<p>Manti needs to make some kind of public statement soon or his personal NFL $tock is going to drop millions of dollars by NFL draft time. He did already though change his FaceBook status to: Complicated.</p>
<p>It’s funny. The co-author of the Deadspin article has given some interviews. He said Manti should cancel the scheduled press conference and not say another word. The more he says, the more the story will remain in the news and the more of an impact it will have on how well he does in the draft. He said the ND press conference was a huge mistake.</p>
<p>Even bad news can be good financially…it can pay to be on TV and front pages of newspapers even if not for best things. The Kardashians are nonstop trainwrecks, are always in the news, and are multi-millionaires.</p>
<p>. The Tuiasosopo family is represented in many teams. In no way was I implicating ANY team in this hoax. Perhaps inarticulately, I was describing a deranged fan with multiple familial connections to a Notre Dame rival that was widely thought T’eo would sign. </p>
<p>I’d also like to address the timeline that some cite as proof that Manti was complicit in the scheme. He says he was contacted by the hoaxter (is that a word?) on December 6
but on December 8 and 10 continued to make references about this woman that he realizes does not exist. </p>
<p>Could it be that this 21 year old kid did not know WHAT to do? He is on a national tour where he is racking up multiple awards. In the middle of one of them he gets this call
“hey baby it’s your dead girlfriend and guess what… I’m not dead!”</p>
<p>Imagine yourself getting any shocking news, now imagine you are in the middle of a national tour lauding your accomplishments and getting shocking news. How about being on a national tour lauding your accomplishments and getting news that completely unravels everything you believed about your relationship with someone you thought you were in love with. Now add to that this this shocking news not only breaks your heart but humiliates you too. And you realize that you are going to have to explain this to your parents and your coaches. And what are your classmates going to think of you? And this story is going to come up again in interviews because you have more awards ceremonies to attend. And finals are next week and there is the national championship game and what does this mean for your future and why would anyone do this? And how could you be so stupid?</p>
<p>Maybe he didn’t know what to do, so he stuck with the story until he could process what was going on or get some advice.</p>
<p>After December 26 when Manti revealed this to his coaches an investigation was launched. I don’t know when this investigation was completed. But does anyone really think that anyone advising Manti would advise him to reveal this hoax before ND plays for the national championship?</p>
<p>It appears now Manti is under the counsel of his agent. He has a vested interest in protecting Manti’s brand. It is important to remember here that no one is accusing Manti of any crime. </p>
<p>I wish Manti would address this. Only he can clear this up. Or maybe when Tuiasosopo sells his story to the Enquirer we will know more.</p>
<p>I know I will never convince the haters, I am not even trying. But with over 6,000 views this thread it should have some support for Manti expressed. I believe Manti and Notre Dame on this. I’ll eat my (kelly green ND baseball ) hat if Manti was complicit</p>
<p>It makes me laugh that this could hurt him in the NFL draft. Plenty of players with far worse offenses and they still play.</p>
<p>Though I agree with an earlier post, his performance against Bama really works against him.</p>
<p>laketime,</p>
<p>I think you’re right. My best effort to come up with a favorable version of this goes like this:</p>
<p>Mantai meets a girl on line. The “girl” is created by someone who is at least an acquaintance and thus is more likely to know what sort of girl would attract Mantai. The acquaintance uses facebook photos of a high school classmate. </p>
<p>Mantai is smitten. He thinks the girl exists. He plans to meet her in Hawaii. He tells his parents, or at least his dad. Dad asks “How did you meet?” He figures dad’s not going to like the “on-line” bit, so he makes up a story. (I know people who’ve met on-line who lie about it because they know older folk won’t approve.) When he does, he never dreams that the girl is going to die and/or that dad will tell a newspaper this story.</p>
<p>He finds out December 6 that he’s been duped. To him, the biggest issue may be that he lied to dad. He not only doesn’t know what to do, he doesn’t know how to face dad and tell him he lied. So, he waits 'til Christmas vacation and then comes clean to his parents. They tell him he has to tell ND. He does. </p>
<p>His agent says he wants to keep the wrap on the story. Maybe the agent is actually trying to figure out more about what actually happened. </p>
<p>There are all sorts of other stories coming out now. There is a woman who has a picture of the main perpetrator and Tei (the woman who appears to be behind the twitter account of the deceased’s “sister”) together She claims that the Tei told her she was Kekua’s sister. She met her on-line and arranged to reach face to face at a football game. According to news reports, Mantai did give ND the cell phone number of Kekua and it was traced to the alleged perpetrator’s father. </p>
<p>One reason not to speak is if the perpetrator’s will speak too. If Mantai goes first, they’ll adjust their stories. Maybe his agent hopes that the media will find some missing pieces of the puzzle.</p>
<p>There’s a new story every hour. Stay tuned :)</p>
<p>What is most stunning about this story is that it is front page news in the US. If only we would delve nearly as deeply into the lies of our politicians.</p>
<p>Politicians lie??? Say it aint so :eek:</p>
<p>Has no one ever seen Newsies?</p>
<p>“How bout a crooked politician?
