Te'o is a pathological liar, minus the logical. Just come clean, kid.

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My single greatest contribution to the board: "42-13" (formerly 24-14)

Pretty much, just accept you got figured out and take the loss and move on with life.

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"Never Say Never, because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion" - Michael Jordan

Shark, you're killing me with giving this guy ANY wiggle room. He was in on it, period.

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@ryanadamdavis

Until the girl who was catfishing and Tuiasosopo sit down and share how they pulled off this time consuming hoax, I don't buy it. Pranking is one thing, but the pure number of hours this faker would have had to put into this thing is staggering and pretty much unbelievable.

Dude is still lying.

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SEAHAWKS.NET. We All We Got, We All We Need

There are many places the lie really breaks down, but the one that gets me is where in the interview with Schaap Manti says it never occurred to him to go visit the girl in the hospital after her supposed car accident or bout with cancer.

You can't sell the innocent, all-in puppy love as how you got fooled and then be the guy who doesn't make the grand romantic gesture to get to the sick girl at all costs.

But the entertainment value of watching this unfold is tremendous.

I'm not following this at all, but I have found a lot of the responses here fascinating. Is it really so far fetched that someone was working on conning this future millionaire into believing that he was in love with this woman?

I know what my first thought was when I heard this, but since this isn't in the Shack I won't go into it.

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I like to give people a different view on things. I don't mind stepping out of my comfort zone and saying something I may not even believe to get people to think through all angles. I like to consider myself a problem solver. If I can take a car apart and put it back together, or rebuild a broken laptop with parts from 3 or 4 computers, then I can certainly approach a situation in somebody's life and see it from different angles. I'm a teacher, and I'm also an alpha and beta tester. So it is the way I think. I try to see things from as many possible viewpoints as I can. That way I can figure out where somebody is struggling with a concept and figure out how they are thinking and teach them how to do it. It is also how I can think through how somebody might use a piece of software or hardware and come up with issues that I personally wouldn't come up with. I can find bugs like crazy, by being able to change mindsets.

I don't see it as a weakness. I think it's a good way to approach life, so I do so.

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R.I.P. Dad. I miss you. You will never be forgotten
1/12/39 - 8/7/08

Tessi Tolutau is next up to confirm it was all on Tui. http://espn.go.com/college-football/sto ... -was-prank

She's honest. I wouldn't hesitate to believe anything she says. Good rep. Good person. Has ZERO reason to lie.

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R.I.P. Dad. I miss you. You will never be forgotten
1/12/39 - 8/7/08

I think you are both right. At least where I grew up, the "good" mormons were a lot like what T-Sizzle describes. The "Jack" Mormons tended to be more... free spirited. My neighbors were classic Jack Mormons. They were GREAT people, I loved being around them, then one day the parents swapped spouses with a police officer couple (by amazing coincidence) and when they found out, the mom brought out a hand gun and shot at her husband as he escaped for his life. The same husband would die in an unrelated car accident a month later. It was extremely bizarre- it was straight out of a hollywood movie.

They were awesome people though. I miss that family.

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"I believe there’s merit to the idea that once something in life becomes conventional, it’s no longer the safest path to success." -Matt Waldman
"If everyone's thinking alike, no one's thinking." -Bill Walsh

He said "required". Nothing is required of anybody. All cultures have expectations, and the ones he described are typical American values. It has nothing to do with Mormonism.

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R.I.P. Dad. I miss you. You will never be forgotten
1/12/39 - 8/7/08

I guess we will have to disagree. I moved around a lot up and down the west coast and that was my experience. It's one of the main reasons I will never be going to church again. Every ward I was in growing up was that way. Not sure where you live but in southern California and Washington I found it that way.

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"??? How do you know he's awful? We've seen the guy play 2 regular season games." -SoulfishHawk
"16 starts in 9 years is all you need to know." - Tsizzle
"OMFG! LOL! Are you for real?" -ivotuk

Sorry, required was the wrong word. But if you don't you are looked at as an outcast. If you don't do what the group does they think something is wrong with you and gossip begins. I have had it happen to me in multiple wards.

