What is the motive for the guy who sends me an email every week about Matt Barkley? The same guy who started a twitter account under the name 'Janet' to send me abusive messages? The same guy who sends abuse to the blog non stop, long winded rants because he doesn't rate Matt Barkley even though he knows I just delete them straight away and nobody ever reads them? He's wasted literally hours of his life over the last 18 months doing that. Or the different person who sent me a tweet of a picture of a note pad saying he wanted to kill me and my family because I commentated on a game his team were beaten in?

Some people take satisfaction is making others truly miserable. I'm willing to guess this was the same situation. More so than Te'o getting some form of 'benefit' by concocting a hoax.

His team mates said he was a good actor and he knew it was a hoax but continued to lie. Nobody is disputing that he's lied. He did. He kept the story going even when he knew it was a hoax. And I think he lied in a piss poor attempt to save face.

I've addressed the stories of him saying he'd met the girl in the piece. There's a complete stigma attached to meeting people online. I think he's come up with some royal bull shit to try and make it seem like he's not some weirdo who falls in love with people he meets on twitter and never has face to face interaction with. Not exactly a major stretch is it?

He did not need to lie after December 6th. He should've beat the media to the punch, revealed the hoax and taken the role of the victim. Instead he tried to save face. Big mistake. I can see why he did it, because either way it's truly horrendously embarrassing. But it doesn't mean he was 'in on it'.

So was it the guy who tricked him, who was having cyber sex with Teo? Or the girl? You know everyone is thinking it.

Yes, but the difference is that something you did, fair or not, pissed those people off before they trolled you. And what they did to you is far less prolonged, far less cruel, and far less coordinated. I could maybe buy this if it was just one person, but bringing in a girl and supposedly a 3rd person do this? The girl was allegedly on the phone with Te'o for many hours a night. What is her motivation?



I actually agree with you here. In a "Te'o is innocent" scenario it would make sense that he might have let that lie go out of external pressure, since it was convenient for what he thought was a real person that he hadn't met with yet. But again, this is another lie charged against Te'o. It's hard to defend a liar with the "he told lies about other things" defense.



His teammates said he was lying before Dec. 6th. IIRC, they specifically referenced the September incident. Te'o would later go on to give an emotional (and very convincing) performance on Jim Rome, when he knew it wasn't true. If you believe the teammates, this proves that Te'o is a very talented liar. Even if Te'o started out a victim, he took the deception to a new level anyway and milked it for all it was worth. That makes me think he was always in on it. Let's not forget that this guy nearly won the Heisman trophy, and his storyline played a huge role in that.

There is also the fact that the scammer was someone Te'o knew and was friends with. To me, the pieces fit together so much easier on the "Te'o was in on it" scenario.

Late Friday night release of Teo's confession. Screams PR spin machine. No footage of his interview. If he had nothing to hide, he wouldn't hide.

Dude can't even tell the truth about when he figured out it was a hoax. According to ND, he came to them Dec 26. He said he figured it out Dec 6. But yesterday he said he didn't know it was a hoax until this week.

The shit hasn't finished leaking out of this diaper yet.

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

Well... the girl supposedly requested Te'o keep the phone on while she slept. Come on Kip, it's not a big stretch to suggest she probably just left the phone in a quiet room while Manti Te'o sat there, awake, thinking he was tending to a sick girlfriend.

I'll say it again. What is anyone's motivation to do ANYTHING? I'm willing to believe a supposed 'friend' of Te'o's orchestrated this ridiculous hoax that got out of hand (so out of hand, they killed off the GF, then brought her back to life). I'm willing to believe that a girl would be willing to get involved in a cruel hoax of a high profile football player. In the same way I'm willing to believe anyone can be pursuaded to do pretty much anything.

His team mates claim he was lying before Dec 6th? Yeah -- he was lying before Dec 6th. He was telling them he'd met the girl. Which he hadn't. She was an internet girlfriend. He also lied to his parents, friends. Whoever he was close to, he seemingly made up a load of bull shit to hide the fact he was doing something that socially is considered a bit pathetic. He'd fallen in love with a girl he'd never met on the internet. And in order to cover that up, he created a back story. And ran with it. I can understand why he would do that, even if I personally would never fall in love with someone on Twitter.

And while we're talking about motives... what exactly is Te'o's motive here for being in on the hoax? To win a Heisman? Beat Michigan State? Achieve an unbeaten season? That to me is a hundred times more ridiculous than two guys and a girl deciding they're going to play a cruel, heartless prank on a guy who's a bit simple.

