Curious about outside perspective....

soontobehanby

http://deadspin.com/5976517/manti-teos-dead-girlfriend-the-most-heartbreaking-and-inspirational-story-of-the-college-football-season-is-a-hoax?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_twitter&utm_source=deadspin_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

This has been breaking news here in the Michiana area, and I am curious what other people think.  I have been hearing the very biased ND side of the story, along with similarly biased facebook friends opinions. I was wondering what people outside this area thought about it.

Personally, I find it all to be very fishy.  I have a hunch he is behind it.  I thought it was really weird how well he played the same weekend his grandma AND his girlfriend died way back when it first happened, but now that seems to make a little more sense to me.  I am just wondering what others think, since I am really just stuck in ND land and everyone feels so bad for Manti, and if it's real, I will also.  However, until then, I just feel like something fishy is happening...

sonya+adam

I'm in College Station, and this was all the buzz at work today! We probably spent like, an hour reading the article and talking about it.

It's so crazy to me! I mean, it seems pretty legitimate that this girl was made up, seeing as how there's no record of her birth or death, and those photos have now been linked to an actual person, who doesn't even know Manti. Also, the fact that he's linked to the guy that initially asked the girl from California to whom the photos belong, is really sketchy. I would understand if he didn't know she was fake, but then why create this whole story of a car crash and leukemia, and then a death? My theory is that he just wanted sympathy votes for the Heisman. Not that it worked out for him anyway, though (WHOOP!).

I haven't heard how he's responded to it, though. I'm not sure if it said in the article. I stopped reading towards the end. Since you're in NDland, have you heard? What is the excuse that he is giving?

ETA: Just read his official statement. I don't believe that he wasn't aware of the fact that she wasn't real. If he's going with that story now, why make up the fact that they met in person after a Stanford game, or that she visited him in Hawaii, and why on Earth would his parents go along with these lies, saying that they themselves had met her also?

soontobehanby

I totally feel like it was for Heisman votes. I'm not a ND fan, (Go Blue!) so I was okay with him losing and everyone gave me grief about being a horrible person because his girlfriend died so he deserved it. Oooops...

I am getting a ton of proND media thrown at me, but from what google has been telling me, the country pretty much thinks he did it.  My fiance thinks it could all be some big cover up to Manti being gay, which being in a Catholic school would be a problem (although they covered up a rape..thats a whole new discussion...), but I have heard he was definitly sleeping around during his time at ND, even when his "gf" was dying of cancer. So stinking fishy, I don't even know what to think.

sonya+adam

Oh, wow. I hadn't heard that he was sleeping around. I'm guessing you hear more than I do. It's all just way too convenient that right when his "girlfriend" dies, he starts campaigning for the Heisman. 

Wait, they covered up a rape? I'm definitely going to have to look that one up. 

soontobehanby

Oh it's a doozy. The girl came forward saying she was raped by a football player. The school ignored her, so she killed herself.  The school then made a statement that she made it all up and it was fake.

soontobehanby

http://deadspin.com/5897809/this-is-what-happens-when-you-accuse-a-notre-dame-football-player-of-sexually-assaulting-you

sonya+adam

Wow. Just wow. I can't believe that. That's absolutely horrible.

cwaggoner07

I'm obsessed with this story, and I'm not buying that he wasn't in on it. Not at all.

SlothGoals

This story is making the rounds on Canadian media as well. I read it and I don't buy that he didn't know. That's a long and detailed relationship to have with someone then to come back and say that you had no idea she wasn't real? I call bulllshit

cevans11

I'm almost offended as a member of the general public that he and his family and lawyers and whoever else think we're dumb enough to buy this story that he's a "victim" of a hoax. Whether or not he was complicit in creating the hoax (which I believe the evidence points to, but not the point) he lied extensively about her existence for his gain. He's a really good football player, but probably wouldn't have been second in the Heisman voting if he hadn't been such a great human interest story. 

Personally, after watching the interviews of him talking about her after she "died" I think he's an even better actor than football player. Screw the NFL, he needs to pursue a career in Hollywood. 

peekaboo2011

He had to have known.  There is no way he couldn't have known, especially considering they supposedly met after a football game, and she visited him in HI.

The Deadspin article was incredibly interesting however.  I'm usually not all in the sports world like that, but I couldn't stop reading.

bridalmarch

I just don't know. I've been "catfished" in a non romantic sense, and I think it's possible to believe someone is who they say even if there are some inconsistencies. In my case, I talked to someone daily for over two years who was a completely different person than they said they were, and I didn't have a clue until two days before we called that person out. It turned out that this person was just a very lonely soul and they had no ill will towards me or anyone else in the group...it was just a sad, sad situation. 