Hey stupid, that ain’t news no more!” </p>
<p>And that was at the turn of the 1900s! :p</p>
<p>The complexity is mind boggling!
<a href=“Manti Te'o Hoax: Fresh Details Emerge of Complex Scam - ABC News”>http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=18248408</a></p>
<p>Just to be clear, the Washington Tuiasosopo family associated with football (and baseball) was in no way involved. It is the CA cousin.</p>
<p>The WA Tui family is one of the nicest, accessible and down-to-earth bunch you could ever meet. The little sister might be the best athlete of them all.</p>
<p>Well the investigative journalism has commenced</p>
<p>[Source:</a> Te’o Not First To Be Duped By Tuiasosopo - ESPN Video - ESPN](<a href=“http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=8857268]Source:”>http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=8857268)</p>
<p>Te’o admits to “catered accounts” in his latest ESPN interview. I guess that means he had his affair catered.</p>
<p>Don’t you do a 10pm Friday night PR release when you hope it gets buried by other weekend activities?</p>
<p>Manti’s ESPN 1 1/2 hour interview, last night lawyer by his side no cameras seems suspicious.</p>
<p>I’m waiting to hear from girl he talked to for years…</p>
<p>Ditto on the Tuiosopopo family of athletes from Seattle. Great people. Innuendo regarding them is unjustified.</p>
<p>I have a question for the steadfast supporters of U Notre Dame. The host of a Chicago sports talk radio offered a telling observation. Was the press conference really about discovering the truth? And is this bru-haha a tragedy? As the host pointed out, the death of the ND student photographer and the suicide of the student who claimed she was raped by a football player were tragedies. Loss of a imaginary friend is not a tragedy.</p>
<p>The young woman who commited suicide was a student at Saint Mary’s. Her allegation of sexual assault was reported to be for unwanted touching not rape. But to answer your question, no I don’t think this is a tragedy. This Manti dust up could never compare to the genuine tragedies of Lizzie Seeburg and Declan Sullivan.
What this is is sad. Sad on many levels; the cruelty of the hoaxter and his ability to enlist conspirators, the speculation on Manti’s sexuality, and the absolute delight that some are taking in this. I feel badly for Manti, he is a classmate of my older son. He is a gifted athelete and by all accounts a remarkable young man who is trying to live his faith and assume the mantle of leader. He has been. Exposed as naive and characterized as much worse.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>As I said earlier in this thread, the tears shed by the athletic director during a press conference last Wednesday were puzzling since no one was shot, assaulted or kidnapped. The off-camera late Friday night Te’o interview was probably held to avoid public scrutiny.</p>
<p>So, I’m reading this article now…</p>
<p>[Manti</a> Te?o’s off-camera interview leaves more questions than answers | Dr. Saturday - Yahoo! Sports](<a href=“Manti Te’o's off-camera interview leaves more questions than answers - Yahoo Sports”>Manti Te’o's off-camera interview leaves more questions than answers - Yahoo Sports)</p>
<p>
Lets presume Kekua was a real person. He didnt even bother to visit her when she had a car accident, dying of leukemia and finally dead and buried. What will it take for him to visit her? This is really a ridiculous, cold-hearted way of treating the love of your life. At the end of the day, whether Kekua was real or fictitious, Mantis actions are bizarre and hes stuck in a damned if you do, damned if you dont situation</p>
<p>^agree</p>
<p>but the larger question to me is, how do you have a three year relationship without ever actually meeting???</p>
<p>Te’o said it never occurred to him to go to the hospital or to Kekua’s funeral when she died.
“It never really crossed my mind. I don’t know. I was in school,” Te’o said.</p>
<p>How is this supposed to square with ND’s portrayal of Manti that he’s the most caring person around??? </p>
<p>Never crossed his mind? Not even during the summer?? During his trip from Hawaii to South Bend, it wouldn’t have been a big deal for him to stop in Calif for a visit. </p>
<p>did it cross his mind to go to his grandma’s funeral? Did it cross his mind to visit grandma during the summer before she died? If so, then why not “the love of his life”.</p>
<p>He’s probably now going to be advised to shut up since he’s digging himself deeper. Someone is going to ask to see his cell phone records and more discrepancies will likely result.</p>