Deadspin: Manti Te'o's dead girlfriend story was a hoax

Stop the presses.

If he was in on it, no way does he come clean on his own at this point.

 

The cynical point of view would argue that the reason Te'o re-scheduled the interview from Thursday to Friday is that he and his attorneys/representatives were still briefing everyone close to him on the official version of events. In other words, telling those close to Te'o "if anyone asks you, this is what you say about how it all went down."

I do not believe Te'o invented the girl from the start or knowingly used the tragic angle for personal gain. I DO believe that he realized he'd been had FAR longer ago than Wednesday and went along with the narrative so as not to disrupt preparation for the biggest game of his life and the biggest Notre Dame game in 20-some years.

 

I was just relaying the breaking news. Yeah, we knew he'd say that. But it still matters when he actually does.

 

I agree.
I think Te'o's version of events is as close to the truth as there is.
Why he continued to lie for some days after he knew? ... Fear? Embarrassment? Why do kids to the stupid shit they do?
I don't think he's gay. I think he was the victim. Tuaisosopo was NOT the only person involved, based on what I read yesterday, I think girl whose picture was was also involved.
But overall, I beleive Te'o.

But that is NOT going to stop me from cracking jokes about the situation.

 

The whole point of the late Friday night off-camera interview was to get it over with and make it fade as fast as possible. Video creates a whole new news cycle. No video? No story.

I go back to AZ's first comment that this wasn't important. I can't see it as more than a weird and bizarre story about a college football player who didn't win a Heisman or a championship, who didn't have the life experience to understand what was happening or manage the fallout. I'm perfectly willing to accept that in the crazy heat of his football season, he was not focusing on the conflicting details of this crazy drama. He just went with it.

And in comparison to the real news stories we've faced over the last year--Penn State, Lance, NFL bounties, et al--this one just seems sad and silly at the end of the day.

 

Boy. Deadspin REALLY isn't happy with how things are starting to shake out. They need so badly for Te'o to have been behind this whole thing.

I'm about 80 percent sure Deadspin, while unearthing a truly fascinating story, got duped.

 

Still think he was masturbating over this fake chick somehow.
How does one get off on Twitter?

 

If he was clean, why didn't his handlers let ESPN, you know... record the interview?

 

How does one (off-camera interview) imply the other (he was in on it)?

 

And no one say he's clean. He said he's not clean. He said he "tailored" the relationship.

 

Te'o told Schaap he never told anyone he touched her hand in 2009.

 

She's not an athlete, so whether or not she's a victim is irrelevant to this story. That her picture was used in a hoax is beside the point; that her privacy was invaded and her picture has been broadcast to the entire world in a scam to show how easy it is to dupe one dumb young football player and 10,000 grizzled cynical college educated journalists makes her an easy target for the duped.