Lol, I can't believe it's been a decade since this happened. That was a fun couple days after learning it was all a hoax on here and the college football subreddit.

I somewhat feel bad for how much **** he got, but also don't just because of how stupid and gullible he came off after the story came out.

I always thought it was BS that his story included meeting her at a football game. So I don't know how it went from real interaction to catfishing unless A) that story was fabricated, or B) somehow his friend replaced her number with a fake number or some such.

is dude still playing football?

LMCane said:

---

is dude still playing football?

---

Not currently. But he is married to an actual woman now, so he has that going for him, which is nice.

rhutton125 said:

---

Assuming this is about Manti, I always thought it was BS that his story included meeting her at a football game. So I don't know how it went from real interaction to catfishing unless A) that story was fabricated, or B) somehow his friend replaced her number with a fake number or some such.

---

When Manti did the Jim Rome interview on the radio that really gained Manti a lot of attention, he slipped up and said that he and his family had met her in person a couple of times, IIRC.

Then he screwed up his lie and got caught trying to say he never met her.

He's just an attention hoor. It's sad.

She's a cheerleader at another school, you wouldn't know her.

Agree it's nuts this was 10 years ago

Wow, time flies. The Zoo was all over this when it was happening.

JFF should have been the unanimous Heisman winner, but this dumbass somehow convinced 321 people to cast a first-place vote for him because of his fake dead girlfriend (and Notre Dame).

Hope this guy never lives it down. What a moron/attention hoor.

Saw thread title and knew immediately it had to be about this doofus

Thank you! That's what always hung me up. It's not quite "damn, he's the victim here" when Manti himself perpetuated the story of meeting her after a football game and exchanging numbers. That straight up could not have happened. So either he was in on it entirely, or in on it a little - or at least played it up when it couldn't possibly have been true.

rhutton125 said:

---

Thank you! That's what always hung me up. It's not quite "damn, he's the victim here" when Manti himself perpetuated the story of meeting her after a football game and exchanging numbers. That straight up could not have happened. So either he was in on it entirely, or in on it a little - or at least played it up when it couldn't possibly have been true.

---

I can't remember if he said he and his dad had gone to her family's house or she had come to their house but his original story was that even his dad had met her.

bump on this, it might have been the whole intention of the doc but damn it really reshaped what I think of him and feeling really sorry for him

Charlie Conway said:

---

bump on this, it might have been the whole intention of the doc but damn it really reshaped what I think of him and feeling really sorry for him

---

Yeah he made some dumb decisions, but he was just a college kid trying to play football and live his life. He admits in the doc that he made bad choices perpetuating the lies because he was embarrassed and just trying to figure out what the heck was going on. Some of y'all still making fun of him would probably hate to have a documentary constantly reminding you about all the dumb things you've done and the stupid things you've lied about. I know I would.

It's a good documentary that really highlights what happened and how it could have happened.

If anything we should be going after the human piece of feces the trans person that catfished him was. The documentary made you really see how much of a sociopath they really were/are.

Charlie Conway said:

---

bump on this, it might have been the whole intention of the doc but damn it really reshaped what I think of him and feeling really sorry for him

---

I doubt there is anything in this documentary that makes me feel completely sorry for a guy that still made $10.5 million after this incident, when it was largely due to how stupid he was.

Sex Panther said:

---

JFF should have been the unanimous Heisman winner, but this dumbass somehow convinced 321 people to cast a first-place vote for him because of his fake dead girlfriend (and Notre Dame).

Hope this guy never lives it down. What a moron/attention hoor.

---

I believe Teo finished that season as the most decorated athlete in a single season in CFB history. He basically won every single award he was eligible for, outside the Heisman. He even won the freaking Maxwell.

All based on a pretty good season for an LB, an overhyped Notre Dame team, and a big ass lie.

To be clear, I don't really blame him outside of the parts he was directly caught lying about. I really just blame the media for any lack of journalistic curiosity until deadspin decided to take a look at it.

well I hope it would, the more you learn about it the more reasonable it seems that a polynesian 18 year old having bad culture shock moving to Indiana can ignore red flags when he meets another polynesian girl online that he can relate with, and how once he found out the truth which he claims was around the heisman ceremony how difficult it would have been to admit that you were played as a fool and so much was made of it, and how he went from a superstar to a laughing stock in a day when you actually believed she was real at the time

I would hope you could show at least a little sympathy

Good watch

Surprised that the film makers didn't focus more on the stark contrast between JFF and MT, since they were the two biggest stories of the 2012 season for very different reasons:

freshmen vs senior

Heisman winner vs Heisman loser

beat Bama on the road vs got blown out by Bama

too many girls to count vs 0 girls and 1 catfish

hung out with Drake and Bieber and Scott Disick vs....whatever the opposite of that is

A little sorry? Sure, I guess, but the guy was a 20-21 year old college kid who reportedly had several girlfriends during college, was certainly not some lonely loser who wasn't getting action, was a superstar college athlete at one of the most well respected institutions in the country, won nearly every award he could as a linebacker, was a lock to make several million in the NFL over the next few years, and still decided to utilize the story of his dead girlfriend as a way to gain attention for himself despite never meeting her.

Being Polynesian in Indiana doesn't really excuse being a fool and comes off a bit as having lowered expectations due to his ethnicity/upbringing. There are 100s of star Polynesian athletes who leave Hawaii for college who don't fall for catfishing attempts.