So he had an extensive "relationship" with a person he never met and who ultimately passed away in a tragic matter, only two have a brand new relationship with a new girl weeks after the supposed love of his life tragically passed away?

HA!

This has phony written all over it.

Your girl is sick but you don't think for one minute to go visit her? You have family and friends in Cali, if you couldn't make the trip, you wouldn't send someone to check on her? Multiple cancelled visits when you're both in Hawaii...blank screen everytime you try to Skype? But you can Skype your parents perfectly fine?

C'mon...the guy knew what the deal was.

Yeah he did this to beat Michigan State...

He formed a relationship based on the internet and phone calls. He tried to meet her, she didn't show up. But he kept it going. Why do people think... after all that... he would accept it if she requested he didn't try to visit? Even if she was ill?

He's a gullible fool but FFS... why on earth do people think he was 'in' on this hoax? What benefit does he get out of that??? To help go unbeatean??? It's a ridiculous conspiracy theory. A completely outrageous suggestion that is a lot more bizarre than the idea that this guy is just very immature when it comes to relationships with the opposite sex, completely gullible and overly trusting, incredibly naive and in an attempt to cover up a very embarrassing situation, he lied through his teeth.

To milk the sympathy storyline? Either way he did that, because I'm not going to believe he was that broken up by some girl he never met who we tweeted with supposedly dying.

Why?

Is it impossible that someone could 'fall in love' with someone via conversations on the internet or on the phone?

I wouldn't ever do it. You wouldn't do it. There are probably countless who would in this world though.

Yes, it is impossible for a guy like him. He could walk anywhere on campus and point out a girl and get laid. Why would he have to go online for love? Reminds me of the time I was at a club in Seattle, and a limo pulled up. Brett Boone stepped out, then pointed to two random girls standing in line, and then they all drove off in his limo.

It's impossible then.

Because every football player is like Brett Boone.

That makes this 'impossible'.

FYI - For those saying Te'o should have dropped everything and gone to California... I have a bit of a newsflash for you. The Te'o family is not rich. In fact, they are quite poor. The entire family has very little money, this was one reason his offer was rescinded by BYU. They felt that he only took his visit here for a free trip to the mainland to see his cousins, and didn't take his recruiting visit seriously.

The level of poverty of many Mormon families in the islands is very well known, and I don't think you guys fully understand how little money these families have. The cost of living is incredibly high, and many of the families took every penny they could muster and moved to Hawai'i from Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji in order to give their children a better chance at an education and success. They want them to go to college and such. That is why places like Utah and Missouri (yes, look it up) have such massively high populations of Islanders. It is because these places are cheap to live, have strong education systems, and now have vast networks of other Islanders to watch out for them and help them get established, get jobs, etc.

One example I can give you is a guy who played for the Hawks named Itula Mili. He grew up in Hawai'i and Norm Chow begged his parents to take out an insurance policy on Itula's NFL career. It would have been a couple of thousand dollars. They couldn't come up with the money. He was a "lock" to be a first round pick, and was told so by multiple GM's and the NFL. Chow begged them to do it and they finally said they just couldn't and not to bring it up again. Itula was injured so horribly in the WAC championship game in Vegas that he almost lost his leg. It was so awful that he had every single ligament tear and was in a wheelchair for at least a month afterwards. No members of his family could even afford to come visit him. Luckily he had student insurance that paid for his surgery. My friend was engaged to him and I would see them at the mall and she was pushing him around so he could get out. Then he finally was walking. The Hawks drafted him in I believe the sixth round and he had a year to prepare to play. They saw it as a future risk worthy move.

His family was so poor that they literally lived in a shack. I'm not joking. Te'o isn't as bad off as the Mili's, but they aren't rich people. He can't hop a plane, and he isn't the type at this point in his life where he'd take a free plane ticket. He is known to be pretty shy as well, and I can imagine him hoping this girl was real, but not wanting to go find out she wasn't.

Why would that Tui kid do such a thing? Because people are creepy. I guess some of you have never had a stalker. I've had two. One is a situation I'm currently in. He starts his stuff all over again, and I just have to turn it over to the police. Why has he wasted literally hours upon hours of his life? Because he's a piece of shit that is going to rot in hell. That's why. But he still does it. We're going on 30 months straight and I'll get emails, texts, random drive-bys at my house (we finally moved). He'd throw specific things on my yard so I'd know he'd been on my property. It was a wonderful game for him. This is a guy that is an executive at a software company, one that you all use their software everyday..... I won't tell you which one but newsFLASH, you've all used it at some point while surfing the internet or SHOPping for PHOTOs. Yet he persists. He's mentally unstable. It's a fact. He won't let things go and let me live my life. The police know, so it isn't like I can show up and beat him to a pulp either, because they'd know it was me. I filed a report the first time he threatened to kill me and each subsequent time. Why do people do what they do? Because there are a lot of sociopaths out there.

