tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

My Take On The Manti Te’O Story

Late yesterday afternoon, a story broke from Deadspin indicating that the death of Manti Te'o's girl friend was a hoax. Deadspin reported that the girl never existed and that a source was 80% sure that Te'o was involved in perpetrating the fake story. The once most celebrated defensive college player was now being viewed as a self-promoting disgrace. Along with Te'o's reputation taking a hit, Notre Dame was getting slammed as it was being speculated as to whether or not the university was involved in the trumped up story or a cover-up.

The university held a press conference last night where Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick stated that Te'o informed the university on December 26th about a phone call that he received early in the month where he was told that the whole thing was a joke. Subsequently, Notre Dame hired private investigators to look into the situation and it was determined that Te'o was duped. Swarbrick also indicated that he believed that Te'o and his family will address the media possibly today or Friday.

To further complicate this story, a report from the Business Insider indicates that Reagan Maui'a knew Teo's girl friend and in fact she did exist. Maui'a is a fullback for the Arizona Cardinals and he indicated that he met the girl while doing charity work in American Samoa and that allegedly Pittsburgh Steelers star defensive back Troy Polamalu was also there.

As this story was being continually reported, as if it was a national emergency, the overriding question in my mind is if Te'o was involved in the hoax what did he have to gain?? The easy answer, as was being spewed by many in the media, was that it was a way to garner publicity which would advance the senior linebacker's chances for the Heisman Trophy, other awards and possible endorsements. I don't buy it.

Manti Te'o was the middle linebacker for the University of Notre Dame. He made a conscious decision to return for his senior year because he loved Notre Dame and wanted to be a part of bringing the football program back to national prominence. It has been verified that his grandmother did die before the Michigan game. Te'o was close to his grandmother and was deeply effected by her death. If the notion that he played despite personal grief was part of the so-called story, then was it really necessary on his part to supersize the grief by adding on a dead girl friend?? Te'o didn't need to create this story in order to get publicity.

Now many have said that Te'o must be pretty naive to fall for such a hoax but could he also be that naive to believe that if he was involved in the hoax that it wouldn't eventually come out?? Would he also be that naive to believe that if it did come out that his reputation would not take a major hit and possibly effect his status in the upcoming NFL Draft?? There is nothing that makes sense to me as to why Te'o would be a part of the commission of this joke. Moreover, the implication that the University of Notre Dame was somehow involved in this is completely ridiculous.

As the evening wore on and everyone was having their say on Twitter, talk radio and the television, it struck me that there are two reasons why this was such a big story: 1.) Te'o was the middle linebacker of Notre Dame and 2.) the media was duped. If Manti Te'o played for New Mexico State or Missouri, this would be a blip on the sports radar screen and certainly would not have made Anderson Cooper. In case you don't know it, there are many in the media who have an anti-Notre Dame bias. The haters are thriving on this and no matter what Te'o or Notre Dame says it will not be enough.

If Te'o was naive to fall for this, so was the media and I'm not just talking about the South Bend Tribune. ESPN, Sports Illustrated, NBC and the New York Times all bought into it. Now doesn't this make all of these bastions of media intelligensia look foolish that they got punked or I guess the new term is catfished?? And you see the only thing worse than a woman scorned is that of a media type who has been made to be a fool.

In the end, whether Te'o was duped or not really makes no difference to me. The only person who gets hurt here is Manti Te'o. If he was involved in the hoax, then he has some serious character flaws that could impact his draft status. If he was duped, then he is viewed as a naive dope who will be the butt of jokes throughout his career. As a Notre Dame fan, I felt bad for his personal loss, but his performance on the field throughout the season is what I was interested in. But you can chalk this up to another a media generated news item that will be beaten to death until the NFL Draft and the ND haters will have a field day.