I honestly wouldn't care at all about this story if it weren't for T'eo's "character" and backstory being shoved down our throats by the media and used as a reason why he should win the Heisman.
I'm still not exactly sure why we were supposed to believe that T'eo had more "character" than Manziel anyway, even before all this came out.
There was a brief moment where I envied ND for having made it to the BCS title game.
But then they got destroyed. And their coach wants to be a NFL head coach soon. And their most iconic player in 20 years either has the mental capacities of a 7 year old (and still graduates from their university) or is an amoral confidence trickster.
Philly.com Sports @phillysport
Minor league baseball team offering a bobblehead giveaway of Manti Te'o's girlfriend. Only the boxes will be empty: http://is.gd/BUpCRc
Minor league team uses Te'o hoax for promotion
Quote:
FLORENCE, Ky. - A Kentucky-based minor league baseball team is jumping on the Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax story.
It is offering a bobblehead giveaway of the girlfriend. Only the boxes will be empty.
The Florence Freedom says on its website that the boxes will go to the first 1,000 fans on May 23.
They also will rope off a special section just for people to bring imaginary friends.
Freedom General Manager Josh Anderson says fans can make the bobblehead out to be whatever they want it to be.
Te'o, a Notre Dame football star, said this week he was duped in a bizarre lie involving a fake dead girlfriend. The national media did several stories on how Te'o played through the pain of her death.
The Florence Freedom is part of the Independent Frontier League.
The public complains that they want the truth and when they get it it is called a cover up.
ESPN had the story for 2 weeks and sat on it.
The whole season they were on him like Brent Musberger on AJ McCarron's gf.
When something comes out on ESPN about this, the natural impulse is going to be "how are they spinning this in favor of their golden boy?" ESPN just does not have credibility on this matter.
The anonymous woman confirmed two of her cousins, possibly the people in the tweets on Twitter, a man and a woman, were in on the hoax.
She said the woman would likely speak on the phone with Manti pretending to be the woman.
I wouldn't be surprised by those people being "in" on it, the question is whether T'eo wasn't "in" on it as well and people are now falling on their swords to protect T'eo (in exchange for a payout from T'eo once he has NFL money).
The whole season they were on him like Brent Musberger on AJ McCarron's gf.
When something comes out on ESPN about this, the natural impulse is going to be "how are they spinning this in favor of their golden boy?" ESPN just does not have credibility on this matter.
To add to that, this story is a bombshell and a clear ratings boon, as the last three days have shown us. To think that a major network knew about this story and sat on it for weeks defies belief. I am immensely glad Deadspin scooped them and in the process made espn look like the incompetent, sycophantic fools they are.
I wouldn't be surprised by those people being "in" on it, the question is whether T'eo wasn't "in" on it as well and people are now falling on their swords to protect T'eo (in exchange for a payout from T'eo once he has NFL money).
No, what i'm saying is those people are not friends of Te'o and were actually blocked by him on Twitter for saying that Lennay Kekua wasn't real and was a hoax after she died.
At first glance this may seem "oh that means she wasn't real, he was trying to hide it!" but it could also be "he didn't want to listen to what he believed absurd comments"
These people have no motivation to protect Te'o. What they are saying is they've been fooled before. Manti would have to track down random people that knew the alleged person and payed them off, that's pretty darn difficult to do.
If they are legit, it's definitley in his favor and no question about it. This is from a guy who has been in the middle the entire time.
No, what i'm saying is those people are not friends of Te'o and were actually blocked by him on Twitter for saying that Lennay Kekua wasn't real and was a hoax after she died.
At first glance this may seem "oh that means she wasn't real, he was trying to hide it!" but it could also be "he didn't want to listen to what he believed absurd comments"
These people have no motivation to protect Te'o. What they are saying is they've been fooled before. Manti would have to track down random people that knew the alleged person and payed them off, that's pretty darn difficult to do.
If they are legit, it's definitley in his favor and no question about it. This is from a guy who has been in the middle the entire time.
Millions of dollars for both Te'o and the University are on the line, the fact that he continued to say that she existed after he knew otherwise suggests a conspiracy. I'm not one to believe in conspiracies either.
This photo, provided to us by a friend of the Tuiasosopos, was taken on Nov. 23, 2012—the night before the Notre Dame-USC game. It shows Ronaiah Tuiasosopo's younger sister, known as Pookah, with Manti Te'o. (According to Manti's uncle Alema Te'o, Pookah supposedly posed as Lennay Kekua's cousin.)
Millions of dollars for both Te'o and the University are on the line, the fact that he continued to say that she existed after he knew otherwise suggests a conspiracy. I'm not one to believe in conspiracies either.
What is he supposed to say if he found out December 6th?
If he wanted to keep it a secret before the NC not to hurt his team, he HAD to say she still existed. I'm not defending the man but what you are saying has no merit.
What is he supposed to say if he found out December 6th?
If he wanted to keep it a secret before the NC not to hurt his team, he HAD to say she still existed. I'm not defending the man but what you are saying has no merit.
That's irrelevant.
Hurt the team? Almost the entire team knew it was a hoax, they were probably more demoralized by Te'o insisting she was real.
What is he supposed to say if he found out December 6th?
If he wanted to keep it a secret before the NC not to hurt his team, he HAD to say she still existed. I'm not defending the man but what you are saying has no merit.
That's irrelevant.
It's not irrelevant. It proves that Te'o hasn't been completely truthful.
It's not irrelevant. It proves that Te'o hasn't been completely truthful.
Yeah, you can't rule out that he was both duped AND told the story for his advantage. I mean once he told the story, it got him a lot of positive attention, a whole lot of it.
I mean some of the elaborations of the story he's told reporters are straight out lies and many more that are "WTF" even within the territory of "faked online relationships".
