Hoax or multiple agendas?

[Lsbcal]

Here is the breaking story: Notre Dame hoax

Do we blame:
1) The football bozo?
2) Notre Dame?
3) Gullible fans?
4) Reporters?
5) ... other?

Amusing to me. I generally just look at this stuff and wonder about people.

 

[W2R]

My opinion is that it happened and that he knew nothing about it. Things like this happen all the time to people who are less famous. It's sad, heartbreaking! It isn't funny but I guess those who do it think that it is.

Just in case, I think that the perpetrator of the hoax should be located, in order to find out if it was just done for "kicks" as I suspect or with other motives.

 

[frayne]

Too many blows to the head. How can one have a girlfriend that one has never met ?

 

[haha]

I think the guy, Manti, is crazy. Who kows, but I saw a video where he talks about how beautiful the phantom girlfriend was, blah blah.

Can't be sure, but looks to me like 85% he is nuts.

Also, got to ask about Notre Dame keeping this under wraps for a month.

Hello?

Ha

 

[Bestwifeever]

I think the South Bend winters got to him. Hard to believe a varsity football player wouldn't have one or several real life girlfriends vs. someone he met online.

And definitely sloppy journalism that no one looked into the girlfriend--the reporter's credo used to be "If your mother says she loves you, check it out."

 

[JPatrick]

Too many blows to the head. How can one have a girlfriend that one has never met ?

Ummm, would Heather Locklear count??

 

[obgyn65]

Why is this a breaking story ? Who cares? Aren't there more important things going on in this world ?

Here is the breaking story: Notre Dame hoax

 

[omni550]

How can one have a girlfriend that one has never met ?

Try watching the movie or the resulting spin-off MTV show called Catfish about people meeting online and having multi- month to multi-year romances with someone they've never met.

omni

 

[haha]

Try watching the movie or the resulting spin-off MTV show called Catfish about people meeting online and having multi- month to multi-year romances with someone they've never met.

omni

Aren't these either extremely odd looking people, or those with real fear of close contact? Ever met an athlete, even in high school who was deterred by either of these concerns?

Ha

 

[Dimsumkid]

This one didn't cross my thoughts when I first heard the news. Rumors are this might be a cover story to hide his sexuality:

Manti Te'o Gay? Girlfriend Hoax Leads To Speculation On Sexuality Of Notre Dame Star

They're now reporting he cancelled his ESPN interview and hired a big time PR firm.

 

[omni550]

Aren't these either extremely odd looking people, or those with real fear of close contact? Ever met an athlete, even in high school who was deterred by either of these concerns?

Ha

Funny you should mention athletes.

The last Catfish show I saw featured a very handsome young athlete (much better-looking than his 2 closest friends who were shown as part of the video footage). He fell for a beautiful gal who lived clear across the state and developed an online relationship with her ....only to discover (with the assistance of the Catfish team) that "she" was not who he thought she was.

So, I'd say the "catfish" is often someone a bit more unique...but the ones I have seen on the show that have been [-]reeled[/-] taken in by a catfish are often normal-looking and seem to not have social anxiety or fear of closeness.

They have all been fairly young and very much into social media/texting, etc. which is typically how they "met" in the first place. Perhaps a bit naive, falling for the personal attention and relationship, and being romantic at heart is probably what the "targets" suffer from.

omni

 

[Lsbcal]

Why is this a breaking story ? Who cares? Aren't there more important things going on in this world ?

There are very definitely more important things in this world to care about.

To me it is an interesting story because it reflects on several fronts the weird present day world. The sloppy reporting of facts, the alternate histories that are served up, the ignorance of "college educated" individuals, the worship of sports myths, and on and on .... These are layers of hypocrisy that are interesting to unravel.

I could get poetic about this.

P.S. I admit I'm not perfect either. Just in case someone accuses me of thinking this of myself.

 

[haha]

Funny you should mention athletes.

The last Catfish show I saw featured a very handsome young athlete (much better-looking than his 2 closest friends who were shown as part of the video footage). He fell for a beautiful gal who lived clear across the state and developed an online relationship with her ....only to discover (with the assistance of the Catfish team) that "she" was not who he thought she was.

So, I'd say the "catfish" is often someone a bit more unique...but the ones I have seen on the show that have been [-]reeled[/-] taken in by a catfish are often normal-looking and seem to not have social anxiety or fear of closeness.

They have all been fairly young and very much into social media/texting, etc. which is typically how they "met" in the first place. Perhaps a bit naive, falling for the personal attention and relationship, and being romantic at heart is probably what the "targets" suffer from.

omni

Thanks. Who is the catfish, the one who does the hoax, or the person who is supposedly taken in by it?