It has nothing to do with Mormonism ... It has everything to do with fitting in with your piers. I don't know anyone who would choose to be an outcast. So I felt required. Maybe you can't see it because you do fit in. If I didn't spend 18 years being judged I may have a positive outlook. I do agree it's not a church issue...it's a people issue.

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"??? How do you know he's awful? We've seen the guy play 2 regular season games." -SoulfishHawk
"16 starts in 9 years is all you need to know." - Tsizzle
"OMFG! LOL! Are you for real?" -ivotuk

That's where I disagree. I live in Utah County, which is the most Mormon place on earth. I grew up for the first big chunk of my life in Seattle, where I was always active in the church and did all of those things. I moved to Utah and didn't. I am treated just great here and have ever since I got here in junior high and quit scouts, stopped going to the dumb service projects and everything else. I was never treated as an outcast by my ward. In fact, if anything, they seemed to be nicer to me as they were trying to win me over.

I think it all depends on the situation though. You're right... nobody knows what we are talking about, but some wards just really suck and are full of judgmental pricks. They tend to end up in the same neighborhoods and then you end up getting treated like garbage. I just think that's human nature though. It's sad when it gets tied to religion, because that's not a church issue, that's a people are dickheads in general issue. No matter what, about half the people are cool, about half are buttholes. Religion doesn't change those numbers.

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R.I.P. Dad. I miss you. You will never be forgotten
1/12/39 - 8/7/08

Shark, I am not a criminal investigator but even I recognize the obvious conflicting statements that Te'o has made. Te'o had previously claimed meeting with her in person, and even after the news of the hoax broke he said he talked to her on the phone. Then you have the Notre Dame teammates saying they knew it was a hoax and Te'o was just having fun with it. Even if this was an extremely elaborate hoax by Tuiasasopo- setting up an actress to meet and speak with Te'o, it wouldn't have held up long because Te'o would have known the girl who's picture is on facebook was a different person. Even without the teammate confession, there is a lot of conflicting evidence that pokes holes in Te'o's claims.

Then you also have the "changing story" aspect of this, with people claiming that Kekua really did exist, etc. There is a whole lot of lying going on. If Kekua is fake and Te'o innocent, then it means Te'o is the only person not lying while the ND teammates, the guy from the Arizona Cardinals, and family members of Te'o are all lying.

I think Occam's razor applies. The simplest explanation is simply that Te'o was in on this lie, and now more people are lying to help cover his tracks and protect him.

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"I believe there’s merit to the idea that once something in life becomes conventional, it’s no longer the safest path to success." -Matt Waldman
"If everyone's thinking alike, no one's thinking." -Bill Walsh

I've taken some time before writing about this. But I don't think he was in on it. Not one bit of me thinks he was in on it. Gullible, immature... but not a villain.

Here's my take: http://seahawksdraftblog.com/manti-teo- ... -a-monster

So who is on the phone with Te'o with for hours and hours while "Kekua" is in the hospital with Leukemia? Tuiasasopo is male. He'd need to bring in a girl to take many, many hours out of her life to complete this deception. Which would also mean she'd need to be a talented actress and never break character. And yet, this accomplice has never come up in Te'o's story. Why is that? Why haven't we heard who this girl was? Why would she do it? Even Te'o's cover story is yet incomplete because he ignores this critical detail. If I was Catfished and spent hours and hours talking to a girl on the phone, my VERY FIRST reaction would be, "who the hell was that girl I was talking to?!"

And moreover, even if Te'o really was the victim, he still lied about it for a 3 week period in December. There is just no escaping the fact that Te'o is a liar.

No disrespect Rob, but I couldn't disagree more. If anything, this whole situation highlights how the media is often too scared to ask tough follow up questions. I get why- they don't want a potential defamation suit on their hands. But because of that timidity, they are playing perfectly into Te'o's hands.

Unfortunately for Te'o, NFL GMs will be far more pointed in their questioning. This story isn't going away any time soon.

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"I believe there’s merit to the idea that once something in life becomes conventional, it’s no longer the safest path to success." -Matt Waldman
"If everyone's thinking alike, no one's thinking." -Bill Walsh

No disrespect taken.

