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

Absolutely. Read right over that line.

I want someone who covers the team to publicly says "Manti Te'o is dumb as a box of rocks, so this is totally plausible."

NOT "This is totally plausible, because I got killed on this like everyone else. So I really want it to be about someone who was fooled, 'cause I was fooled."

Were there stories about Manti Te'o being needy? Or were there stories about him wanting attention?

 

So, again:

He laid the groundwork for this for a year, slowly, patiently.

He quietly leaked the story of her death the day of his grandmother's death.

His hope was that the South Bend Tribune would then come to him and do a big takeout on what had happened to him, and, when it did, he would be ready with an elaborate tale of car accidents and eight-hour phone calls.

So he could increase his Heisman Trophy chances, playing as he was at middle linebacker for a 2-0 team that had just edged Purdue.

 

Mitch Albom wrings his hands; thinks people are getting way too upset over a fabricated story.


http://www.freep.com/article/20130120/COL01/301200155/Mitch-Albom-Whom-did-Notre-Dame-s-Manti-Te-o-hurt-in-girlfriend-hoax-?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

 

ND pr machine doing their best to distance themselves from culpability.

"They stand by those decisions. Two officials spoke on the record but The Tribune agreed to a request to quote only university spokesman Dennis Brown by name."

If the there was ever any doubt that The Trib is the ND hometown newspaper.

 

Mitch certainly knows about the danger of fabricated stories.

 

At some point, someone needs to construct a timeline of the story's presence in the media. I think it would serve to pretty definitively debunk the idea that this was a massive hoax foisted upon the public beginning before the Notre Dame-Michigan State game to launch Te'o's Heisman campaign. If I recall, it built up momentum pretty slowly. It's not like Te'o went courting reporters to cover it. How did anyone even find out to begin with that his "friend," which she was called at the time, supposedly died?

 

No doubt that it was talked about during Mich St game but for me it really did not register until I read Thamel story the following week.

 

Any GM who doesn't give this guy a thorough pysch exam is just asking for it.

 

Kind of lost in the shuffle of ND / Teo story book season was this tweet from Teo last year:

Mteo_5: Playin for my bros and that's it!!!! @dflem45 @RobJob293 @Carlo44Cal @KLM_89 @Freekey_Zekey17 @stadium20status @J_Slaughter26 #theoriginals

Made after Kelly publicly criticized the ND players who he did not recruit.

Social media has not served Teo well.

 

Boom, I brought that up, I believe, on the Heisman thread to refute the ridiculousness that his "character" vaulted him past Manziel. It did not get much traction then. Didn't fit the narrative, I guess.

 

Hopeless romantic. Slightly immature.

Done.

 

"fooled easily, both on and off the field"