Opinion: Why the Manti Te'o anger?

So...the "Big" news story of the week isn't the economy, isn't Lance Armstrong, isn't the President's gun control measures, rather, it's an apparently mentally ill or incredibly naive now former Notre Dame linebacker.

Yes, it appears that former ND linebacker Manti Te'o made up what can only be called an "Elaborate" hoax, where he told multiple reporters, teammates and friends and family about an alleged "Girlfriend" he was deeply in love with and allegedly died the same day as his grandmother. The only problem, the girlfriend apparently never actually existed.

By now you've heard the story, so we'll spare you the details. Though we will add, they were awfully elaborate...

You can read the original Deadspin story RIGHT HERE

Clay Travis of Outkick the Coverage breaks down the fallout exceptionally well RIGHT HERE

There are several parts to this story which are--to say the least "Disturbing".

It appears Te'o, by all accounts an "All-American" linebacker who got consideration for this years Heisman Trophy. And he played well enough in some games this year to win a handful of other awards. And say what you will, the player earned the awards more than the story earned them.

It's seemingly obvious that the kid has some issues. They could be mental, they could be judgement (he's only 21) or he could just be a really creative liar. Heck, it may actually be true that he was part of an incredibly detailed and lengthy hoax perpetrated on him. But the part everyone is forgetting here, these are PROBLEMS that need help. Not derision, not mocking and not anger, no, they need professional mental health.

But rather than concern, rather than trying to get the kid help, everyone turned on him. Everyone. Even his university, rather than just say "This happened and we're getting him help", just helped perpetuate it by spreading more lies.

To read Twitter Wednesday night was almost scary. Grown men, masquerading as Sports Writers and reporters calling him all kinds of ugly names, insulting him and mocking him.

ABC News give us a summary of them RIGHT HERE

And before and of you say "They felt wronged"....well, that's a cop out. Keep in mind, most of you are complicit here for buying in and never questioning this.

It's okay for writers, journalists and others to pass judgement, it's done all the time. But it's the perspective here that's a bit frightening. Rather than report that this happened, they are all just laughing about it, calling the kid names.

Is that not the treatment many of them got as kids in elementary school?

When is it okay to mock a 21-year old with obvious mental health issues or at the very least is amazingly gullible? What makes it okay to make a 21-year old with emotional disconnect problems a national joke?

For those of you older with kids that age, think about that for a minute. Would you want your college age kid to go through this? Or if you ARE that age, how would you feel?

Yeah, sure, I get it. The writers and reporters are upset they were lied to. Well, get real folks, everyone lies to or uses you. Every person you've done a story on has an agenda or message. You might be okay with that most of the time, you might not like it some of the time, but you know it all the time going in.

I've reported stories for over 20-years. I've been wrong and I've been mislead. I've done stories that have turned out to be not true after the fact. And sure, I haven't always been happy about it. But it's part of the game.

But that doesn't give me...or anyone else the license to publicly ridicule the person who deceived me. And that's exactly what's being done here.

Leave the kid alone. Stop doing Hour long ESPN shows about him. He doesn't need to apologize to you. At least not until he apologizes to himself.

Te'o Day 2: "A Very Good Actor..." (PM UPDATE with Te'o Family Reax)

((HT: Pepper On Sports))

Jackie Pepper caught up with a teammate of Te'o and it appears, on some flanks, that the story about Lennay Kekua was doubted by some of those who were around him every day...

From Pepper:

The source said while the players discussed their suspicions amongst themselves, they never confronted Te’o.

“We would never bring it up. But we would look at him when he would get all emotional during media about his girl,” the player said.

When asked if he thought Te’o was a good actor, the player replied, “Very good.”

Deadspin's Tim Burke is making the rounds this morning, and rightfully so, about how the site got to devote the resources they did to break the Te'o story. Here's his appearance on the "Dan Patrick Show..."


Pete Thamel also went on the @DPShow and said that Te'o stood up in front of his whole team and talked about Kekua after her death...

Word is leaking out from various sources that it may be Jeremy Schaap that gets the one-on-one... that would be interesting...

More when we know more...

1130 UPDATE: The ESPN interview, according to Bonnie Bernstein and others, has been "scrapped..."

2300 UPDATE: Clay Travis over at Outkick The Coverage has tracked down a radio interview that the uncle of Manti Te'o, Alema, did for a Salt Lake City radio station.

The interview is hyah... and it's over 30 minutes long...

Alema Te'o brings forth the gambit that it's all Ronaiah Tuiasosopo who is in charge of all this puppeteering...

From Travis:

"Ronaiah Tuiasosopo is a liar, he concocted the whole thing, there's no doubt in my mind." Later, he continued, "He lied every step of the way." Furthermore, Alama said, "This isn't the first time he's done this." He continued, "Lie after lie after lie, there's no way in the world this guy can be trusted. Ronaiah, if you're listening to me bud, you're a liar and a dishonest man."

Te'o Story On Girlfriend A Farce...??? Who Is Lying Then And Who Is Lying Now...???

The folks over at Deadspin came up with a staggering read that intimated the story about his girlfriend who died of Leukemia was all made up...

