[FarmBoy]

I wondered the same thing as Yvonne. It's kind of amazing the story lasted this long without someone checking a few basic facts, especially in this age of instant media. And you would think someone at Stanford would have been interested in talking to someone who knew the girlfriend for a story.

My question is, would you want Te'o to have played for Stanford, and be associated with this story, if it meant we had won the BCS CG?

[FarmBoy]

I wondered the same thing as Yvonne. It's kind of amazing the story lasted this long without someone checking a few basic facts, especially in this age of instant media. And you would think someone at Stanford would have been interested in talking to someone who knew the girlfriend for a story.

My question is, would you want Te'o to have played for Stanford, and be associated with this story, if it meant we had won the BCS CG?

[TreeWeird]

Was that Manti's girlfriend the refts imagined stopped Stepfan's progress during OT?

[TreeWeird]

Was that Manti's girlfriend the refts imagined stopped Stepfan's progress during OT?

[TreeWeird]

A devout Mormom (if, as reported, he is) does not need to make up stories to explain why he is not sexually active, or even have a girlfriend (devoted to school and football; not a priority, except perhaps to his parents). 

It does seem plausible to me that he strikes up a friendship with someone online, or so he thinks.  The same week his grandmother dies, he is told the friend dies.  The media goes apeshit and the story spins out of control.  Manti maybe isn't so careful about what he says in interviews about talking to her, or reporters misinterpret what he says (imagine that!).  If he slips up in a media frenzy, remember, he's a young man after all.  Maybe his parents tell the media what they've heard from other sources, or Manti has led them on to keep them off his back for not having a girlfriend.  Wouldn't be the first college kid to mislead his parents.  The story takes on a life of its own and then he is too embarrassed to come clean.     

At this point, though, come clean with the whole story.

[TreeWeird]

A devout Mormom (if, as reported, he is) does not need to make up stories to explain why he is not sexually active, or even have a girlfriend (devoted to school and football; not a priority, except perhaps to his parents). 

It does seem plausible to me that he strikes up a friendship with someone online, or so he thinks.  The same week his grandmother dies, he is told the friend dies.  The media goes apeshit and the story spins out of control.  Manti maybe isn't so careful about what he says in interviews about talking to her, or reporters misinterpret what he says (imagine that!).  If he slips up in a media frenzy, remember, he's a young man after all.  Maybe his parents tell the media what they've heard from other sources, or Manti has led them on to keep them off his back for not having a girlfriend.  Wouldn't be the first college kid to mislead his parents.  The story takes on a life of its own and then he is too embarrassed to come clean.     

At this point, though, come clean with the whole story.

[FarmBoy]

This Ronaiah Tuiasosopo character is totally screwed. If he really did pull a hoax, the entire ND legal team is going to make his life hell. And if he was complicit in fabricating this story with Te'o, the entire ND legal team is still going to make his life hell as they try to deflect blame from their golden-domer boy.

If you were an NFL GM, would this story matter to you? I'm guessing the Te'o camp (with ND legal assistance) will present a believeable enough story of how his was bamboozled, but there will always be that grain of uncertainty. Would you draft him in the 1st 10? I'm guessing most GMs will. Heck, Vontaz BUrfict was a train wreck in waiting and he had a huuuuuuuuge rookie year. Unless someone has serious anger mgmt or substance abuse issues, I doubt GMs will put much weight in so called "character" issues.

[FarmBoy]

This Ronaiah Tuiasosopo character is totally screwed. If he really did pull a hoax, the entire ND legal team is going to make his life hell. And if he was complicit in fabricating this story with Te'o, the entire ND legal team is still going to make his life hell as they try to deflect blame from their golden-domer boy.

If you were an NFL GM, would this story matter to you? I'm guessing the Te'o camp (with ND legal assistance) will present a believeable enough story of how his was bamboozled, but there will always be that grain of uncertainty. Would you draft him in the 1st 10? I'm guessing most GMs will. Heck, Vontaz BUrfict was a train wreck in waiting and he had a huuuuuuuuge rookie year. Unless someone has serious anger mgmt or substance abuse issues, I doubt GMs will put much weight in so called "character" issues.

