No one had any reason to question his story throughout the season, including the media. He told people that his grandmother and girlfriend died on the same day, did you expect people to call him a liar?Fuzzbutt said:
It's more media than anything else, but they quickly showed how the media was inconsistent at best including how they met, days that they died, etc. That's where I think the documentary was lacking because they didn't really do a good job hammering that type of point
Netflix Series on Manti Te'o's Girlfriend
12,068 Views |
99 Replies |
Last: 2 yr ago by Mort Rainey
Again, the documentary mentioned it in passing, but it wasn't hammered home. That's why folks aren't getting it.
At the time, the media had all sorts of stories that they were throwing around. There wasn't just one story. It was all over the place and any level of fact checking would have shown that inconsistency leading to someone who's job it is to be a reporter to actually do the small amount of digging it took deadspin to figure out that there was something really fishy going on.
From here: https://deadspin.com/manti-teos-dead-girlfriend-the-most-heartbreaking-an-5976517
At the time, the media had all sorts of stories that they were throwing around. There wasn't just one story. It was all over the place and any level of fact checking would have shown that inconsistency leading to someone who's job it is to be a reporter to actually do the small amount of digging it took deadspin to figure out that there was something really fishy going on.
From here: https://deadspin.com/manti-teos-dead-girlfriend-the-most-heartbreaking-an-5976517
The most compelling part of the documentary for me was the interview with the Deadspin author. The real story of all of this was the B.S. hype machine of ESPN / NBC / MSM that went unchecked and has still never had accountability for spewing an easily disputed story. It made him a Heisman runner up!
They instantly shifted the focus to "is he gay?" etc to deflect their own inadequacy. There's a reason this wasn't a 30 for 30.
Oh, and Swarbick is a P.O.S.
They instantly shifted the focus to "is he gay?" etc to deflect their own inadequacy. There's a reason this wasn't a 30 for 30.
Oh, and Swarbick is a P.O.S.
Don't think ND or the sports media needed to assume he was a "liar". It's just the coincidence of simultaneous deaths and the power of the story simply needed a tiny amount of checking before it was propagated.
If you read about it, it's interesting.
Pete Thamel was like enemy #2 (after Chip Brown), on TexAgs, in 2011, about us moving to the SEC. (He was working for the NYTimes then). People were very mad, people here knew Pete Thamel's name. Anybody knows you don't want TA to know your name.
Fast forward to Manti. Pete Thamel (working for Sports Illustrated then) takes the most heat for his Teo story. Google "Manti Thamel".
You'll find- there were red flags. But nobody writing stories was an investigative reporter. That ain't the job. What you have is a breakdown. People expect that "the media" would find physical obituaries. But that's not really what sports writers do.
Nor do I expect people writing about sports for my entertainment to do so?
A writer, and a reporter aren't the same thing. I read plenty of writers who talk about A&M and SEC football, because that's fun. These people are generally writing opinions, not verifiable facts. But "the media", people will say. Name the person who should have gone deeper here, though (besides Manti, he def should have dug deeper).
Anyway, it's an interesting thing.
Pete Thamel was like enemy #2 (after Chip Brown), on TexAgs, in 2011, about us moving to the SEC. (He was working for the NYTimes then). People were very mad, people here knew Pete Thamel's name. Anybody knows you don't want TA to know your name.
Fast forward to Manti. Pete Thamel (working for Sports Illustrated then) takes the most heat for his Teo story. Google "Manti Thamel".
You'll find- there were red flags. But nobody writing stories was an investigative reporter. That ain't the job. What you have is a breakdown. People expect that "the media" would find physical obituaries. But that's not really what sports writers do.
Nor do I expect people writing about sports for my entertainment to do so?
A writer, and a reporter aren't the same thing. I read plenty of writers who talk about A&M and SEC football, because that's fun. These people are generally writing opinions, not verifiable facts. But "the media", people will say. Name the person who should have gone deeper here, though (besides Manti, he def should have dug deeper).
Anyway, it's an interesting thing.
The problem is Manti believed this story down to his core so when he talked about it with such emotion no one at the time thought to even question it or doubt it. Don't forget, at the time meeting a fake person online ("catfishing") wasn't a well known phenomenon and the motivation for Manti to be lying about this wasn't something anyone would even think to consider. In this day and age this story would not happen, but this was 10 years ago.
