On first read, I must say this article is pretty damning to Te'o. It paints him as either a gullible, naive fool, or an unscrupulous genius with near-omniscient powers. It's tough reading this article and not thinking that Te'o was in on it in some way. All of his comments about talking with her in her coma, and the news stories that tell about their first meeting, make him seem like a terrifically good con artist.
My opinion is that Te'o got in over his head. I think he had an Internet girlfriend that he never met, but made up a few "white lies" here and there to make it seem like he really met her. What college guy, especially one with the campus stature that Te'o has, wants to admit that he met the girl he loved on the Internet and had never actually met her? I think he embellished his relationship, found out that his "girlfriend" "died", and that with all the news outlets picking up the story, it escalated too quick for him to come clean that he'd never met her.
Hopefully this blows over soon and Te'o is acquitted in the public courts. But even if it doesn't, or even if he is in on it, what's the big deal?! The kid didn't break any laws, he's still going to go pro this fall and make millions of dollars. Yeah, it leaves a sour taste in your mouth, but know that Manti's biggest fault was not doing drugs. steroids, felonies - it was trying to make himself bigger than he actually was. What 21/22-year-old doesn't try to do that?
Why Manti didn't want to admin he had an online girlfriend.
2 comments:
I think Kevin's theory is 100% dead on. I thought the exact same thing myself. In fact, when she "died", I was surprised to hear her referred to as his girlfriend. He had never said that before, and I think the media was confused about the relationship. I'm not sure if he was the 1st to refer to her as his girlfriend, but I never heard that until after.
It's classic Occam's Razor. What is more likely?
A) Manti, one of the most kind, generous people around got duped by a fake online relationship.
B) Manti created an elaborate hoax, lying to his parents, friends, team and the media in order to garner sympathy - above and beyond the sympathy he already received for the death of his grandmother.
Sympathy for what reason? I have no idea. B) just doesn't make any sense.
Wheras A) is actually a pretty common problem with the ubiquitous nature of the internet, and the ease in which celebrities can be contacted.
My take is that he somehow met a girl online. He tried to meet her a few times and she never showed (he admitted this). He smelled something fishy and backed off. Then she suddenly has a tragic turn and dies. The story spirals, and he is confused. However, he is already fragile because his grandmother had just died. Even though something isn't right, he just allows his emotion to take over.
I'm not sure when he 1st knew something was up, but I am 100% sure his 1st thought was, "Oh shit, I am a total idiot." He was totally embarrassed, and didn't want word of his online relationship to get out, and even more so the fact he was duped.
I just want this sad story to go away. I feel really bad for the guy. Reason #1356 that I am not on Facebook and I don't Tweet.
In 10 years, America will be 99% socially retarded!
The real question is this: what does Ian do with his Manti t-shirt?
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