I've heard people float the "Maybe Manti is gay?!!!" theory. I say "So what if he is?" But I also say, "So what if Tui was, and had a thing for Manti?" You never know what motivates some people. Could be a crush, could just be a creepy stalker.

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

I didn't say he should drop everything and go to California. He took trips back home to Hawaii did he not? Does he not have family and friends in Cali? Didn't read the rest...cause good lord, wall of text.

He's the best player on the ND team. He is going to be a millionaire very soon, so meeting girls isn't hard for him. In fact, if he's this gullible (which I don't believe) then some girl, who is a 10, with $ in her eyes would have scammed him into marriage already.

I am in love with Pehawk. In a make believe dead girlfriend sort of way.

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English kind of HAS to take this line. He puts a lot of effort and time into his blog, the type of efforts usually married to a goal of being paid, someday. Is disadvantageous for him NOT to give the benefit of the doubt. Agents, players, other media, sources, etc.

That's not meant to be a shot, in any way.

It's just, sorry, I CANT believe you honestly cant see this dude's full of shit, English. You border on arrogance at times, maybe defensive and snarky too. But, you're not this dumb. You can say whatever you like, I wont ever believe its anything other than the aforementioned.

There is nothing better than somebody responding to your post by telling you that you wrote too much and they didn't actually read it. If you didn't read it, then why do you think I give a rat's ass if you think it's too long so you didn't bother to read my "wall of text"? Give me a break. So my writing a lot makes me look dumb and you feel a need to point out your superiority? Sorry if this is seen as me attacking the poster, but I see no point in posts like yours, as you've just said about mine. So I figure we're doing the same. I hope that wasn't too long for you. Probably was. My bad.

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

So this is your argument then? He must be in on the hoax because he can shag whoever he wants? That's water tight.



I have no ambition to be paid. I already have my dream job -- and it took me years to get there. I write the blog because I am obsessed with the Seahawks, love college football and am desperate to talk about both subjects with fellow like-minded folk. The day a British guy gets paid to talk about the draft or NFL will be the day an American guy gets to do my current job. It will never happen.

I write what I want.

I have never denied that he is full of shit. He's lied and lied and lied. But I believe he lied to cover up a very embarrassing situation -- initially that he was in love with someone he'd never met in person, only on the internet. And secondly, that he'd been scammed and looked like a complete idiot. I do not think he lied to win a national championship.

"Paid" maybe, again, a poor choice of words. Network, legitamize, credibility, maybe?

Not a shot, in any way.

Honestly, there are two reasons why I do it. One, to indulge my unhealthy passion for the Seahawks (it's 4am here, and I'm talking on a Seahawks forum -- the 21-year-old version of me would be pissed off about that). Two, I want to do something that no other team gets. No other team has a SDB type site. And if the people who visit get a kick out of it, that's good enough for me.

This thread is interesting. I was pretty unaware that people take online relationships to this extent. My 20 something's and this thread set me straight.

I believe you, but still feel this passion of yours has made your view a journalistic one.

Sorry Rob. I won't go point by point, but I respectfully disagree with everything in there. Most especially the last part. At least Te'o had something real to gain from the deception. Attention, publicity, sympathy, self-gratification. If we are going with the "people do crazy things for no reason angle" then Te'o as hoaxer and Tui as assistant/scapegoat makes more sense on that front as well.

Teammates said they suspected GF was fake for a long time but when she died in September they said they "they knew" it was BS but didn't have the courage to confront Te'o about it. They also said that Te'o is a "very good actor." That was his teammate's choice of words. If that's not revealing, I don't know what is.

One other detail that eats at me- notice how Tui has come off as incredibly remorseful and apologetic in his confession?

Assume that Tui and Te'o really were conspirators and that this started off as an innocent joke/prank that went too far. In that scenario, it would make sense that Tui would feel intense guilt/consternation- because his decision to kill off Kekua and turn this into a national story ended up backfiring on his friend- a move that might cost his friend millions of dollars and maybe even an NFL dream. I know if I was Tui in that situation, I'd feel horrible, and I'd badly want to take all the blame while covering for my friend.

That's how Tui came off in his confession. You could tell he really wanted to take 100% of the blame and cover for Te'o, He was crying and everything. If Te'o is innocent and Tui the bad guy who did this out of spite, malice, or sociopathic non-caring, this response would be emotionally at odds.

