Comments on: The Te’o Hoax: A Timeline, What We Know, What We Don’t Know

By: stogiesnbeer

stogiesnbeer — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 04:01:05 +0000

In reply to NDtex. Fair enough, that makes sense. Thanks.

By: NDtex

NDtex — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 21:31:23 +0000

It’s more of a perception problem than anything else.

There are people who wonder if Manti was even on the phone with anyone late at night. Phone records would be quick to prove that.

As I said in the article, I understand they are likely protecting Te’o’s privacy, but the way the story initially broke, leaving such details out hasn’t helped too much. Adds fuel to conspiracy theories when it doesn’t need to.

By: Terry

Terry — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 20:10:20 +0000

What do we all know? We were ALL snookered.

By: stogiesnbeer

stogiesnbeer — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 19:54:30 +0000

Also,
What is the deal with everyone piling on ND’s investigation? They found enough to satisfy themselves that Manti wasn’t in on the hoax. They satisfied their own personal burden of proof, there was no reason for ND to go further into this crazy freaking rabbit hole, once they were convinced that Manti was the victim. Just curious.

By: stogiesnbeer

stogiesnbeer — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 19:52:14 +0000

Thanks for this Tex, I’ve been largely silent on this stuff, mainly because I’ve been out of work and haven’t been hearing trash talk from my friends, but also because this whole thing is so weird that drawing any conclusions sooner would be basically using a “Jump to Conclusions” mat.
I really, really don’t think Manti had anything to do with the hoax at all. He lied to his dad saying that he (in person) met Lennay, and the story spiraled from there. I feel like he felt uncomfortable calling her his “girlfriend” from when the story broke of her “death”, I remember there were multiple points of confusion (saying “either a close female friend or girlfriend) during the MSU game. I think the media called her a “girlfriend” and Manti just wasn’t comfortable correcting them. At what point is he supposed to say, “Uh, look guys, I don’t want to pick nits here, but she wasn’t exactly my “girlfriend” per se.”
Nothing against Bayou, but this doesn’t affect my perception of Manti, he was a victim in all this, is he guilty of lying to his pops and not correcting the media? Sure. Does that fundamentally change who he is? Nah man. Who isn’t guilty of lying to their parents? And Manti doesn’t seem that comfortable talking one-on-one to reporters anyway, so I feel like that would make him less comfortable correcting their “girlfriend” angle.

By: NDtex

NDtex — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 17:47:40 +0000

In reply to rbn. Very fair nit. I agree, no need to create additional confusion in any way. I will edit. Thanks for the suggestion.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 17:06:16 +0000

Fantastic work on this Tex. Carrie Mathison quality timeline here.

By: rbn

rbn — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 16:53:44 +0000

Thank you for the excellent article.

One nit: under “Ronaiah Tuiasosopo Is the Ringleader of the Hoax” you say “…There are other players involved, but …”. It might be clearer to say “…There are other ACTORS/PERPETRATORS involved, but…”. “Players” might be confused to suggest other members of the ND football team.