Thursday Open Manti Te'o Notre Dame Leenay Kekau Thread

Submitted by profitgoblue on

Put all of your thoughts, comments, questions, concerns, and general what-have-yous here.

 

Personally, I still don't know what the heck is going on.  The only thing I know is that he might still have a girlfriend (the Leenay Kekau imposter that he fell in love with (?) is still alive!)?  Or is the hoax a default break-up?  My mind hurts.

 

MGJS SuperKick Party

January 17th, 2013 at 10:10 AM ^

My head hasn't hurt this bad from thinking since I saw inception... I don't know how to believe. I saw on SC this Morning that a player for the cardinals said he met her... Right now I am leaning more to he tried pulling a quick one to win votes for the Heisman, but it's too confusing.
Honestly Bo had it right when he said to hell with Notre Dame...

Crime Reporter

January 17th, 2013 at 10:12 AM ^

One does not simply met Manti Teo's girlfriend. Her black gates are guarded by more than just orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep. The great eye is ever watchful. It is a barren wasteland, riddled with fire, ash, and dust. The very air you breathe is a poisonous fume. Not with ten thousand men could you do this. It is folly.

 

Darker Blue

January 17th, 2013 at 10:14 AM ^

Someone needs to explain to me, WTF is going on?????????

*Extra question marks signify what a moran I be. 

 

OH andn I know I could google this, but that's not as much fun as talking to you fine MGoFolks

MGoCombs

January 17th, 2013 at 10:26 AM ^

Assuming you are being serious... In short:

Manti Te'o's dead GF isn't real. This was proven by Deadspin. There remains some question as to whether he was a victim of an elaborate online hoax (or Catfish) or he was in on the hoax in order to play up his image/profile for Heisman votes.

Some remaining theories are: 1) He is gay and this was his cover-up that got out of control. 2) He was in on it, but didn't expect it to be such a story that got out of control.  3) He didn't know about it until later, once it was too big to come out with until after the season. I am sure there are more, but that's the gist.

EDIT: I should add that Te'o made a statement that was endorsed in some capacity by the ND AD in a press conference.

TheLastHarbaugh

January 17th, 2013 at 10:31 AM ^

No one really knows what is going on.

Most likely scenarios:

1. Manti done goofed and created himself a fake girlfriend (for whatever reason) and the story was picked up by the national media and has spun completely out of his control.

2. Manti got trolled for 4 years by some ruthless mofos, and is such a rube that he never picked up on it.

3. Manti is gay, and this was a huge cover up to hide his sexuality, given his religion and what he does.

4. Manti made this up as a publicity stunt, and his family/friends (and possibly ND) were somewhat complicit in it.

TheLastHarbaugh

January 17th, 2013 at 12:02 PM ^

Hasn't Tuiasosopo been confirmed as gay? So if that is true, it would add another layer to this story and point towards option #3.

I also believe that Mike Freeman (of CBS Sports) confirmed a report about an anonymous interivew with a ND player stating players on the team knew Manti's girlfriend wasn't real, and knew that Manti made up the story. 

Naked Bootlegger

January 17th, 2013 at 11:51 AM ^

Don't feel bad...I've been around the interwebz this entire week and don't understand a thing.  I went to bed early last night and awoke to a complete sh#tstorm of Te'o-related info.

  I'm also feeling quite old because I'm not sure what this Catfish thing is all about.   Maybe Herm can clarify.

 

Victor Hale II

January 17th, 2013 at 10:15 AM ^

Mike Greenburg (Mike & Mike) actually believes in Te'o now that Swarbrick stood up and defended him last night. 

 

Ditto for Pat Forde on Yahoo Sports.

 

That is simply mind-boggling to me.  Do these guys have to pick a side and stick with it regardless of what they believe?  Is that how the MSM operates?

Butterfield

January 17th, 2013 at 10:22 AM ^

Sadly, I think the decisions Forde and Greenburg have come to have more to do with self-preservation of their careers than any actual belief that Teo was a victim. 

They need access to Notre Dame, its players, and Swarbrick more than they need to be right.  Publicly buying Swarbrick/Teo's version will keep their pipeline open and probably help them secure future stories, etc. 

There is no such thing as MSM journalistic integrity anymore.  Those guys, the ones who take unpopular sides that may offend the people with money, don't work for ESPN or Yahoo anymore - they are liabilities to in an industry that now values fluff over content. 

Butterfield

January 17th, 2013 at 11:44 AM ^

I guess I shouldn't paint with such a broad brush.  There are still a few real journalists out there and some of them even work for ESPN or Yahoo.  Robinson would be one.  The OTL crew from ESPN would be another.  But for the most part, the known personalities working for these outlets are fluff regurgitators who seem to find themselves catering to the publicity needs of players and teams rather than seeking and reporting truth. 

GoWings2008

January 17th, 2013 at 10:25 AM ^

I listened to him this morning on the way to work and what he said was that one thing in favor of believing the story was that Swarbrick said what he did last night.  He still is waiting for the rest of the story to come out, but his reasoning was it would be more detrimental to ND for Swarbrick to have backed up Te'o and be wrong than it was to simply say, 'eh, the kid messed up.' 

Pat Forde is an idiot anyway, so....yeah.

GoWings2008

January 17th, 2013 at 10:32 AM ^

Golic is a grad.  What do you expect? 

And Greenberg is Golic's friend...he may not openly root or root against him, but in interest of the show's dynamic, he keeps the peace by not being anti-ND.  And, its my personaly opinion Greenberg keeps an open mind about most things, even if he is a bit naive about many things.