If Te'o came out on Monday and confessed saying that he was in on it and it was a lie that got bigger and bigger and out of control and that he was terribly sorry about it, I'd forgive him just like that. This whole thing is silly. I'm not bothered so much that Te'o told lies. I'm more bothered that he might still be telling them, and that he doesn't have a strong sense of personal accountability.

I just wanted to point out that I'm really proud of everyone here for keeping the discussion civil and on an intellectual level (until page 11 anyway. Still, not bad). Really, when this thread started, I had no idea any of us would care this much.



LOL. I thought you were going to use the Chris Berman "You're with me, leather!" story, but that one is pretty epic as well.



You missed a pretty cool story about Itula Mili. The "wall of text" comment did make me laugh though (no offense intended Shark, I write tomes as well).



Rob actually works for the BBC, so I'm sure he's probably well trained at being careful when it comes to stuff like this. Better to give the benefit of the doubt than to set oneself up for a defamation suit. I'm sure he's not worried about that at SDB, my point is that he's likely been trained to be careful. You'll notice that I'm being very careful not to rip him for his stance because I completely understand the caution he's showing.

Lol. Who said it makes you look dumb? Never said I was superior. But carry on, sir.

English works for the BBC? Isn't that the network that ripped-off Steve Carrell's character and scripts for "The Office"? Starring that one guy, Gordan Pinkelton?

It all makes sense now.

This thread got all serious and stuff, but i'm still looking at the lighter side of it all.... this is awesome, imo:



http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-l ... --mlb.html

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Haha that's hilarious

Now a beav has been dragged into this mess?

MANTI TE'O: I talked to a former Oregon State quarterback who used to talk to her, as well.

JEREMY SCHAAP: Who was that.?

MANTI TE'O: Lyle Moevao. I asked him, and I still have the messages from him. "Hey, do you know who this Lennay girl is." He said "Yeah. I know her." He was like: "What's up?" I said, "We're just talking." He said, "I know her. She's real, bro. She's kind of weird. But she's real."


Schaap didn't know who Moevao was . . .

Lol...it gets more and more interesting and hilarious

I didn't say he should drop everything and go to California. He took trips back home to Hawaii did he not? Does he not have family and friends in Cali? Didn't read the rest...cause good lord, wall of text.[/quote]

There is nothing better than somebody responding to your post by telling you that you wrote too much and they didn't actually read it. If you didn't read it, then why do you think I give a rat's ass if you think it's too long so you didn't bother to read my "wall of text"? Give me a break. So my writing a lot makes me look dumb and you feel a need to point out your superiority? Sorry if this is seen as me attacking the poster, but I see no point in posts like yours, as you've just said about mine. So I figure we're doing the same. I hope that wasn't too long for you. Probably was. My bad.[/quote]

Lol. Who said it makes you look dumb? Never said I was superior. But carry on, sir.[/quote]

No, but pointing out a weakness and laughing at my "wall of text" that you can't be bothered with, just seems like something that doesn't really need to be said. If you have a specific critique, use the PM feature, that's what it's there for... messages that aren't meant for everybody.

If you'd prefer not to read my posts? Then by all means. Don't. You don't offer anything but a really negative criticism and I am sorry, but to me it was uncalled for and I took a bit of offense. I don't go through and find posts that I don't like the formatting on and say "I disagree with you, and for the record, I didn't bother reading what you said because it looked like a waste of time." I've never done that to anybody, and am asking for the same in return. I don't think it's much to ask.

If you have something to add that you think I should do differently that would help the board? PM me. If you think I'm a jerk? Fine. Hold those thoughts close to your heart and cherish them for how wonderful they are. But please... don't just rip me a new one for no apparent reason and make fun of my post that you yourself said you didn't even read. It offers nothing but a chance for you to take a cheap shot at me.

I would hope that we can post here without having to take those kinds of shots at each other for no reason at all. It's just meant to embarrass me as far as I can tell, and I don't get the point other than what I just said.... to drag me down for writing too much and you letting me know my words weren't worth reading and your very important need to point that out.

Carry on sir. LOL to you too. I'm glad you find the exchange funny. I just thought it was disrespectful and better served for a private message than to be aired in public. I've never done such a thing to you, and I don't see where it is coming from or what you hoped to achieve. I guess it works for you though, so congrats. You've accomplished whatever it was you were after. I end up looking bad for responding, and you get a good laugh at my expense. Terrific.

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

Why the heck is this thread so long? Who gives a rip?