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

ESPN underplays, intentionally, any negatives about Te'o (and most other stories) to maintain warm relations with their partners and to keep ESPN's cameras close to those they cover.
ESPN is embedded and in bed with the NBA, NFL, NCAA, MLB and the NHL.

 

I don't disagree that this can happen - I had to change the title of a work I did for ESPN to pre-emptively assuage a partner.

That said, it is difficult to make the argument that this is the case here. The presentment of the Couric story actually makes Te'o look worse than it should. This news is not different from that which he confessed to Schaap on Friday evening.

 

But the fact that ESPN, allegedly, held off on the story to get his side, is part and parcel of the lengths they'll go to ameliorate any negative aspects of a story.

 

ESPN wanted him on camera. TV is where the money gets made. Bad call? Sure.

Sort of demonstrably untrue of ESPN in the case of the NFL and CTE lately, too.

espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/8867972/ucla-study-finds-signs-cte-living-former-nfl-players-first-time

 

I don't think that was the case at all. They wanted to get him on camera. That's their bread and butter. Perfectly reasonable explanation.

 

Now that we know that Teo and ND was aware of the fraud prior to BCS game it's a fair question to ask how much impact it had on the poor performance of ND.

Clearly their most importany defensive player was distracted. He looked like a different player from what I saw during season. Now we know the reason why. He certainly was not at his best mentally.

 

I think this is a fair question to ask, and I also think that if anything comes out of this to harm his NFL draft stock, it might be his lack of mental toughness, evidenced by precisely what you observed.

 

A solid 6.

 

The number 6 was invented for this chick.

 

I'm sure Alabama's dominance up front didn't have anything to do with that either. His linemen did him no favors by allowing Bama's big uglies to blast Te'o at the second level. Notre Dame's down linemen were dominated physically and unable to fill any gaps or take on any blockers. Gotta occupy those blockers at the point of attack and protect those linebackers. Hard to make many tackles when you're trying to slip blocks from 300-pound guards and a center who was all-everything this year. The few times he had a chance to fill a gap, he whiffed or tried to arm tackle Bama's two 220-pound backs, who run north/south with some serious aggression.

This story is one of the few overblown ones that I'm actually fascinated about because none of this makes any sense to me. His narrative was already awesome. Mormon Hawaiian who helps lead Notre Dame back to contention is a good story already, without any embellishment. I guess it boils down to what did he know and when did he know it. Why continue a lie? Why call a girl you've never met in the flesh your girlfriend? It just doesn't compute. When you think you've reached some sort of conclusion, it only raises more questions.

This morning, his interview led me to searching for listings of the Katie Couric show. God help us all.

 

I think it makes sense once you come to the conclusion that he retroactively deemed her his girlfriend. Remember, the Saturday that the story broke, Brent Musburger was still calling her a "close friend" on the air during the Michigan State game. That's all. And earlier in the week, she was just "a friend." Not knowing a single detail except the news brief I encountered, I remember wondering if that might have been a stretch, too, a way to pump up the death of some acquaintance after his grandmother also died - by the media, not necessarily Te'o himself. I think that's probably the point when Te'o began to "tailor" his story, no? He may have even convinced himself that she was his girlfriend - perhaps he thought it was heading that way anyway. Remember, relationship status can be fluid. My wife and I retroactively assigned our dating anniversary, even though we didn't plan it as a date, just a group of old college friends getting together. And we didn't have "the talk" for another 4-6 weeks. Same here. He conferred a posthemous degree on her.

I like the point you raise about how the Hawaiian Mormon angle is already quite compelling. But I also think that in practice that can actually lead to further embellishment, not away from it. In fact, I don't just think that. I know it. In late spring of 2009, I wrote a profile of Te'o as a freelance assignment from the South Bend Tribune. I didn't go to Hawaii, but I talked to he and his father, Brian, on the phone. I realized I had a bit of a problem pretty quickly - the subject just didn't match the majestic narrative. He wasn't dumb. I've talked to dumb kids before. I know when I've got one. But he was pretty, well, boring. Not much of a quote. Canned thoughts. For the most part, a typical 17-year-old.

So did I go with that? Of course not. This was a Hawaiian Mormon flying across the Pacific Ocean to save the Notre Dame defense. So I spent the first 10-12 inches or so waxing poetic - and no one will mistake me for John Steinbeck when it comes to describing setting - about his Hawaiian roots. About the beautiful island he lived on. And on and on. Lot of sizzle, no steak. But like I said, this was Manti Te'o, Savior. Same high school as the recently inaugurated president. Spurned USC at the last second. The narrative had to align. Even though the narrative was already, like you said, perfectly compelling.

 

Spoken like a true 'Bama fan. I've mentioned the dominance of Bama line in previous posts as key reason but prior to knowing about the Teo scandal.

Clearly ND Defense was not properly prepared to play that game. They knew what Bama would do and had 6 weeks to make adjustments to try and counteract. Besides being overpowering, Bama gave ND a lot of false keys which put Teo in the wrong place and gave Bama line better blocking angles.

My question now in light of the new information is how sidetracked ND defense in their preparation and concentration.

Even with their "A" game ND was a long shot to beat Bama, but they stood no chance with the game the brought.