Te'o said in his interview with ESPN today there are three people involved - two males and a female. I don't have a problem believing there was a female accomplice involved here, who was willing to tag Te'o along for the phone calls. I don't see why she'd have to be a talented actress either. She'd just have to play along. I don't find that part bizarre at all. Not as bizarre as the concept Te'o is just making all of this up because he decided a few weeks ago that it'd be a great idea to invent a fake dead girlfriend on the off chance it would lead to an emotional surge to the National Championship.

And yes he lied about it. He is a liar. But I believe that was to try and foolishly cover up what is an unbelievably embarrassing situation. He got in over his head and made a pretty retarded situation even worse.

What is the motive for those pranksters? As Scott points out, this is a massive amount of time and effort, over years. The "extortion" angle is stretching it, IMO.

Why would his own teammate(s) say he knew? Does that mean his teammate(s) are lying and just hate him?

What about the stories that were written that said Te'o and Kekua met in person in 2009 at Stanford? Even on the chance that Te'o did not seed those stories, it seems hard to believe that he wasn't aware of them.

He did not need to lie after December 6th. But he did, and it makes it harder to believe he's being completely honest.

And we still don't know who this actress girl is. Could be another creation of Te'o or Tuiasasopo. Until I get a name of a real person and a confession from her, I'm not buying it.

I was initially on Te'o's side on this. But as the details roll in it became more evident that his story isn't holding up. The fake GF thing is silly, it's the lying and persistent cover up lying that bothers me. The teammate aspect doesn't help things either.

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"I believe there’s merit to the idea that once something in life becomes conventional, it’s no longer the safest path to success." -Matt Waldman
"If everyone's thinking alike, no one's thinking." -Bill Walsh

Yes, he already said his cousin was "the girl" that was in on it. For all I know they were going to make him give them money or expose his stupidity and then realized that means serious jail time if caught and made up the leukemia stuff to get out of it. People have online relationships all the time. The reason he lied about her being real? He was embarrassed. I'm not a huge Manti Te'o supporter when it comes to his brain power, and have said so for many months. He is kind of a major dumbass. That's why I am not surprised he is in a bad situation, but people who are coming out of the woodwork now with viable explanations are NOT dumbasses and are people that I'd put a great deal of trust in. So I am not ready to say Te'o was in on it. Upon more reflection, I don't honestly think Manti is anywhere near smart enough to pull off a stunt for publicity and exposure, because literally the guy is a pretty big moron. He's also not the most honest guy on earth, so I can see him lying about a relationship... meaning claiming they had met and such because if he told the truth his teammates and others would laugh at him for having an "online girlfriend" and not hooking up with the ladies, which I am sure were plentiful.

Even though I think Manti is semi-stupid and not always honest, I also feel his commitment to his religion is strong, and that is where the lying kind of makes sense to me and helps hold his story up.... because I can see how he'd not want to "break church rules" and it is easy to get out of peer pressure situations if you always have a girlfriend that is in California and you don't get to see her until after the season. Again.... I've taken a few different approaches here for several reasons. I want to see how this plays out, and I'm not hedging my bets by going with every possibility. I am more interested in how it plays out and am playing devil's advocate in some respects, but when somebody who I find unimpeachable like Tessi Tolutau speaks out about it and her story seems to corroborate that Manti had no idea, then I start to go "hmmmm.... maybe there really is something there that clears him of any wrongdoing aside from being a chowderhead."

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R.I.P. Dad. I miss you. You will never be forgotten
1/12/39 - 8/7/08

This whole thing just reeks of bullshit. I guess for now there are so many liars out there that it's worth withholding judgement for a long while until we learn more.

And FWIW, lying is a skill, much like acting. It is not an IQ thing (there are many brilliant people who can't lie for shit). The reason I'm a terrible liar is because my emotions betray me. I also can't act for shit when on stage. Good lying takes a lot of planning and thought, but given the holes that still exist in this story, and how the details rolled out progressively instead of immediately, I'm more convinced of Te'o's acting than his planning.

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"I believe there’s merit to the idea that once something in life becomes conventional, it’s no longer the safest path to success." -Matt Waldman
"If everyone's thinking alike, no one's thinking." -Bill Walsh