I just don't get the media coverage of this whole thing. It is so silly. Who cares?! I guess if he is gay this adds a new dimension to the story for me but I am generally annoyed by this "news" story. As PP pointed out, we have already lived through this story line with Jan Brady! Move along folks, nothing to see here. Am I right? Why are they still talking about it on TV?

Manti's superstar sports agent Tom Condon of CAA is orchestrating a massive media strategy to return Manti to his pedestal. I say cheers to the independent website Deadspin for practicing the art of investigative journalism! The mainstream press wouldn't have dared to reveal this hoax.

Just listened to the three phone message recordings of Manti Te'o's male friend, in which "she" speaks in a falsetto and pretends to have cancer. I wonder if this friend, in fact, normally spoke as a man in all of those hours and hours of conversations (according to phone records) he had with Manti. To me it sounds like a gay relationship covered up. If Manti is gay, more power to him. But if this is a cover up won't it backfire big time?

Maybe I'm just too old to understand this, but how can someone consider a woman his "girlfriend" when they have never met in person?! OK, I can see liking them, but there is so much you can't know about a person until you meet them.

If you've never seen the show "Catfish" on MTV, watch it sometime. Interesting and yet sad; sometimes these online "relationships" go on for years, with people becoming emotionally invested, only to find out the other person was lying about everything.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will he survive this and still be a top draft pick?

What's worse: him believing someone he never met was a bonafide girlfriend or him perpetuating a hoax? Either way he get hammered.

Hope he has a good spin doctor and lawyer. Hope he doesn't fall into total despair.

Not sure what any of that has to do with his ability to play football, or how the NFL teams will feel about him.

Plenty of great college players couldn't cut it in the NFL because they were head cases. Vince Young, for one. Would you want to spend millions on a guy who is mentally unstable?

Whether he was in on it or not, why is it in question on what his draft opportunities will be? He didn't commit a crime, and there are plenty of criminals in the NFL. No hater here - I'm a football freak, but just saying...

Look. A kid at our DD's Middle School arranged a pretend wedding to another girl in his class just to create a smoke screen for being gay. (I won't say where) It was unusual. No one cares that he's gay--but a lot of girls went along with the charade. It is sometimes just a part of some process of denial, maybe?

If he's the victim of a hoax, he'll be considered a fruitcake. If he was in on the hoax, he was cunningly dishonest to his college and followers.

Taking it a step further, let's say it's the second scenario and he's, in fact, gay, and was covering it up. Even that could be problematic for the NFL, which isn't exactly a "gay and proud" workplace.

Anonymous wrote:Will he survive this and still be a top draft pick?

What's worse: him believing someone he never met was a bonafide girlfriend or him perpetuating a hoax? Either way he get hammered.

Hope he has a good spin doctor and lawyer. Hope he doesn't fall into total despair.

Not sure what any of that has to do with his ability to play football, or how the NFL teams will feel about him.

Will he survive this and still be a top draft pick?

What's worse: him believing someone he never met was a bonafide girlfriend or him perpetuating a hoax? Either way he get hammered.

Hope he has a good spin doctor and lawyer. Hope he doesn't fall into total despair.

Anonymous wrote:One reason I don't think Te'o was in on the hoax is that he was already receiving sympathy for the death of his grandmother. Would adding a dead girlfriend really help him gain that much more?

That's a good point. DH thinks he was initially the victim but once he realized it, he played along to the avoid the embarrassment of seeming foolish.

I'm more inclined to think he was covering for being gay and involved with his friend.

One reason I don't think Te'o was in on the hoax is that he was already receiving sympathy for the death of his grandmother. Would adding a dead girlfriend really help him gain that much more?

Anonymous wrote:I hears about this on npr tonight; he' college kid; why is this newsworthy? Hint: not a sports fan, but even still, he's not a professional.

Because he's a Heisman Trophy finalist who was the best player on Notre Dame, likely the most well-known college football team of all time and, up until the national championship game, the # 1 ranked and only undefeated team in the country. He'll be a high draft pick, and probably a fantastic NFL player. Also, he received a tremendous amount of attention for the "death" of his girlfriend on the same day as his grandmother - the chickens are all coming home to roost.

Let's see...Notre Dame(football crazy school)....star linebacker for Notre Dame....on Saturday night in South Bend how many girls are trying to meet the star linebacker...and he is on the phone with a girl he never met and falls a sleep listening to her breath?