Official 2012-2013 NCAA Football Thread

[Soxbadger]

Are we really holding Te'o a football player to that high of a standard for intellect?

 

Scottie Pippen spent something like $10mil on an airplane that didnt even work. He sued his lawyers and won, but nonetheless sports history is full of players doing dumb things and believing dumb things.

 

I guess Im just thinking Te'o isnt exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, which is why Im also not convinced hes clever enough to perpetrate such a long con.

[fathom]

[Buehrle>Wood]

After the SI article, it is over. There is nothing to do now but admit it, Teo.

[Jake]

After the SI article, it is over. There is nothing to do now but admit it, Teo.

 

1. I hate ND

 

2. I can actually see that as proof that Te'o is a moron as much as it can be proof of a con.

[fathom]

1. I hate ND

 

2. I can actually see that as proof that Te'o is a moron as much as it can be proof of a con.

 

I honestly don't think he was in on the con, but I think he completely embellished the story as time went on. The unnamed ND player's comments seem to support this.

[Soxbadger]

There's still the trouble of motive. Why would Tuiasasopo do this? Scam a professional player! Or, don't kill off fake girlfriend until the guy has actually been paid. Tuiasasopo is 22 years old, yes? Think about how young he'd have to have been when this started. How does he get a girl to play along with this on the phone? How does he get multiple voices to talk on the phone to impersonate a family? Someone talked to him so long that he would SLEEP ON THE PHONE! There has to be a strong motivation to do something like that, the time commitment is tremendous.

 

Jake here is the motive, this is Te'os own words:

 

SI: Did she send them to you?

 

TE'O: She had them all on her iPad and her family found [them]. Her family, what they would do is they would read it to me. And then they'll send it to me in a picture.

 

SI: You called them one day leading into each game?

 

TE'O: Yeah, I'll call and check up on them and see how they're doing, see how things are going. Just like I check in on my family at home.

 

TE'o began to think of these people as his "family". The reason why its clever to get him when hes in college, is because once he is in the pro's he is going to have things like an agent, who will try and sniff s*** out like this. The end game was Te'o gets drafted, gets a huge paycheck, and maybe he sends them some money because he wants to help his "new family".

 

Im entirely speculating, but its my theory.

 

[bmags]

I honestly don't think he was in on the con, but I think he completely embellished the story as time went on. The unnamed ND player's comments seem to support this.

 

I agree with this. At some point he knew it was fake but saw he was gaining from it and couldn't stop the lies.

[Soxbadger]

I honestly don't think he was in on the con, but I think he completely embellished the story as time went on. The unnamed ND player's comments seem to support this.

 

I think this seems the most reasonable. And then once he found out (December 6) then what are you going to do?

 

"Hi everyone, remember that gf I said I had who died. Turned out she was my online gf who I never met, and yeah it was a con because she called me from beyond the grave asking what was up after an awards show.

 

No further questions!"

 

 

[iamshack]

I honestly don't think he was in on the con, but I think he completely embellished the story as time went on. The unnamed ND player's comments seem to support this.

That much has got to be true. I mean we know for certain he did at least that. But he went WAAAYYY out of his way to embellish it...and that is what pisses me off.

 

For everyone saying that no one should be upset or care about this...I don't know if my emotions in regards to this rise quite to the level of "anger" or that I "am upset," but the stuff he "claims" happened to his "girlfriend" actually does and did happen to real people. I don't think it is right to make up all this crap and claim he went through all this, for the sake of publicity or some gain from the publicity he enjoyed from it, when actual people actually have and continue to go through these tragedies. It belittles their experiences and their hardships.

Edited January 17, 2013 by iamshack

[Soxbadger]

That much has got to be true. I mean we know for certain he did at least that. But he went WAAAYYY out of his way to embellish it...and that is what pisses me off.

 

For everyone saying that no one should be upset or care about this...I don't know if my emotions in regards to this rise quite to the level of "anger" or that I "am upset," but the stuff he "claims" happened to his "girlfriend" actually does and did happen to real people. I don't think it is right to make up all this crap and claim he went through all this for the sake of publicity when actual people actually have and continue to go through these tragedies. It belittles their experiences and their hardships.

 

I would tend to agree. But I have known people who have fallen in love online without ever meeting (get married etc) If that person had been hurt before they met, the other person would have been devastated as if they were a person they were actually seeing every day.

 

If Te'o was on the phone with this "con" for 8 hours a day, he would experience real attachment and real loss.

 

Im just not 100% sure at what date Te'o found out. I think he didnt know until after the whole "death" thing. But I do think once he found out, he probably did his best not to let people know how stupid he was.

[bmags]

I think this seems the most reasonable. And then once he found out (December 6) then what are you going to do?