[Bruce Wang]

If Te'o really was duped, where are the fake sexts?

[Bruce Wang]

If Te'o really was duped, where are the fake sexts?

[washingtonismoney]

I have a ton of questions:

If you believe he was duped, then here's the thing. We know from the tweets presented in the Deadspin story that the relationship began (at the most recent) a year ago; if you believe the newspaper stories, it began in 2009. So we're to believe that this was an online-only relationship for one to three years? They never Skyped, Facetimed, or sexted? This seems supremely unlikely.

The other question: ESPN ran a story on the "dead girlfriend" the day of the national championship game. If we're to believe the timeline N.D. has provided us, the institution knew on December 26. Surely they must have had some inkling that ESPN had the intention to run a puff piece on a ghost. N.D., knowing this, made no attempt to do anything about the story? Again, this seems odd.

There are subquestions about various theories that have been proposed. There's the hoax theory (see above.)

There's the invention-for-publicity theory. But this seems odd because, according to the Deadspin story, the fake girlfriend had apparently been contacting other people well before the "relationship" started, in 2008. Why? Doesn't make a lot of sense. Also, if you believe it, then you're forced to believe Te'o is a severely disturbed human being -- to "off" his girlfriend the same day his grandmother died? That seems unfathomably inhuman. (You also wonder what exactly the point of it is? Te'o was a mid 1st round pick entering the season, and middle linebackers don't exactly get drafted in the top five. Defensive players don't win the Voldemort, and at the time of the "death," N.D. was not viewed as an elite team. Just like now heh heh heh.)

It seems like other people on the thread are hinting at the beard theory. This seems to fit many of the known facts of the case, but then why off the girlfriend? If, for whatever reason, you had to had to end the relationship because of questions, why not a breakup? And why time it for the day of your grandmother's death?

All of these questions also make you wonder about the institution's side of the matter. I suppose the classic, what did they know it and when did they know it come up? The facts we know don't add up, and N.D. is committing itself to a version of events that seems unlikely (except for all the alternatives.)

[washingtonismoney]

I have a ton of questions:

If you believe he was duped, then here's the thing. We know from the tweets presented in the Deadspin story that the relationship began (at the most recent) a year ago; if you believe the newspaper stories, it began in 2009. So we're to believe that this was an online-only relationship for one to three years? They never Skyped, Facetimed, or sexted? This seems supremely unlikely.

The other question: ESPN ran a story on the "dead girlfriend" the day of the national championship game. If we're to believe the timeline N.D. has provided us, the institution knew on December 26. Surely they must have had some inkling that ESPN had the intention to run a puff piece on a ghost. N.D., knowing this, made no attempt to do anything about the story? Again, this seems odd.

There are subquestions about various theories that have been proposed. There's the hoax theory (see above.)

There's the invention-for-publicity theory. But this seems odd because, according to the Deadspin story, the fake girlfriend had apparently been contacting other people well before the "relationship" started, in 2008. Why? Doesn't make a lot of sense. Also, if you believe it, then you're forced to believe Te'o is a severely disturbed human being -- to "off" his girlfriend the same day his grandmother died? That seems unfathomably inhuman. (You also wonder what exactly the point of it is? Te'o was a mid 1st round pick entering the season, and middle linebackers don't exactly get drafted in the top five. Defensive players don't win the Voldemort, and at the time of the "death," N.D. was not viewed as an elite team. Just like now heh heh heh.)

It seems like other people on the thread are hinting at the beard theory. This seems to fit many of the known facts of the case, but then why off the girlfriend? If, for whatever reason, you had to had to end the relationship because of questions, why not a breakup? And why time it for the day of your grandmother's death?

All of these questions also make you wonder about the institution's side of the matter. I suppose the classic, what did they know it and when did they know it come up? The facts we know don't add up, and N.D. is committing itself to a version of events that seems unlikely (except for all the alternatives.)