HoustonAg2106 said:No one had any reason to question his story throughout the season, including the media. He told people that his grandmother and girlfriend died on the same day, did you expect people to call him a liar?Fuzzbutt said:
It's more media than anything else, but they quickly showed how the media was inconsistent at best including how they met, days that they died, etc. That's where I think the documentary was lacking because they didn't really do a good job hammering that type of point
No, but you damn sure expect national news sources to do a little background research and fact checking on a story they're going to play up. I love that in your mind journalists should just lap up anything one person says without verifying anything at all. Grow up
Here is Pete Thamel talking about things that he missed or overlooked during the fact checking process.Mort Rainey said:HoustonAg2106 said:No one had any reason to question his story throughout the season, including the media. He told people that his grandmother and girlfriend died on the same day, did you expect people to call him a liar?Fuzzbutt said:
It's more media than anything else, but they quickly showed how the media was inconsistent at best including how they met, days that they died, etc. That's where I think the documentary was lacking because they didn't really do a good job hammering that type of point
No, but you damn sure expect national news sources to do a little background research and fact checking on a story they're going to play up. I love that in your mind journalists should just lap up anything one person says without verifying anything at all. Grow up
When I arrived in South Bend, Ind., that Wednesday morning, Te'o, his team and an entire campus talked openly about mourning Kekua. I had little reason to believe that she didn't exist.
But in retrospect there were some red flags. When I checked Lexis Nexis to find out more about Kekua, I couldn't find anything, though that's not uncommon for a college-aged student. Nor was there anything on her supposed brother, Koa. I was unable to track down any obituaries or funeral notices, but that might be explained by the fact that she had three recent places she called home, or by her family not wanting publicity.
I called Mike Eubanks at Stanford to check Kekua's graduation year. Te'o wasn't sure if it was 2010 or 2011. Eubanks is an assistant athletic director for football and he coordinates on-campus recruiting visits. He knew Te'o from Stanford recruiting him in 2008 and '09 -- Stanford had gone after him hard. Eubanks, who directed Stanford's football media relations this season, couldn't find her in the alumni directory and thought it was odd that, on such a small campus, he'd never heard of a student dating Te'o. This was the most glaring sign I missed. I thought that maybe she didn't graduate, so we took any reference to Stanford out of the story.
We searched for details about the car crash. Brian Te'o told our fact checker and Manti told me that a drunk driver had hit her. We couldn't find any articles about that accident and took the drunk driving reference out. It was just a car accident.
Read how it happened.Quote:
No, but you damn sure expect national news sources to do a little background research and fact checking on a story they're going to play up. I love that in your mind journalists should just lap up anything one person says without verifying anything at all. Grow up
Who is the "national news source" here?
SI? (Surely ain't now, and also wasn't then.)
The writer who had a 2 hour deadline?
MEDIA BAD (you're from F13, we know).
But like this isn't the kind of thing a sports writer ever deals with. People are still mad nobody pulled an obituary from a local paper?
The guy has an IQ in the 60s if I had to guess. Very dumb but a good linebacker. I'm glad he didn't play for us.
cevans_40 said:
So she was the love of his life and he never touched her boobs?
Not buying it.
There is a lot of merit to this!!
Know Your Enemy said:I'm sure your one viewing would put them over the top. Better not watch just to be safe.Gump 02 said:
I am somewhat interested in watching, but there is no way I want to inflate viewership for any ND programming. May they dissolve in a hot pit of sulfuric acid and fade out of existence.
Actually, my viewership counts as 10,000 people. I am kind of a big deal and have lots of influence. Google it.
Personally, I felt bad for the guy after watching the documentary. I don't think he had a clue what was really going on. The adults around him failed him terribly. Don't think for a minute that ND officials weren't pushing this story and pushing him to continue talking about it with the media. He is a very accomplished athlete and seems like a good guy, but this will always be what he is remembered for.
jr15aggie said:Whatthefunyo said:
Hearing his perspective sheds a different light on the whole situation. It seems he was catfished, rather than making it up out of thin air
Or....... he's had 10 years to fabricate new story details that makes him look like less of a lying a** hole.
This is the correct answer.
The dude, at the time, claimed he met her and was in a serious relationship with her. People don't keep up long distance relationships with HS sweethearts who took their vcard, you gonna tell me MT was in a committed relationship (catfish or otherwise) without any physical contact or even seeing in person?
Even if you're gullible enough to believe that as true, that doesn't make him sympathetic it makes him just regular pathetic.
This kid was 21 years old.Quote:
Or....... he's had 10 years to fabricate new story details that makes him look like less of a lying a** hole.
I'm sure, based on all the posts, you thought you were the smartest thing in the world at 21 years old.
He was then manhandled by professional PR crisis managers. Paid for by ND.
What exactly do you expect a kid to do?
HoustonAg2106 said:
The problem is Manti believed this story down to his core so when he talked about it with such emotion no one at the time thought to even question it or doubt it. Don't forget, at the time meeting a fake person online ("catfishing") wasn't a well known phenomenon and the motivation for Manti to be lying about this wasn't something anyone would even think to consider. In this day and age this story would not happen, but this was 10 years ago.
May have not been that well known, but the movie "Catfish" actually came out in 2010 and was about this same thing. It was 2012 that this happened, not 2004.