That said, lying to people and saying he me her at the game, spoke to her brother, getting his parents into it...that doesn't make any sense to me. The whole thing is so bizarre. 

soontobehanby

So many ND fans here just can't believe how no one believes him.  The local news is only coming from the he didn't know angle, so I am pretty relieved to know I am not crazy when I say that this is rediculous. I felt like I was in the twilight zone!

sonya+adam

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_chit-chat_curious-about-outside-perspective?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:14Discussion:7582f8f6-97fd-4d05-8299-0ca04cb69a2dPost:f033b775-915d-4050-8cd5-c787725b3afe">Re: Curious about outside perspective....</a>:
[QUOTE]I'm almost offended as a member of the general public that he and his family and lawyers and whoever else think we're dumb enough to buy this story that he's a "victim" of a hoax. Whether or not he was complicit in creating the hoax (which I believe the evidence points to, but not the point) he lied extensively about her existence for his gain. He's a really good football player, but probably wouldn't have been second in the Heisman voting if he hadn't been such a great human interest story.  Personally, after watching the interviews of him talking about her after she "died" I think he's an even better actor than football player. Screw the NFL, he needs to pursue a career in Hollywood. 
Posted by cevans11[/QUOTE]

<div>I completely agree. I almost don't even think he would have been nominated for the Heisman had it not been for his sob story. He really isn't that great of a football player. The fact that they're an independant team and they can pretty much choose all of the [terrible] teams that they played made Manti, and the team, look much better than they really were. He played terrible in the BCS Championship game.</div><div>
</div><div>But all that aside, yes, he should be in Hollywood rather than NFL.</div>

sonya+adam

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_chit-chat_curious-about-outside-perspective?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:14Discussion:7582f8f6-97fd-4d05-8299-0ca04cb69a2dPost:e79ffcfa-b882-4cad-bed5-dbe2a066387a">Re: Curious about outside perspective....</a>:
[QUOTE]I'm obsessed with this story, and I'm not buying that he wasn't in on it. Not at all.
Posted by cwaggoner07[/QUOTE]

<div>This just makes me so much happier that Johnny Football won the Heisman. Whoop! </div><div>
</div><div>I'm sure it does for you too, ha.</div>

sonya+adam

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_chit-chat_curious-about-outside-perspective?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:14Discussion:7582f8f6-97fd-4d05-8299-0ca04cb69a2dPost:0e1d66d3-ddc4-4dcd-996c-24d050c4ecaa">Re: Curious about outside perspective....</a>:
[QUOTE]I just don't know. I've been "catfished" in a non romantic sense, and I think it's possible to believe someone is who they say even if there are some inconsistencies. In my case, I talked to someone daily for over two years who was a completely different person than they said they were, and I didn't have a clue until two days before we called that person out. It turned out that this person was just a very lonely soul and they had no ill will towards me or anyone else in the group...it was just a sad, sad situation.  That said, lying to people and saying he me her at the game, spoke to her brother, getting his parents into it...that doesn't make any sense to me. The whole thing is so bizarre. 
Posted by bridalmarch[/QUOTE]

<div>I can understand if there was a girl in on it too, and that's who he was "talking to every night on the phone" and he was duped that way. That would be much more believable. But there was no girl at all in the picture. The only people involved were Manti (presumably) and that Rhoniah (sp check on his name?) guy. The girl whose Facebook pictures they were using to put a face to this non-existant dead girlfriend has never even met Manti Te'o and wasn't aware that they were doing so. </div>

Peledreamsofrain

My husband is obsessed with this story too.  He's convinced that he may have been telling mostly a true story..... but it wasn't a girl that was involved. 

*shrug*  Who knows.  What I really can't believe is that nobody double checked his story until now.

sonya+adam

I don't think he outed himself. The girl whose photo they used as his "girlfriend's" photo on TV and magazines, and such, saw her picture being used as a supposed dead girl's, and came forward. 

What I don't understand is how she didn't see it before. I mean, it's possible that she doesn't even pay attention to football, and therefore didn't see her picture until recently.

But Peledreamsofrain, I agree, I don't know why this didn't come out sooner. I mean, if there is no record of her birth, let alone death, or her funeral even happening, how did NOBODY notice this?