[jayasena]

I challenge anyone to come up with a day in recent history that comes even close to the "Schadenfreude Trifecta" that we hit today.

Chip Kelly's departure [after indicating he was staying] story,
The whole Te'o thing, and
The U.S.C. post-game locker room "non-brawl" story ( http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21563825/kiffin-barkley-refute-reports-of-post-bowl-locker-room-fight ),

all hitting the mainstream press on the same day.

If I were a k.al guy, I'd be really worried for the next few hours...

Nah... what would you change about Cal football? Aside from the renovated Memorial stadium collapsing (which none of us want, since we'll all have to pay for a new one), their season was exactly how it should be. I wouldn't change a thing!

[jayasena]

I challenge anyone to come up with a day in recent history that comes even close to the "Schadenfreude Trifecta" that we hit today.

Chip Kelly's departure [after indicating he was staying] story,
The whole Te'o thing, and
The U.S.C. post-game locker room "non-brawl" story ( http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21563825/kiffin-barkley-refute-reports-of-post-bowl-locker-room-fight ),

all hitting the mainstream press on the same day.

If I were a k.al guy, I'd be really worried for the next few hours...

Nah... what would you change about Cal football? Aside from the renovated Memorial stadium collapsing (which none of us want, since we'll all have to pay for a new one), their season was exactly how it should be. I wouldn't change a thing!

[Oasis]

[quote author=76lsjumb link=topic=7412.msg57324#msg57324 date=1358382318]
Nah... what would you change about Low APR U football? Aside from the renovated Memorial stadium collapsing (which none of us want, since we'll all have to pay for a new one), their season was exactly how it should be. I wouldn't change a thing!

How about Sonny Dykes decides he can't stand Berkeley and they're bringing back Holmoe?

[Oasis]

[quote author=76lsjumb link=topic=7412.msg57324#msg57324 date=1358382318]
Nah... what would you change about Low APR U football? Aside from the renovated Memorial stadium collapsing (which none of us want, since we'll all have to pay for a new one), their season was exactly how it should be. I wouldn't change a thing!

How about Sonny Dykes decides he can't stand Berkeley and they're bringing back Holmoe?

[Bruce Wang]

At El Chola, I met garvin, Yvonne, fullmetal, Oasis, terry and spinynorman. As for the rest of you i now think you are all just pretending to be Stanford fans.

[Bruce Wang]

At El Chola, I met garvin, Yvonne, fullmetal, Oasis, terry and spinynorman. As for the rest of you i now think you are all just pretending to be Stanford fans.

[CowboyIndian]

If I were a k.al guy, I'd be really worried for the next few hours...

Maybe Lance Armstrong went to Kal...or Live Strong is a Kal Booster front organizationi. Yeah, that's it!

[CowboyIndian]

If I were a k.al guy, I'd be really worried for the next few hours...

Maybe Lance Armstrong went to Kal...or Live Strong is a Kal Booster front organizationi. Yeah, that's it!

[needle]

Vontaze Burfict went undrafted.

When the story broke, I felt sure that Kekua was a creation of Teo (and likely his dad/family). Now, I have to admit, I do think it's at least possible someone would pull such a hoax. Create a fake person, reach out to a famous but perhaps known-to-be-naive mark, then end it grotesquely. A really mean joke to start, then a cruel-but-possibly-clean exit to the ruse.

Then, just maybe: If there was sexting, wouldn't that be blackmail material against a future millionaire, and reason to get in contact with Teo in December? Swarbrick said the woman whose voice Teo knew as Kekua called him in December, but Swarbrick didn't elaborate on what was said in that conversation.

[needle]

Vontaze Burfict went undrafted.

When the story broke, I felt sure that Kekua was a creation of Teo (and likely his dad/family). Now, I have to admit, I do think it's at least possible someone would pull such a hoax. Create a fake person, reach out to a famous but perhaps known-to-be-naive mark, then end it grotesquely. A really mean joke to start, then a cruel-but-possibly-clean exit to the ruse.

