Two Cents

I’ve been poking a little bit of fun at Manti Te’o since the story broke about his deceased, nonexistent girlfriend. Nothing vicious, just a few funny pictures and comments. There’s always the possibility that he was duped – there’s always the possibility of anything – and if that’s the case, then you have to feel bad for the guy. But you have to take what you know and ask yourself if any of it makes sense and the answer is no, it doesn’t.

When his Dad told reporters they met after a game – maybe he was wrong. Or maybe the reporter got it wrong. Same thing about the statement his Dad made about this girlfriend visiting Manti in Hawaii. People can get mixed up, right?

What I’m having trouble believing is that this relationship was limited to online chats and phone conversations. So maybe it started out that way but as the relationship evolved neither one of them ever wanted more? They didn’t send pictures to each other? They never progressed to Skype or Facetime? Maybe these two college students weren’t technologically savvy or into any of that stuff. Just maybe.

So he cares deeply enough for this woman to declare her his girlfriend but not deeply enough to ever send a gift? Your sick, dying girlfriend is in the hospital and you don’t send flowers or a card? Or something for her funeral? Even if you’re really good at creating a fake person, I’m pretty sure when flowers arrived at the funeral home for a person who was not deceased it would have caused enough confusion for the florist to contact the sender. But perhaps he’s just not a very good boyfriend.

Even after it all unfolds, we’ll never really know the truth. I think that’s why it’s so fascinating – it’s something most of us can’t understand. We will never know why – why would someone dupe him into falling for an imaginary person? Why would he create such a story? In the end, he’ll forever be known as the victim of an elaborate and cruel joke or the guy who told one of the stupidest lies in sports history.

Either way, you gotta have some sympathy for the guy.

*Okay, so in the days following this post Manti did kinda address the things I mentioned - everytime they skyped her pic was blank and he sent flowers to the house, not the funeral home. So he may not be the most observant guy out there but at least now we know he's good boyfriend material.