 

"Hi everyone, remember that gf I said I had who died. Turned out she was my online gf who I never met, and yeah it was a con because she called me from beyond the grave asking what was up after an awards show.

 

No further questions!"

 

I think either dodge it or tell the truth.

[clyons]

SI: How long were you dating? I know that can be a complicated question.

 

TE'O: Oct. 15 was the official date. Of last year. I've known her for four years. So we've been friends.

 

SI: So you dated for about a year.

 

TE'O: Yeah.

 

 

* * *

 

 

SI: Where did you meet her in California?

 

TE'O: She actually came to one of the games. She saw me at one of the games.

 

SI: October 15, I assume is USC?

 

TE'O: That was in November. But she saw me at the USC game of my sophomore year. We were still just friends, we were acquaintances.

 

 

 

These statements alone seem contradictory.

 

EditI looked at ND's 2011 schedule, and October 15, 2011 was open.

Edited January 17, 2013 by PlaySumFnJurny

[fathom]

I would tend to agree. But I have known people who have fallen in love online without ever meeting (get married etc) If that person had been hurt before they met, the other person would have been devastated as if they were a person they were actually seeing every day.

 

If Te'o was on the phone with this "con" for 8 hours a day, he would experience real attachment and real loss.

 

Im just not 100% sure at what date Te'o found out. I think he didnt know until after the whole "death" thing. But I do think once he found out, he probably did his best not to let people know how stupid he was.

 

He had no problem letting massive lies about their relationship be spread throughout the media then well before he found out it was a hoax. This story is annoying and sad, and this is coming from someone who disliked ND and Te'o all year.

Edited January 17, 2013 by fathom

[DrunkBomber]

I dont know if its been mentioned yet, but has anyone reported whether or not he went to his grandmothers funeral?

[Buehrle>Wood]

These statements alone seem contradictory.

 

EditI looked at ND's 2011 schedule, and October 15, 2011 was open.

Everything from interview to interview, he contradicts himself. There is no consistency.

[Jake]

Jake here is the motive, this is Te'os own words:

 

 

 

TE'o began to think of these people as his "family". The reason why its clever to get him when hes in college, is because once he is in the pro's he is going to have things like an agent, who will try and sniff s*** out like this. The end game was Te'o gets drafted, gets a huge paycheck, and maybe he sends them some money because he wants to help his "new family".

 

Im entirely speculating, but its my theory.

 

I can see that and it makes SOME sense.

 

But that is a ton of effort and time put into something that had huge, huge fail potential. Not just if he finds out -- what if he becomes a 5th round draft pick? What if he f***s up a knee? What if he just decides to go off with some other girl because he isn't allowed to see his real girlfriend?

 

Where does Tuiasasopo get the up front money as a very young man to get people to spend the time necessary to carry on this con? Even though if Te'o was conned he was a dumb ass, I think this takes more than a voice modulator to pull off. And with the time they spent on the phone, you could hardly even hold down a job or anything like that. He needed co-conspirators and a lot of money and/or benefactor. This is assuming that Tuiasasopo is clever enough to pull this off (much harder to fool Te'o into thinking his fake girlfriend exists than it would be for Te'o to pretend he has a girlfriend) and get other people to play along without leaking.

[Jake]

These statements alone seem contradictory.

 

EditI looked at ND's 2011 schedule, and October 15, 2011 was open.

 

That is meant to be the date that they officially started dating. That shouldn't have anything to do with football and honestly would most likely not have occurred on a gameday.

[Soxbadger]

He had no problem letting massive lies about their relationship be spread throughout the media then well before he found out it was a hoax. This story is annoying and sad, and this is coming from someone who disliked ND and Te'o all year.

 

 

The part in bold should be true regardless of how this plays out. At some point Te'o knew that the media was presenting an embellished story about his relationship.

 

And as Ive said, Im no ND fan. But its the people that are the most hated and despised, who are often the ones who need to be looked at the most objectively.

 

 

[Jake]

The part in bold should be true regardless of how this plays out. At some point Te'o knew that the media was presenting an embellished story about his relationship.

And as Ive said, Im no ND fan. But its the people that are the most hated and despised, who are often the ones who need to be looked at the most objectively.

 

Yeah, but we should add here that it would take some serious nads to try and stop that in its tracks. I'm sure he was upset (we'll assume he's not complicit in the fake girl) when someone he really liked died, but the hype was completely invented by the media. He would answer questions about it, sure, but players having a relative or person close to them die happens all the time and it was a media decision to blow it up. It has to be tough to ask to have everyone quit talking you up, especially if you believe that there is an underlying truth in the reports even if it is embellished.

 

Once you know the con happened, do you run to the media and say "Hello, I'm a 22 year old man and had an online-only relationship with a woman who later turned out not to exist. You should all stop talking about that because it will continue to embarrass me." You might just hope the story goes away, which it was probably about to do if not for Deadspin.