Then, just maybe: If there was sexting, wouldn't that be blackmail material against a future millionaire, and reason to get in contact with Teo in December? Swarbrick said the woman whose voice Teo knew as Kekua called him in December, but Swarbrick didn't elaborate on what was said in that conversation.

[needle]

Matthew Masifilo tweeted: Got to believe Te'o was the victim here. He would always ask us if we knew his mystery girl after we'd play them....

https://twitter.com/MMasifilo

[needle]

Matthew Masifilo tweeted: Got to believe Te'o was the victim here. He would always ask us if we knew his mystery girl after we'd play them....

https://twitter.com/MMasifilo

[TreeWeird]

Watching replays of espn October interview on sportscenter.  Really hope at best he was naive, at worst a misguided youth exaggerating something that got out of hand.  If he was really complicit, the kid is positively sociopathic.  Really don't want to beleive that.

[TreeWeird]

Watching replays of espn October interview on sportscenter.  Really hope at best he was naive, at worst a misguided youth exaggerating something that got out of hand.  If he was really complicit, the kid is positively sociopathic.  Really don't want to beleive that.

[FarmBoy]

Matthew Masifilo tweeted: Got to believe Te'o was the victim here. He would always ask us if we knew his mystery girl after we'd play them....

An interesting detail. That's a pretty extreme level to carry on the charade. THough, to be fair, if you know that Stanford is 1,500 per class, you can be safe in asking some "do you know so-and-so" and just make up a name. I've had dozens of people ask me "do you know [insert name]" who was supposedly in my class, but I almost always don't know them.

[FarmBoy]

Matthew Masifilo tweeted: Got to believe Te'o was the victim here. He would always ask us if we knew his mystery girl after we'd play them....

An interesting detail. That's a pretty extreme level to carry on the charade. THough, to be fair, if you know that Stanford is 1,500 per class, you can be safe in asking some "do you know so-and-so" and just make up a name. I've had dozens of people ask me "do you know [insert name]" who was supposedly in my class, but I almost always don't know them.

[cardcoug]

This seems to put a lot of weight on the "Te'o was duped" side of things:

http://www.sbnation.com/college-football...ax-twitter

[cardcoug]

This seems to put a lot of weight on the "Te'o was duped" side of things:

http://www.sbnation.com/college-football...ax-twitter

[akCard]

Sorry. Can't buy this:

Matthew Masifilo tweeted: Got to believe Te'o was the victim here. He would always ask us if we knew his mystery girl after we'd play them....

https://twitter.com/MMasifilo

or this:

This seems to put a lot of weight on the "Te'o was duped" side of things:

http://www.sbnation.com/college-football...ax-twitter

Of all sources, Deadspin seems to have put together the most credible timeline of this entire utterly bizarre story because they've managed to cobble together various sources that substantiates their story, the first point in that timeline being Manti and the "girlfriend" met after Stanford's awesome win over the Domers at Stanford Stadium.

I wish I could take credit for this but it's far too clever - a former co-worker texted me the message - and also too good to not pass along: Manti Te'o must be Hawaiian for Timmy O'Toole.


[Was about to hit the 'Post' button when I realized that the Timmy O'Toole reference is probably too obscure. Google it. Since I immediately got it when my friend texted me, I'm not sure whether I should be impressed with myself or feel a tad embarrassed by my 'Simpsons' uber-nerdness.]

[akCard]

Sorry. Can't buy this:

Matthew Masifilo tweeted: Got to believe Te'o was the victim here. He would always ask us if we knew his mystery girl after we'd play them....

https://twitter.com/MMasifilo

or this:

This seems to put a lot of weight on the "Te'o was duped" side of things:

http://www.sbnation.com/college-football...ax-twitter

Of all sources, Deadspin seems to have put together the most credible timeline of this entire utterly bizarre story because they've managed to cobble together various sources that substantiates their story, the first point in that timeline being Manti and the "girlfriend" met after Stanford's awesome win over the Domers at Stanford Stadium.