As a reformed Journalism major (and the benefit of hindsight), none of this made any sense. I know we don't teach critical math and/or statistics anymore, which is a tragedy, because the odds that the the "love of your life" and your grandmother dying the same day are virtually nil. Feel free to watch the documentary but his Heisman candidacy was absolute bull**** and anyone taking that weirdo's side is a barely functioning moron (respectfully).
schmidthead said:
As a reformed Journalism major (and the benefit of hindsight), none of this made any sense. I know we don't teach critical math and/or statistics anymore, which is a tragedy, because the odds that the the "love of your life" and your grandmother dying the same day are virtually nil. Feel free to watch the documentary but his Heisman candidacy was absolute bull**** and anyone taking that weirdo's side is a barely functioning moron (respectfully).
Is that Bill Shakespeare over there?
Solid post.
No, it's actually the 17th Earl of Oxford.
PS: No one will get that reference.
PPS: Christopher Marlowe stole all of my obscure references.
PS: No one will get that reference.
PPS: Christopher Marlowe stole all of my obscure references.
The Stratford man seems to have nothing at all going for him. While if De Vere didn't write the plays, he missed the opportunity of lifetime.schmidthead said:
No, it's actually the 17th Earl of Oxford.
PS: No one will get that reference.
PPS: Christopher Marlowe stole all of my obscure references.
And he was the 18th Earl of Oxford.
agdaddy04 said:HoustonAg2106 said:
The problem is Manti believed this story down to his core so when he talked about it with such emotion no one at the time thought to even question it or doubt it. Don't forget, at the time meeting a fake person online ("catfishing") wasn't a well known phenomenon and the motivation for Manti to be lying about this wasn't something anyone would even think to consider. In this day and age this story would not happen, but this was 10 years ago.
May have not been that well known, but the movie "Catfish" actually came out in 2010 and was about this same thing. It was 2012 that this happened, not 2004.
Never heard of that movie. This incident in 2012 was the first time I had heard the saying "catfish" in this context. I still don't know why they used that term to describe meeting a fake person online
Pardon me, I couldn't help but overhearing - were yall just talking about Francis Bacon?
Feel bad for the dude, he got tricked by a ******. "It" ruined his life and cost him millions and millions of dollars. He never lost his faith and I'm glad to see he's married with a family. The ****** should be in jail.
Harry Lime said:
Pardon me, I couldn't help but overhearing - were yall just talking about Francis Bacon?
Partially as it seems to have been a collaborative effort.
Watched the documentary. What freakin' weird story this was! Also reminded me of this gem...
BLSD said:
Feel bad for the dude, he got tricked by a ******. "It" ruined his life and cost him millions and millions of dollars. He never lost his faith and I'm glad to see he's married with a family. The ****** should be in jail.
under the jail
ABATTBQ11 said:wcb said:Keep in mind the Bama manhandling, per Teo, was largely due to what was going on in the 'catfish' thing at the moment. He definitely looked different in that game.Onionman said:I think his draft plunge had much more to do with his sluggish 40 time and Bama manhandling him in the championship game than the whole 'catfish' thing.BadgerAggie said:
I can't stand NDame as much as the next non-fan and I am certain I piled on when the story broke but after watching the documentary, I believe he was naive and I believe he was 100% duped. Should he have been smarter, of course. Was he lonely for something "home like" and found that in a hot girl, of course. Should he have met her somewhere along the way, of course! I'm always amazed these things still happen in 2022 but in 2012 the whole catfish thing wasn't even known about. The guy lost millions in compensation by falling to the 2nd round and I'm sure his confidence took a huge hit as players and fans threw a ton of shade at him. Put me in the camp of those who feel bad for the guy.
Don't kid yourself into thinking the NFL puts character above actually being able to contribute on the field.
Probably because they played Alabama instead of ****ty second tier schools. Their only good opponents were Stanford and OU, and they went to OT against a terrible Pitt.
Bama had a team full of NFL bound grown ass men.
He hadn't played one of those yet.
20ag07 said:Read how it happened.Quote:
No, but you damn sure expect national news sources to do a little background research and fact checking on a story they're going to play up. I love that in your mind journalists should just lap up anything one person says without verifying anything at all. Grow up
Who is the "national news source" here?
SI? (Surely ain't now, and also wasn't then.)
The writer who had a 2 hour deadline?
MEDIA BAD (you're from F13, we know).
But like this isn't the kind of thing a sports writer ever deals with. People are still mad nobody pulled an obituary from a local paper?
You're so embarrassing. Seriously.
Featured Stories
See All
13:00
1h ago
974
Key Matchups: No. 15 Texas A&M vs. New Mexico State
by Olin Buchanan
11:34
3h ago
1.2k
22:26
1h ago
1.4k
SEC Mike comments on A&M's emergence under head man Mike Elko
by Billy Liucci
Ags host Buckeyes with an early-season Quad 1 opportunity at stake
by Olin Buchanan
ConfidentAg
Michigan to Offer 5 Star LSU QB Commit 8 Figure Deal
in Billy Liucci's TexAgs Premium
33