Manti Te'o and His Imaginary Girlfriend

[CF DolFan]

If skills were anywhere close who would you want on your team? That's what he is looking at too. This situation has added question where there weren't any previously.

[Phishfan]

He got duped.  Rather than admit he got duped, he lied so he wouldn't look stupid.  It backfired. 

I don't think he really set out to deceive anyone, or get unjustified sympothy.  He just didn't want to admit he got duped so he killed her off so people would stop asking questions.

If he was in a position of high responsiblity or running for political office this would concern me.  Being his primary skill involves knocking people carrying an inflated pigskin to the ground, I don't see this as an issue. 

I don't buy this theory for a second. If he was invovled at all (other than making it more than it was) it would most definitely have to be for publicity. Why would anyone make up a dead girlfriend while getting publicity already for a dead grandmother? A simple break up over a long distance relationship not working would have been much simpler and quieter.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

A simple break up over a long distance relationship not working would have been much simpler and quieter.

I never claimed he was bright!

Plus based on what I have read:  He might not have made up her death, but was told she was dead and repeated it only to find out afterwards she never lived. 

[Dave Gray]

Is this true?

Fact 1: Te'o learns that girlfriend is fake.
Fact 2: Te'o comments on her death to the media AFTER he learns she was fake.

[Pappy13]

Is this true?

Fact 1: Te'o learns that girlfriend is fake.
Fact 2: Te'o comments on her death to the media AFTER he learns she was fake.

That's up for debate. According to Te'o he got a call from the person that he thought was his dead girlfriend saying that she wasn't dead and he wasn't sure what to believe at that point thinking it may have been the dead woman's sister. He did make some comments a couple days later about her being dead, but he said that he wasn't sure the whole thing was a hoax until later. Once he was certain that it was all a hoax, he didn't make any more comments regarding her death to the media in fact before the story broke there was an instance where the media asked him about her death and he didn't mention anything about the girl, just mentioned that his team mates and coaches had been very supportive. This was after he had already informed ND that he believed he was the victim of a hoax. There was a period of about 10 days where he wasn't certain whether any of it was real or not, but he was talking to this person on the phone asking her a lot of questions.

That's my understanding of what Te'o has said. Whether or not you believe him is up to you.

[Dave Gray]

^ Based on your story, I do not believe him.

I find it unreasonable that if he received a phone call claiming she was still alive (from a number he recognized and a voice he recognized as hers) <-- this I've seen reported, that he would still openly discuss this to the media unless he had dishonest motives.

This is especially true "a couple of days later", once he'd had time to realize what was going on.

[Pappy13]

I find it unreasonable that if he received a phone call claiming she was still alive (from a number he recognized and a voice he recognized as hers) <-- this I've seen reported, that he would still openly discuss this to the media unless he had dishonest motives.

The theory crafting going around is that at that point he was starting to figure out it was all a hoax but was extremely embarrassed at that point to admit the truth. He didn't decide to tell ND it was all a hoax until the 26th which was about 3 weeks after he got that first phonecall from his "deceased girlfriend".

If you want to call Te'o dishonest for not immediately admitting he was the victim of a hoax, I have no problem with that, but that's a long way from him making the whole thing up to garner more votes. I don't know if his motives were dishonest, but what he said was dishonest. I think his motives at that point were trying to avoid embarrassment.

[CF DolFan]

He is either really ignorant and naive or incredibly dishonest.  I'm not sure which one is better.

[Dave Gray]

If you want to call Te'o dishonest for not immediately admitting he was the victim of a hoax, I have no problem with that, but that's a long way from him making the whole thing up to garner more votes.

I think you're being completely too generous.

It's a long way off between "not immediately admitting" and "continuing to perpetuate".  If Te'o just brushed off the questions during that time, I'd be willing to cut him some slack.  But from the sounds of it, he continued to talk about her.  Now, I don't know that he kept talking to GET votes, but I wouldn't doubt that he kept talking because if he fessed up, he would lose votes.

