She lives in American Samoa. The number he was calling was in Cali. So they could check the number to see if it is a cell phone. If it is an actual cell phone then they would have have to setup a forwarding service. This is a lot of trouble to go through for a hoax. I think Te'o is just lying.
I'm thinking this may have started as a hoax, he found out about it and some point and decided to play it up with the original hoaxer for mutual benefits.
Google Voice takes all of 1 minute to set up. Pick any area code you want. Of course he's lied about a lot of things. But these things are not coming from him - convincing multiple people and families to get involved and ruin their reputations seems even more trouble to go through at this point.
Exactly. Why in the world would Raniah (sp?) take the fall for this if Te'o just made this all up from the get go.
I can find a rationalization for him taking the fall a lot easier than I can find one for him perpetuating this hoax for 3 years. Teo is about to be rich.
$$$$$$$ Seriously. . .if your good friend is in line to make MILLIONs and all you have to do is accept the blame for something like this. . . would you? sometimes you gotta take one for the team Rocket River
A lot of people take the fall for rich people in society. It happens all the time. They make movies about it. And it's baffling more and more people in the sports media are coming out saying they believe him. You have to be mentally r****ded or sheltered from society every second of your life to be this naive.
As we have seen on this thread, sometimes the same people who would believe this guy are the people who would "give Lance Armstrong the benefit of the doubt".
We'll see if y'all are right. This is a huge coverup full of lies that is worse than the original hoax. There are a lot of people that are continuing to perpetuate a lie if you believe Te'o made up the girlfriend from the very start.
What's really baffling is a bunch of dudes sitting around discussing this like this is a sewing circle. It's ****ing sports. Who gives a **** if this was a hoax, he was duped or whatever? Some of you are acting like Te'o spurned your online advances.
I think it's a little funny that people are somehow shocked by the fact that a football player could be so stupid/naive
The Lance story is different b/c you needed proof to validate what you believe. This story is more common sense. If a college kid came to you and retell this Teo story as if it was him, how would you react? You think that kid is crazy. He's been well-spoken in his interviews. Apparently, he's listening to his lawyers. He goes to Notre Dame, one of the elite colleges in the country. You can tell a dumb ass jock athlete than an average person. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ao109a38uVY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Watch this and you tell me how much "color" this hoax has added to Te'o year this year in terms of love and inspiration. If this hoax wasn't let out, it would have still been a secret. And we would all live on thinking he had this gf. And many people would still be worshipping him. He knows too many PR statements in interviews to be dumb/naive.
It hasn't been 3 years. They supposedly first met 3 years ago - but we know the story of how they met is false. They were "dating" for less than a year, I believe - so presumably, that's when all this started. From what we've been told: They've pulled this hoax on multiple people before There are actual voicemails The woman who's picture was used was in contact with Roniah Roniah was connected to all this by Deadspin, before Te'o was defending himself If Te'o was just doing this hoax himself and he wasn't going to share any pictures, why pull some random girl into this? How messed up would he have to be to kill her off the day his grandmother died? Why get Roniah involved at all, or have any phone conversations in the first place? The assumption is that tons of new lies are being manufactured now (fake voicemails, making up the idea that they pulled this prank before, suggesting that it may have been a guy's voice for a bit, involving all sorts of other people that weren't involved, etc) - all it would take is one of these people to turn on him and his entire career may be over because he'd go from a liar to a total psychopath, with millions of dollars lost. Is it really worth it? The idea that Te'o created the hoax himself has way more holes than the alternative explanations.
well spoken is a compliment you give to a person with a speech impediment. Elite college? he went there for football, not for the physics program. PR statements? even proving more of the point that he's dumb.
Michael Jordan is well spoken. Kobe Bryant is well spoken. Tiger Woods is well spoken. Teo is well spoken. You don't have to be in a physics program to get something called common sense. Unless you think so, then you're probably very naive to believe this story. Lebron James/KD/Messi/Beckham... some of the most famous athlete in the world and the best marketed athletes ace the PR game. Those are the smart ones, and the rich ones. Too bad Teo got caught.
I wonder what his friends and teammates thought about this 2-3 year relationship with a girl he never met face to face?
When Katie asked him if he was gay, all he had to say about it was, "Far from it" That is not a answer. My hypothesis is... He is gay and he feels shamed because of his cultural, religious, and family influences. So he had his cousin who knew about it help him conjure a story about a GF to keep his parents off of his back. I am sure his dad was wandering if he was plowing any girls at college and to throw him off the sent he created a fantasy girl that his parents would love to buy him some privacy. And he lied about visiting her to his dad so his dad wouldn't get suspicious that he hasn't been with his girlfriend. As time went on and his parents are wanting to see this mystery girl he had to think fast and created stories about an accident, but that wouldn't phase his parent's curiosity so he came op with the death story. It really is the simplest explanation.