This is all spin from his side 10 years later to soften out the story so that he doesn't look like such an idiot. So sure, I guess I feel slightly bad that an idiot got played so badly by a malicious individual, but I, in general, don't really shed tears for people that are gullible enough to fall for getting catfished…especially 2 years worth of catfishing. I mean, come on.

Definitely Not A Cop said:

---

Sex Panther said:

---

JFF should have been the unanimous Heisman winner, but this dumbass somehow convinced 321 people to cast a first-place vote for him because of his fake dead girlfriend (and Notre Dame).

Hope this guy never lives it down. What a moron/attention hoor.

---

I believe Teo finished that season as the most decorated athlete in a single season in CFB history. He basically won every single award he was eligible for, outside the Heisman. He even won the freaking Maxwell.

All based on a pretty good season for an LB, an overhyped Notre Dame team, and a big ass lie.

To be clear, I don't really blame him outside of the parts he was directly caught lying about. I really just blame the media for any lack of journalistic curiosity until deadspin decided to take a look at it.

---

Dude, Day Nguyen had better stats than MT. It was all about dead family and Notre Dame.

It was good.

I felt bad for the guy.

I'm sorry this clown had to know. Even his Dad called him out. How do you love someone you've never met?

Charlie Conway said:

---

bump on this, it might have been the whole intention of the doc but damn it really reshaped what I think of him and feeling really sorry for him

---

Some pretty mean spirited posts on this thread.
This surprises me because fans of Texas A&M have always had the reputation of being a very classy fanbase.

TexasAggie008 said:

---

Good watch

Surprised that the film makers didn't focus more on the stark contrast between JFF and MT, since they were the two biggest stories of the 2012 season for very different reasons:

freshmen vs senior

Heisman winner vs Heisman loser

beat Bama on the road vs got blown out by Bama

too many girls to count vs 0 girls and 1 catfish

hung out with Drake and Bieber and Scott Disick vs....whatever the opposite of that is

---

JFF killed it in the NFL and had a long prosperous career. He was also able to win the SEC Championship and lead A&M to the National Title game.

The emergency of Johnny Football took the A&M football program to heights it had never been. The string of mediocre seasons ended, and Texas A&M became one the premier programs in all of college football.

Johnny Football is now a legend...not just in Bryan, but all of the college football meta verse.

If Manti is telling the truth, then he is a terrible person for not going to visit his dying girlfriend.

Quote:

---

This is all spin from his side 10 years later to soften out the story so that he doesn't look like such an idiot.

---

For…what? At this point?

If you're trying to make yourself not look like an idiot…you don't bring it up again.

The kid was 21 years old. Professional crisis managers got involved. It was all very very bad.

You're told to go sit on a national talk show. Next to your parents. To fix it. And you're straight up asked if you're gay.

That kid had no business getting caught up in all that. Not trained. Scaled out of control. Then…told what to do. Did such. It went poorly. He was 21.

To pretend like he should have handled it better is some rich *****

He def screwed up, but got himself caught up in a machine.

If you don't want to watch both hours, just watch the second part. Very good and very bizarre. Ronaiah is one sick person, trying to justify everything he did to the end. "I still want to protect him."

Some think the show is trying to make excuses for Manti or Ronaiah, but I think it does a great job of letting them speak for themselves without judgement and letting the viewer decide what to think.

Manziel winning the trophy still makes me feel good.

Dr. Not Yet Dr. Ag said:

---

Charlie Conway said:

---

bump on this, it might have been the whole intention of the doc but damn it really reshaped what I think of him and feeling really sorry for him

---

I doubt there is anything in this documentary that makes me feel completely sorry for a guy that still made $10.5 million after this incident, when it was largely due to how stupid he was.

---

SMH at this nonsense.

Dr. Not Yet Dr. Ag said:

---

A little sorry? Sure, I guess, but the guy was a 20-21 year old college kid who reportedly had several girlfriends during college, was certainly not some lonely loser who wasn't getting action, was a superstar college athlete at one of the most well respected institutions in the country, won nearly every award he could as a linebacker, was a lock to make several million in the NFL over the next few years, and still decided to utilize the story of his dead girlfriend as a way to gain attention for himself despite never meeting her.

Being Polynesian in Indiana doesn't really excuse being a fool and comes off a bit as having lowered expectations due to his ethnicity/upbringing. There are 100s of star Polynesian athletes who leave Hawaii for college who don't fall for catfishing attempts.

This is all spin from his side 10 years later to soften out the story so that he doesn't look like such an idiot. So sure, I guess I feel slightly bad that an idiot got played so badly by a malicious individual, but I, in general, don't really shed tears for people that are gullible enough to fall for getting catfished…especially 2 years worth of catfishing. I mean, come on.

---

Well, you certainly have it all figured out. Glad you didn't take the time to watch the doc but still decided to come here and share your wisdom with everyone!

It's definitely a good documentary and well worth the watch… no matter what you think about him.

Once the REAL woman had the picture taken and the FAKE women sent it to him doing the hand signal etc...

that had to be confusing as hell for the kid, not to mention the real girl was pretty hot so he was willing to believe what he wanted to believe, and the guy sounded pretty feminine in those voice mails.

ok she's dead
she's not dead...wtf...she even real?
gets pic of her doing the hand sign he requests.
I guess she is real...wtf?