Manti Te'o got ate by a catfish or something

[Socnorb11]

There was no "her" and there was no "she"....and he knew that...that's the point!

Of course there was a "her" and a "she". It just wasn't who he thought it was.

He still refers to "her" after he knows it is a hoax. Do you not read the links provided by other posters?

http://www.awfulannouncing.com/2013/jan ... ation.html

I read that link. Which part says that there was no girl?

As I said, my theory is that he got a phone call from the girl that he thought was his girlfriend, after he thought she was dead. I think it's possible that he could have been in denial about that phone call. I mean if you've been in a relationship with a girl, and you think she died, and then you get a phone call that she didn't die............... that's a lot to absorb in 2 days.

wtf are you talking about?

Here is what I think happened (just my theory, because obviously none of us know for sure at this point):

He entered into an online relationship with a girl that he thought was "Lennay".

The online relationship was actually someone duping him (probably a group of people).

I think there was a girl involved in the prank, who called him regularly.

At some point, he was told that "Lennay" had died.

Later, he got a call that "Lennay" had not died.

He was completely rattled, and possibly in denial about being "punked", and still believing that the relationship had been real.

[lukethedrifter]

Scronbocs scenario is pretty likely. Then add that he perpetuated it by not owning up and in fact lying. Ego and naïveté.

[go birds]

yea, thats kinda how i see things playing out.

I'd like to add that i think he kept the lie going after finding out to use it to his advantage re: the heisman.

[Socnorb11]

yea, thats kinda how i see things playing out.

I'd like to add that i think he kept the lie going after finding out to use it to his advantage re: the heisman.

Unless I misunderstood, I think that ndistops pointed out earlier that Te'o didn't know about the hoax until after Heisman voting had concluded. So I'm not sure that he kept the lie going for that reason.

[docellis]

2 things....first, is it kind of weird that so many somoans were involved in this story? i mean, even troy palamalue is tangentially involved.

second, this may have been brought up already, but when thinking of motives, has anyone thought, maybe he is gay? maybe he was involved in the creation of this "character" to make him seem straight when coeds were throwing themselves at him? doesn't explain killing her off, but I can't think of a better motive than that. the heisman stuff as a motive seems really naive and immature.

[Vidor]

second, this may have been brought up already, but when thinking of motives, has anyone thought, maybe he is gay?

That has been batted around quite a bit. No real evidence for it, of course.

[ndistops]

yea, thats kinda how i see things playing out.

I'd like to add that i think he kept the lie going after finding out to use it to his advantage re: the heisman.

Unless I misunderstood, I think that ndistops pointed out earlier that Te'o didn't know about the hoax until after Heisman voting had concluded. So I'm not sure that he kept the lie going for that reason.

The ND story is that Te'o found out while he was on the awards circuit. As that is the only evidence supporting the theory, people are free to discount it. I can't say I'd blame them.

[ndistops]

Te'o's uncle did a radio interview this evening claiming that Tuiasosopo (as himself, not as the fake girl) was hitting the Te'o family up for money, ostensibly for a leukemia foundation dedicated to Lennay. Te'o supposedly promised his uncle/family that he would cut the guy out a few days after the USC game. It was a week and a half later that "Lennay" resurfaced.

[Freed Roger]

2 things....first, is it kind of weird that so many somoans were involved in this story? i mean, even troy palamalue is tangentially involved.

second, this may have been brought up already, but when thinking of motives, has anyone thought, maybe he is gay? maybe he was involved in the creation of this "character" to make him seem straight when coeds were throwing themselves at him? doesn't explain killing her off, but I can't think of a better motive than that. the heisman stuff as a motive seems really naive and immature.

I crack up at this because a small group of samoans were studs in football program at my college (granted, in a piddly ass program decades ago). They didn't have a terribly bad rep, but it was sketchy somewhat. There was an air of a little mini-mafia thing going on.

jeesh, that was so unfair. But doc started it.

[cardsfansince82]

There's a whole bunch of Polynesians out West and they're pretty tight. I knew quite a few people from Hawaii and they somehow all knew each other. It's still amazing how many people in that ronaiah guy's extended family were good at football.

I'm personally still not buying the "duped and then lied a little about it" explanation at all. He had to be more complicit in this whether it was a closet thing or simply for attention.