Manti Te'o's girlfriend who died... (3 Viewers)

[⚡DEADHEAD⚡]

Some 10 years later, I have to say I'm embarrassed at the way in which I let the media spin influence what I thought was happening. Valuable lesson for me and to pass on to my kids. Feel badly for Te'o. Good dude.

 

[CletiusMaximus]

The really strange thing for me is so many people, including in this discussion here, immediately went to the gay thing as the default explanation. Its unfair to judge in retrospect I guess, knowing what we know now, but that theory never made any sense.

 

[offdee]

The really strange thing for me is so many people, including in this discussion here, immediately went to the gay thing as the default explanation. Its unfair to judge in retrospect I guess, knowing what we know now, but that theory never made any sense.

At a very high level. High profile male athlete, before any has admitted to being gay before, convinces his team (and future NLF teams) he's straight by having a "long distance girlfriend". Not a big stretch at that time.

 

[facook]

It's really tragic how Roniah effed up Manti's life. He was/is a great, if perhaps gullible, guy. Nobody should have to be abused like that, and those memes and cartoons were the worst. I hope Manti has found peace and happiness and wish Roniah had been prosecuted and imprisoned.

Yeah it sucks what they did and should be in jail but I don't think any of this should've been as popular and open as it was. It simple was because he played football at Notre Dame. I remember before he was even drafted there was talk about this guy not being a day 2 pick. I feel bad for the guy but it never should'e been as public as it was.

Well, the problem though was that ESPN/Notre Dame made it public. And, frankly, I don't blame them too much because it was a pretty crazy story where the leader of the most popular team was believed to have his grandma and girlfriend die on the same day so the story writes itself.

In the documentary I thought it came across pretty strongly that Deadspin exposed the story as a way to get at ESPN (and not necessarily Manti). And, of course, the public then loves nothing more than a fall from grace story. Got to remember as well that "catfishing" was not a prevalently known thing, either, so hence the jumps to opinations that he was in on it and could have been gay or whatever.

I can't find the clip, but I heard Paul Carr interviewed recently. He was a producer/researcher at ESPN at the time and was on the Manti stuff. If I remember right he said he was in Missouri, working on MLS stuff and in a meeting when the Deadspin bomb dropped that it was catfishing. He acknowledged they (ESPN) had never heard of catfishing and pretty much had no second thought that the whole story might be untrue, from whatever perspective.

 

[moleculo]

Did this really cost him millions of dollars?

IIRC, some people had him as a 1st rounder, but it wasn't clear cut unanimous. And when he got to the NFL, it's not like his play blew the doors off the league. His 40 time of 4.82 probably cost him more than anything else. In the pro's, he seemed to struggle staying healthy.

With full benefit of hindsight, early 2nd feels about right, or even a tad high.

I think the idea is that his confidence was so shot by this whole thing that he could never play "fast" anymore and it had him thinking versus reacting. So the 40 time didn't help, but his top tangible of "Leadership and natural Instincts" were severely damaged. There was one quote on the show that was something like "after hearing this story, what teammate is gonna look at him as a leader anymore?". So true.

Yep. I think it easily cost him millions. He was a Heisman finalist, projected mid-rounder, etc. The documentary really did a nice job of showing how his confidence got shot, how his combine/draft process was a ****show with all the bad media publicity, and how teams - who I think did become aware that he was innocent in the whole thing - thought less of him though.

Te'o seemed like the type of player whose best attribute was his leadership. In that sense, he's got added value - despite maybe the mediocre combine numbers - for his leadership and on-field ability to be in the right places, etc. Kind of like, maybe, a Draymond Green, Nick Foles, Gary Carter, Ray Lewis, Tom Brady, Derek Jeter type players where they exceed their physical stats. That was gone though for him because he was looked at as gullible and his confidence, as mentioned, was shot.

Ok. I guess I need to watch part 2.

Ok, just watched ep 2. Really, really good & powerful. I still say - he ended up drafted about where he would have been otherwise. Only way this cost him, IMO, is shooting his confidence as a pro...but he's not the only guy dealing with stuff. He wasn't able to compartmentalize or use his troubles as fuel. Not many can though, and that's why so many people just don't make it.

 

[jobarules]

Roniah is just a sick individual and belongs in an insane asylum.

 

[SwampDawg]

Agree with others that at the time I figured he must just be an idiot but after watching this I feel bad for him. Obviously a very gullible guy who got taken advantage of because of his wanting to help others and be a good dude. One thing that stood out to me, in episode 1 he talks about how he wanted to go to USC, talked to his parents and was basically set to do so. Then he decides to pray on it (ok understandable) but he takes a guy connected to his high school program saying he thought he would go to Norte Dame and be original as his sign that he should go there. That was my fist sign this guy can be easily influenced. And then my second jaded thought was how much did Norte Dame pay this guy to get in his ear.

 

[Zow]

Roniah is just a sick individual and belongs in an insane asylum.

The lack of remorse was alarming.

 

[DJackson10]

It's really tragic how Roniah effed up Manti's life. He was/is a great, if perhaps gullible, guy. Nobody should have to be abused like that, and those memes and cartoons were the worst. I hope Manti has found peace and happiness and wish Roniah had been prosecuted and imprisoned.

Yeah it sucks what they did and should be in jail but I don't think any of this should've been as popular and open as it was. It simple was because he played football at Notre Dame. I remember before he was even drafted there was talk about this guy not being a day 2 pick. I feel bad for the guy but it never should'e been as public as it was.

Well, the problem though was that ESPN/Notre Dame made it public. And, frankly, I don't blame them too much because it was a pretty crazy story where the leader of the most popular team was believed to have his grandma and girlfriend die on the same day so the story writes itself.

In the documentary I thought it came across pretty strongly that Deadspin exposed the story as a way to get at ESPN (and not necessarily Manti). And, of course, the public then loves nothing more than a fall from grace story. Got to remember as well that "catfishing" was not a prevalently known thing, either, so hence the jumps to opinations that he was in on it and could have been gay or whatever.

Not a lot of people did but I grew up in this time period. Just left college not long before early 2Os so my age group knew what it was probably better then others. But you made my point. ESPN at the time slobbered all over Notre Dame in that time period.

 

[DJackson10]

Agree with others that at the time I figured he must just be an idiot but after watching this I feel bad for him. Obviously a very gullible guy who got taken advantage of because of his wanting to help others and be a good dude. One thing that stood out to me, in episode 1 he talks about how he wanted to go to USC, talked to his parents and was basically set to do so. Then he decides to pray on it (ok understandable) but he takes a guy connected to his high school program saying he thought he would go to Norte Dame and be original as his sign that he should go there. That was my fist sign this guy can be easily influenced. And then my second jaded thought was how much did Norte Dame pay this guy to get in his ear.

I had a neighbor who's son went to Notre Dame at the time. Was one a scholarship for LAX so he pretty much hung around all the athletes while there. Manti was someone many knew could be easily influenced. In a way I felt bad from the stories he told me because a lot of people took advantage of this kid. I'm not lying when I say I think there is a strong possibility if a group of his friends wanted to commit armed robbery and have him as a getaway driver he'd have been easily convinced into doing so. That's how insanely gullible this guy was. I don't know if it is from his upbringing or something else but I never heard of someone so gullible and could be taken advantage of. I mean I knew someone in my neighbor easily influenced but Manti made this kid look like an Ivy leaguer.

 

[facook]

Roniah is just a sick individual and belongs in an insane asylum.

The lack of remorse was alarming.

This. Lack of remorse. Also for the mustard-yellow makeup. Eesh.