Ha

 

[omni550]

Thanks. Who is the catfish, the one who does the hoax, or the person who is supposedly taken in by it?

Ha

The one who perpetrates the hoax is the catfish Urban Dictionary: catfish

BTW, I just spotted this article on the 'Catfish' guys getting involved with the Irish athlete hoax 'Catfish' Creators Believe Manti Te'o Hoax Goes Deeper - ABC News

omni

 

[haha]

The one who perpetrates the hoax is the catfish Urban Dictionary: catfish

BTW, I just spotted this article on the 'Catfish' guys getting involved with the Irish athlete hoax 'Catfish' Creators Believe Manti Te'o Hoax Goes Deeper - ABC News

omni

Very interesting, and completely incomprehensible to me. What good is a boyfriend or girlfriend somewhere other than where you are? I can understand people who fall in love in college or in one city, then one leaves for life opportunities elsewhere. Nevertheless, the half life of these distance romances tends to be short, especially among young people. It is just too easy to forget your love for the one who is not there, when so many other candidates are there.

I cannot imagine a young man falling in love with a phantom. It is hard enough for a woman to get a guy to fall in love with her even when she is regularly in his bed.

And since when is leukemia a winning factor? Talk about pain! ALi MaGraw maybe, but that was a movie.

The athlete, and Notre Dame have a big stake in spinning this as the poor guy is dumb, not an evil liar. Not sure, but I would imagine that a dumb football player will look better in the draft than a liar or a nut job. But there will also be those who want to out him, if they can. So it should get very interesting. It isn't going away real quickly!

Ha

 

[easysurfer]

If I was to bet, my guess is that initially he was duped. As the saying goes "love is blind." I don't know exactly when he discovered that he been had but I wouldn't be surprised if he started to lie out of embarassment. Then before long..well..the story of Pinocchio.

One might think, "No way!" But the situation might be like the senior citizens who fall for the fast talking phone con artists. Or even the "smart" folks that fell for Bernie Madoff (those fake investment statements surely looked real to those blinded investors at the time seeing only what they want to see).

 

[Lsbcal]

Ha, I completely agree with you. When I was a young guy I wouldn't have been texting a hot chick. I'd have wanted some hands on time. And if I'd been a star athlete in college -- oh boy, there would have been lots of opportunity to find girls that were not virtual ones.

 

[Mulligan]

If I was to bet, my guess is that initially he was duped. As the saying goes "love is blind." I don't know exactly when he discovered that he been had but I wouldn't be surprised if he started to lie out of embarassment. Then before long..well..the story of Pinocchio.

One might think, "No way!" But the situation might be like the senior citizens who fall for the fast talking phone con artists. Or even the "smart" folks that fell for Bernie Madoff (those fake investment statements surely looked real to those blinded investors at the time seeing only what they want to see).

That is the only plausible scenario I could come up with that would make any type of sense or reason for carrying it out the way it did.

 

[donheff]

Manti does seem to be a bit nuts but his father must be nuts too. I understand he reports meeting the girl! Or are we to believe the hoaxer is a girl from Hawaii (or confederate) who actually stopped by to see dear old dad?

 

[HFWR]

Why is this a breaking story ? Who cares? Aren't there more important things going on in this world ?

Blasphemy!!

Give it its fifteen [-]seconds[/-] minutes of fame, then get back to the really important news, like Kim Kardashian or Lindsey Lohan...

 

[haha]

I suppose stranger things have happened. But to me, this is still a very smelly story that likely has nothing to do with what really happened. The cost of not believing these unbelievable stories is over time very low.

You'll miss a few true stories of sainthood, but not many.

Ha

 

[imoldernu]

Between Te'o, Armstrong, Guns and James Deen, the MSM is saving a bundle.

Oh? You didn't know about James Deen?

 

[easysurfer]

The latest...South Bend, Ind newspaper

FULL COVERAGE: Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax - wsbt.com

 

[Dawg52]

I suppose stranger things have happened. But to me, this is still a very smelly story that likely has nothing to do with what really happened. The cost of not believing these unbelievable stories is over time very low.

You'll miss a few true stories of sainthood, but not many.

Ha

Agree. Anything is possible I guess, but seems unlikely he could be that naive. Too many things just don't add up.

 

[easysurfer]

I'm listening to this interview now about the "sick hoax"...

http://kfanav.s3.amazonaws.com/20130117_011813-Alema-Teo-WEB.mp3

This is the link on the "Te'o's uncle speaks" section.

http://www.wsbt.com/wsbt-espn-source-tuisopopo-confessed-to-teo-gf-hoax---20130118,0,3244451.story