[Pappy13]

He is either really ignorant and naive or incredibly dishonest.  I'm not sure which one is better.

That exact discussion took place this weekend on the radio. My personal opinion is that it would be worse for him if he was incredibly dishonest as I'm not really that shocked a 22 year old Mormon kid got duped. Also, if he did just get duped, I imagine that he's grown up a LOT in the last couple of weeks and I doubt he'll be that naive again. There's no question that whomever drafts this kid is gonna need to wise him up to the ways of the world because there's nobody that's a bigger target then the players of the NFL.

That's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

[Pappy13]

I think you're being completely too generous.

Guilty as charged, but that's me. I don't like to judge people especially when I don't know them that well. I've done a few things myself I'm not proud of, luckily I was never worthy of a news story.

[Spider-Dan]

Regardless of whether or not he was duped, the moment he received a call from the girl who he thought was dead, he immediately should have stopped referencing her death as inspiration.  The "I thought it might be her sister" excuse (which I have never seen outside of this thread) is incredibly weak, to the point of being an obvious lie.

With effort, you can explain away the lies about meeting her as embarrassment (?) over his internet relationship.  But you cannot explain away the lies about being inspired by her death, after speaking to her (alive) on the phone.

[el diablo]

Sure you can. By realizing that she was/may be alive. He realized that he had nothing to play for. How can you play at a high level when the girl you never met is still alive?

[Pappy13]

Regardless of whether or not he was duped, the moment he received a call from the girl who he thought was dead, he immediately should have stopped referencing her death as inspiration.

I agree, but put yourself in his shoes for a moment. You either have to admit to yourself that you have been duped into believing your whole relationship with this person was a total fabrication from the start OR the person to whom you are speaking with now is NOT the same person. I can see there being a little bit of denial going on that first day or 2. You WANT to believe this CAN'T be the same person that I've thought was my girlfreind. Who told me she had cancer. Who told me she was in love with me. Whom I thought I was in love with. I CAN'T have been this naive, could I? This HAS to be a hoax and she REALLY must be dead. Then slowly over a day or 2 you realize that NONE of it is in fact the truth and you have been duped completely. From day 1. That's GOT to be pretty hard thing to admit to yourself and also coming to the realization that this is all going to come out and you're going to have to admit to the media that you have been duped and a lot of what you said just wasn't true. You're going to look like a COMPLETE fool. This is going to be one of the most painful things you've ever had to go through and in the mean time they're still sticking a microphone in your face and you're not ready to admit that it was all a hoax, but how do you tell people that? If you just stop talking about this girl people are gonna wonder what's going on. They are gonna start asking questions. Painful questions. You want to come clean, but how without looking like a complete idiot?

There's no question that he made a bunch of mistakes, but they were mistakes that a young and naive person makes, not the mistakes that a cold and calculating liar makes. That's what makes me believe his story. If he really did make up the whole thing he didn't think it all the way through because he didn't leave himself any wiggle room to get out of those lies should someone start checking out his story.

[Spider-Dan]

This is going to be one of the most painful things you've ever had to go through and in the mean time they're still sticking a microphone in your face and you're not ready to admit that it was all a hoax, but how do you tell people that? If you just stop talking about this girl people are gonna wonder what's going on. They are gonna start asking questions. Painful questions.

...except that that isn't what happened.  When he was asked about her later (after telling ND), he just sidestepped the question with the standard cliches that every athlete uses, and not a single media outlet questioned him about it.  It wasn't even suspicious!

It is easy to simply avoid mentioning her without tipping anyone off, and he showed how easy it was when he did it.

Pappy13, I am forced to wonder if you are equally understanding about other college players that lie for various reasons.  Can we also sit here and rationalize young, naive Reggie Bush lying about his payouts because he was just trying to take care of his family, and that's a painful decision to make?