If true (and it seems pretty thorough), this story may affect his draft status as much as the disappointing BCS Championship game did. Weird as hell.
http://deadspin.com/5976517/manti-te...ium=socialflow
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If true (and it seems pretty thorough), this story may affect his draft status as much as the disappointing BCS Championship game did. Weird as hell.
http://deadspin.com/5976517/manti-te...ium=socialflow
Yeah, ND already put out a response...
https://www.facebook.com/NDFootball/...53537038009180
I have no idea what to think here...I don't buy Manti was "fooled". I think he played along with this Tuiasosopo character. His parents may have been fooled, or they may have found out and just ran with it to get their son's legacy built up.
I'd imagine he's going to PLUMMET on draft boards, if not disappear. After the Combine, maybe he'll show up in Round 2-3, but I can't see him going in Round 1.
As gifted as he is, right now, I don't want Ravens touching him. Screams character questions. If he was REALLY "fooled"...is it possible to get a 0 on the Wonderlic?
I'm pretty sure I recall interviews with him where he referenced his girlfriend.... And her passing.
Something doesn't sit right with this. I'm not buying he was fooled. Ok in today's world it's entirely possible to have a relationship with someone online. But when she did "die", did he not want to go to the funeral. Did he not wonder why he was never invited or that the family didn't reach out to him?
In this CNN article the father claims she came to visit him in Hawaii multiple times.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/16/sport/...html?hpt=hp_t1
Like I said not all is right with this story. Seems there is more to this, that may come to light later.
Oh, i believe he was in on it...
For the funeral part, it was to be held during a game and he mentioned a conversation they had before she passed, where she told him when she went, she didn't want him to miss any games, since she knew it (football) meant so much to him.
As far as his parents, it mentions once visiting while Manti was home. It doesn't say they ever met her. They mentioned in another article they were looking forward to meeting her at ND's Senior Day, but she passed before that happened.
IN today's world of media urgency has replaced accuracy, just think about recent and tragic events and how much we learn later.
That said, I think it's entirely possible he was fooled just as much as he was in on it.
But I'll wait till the whole story comes out before I pass judgement. One thing for him, he should come as clean as possible as soon as possible. It's never the crime, it's the cover-up that makes it bad.
Unless one of his friends steps up and "turns" on him, there will be no "complete story"...
Manti is going to deny it up, down, and sideways until someone comes out with hard evidence that he knew she was made up and ran with it. And why would there be much hard evidence? Not like he and Tuiasosopo would have recorded down "Our Plan to Fool a Bunch of People".
there are some weird discrepencies, if you take him at his word...How long ago did he know this was fake? I'm guessing the Deadspin story wasn't the first time he'd been clued into it. Why not come out and deal with it BEFORE some site has this long "expose" on it? That way, you DO look like the victim, instead of trying to defend yourself. He mentioned that when he spoke on the phone to her while she was in a coma, her face would brighten. I assume it was family members of her's that told him this? So did he speak to them on the phone? Who are they? Did Tuiasosopo master 1,000 voices?
We're not talking crimes here, but the whole story looks...odd. Even if you take him at his word, he really made a girlfriend out of someone he NEVER met? Didn't think it was weird that every time they tried to meet, she had some excuse?
I think the deadspin article (that I just read again) had an objective to make it seem like he was in on it, which is entirely possible if not likely.
They use quotes from stories, but not who gave them the quote, almost like it came directly from Manti.
They also say:
I mean how do you know they know each other, if you can't say how?Quote:
Te'o and Tuiasosopo definitely know each other. In May 2012, Te'o was retweeting Tuiasosopo, who had mentioned going to Hawaii. Wrote Te'o, "sole"—"bro," in Samoan—"u gotta come down." In June, Te'o wished Tuiasosopo a happy birthday. How they know each other isn't clear.
Late in the article I will say though, it does seem as if they are hinting that they one kid "Tuiasosopo" could have been jealous of Manti's football success and he could have set him up.
Part of what makes me so skeptical is I have known people who were so desperate fora relationship they would have believed something like this and told people things like we met and we talked on the phone etc.
In my opinion, I think he was setup, started to catch wind of it and tried to cover it up towards the end, how much beats me....
HE knew back and December. Notre Dame confronted him and launched a private investigation to which they have since said to them, confirms his story.
Like I said, I do know people who have been so desperate for a relationship they would believe something like this.Quote:
We're not talking crimes here, but the whole story looks...odd. Even if you take him at his word, he really made a girlfriend out of someone he NEVER met? Didn't think it was weird that every time they tried to meet, she had some excuse?
You can see 20/20 shows about online identity theft and people who have admitted to given women over seas all their credit card info etc. who they said they were going to marry, yet never having met them.