I'm a sports fan that pays above-average attention to the sports media, and somehow this is the first I've even heard about the girlfriend cancer story. I don't understand the outrage, though, because it shouldn't have been any of our business in the first place. Why is anyone emotionally invested enough in the story to feel betrayed? There was an episode of Dr. Phil a few weeks ago about this sort of thing. Apparently there are people out there who talk to strangers exclusively online and actually consider themselves to be dating that person. The part I found easier to believe is that the internet contains people who exploit these headcases for the lulz. So it could happen, but I have a hard time believing that a star linebacker at Notre Dame isn't capable of pulling real, in-person ass any day of the week. Then there's another possibility. What if he did get duped, but thought that he was the one taking advantage of some girl and her sob story to get himself publicity? Either way, I can't see myself giving a shit as soon as it disappears from ESPN.
Its not just about homophobia in sports. He is a mormon in a catholic college. Two of the biggest homophobic groups in the world. I wonder if the westboro baptist church protested his girlfriends funeral.
I posted it in another thread, but you're going to find out that Te'o (and God, I hoped he would have been gay and hiding it so we'd have an outed athlete) was actually duped like an idiot. People are already dredging up tweets from the people pulling the hoax laughing at the kid. Which means that he's really fucking dumb (though I guess the real world and Mormon Hawaiians might not mix) and about to look like a dumbass ASAP. Most of the weird stuff is going on at <a class="postlink" href="http://twitter.com/justinrmegahan" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://twitter.com/justinrmegahan</a>
The reason that there is outrage and the reason that it's kinda sorta our business is because this, coupled with his grandmother's death, is what made Manti Te'o a household name, a sports superhero. He's a great linebacker, there's no doubting this. But when the media got hold of a Hawaiian Mormon kid faced with adversity over two deaths in 24 hours just before a huge rivalry game that he played spectacularly in, they absolutely took it and ran with it. Don't forget to add in the Notre Dame media bias. There were specials and interviews and montages and emotional speeches. He went from great linebacker and captain to megastar because of this tearjerking, emotional story, so much so that he was strongly considered for the Heisman trophy, something that he wasn't even mentioned in the preseason top 10 for. I don't even watch college football yet I knew all about Te'o from all of his ESPN spotlight, based mostly on his grandma and 'girlfriend's' death. If he's outed as being involved in this, as I think he is (he met her in Palo Alto and got her number, remember? And knows the kid who created her Twitter. Come on.), this will go down as one of the biggest sports controversies of all time. Dude almost stole the Heisman on a heart wrenching fable. Also: I love how relatively tiny Deadspin.com broke this after sports media giants sucked this guy's dick for 4 months straight without as much as checking her obituary.
I meant that the original story about the girlfriend's death shouldn't have been anyone's business. The whole thing only happened because the media was trying to exploit the sad thing that happened to this kid for their own financial gain and the public has an insatiable appetite for this sort of cliched narrative.
Easy now, Te'o was MORE than happy to talk about it and play it up. Never once did he say "No comment" or that it wasn't something he wanted to speak about. Athletes go through tough things every year that don't become national narratives. Even if it was a hoax predicated on naivety, Te'o played this shit up just as much as the media.
There's no way he can be competent enough to stay academically eligible and memorize a whole playbook while still being dumb enough to truly believe that stuff the whole time. Even what he has admitted or said doesn't always jive up with what has been reported. Definitely a guy caught up in a lie. I personally believe the beard situation, because its the only explination that makes any sense to me.
I honestly don't know enough details to speculate one way or the other. If it is a hoax perpetrated by Te'o and Notre Dame then its a fucking confusing one as his grandmother actually died. That garners all the sympathy you need. If its some girl/group/guy taking advantage of a college athlete its business as usual. So I guess I'm really not that worrief about it. If Te'o was trying to pull some shit it speaks volumes about his character but I don't know the guy and the second he steps off the field he doesn't matter to me unless he pulls some shit that kerps him from playing. Notre Dame responding with blatantly unninformative ass covering p.r. non speak that reflects they care more about their image than actually addressing the issue at hand? Well knock me down with a feather! Next thing you know one of you degenerates might insinuate my sainted mother wasn't the worlds greatest mom.
I don't know. I've met some nearly retarded college athletes in my time. But none of them needed an online girlfriend he couldn't visit.
<a class="postlink" href="http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8896921/ronaiah-tuiasosopo-dr-phil-mcgraw-voice-manti-teo-not-it" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://espn.go.com/college-football/sto ... teo-not-it</a> I'm confused too.
I'm not. This kid is just trying to stretch the story and his 15 minutes of fame out for as long as he can.
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8914700/ed-obannon-vs-ncaa Man I hope the NCAA gets fucked in the ass hard over this. Nothing like a dirty, hypcritical, corrupt, organization getting brought to its knees to make your day seem a little brighter.
Oh thank fucking god fuck the NCAA! They are whorish, profiteering, bastards who profit from an unpaid labor force. I hope this suit fucking breaks the whole organization.