I was like 15 when this story broke, and I remember that the idea of meeting people online was a pretty widespread thing among younger people, but that type of concept didn't really become normal or socially accepted until a few years later. The show Catfish came about because that was a more common thing socially, of course. At this time, the internet was super unregulated (for lack of a better word). I mean, these were the years that the Chargers account was tweeting "Sooo hungry, got to find my wife and head to PF Changs."
These days, you meet strangers online all the time, to go on a date, buy something off Facebook marketplace, all types of stuff. So I can see why it was accepted at face value that Manti Te'o said he had this girlfriend who died. I can imagine that if you are in the college football media you are also dying to do a story on this because it sounds so unique and it's kind of a heart-warming story. But still, all that said, I can't believe the oversight got to the point where the story was all over the broadcasts of games and on SportsCenter and everything.
These days, you meet strangers online all the time, to go on a date, buy something off Facebook marketplace, all types of stuff. So I can see why it was accepted at face value that Manti Te'o said he had this girlfriend who died. I can imagine that if you are in the college football media you are also dying to do a story on this because it sounds so unique and it's kind of a heart-warming story. But still, all that said, I can't believe the oversight got to the point where the story was all over the broadcasts of games and on SportsCenter and everything.