[Soxbadger]

I can see that and it makes SOME sense.

 

But that is a ton of effort and time put into something that had huge, huge fail potential. Not just if he finds out -- what if he becomes a 5th round draft pick? What if he f***s up a knee? What if he just decides to go off with some other girl because he isn't allowed to see his real girlfriend?

 

Where does Tuiasasopo get the up front money as a very young man to get people to spend the time necessary to carry on this con? Even though if Te'o was conned he was a dumb ass, I think this takes more than a voice modulator to pull off. And with the time they spent on the phone, you could hardly even hold down a job or anything like that. He needed co-conspirators and a lot of money and/or benefactor. This is assuming that Tuiasasopo is clever enough to pull this off (much harder to fool Te'o into thinking his fake girlfriend exists than it would be for Te'o to pretend he has a girlfriend) and get other people to play along without leaking.

 

Im pretty sure Tui is part of some church. Churches have a long history of being involved in scams. It would also give him access to man power to do the scam.

 

The father, Titus Tuiasosopo, is a pastor in California

 

Here is his son, trying to become famous: http://www.reverbnation.com/artist_2128295/bio

 

(edit)

 

here is a link to the father's church:

 

http://mountzionsite.com/special_event_pho...2/dsc_0026.html

 

Notice that they have "Religious Talent Videos" and "Sports Videos", I think they were trying to become the marketing for Samoan's. Which is why 2 Samoan football players independently know of a fake girl.

Edited January 17, 2013 by Soxbadger

[whitesoxfan99]

Yeah, but we should add here that it would take some serious nads to try and stop that in its tracks. I'm sure he was upset (we'll assume he's not complicit in the fake girl) when someone he really liked died, but the hype was completely invented by the media. He would answer questions about it, sure, but players having a relative or person close to them die happens all the time and it was a media decision to blow it up. It has to be tough to ask to have everyone quit talking you up, especially if you believe that there is an underlying truth in the reports even if it is embellished.

 

Once you know the con happened, do you run to the media and say "Hello, I'm a 22 year old man and had an online-only relationship with a woman who later turned out not to exist. You should all stop talking about that because it will continue to embarrass me." You might just hope the story goes away, which it was probably about to do if not for Deadspin.

 

The hype was invented by Teo. He made the decision to embellish his relationship with his girlfriend (in the best case and was a complete fraud in the worst case) and tell these stories to the press. This situation is almost entirely of his own making.

[kev211]

I think it's pretty clear at this point that either Teo is gay and things spiraled out of control. Or he was actually conned and fell for this s***, but if this is true he still embellished the s*** out of this story.

 

The option of him making this up for his own gain doesn't really work anymore, with no motive it'd be pointless and as others have stated Teo doesn't seem smart enough or like the type of guy to attempt that.

Edited January 17, 2013 by kev211

[Jake]

The hype was invented by Teo. He made the decision to embellish his relationship with his girlfriend (in the best case and was a complete fraud in the worst case) and tell these stories to the press. This situation is almost entirely of his own making.

 

Kind of. Supposing he was frauded, he would have been legitimately torn to pieces over her death and everyone on the football team claims to have witnessed this. Then people are going to ask him how he feels about it. They will want to know more about her. He answered those questions in a way which seemed to make it more obvious that he didn't meet her in person, but without actually stressing that fact. After that, the media just kind of ran off with it and he continued to answer questions because he was asked them. Likewise, these nutjobs kept calling him every week to rekindle his sadness before games.

 

I think the best way to look at this is to see how Te'o could be innocent. It is harder to prove at this point, partially because ND was happy to not tell the media. I know ND sucks and I really don't like them or their fans, but I don't want to set a precedent of letting the public convict amateur athletes of crimes (moral or otherwise) before all the facts come out or at least without enough facts to prove anything.

Edited January 17, 2013 by Jake

[Quin]

The hype was invented by Teo. He made the decision to embellish his relationship with his girlfriend (in the best case and was a complete fraud in the worst case) and tell these stories to the press. This situation is almost entirely of his own making.

 

THIS.

 

There is literally no way Te'o comes out of this clean.

 

Also, the victim is clearly HH

[clyons]

That is meant to be the date that they officially started dating. That shouldn't have anything to do with football and honestly would most likely not have occurred on a gameday.

 

My point was more that on the anniversary of their first "date," they presumably went on an actual date, which would be more likely to occur on a non-football Saturday. That, and the meeting with her that he spoke of at the USC game the year before (in November 2010) makes at least two in person contacts he's acknowledged on the record. He said they were acquaintenaces then friends before that (for a total of four years), which could suggest more meetings. However, Swarbrick said yesterday that their relationship was excludively an on-line one, so somebody is lying or seriously mistaken.