding! Kidding! No flame wars, plz.

[Pappy13]

His family said the girl visited him and met them, in Hawaii.  If this girl doesn't exist, who is the girl that met his family, and where is she?  And why did he delete his tweets (before this story broke) to the supposed sister of this dead imaginary girl?

The guy is a liar and a fraud.

The article I read said that the girl was supposed to meet them in Hawaii, but she didn't show. This is typical behavior of these people.

I don't know why he deleted his tweets, but it's possible that he found out this was all a hoax before the story came out. I don't know the whole story, I only know what I've read. I'm sure there is a lot more to this story than we know.

[SCFinfan]

Also, this:

[Phishfan]

Because, per Swarbrick, he learned about the matter on 12/26 and informed ND officials on the day after.

Untrue. He learned about it earlier than that. The apparent story is he received the call during the ESPN award show.

[SCFinfan]

Untrue. He learned about it earlier than that. The apparent story is he received the call during the ESPN award show.

That's right. My bad. This is why I shouldn't trust my memory. 12/26 comes from this article, but, apparently it's not the date he found out about the hoax according to the story:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/arizona-cardinals-fullback-manti-te-os-fake-girlfriend-051106606--ncaaf.html

[CF DolFan]

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.

2010-2011: Te'o and Kekua are friends. "She was gifted in music, multi-lingual, had dreams grounded in reality and the talent to catch up to them" (South Bend Tribune). "They started out as just friends," Te'o's father, Brian, told the Tribune in October 2012. "Every once in a while, she would travel to Hawaii, and that happened to be the time Manti was home, so he would meet with her there."

Am I missing something? How could he not know?

[el diablo]

Either he knew and his hiding something that will be a jaw dropper. Or he truly is the victim of someone else's very sinister plot. Either way, its devastating to him.

[Spider-Dan]

Make no mistake about it: Te'o is definitely a liar.

Now, you can take the extremely generous viewpoint and say that when Te'o claimed that he met her at a Stanford game in 2009, and met up with her in Hawaii, he was just trying to hide his "embarrassing" (?) Internet relationship.  But those are still lies, and without those lies, Te'o would easily be able to play the victim card today with full force.

[Pappy13]

Make no mistake about it: Te'o is definitely a liar.

Now, you can take the extremely generous viewpoint and say that when Te'o claimed that he met her at a Stanford game in 2009, and met up with her in Hawaii, he was just trying to hide his "embarrassing" (?) Internet relationship.  But those are still lies, and without those lies, Te'o would easily be able to play the victim card today with full force.

Where is the quote from Te'o where he said that he met her in Hawaii? The only quote I have seen about Te'o meeting her in Hawaii is from his father. Perhaps Manti told his father he met her, but even if this is true it doesn't necessarily make him a fraud and a liar. Who HASN'T told someone a little white lie here or there especially their parents? Perhaps he just told him he was going to meet her and she didn't show and he never told his father that? There are a ton of possible explanations for his father thinking he had met her when he in fact hadn't.

I believe that Swarbrick said Manti was talking about an online meeting after the Stanford game. That doesn't explain the "looked into her eyes" story, but do we really know that came straight from Manti or was that embellished by the writer of the story?

These small inconsistincies don't make him a fraud in my eyes. I want to stress that I'm not saying he's not, if solid evidence comes out that he made the whole thing up or he admits it, then I'll believe that, but for now I have no reason to believe he's lieing about the fact that he was duped. Seems perfectly plausible to me.

[EDGECRUSHER]

The Deadspin piece leaves little doubt to the fact that he made this whole thing up and had help from a family friend.

[Pappy13]

The Deadspin piece leaves little doubt to the fact that he made this whole thing up and had help from a family friend.

If Manti did make this whole thing up, he has some serious mental health issues.