I wish I could take credit for this but it's far too clever - a former co-worker texted me the message - and also too good to not pass along: Manti Te'o must be Hawaiian for Timmy O'Toole.


[Was about to hit the 'Post' button when I realized that the Timmy O'Toole reference is probably too obscure. Google it. Since I immediately got it when my friend texted me, I'm not sure whether I should be impressed with myself or feel a tad embarrassed by my 'Simpsons' uber-nerdness.]

[M T]

More from Twitter . . .

Shashank Bengali ‏ @ SBengali
This fake girlfriend is going to end up costing Manti Te'o a lot more money than a real one

Probably not more than this one:

Nordegren is reportedly considering the proposal from Woods, who is desperate to get Nordegren back, but wants a $350 million anti-cheating clause added to the contract.

[M T]

More from Twitter . . .

Shashank Bengali ‏ @ SBengali
This fake girlfriend is going to end up costing Manti Te'o a lot more money than a real one

Probably not more than this one:

Nordegren is reportedly considering the proposal from Woods, who is desperate to get Nordegren back, but wants a $350 million anti-cheating clause added to the contract.

[cardcoug]

Of all sources, Deadspin seems to have put together the most credible timeline of this entire utterly bizarre story because they've managed to cobble together various sources that substantiates their story, the first point in that timeline being Manti and the "girlfriend" met after Stanford's awesome win over the Domers at Stanford Stadium.

You're right that the Deadspin piece has the most important info, and I think it does clearly show that Te'o is not a completely innocent victim. He lied about having met her - that much seems uncontroversial. But one possibility is that he thought he had an online girlfriend, but instead was being pranked, and that he pretended she wasn't just an online girlfriend, making up stories about meetings at Stanford and Hawaii, etc... Another is that he made up those same stories, and made up her death on the same day his actual grandmother actually died, and went through the trouble to orchestrate a whole bunch of other crazy little details for the story. The first possibility seems just more likely on its face, and also it makes sense of both the deadspin article and the existence of tweets in november and december laughing about pranking Te'o. The second possibility would mean, as was suggested above, that Te'o is a complete sociopath.

[cardcoug]

Of all sources, Deadspin seems to have put together the most credible timeline of this entire utterly bizarre story because they've managed to cobble together various sources that substantiates their story, the first point in that timeline being Manti and the "girlfriend" met after Stanford's awesome win over the Domers at Stanford Stadium.

You're right that the Deadspin piece has the most important info, and I think it does clearly show that Te'o is not a completely innocent victim. He lied about having met her - that much seems uncontroversial. But one possibility is that he thought he had an online girlfriend, but instead was being pranked, and that he pretended she wasn't just an online girlfriend, making up stories about meetings at Stanford and Hawaii, etc... Another is that he made up those same stories, and made up her death on the same day his actual grandmother actually died, and went through the trouble to orchestrate a whole bunch of other crazy little details for the story. The first possibility seems just more likely on its face, and also it makes sense of both the deadspin article and the existence of tweets in november and december laughing about pranking Te'o. The second possibility would mean, as was suggested above, that Te'o is a complete sociopath.

[fullmetal]

I'm guessing Te'o was duped and then had to concoct a damage control story.  That it got this far is regrettable.

I had strangers contact me over the internet while I was an undergrad claiming to be Stanford students (careful perusing of Axess and Facebook revealed nothing to corroborate).  There are always people out there trying to socially engineer you :(

[fullmetal]

I'm guessing Te'o was duped and then had to concoct a damage control story.  That it got this far is regrettable.

I had strangers contact me over the internet while I was an undergrad claiming to be Stanford students (careful perusing of Axess and Facebook revealed nothing to corroborate).  There are always people out there trying to socially engineer you :(

[Bruce Wang]

If Te'o really is this gullible, Pep should have called more play action.

[Bruce Wang]

If Te'o really is this gullible, Pep should have called more play action.