From Burke and Dickey is the end game in all of this:

"There was no Lennay Kekua. Lennay Kekua did not meet Manti Te'o after the Stanford game in 2009. Lennay Kekua did not attend Stanford. Lennay Kekua never visited Manti Te'o in Hawaii. Lennay Kekua was not in a car accident. Lennay Kekua did not talk to Manti Te'o every night on the telephone. She was not diagnosed with cancer, did not spend time in the hospital, did not engage in a lengthy battle with leukemia. She never had a bone marrow transplant. She was not released from the hospital on Sept. 10, nor did Brian Te'o congratulate her for this over the telephone. She did not insist that Manti Te'o play in the Michigan State or Michigan games, and did not request he send white flowers to her funeral. Her favorite color was not white. Her brother, Koa, did not inform Manti Te'o that she was dead. Koa did not exist. Her funeral did not take place in Carson, Calif., and her casket was not closed at 9 a.m. exactly. She was not laid to rest."

And we imagine that Gene Wojciechowski is BEYOND PISSED about right now...


Te'o issued a statement trying to explain the whole thing away:

"This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online. We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her.

"To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating.

"It further pains me that the grief I felt and the sympathies expressed to me at the time of my grandmother's death in September were in any way deepened by what I believed to be another significant loss in my life.

"I am enormously grateful for the support of my family, friends and Notre Dame fans throughout this year. To think that I shared with them my happiness about my relationship and details that I thought to be true about her just makes me sick. I hope that people can understand how trying and confusing this whole experience has been.

"In retrospect, I obviously should have been much more cautious. If anything good comes of this, I hope it is that others will be far more guarded when they engage with people online than I was."

Te'o is now saying that the activities that he may or may not have engaged in with Ronaiah Tuiasosopo didn't happen as partners, but that he was duped.

As well as, perhaps, Notre Dame...
((HT: Notre Dame Athletics))


The University of Notre Dame released this statement tonight.

“On Dec. 26, Notre Dame coaches were informed by Manti Te’o and his parents that Manti had been the victim of what appears to be a hoax in which someone using the fictitious name Lennay Kekua apparently ingratiated herself with Manti and then conspired with others to lead him to believe she had tragically died of leukemia. The University immediately initiated an investigation to assist Manti and his family in discovering the motive for and nature of this hoax. While the proper authorities will continue to investigate this troubling matter, this appears to be, at a minimum, a sad and very cruel deception to entertain its perpetrators.”

Angelo Di Carlo, Sports Director at WNDU-TV in South Bend, called the University’s Sports information department and asked:

"Manti has said multiple times he went to bed talking to Lennay on the phone. How did he not know of her existence? I’m confused on that aspect not addressed in this statement."

Notre Dame's response:

"This apparently was a virtual relationship”

So, then he lied about talking to her on the phone in his own statement released this afternoon...???

Which is it, folks...??? Get your multiple stories straight...

Kinda like in this interview with Notre Dame's Kate Sullivan...
Te'o wastes NO TIME discussing Lennay Kukua...
((HT: Notre Dame Athletics))


If what Te'o is saying NOW is true, then what is the first FOUR MINUTES of the above interview...???

And the Eric Hansen article in the South Bend Tribune from October 12th, 2012 is a complete fabrication, then...???

((nb: The Tribune, apparently, has taken the article down, but it still exists hyah...))

The whole Hansen bio piece details the PHYSICAL MEETING between Te'o and Lennay Kukua in 2009 on the Stanford campus...

From Hansen:

"They started out as just friends," Brian Te'o said. "Every once in a while, she would travel to Hawaii, and that happened to be the time Manti was home, so he would meet with her there. But within the last year, they became a couple.

"And we came to the realization that she could be our daughter-in-law. Sadly, it won't happen now."

So then, has Notre Dame been duped...??? Or are they just as complicit in the spin...???

How deep is the family in the story if both Manti and Brian are both cognizant of the physical presence in a woman that did not exist as a physical being...???

We're just getting started...

Hey, remember Lance Armstrong is appearing with Oprah tomorrow...???

2100 UPDATE: We may have an answer...

Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick came to the defense of Te'o this evening...

“He became startled, shocked. That was absolutely the first sign,” Swarbrick said. "It goes to my comments about Manti and his character. Every single thing about this until that day in the first week of December was real about this to Manti. There was no suspicion that it wasn’t, no belief that it might not be. The pain was real, the grief was real, the affection was real.”

Here's the transcript of the presser, thanks to WNDU-TV

Wow...
Really...???
Really...

2300 UPDATE: In another interesting twist, Arizona Cardinals fullback Reagan Mauia says that he actually met Kekua before her alleged time with Manti Te'o. It came from a meeting in American Samoa during NFL charity work in 2011- two years after the first alleged meeting between Te'o and Kekua at Stanford in 2009.

"She was tall," he said. "Volleyball-type of physique. She was athletic, tall, beautiful. Long hair. Polynesian. She looked like a model ... "

And he did say that yes, Kekua did exist when he was told that she may be a fake...