Manti Te'o's Dead Girlfriend was a hoax?!?!?!?!
- Thread starter Smokedawg
- Start date
Smokedawg
Eagles Fan
Dan Le Batard Show <s>@</s>LeBatardShow How can you not laugh at where we are in sports when the immense fraud of a guy on a bicycle is usurped by a college kid's imaginary friend?
hahaha
[h=1]Here’s Everything The Media Screwed Up In Reporting The Story Of Manti Te’o’s Fake Dead Girlfriend[/h]Timothy Burke and Jack Dickey
In our investigation of Manti Te'o and his nonexistent dead girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, published yesterday, we mentioned the media's role this fall in amplifying the hoax. Here are all the ways they got the story wrong:
[h=3]When was Lennay Kekua born?[/h]Most sources reported she was 22. The Jan. 4 Goshen News says she was 21.
[h=3]Did Lennay Kekua attend Stanford?[/h]At least 10 print sources reported she was a Stanford student. The Oct. 12 South Bend Tribuneand the Oct. 14 New York Times stated she was an alumna.
[h=3]How did Lennay Kekua and Manti Te'o meet?[/h]Nov. 28, 2009, according to the Oct. 12 South Bend Tribune. It reported the following:
[h=3]When was Lennay Kekua diagnosed with cancer?[/h]How long is a long battle with cancer? Is three months a long battle? That's for you to decide, but that same Oct. 12 South Bend Tribune says she was diagnosed in June. The New York Post,L.A. Times, Sporting News, and CBS This Morning all described it as a "lengthy" or "long" battle with cancer.
[h=3]When did Lennay Kekua die, and did she die before or after Te'o's grandmother?[/h]Here's the most wildly diverging and most insanely contradictory element of the entire Te'o-Kekua scenario. Lennay Kekua's death was reported as having happened on Sept. 11 (per the Sept. 21, Sept. 23, and Sept. 29 South Bend Tribune and the Oct. 26 New York Times), Sept. 12(per the Sept. 16 and Oct. 13 South Bend Tribune as well as Thamel's SI article and most other sources), Sept. 13 (KHON-Honolulu on Sept. 14, and KITV-Honolulu on Sept. 15), Sept. 14(the Dec. 30 New York Post), and Sept. 15 (ESPN on Dec. 7, the Associated Press on Dec. 7, and CBS on Dec. 6).
Meanwhile, there was somehow debate over which woman died first. The Oct. 13 South Bend Tribune reports that Lennay Kekua had sent a text message to Manti's parents, Brian and Ottilia, "expressing her condolences over the passing of Ottilia's mom, Annette Santiago." But according to the South Bend Tribune's reporting on Sept. 21, 23, and 29, Lennay was already dead:
Perhaps the Post figured Kekua's funeral was out there, because Brian Kelly gave Te'o the game ball after the Michigan State win and told him to take it back to Hawaii, to Lennay. Asking a question might have parted some of the fog. And they would have found more mystery.
In our investigation of Manti Te'o and his nonexistent dead girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, published yesterday, we mentioned the media's role this fall in amplifying the hoax. Here are all the ways they got the story wrong:
[h=3]When was Lennay Kekua born?[/h]Most sources reported she was 22. The Jan. 4 Goshen News says she was 21.
[h=3]Did Lennay Kekua attend Stanford?[/h]At least 10 print sources reported she was a Stanford student. The Oct. 12 South Bend Tribuneand the Oct. 14 New York Times stated she was an alumna.
[h=3]How did Lennay Kekua and Manti Te'o meet?[/h]Nov. 28, 2009, according to the Oct. 12 South Bend Tribune. It reported the following:
Lennay Kekua was a Stanford student and Cardinal football fan when the two exchanged glances, handshakes and phone numbers that fateful weekend three seasons ago.
"They started out as just friends," Brian Te'o said. "Every once in a while, she would travel to Hawaii, and that happened to be the time Manti was home, so he would meet with her there. But within the last year, they became a couple. "And we came to the realization that she could be our daughter-in-law. Sadly, it won't happen now."
[h=3]When was Lennay Kekua's life-threatening car accident?[/h]Pete Thamel's Oct. 1 Sports Illustrated article says the accident happened on April 28. An ESPN.com article on Nov. 13 says it happened eight months before her death in September, which would put her accident in January. The South Bend Tribune says it happened "around the time they became a couple.""They started out as just friends," Brian Te'o said. "Every once in a while, she would travel to Hawaii, and that happened to be the time Manti was home, so he would meet with her there. But within the last year, they became a couple. "And we came to the realization that she could be our daughter-in-law. Sadly, it won't happen now."
[h=3]When was Lennay Kekua diagnosed with cancer?[/h]How long is a long battle with cancer? Is three months a long battle? That's for you to decide, but that same Oct. 12 South Bend Tribune says she was diagnosed in June. The New York Post,L.A. Times, Sporting News, and CBS This Morning all described it as a "lengthy" or "long" battle with cancer.
[h=3]When did Lennay Kekua die, and did she die before or after Te'o's grandmother?[/h]Here's the most wildly diverging and most insanely contradictory element of the entire Te'o-Kekua scenario. Lennay Kekua's death was reported as having happened on Sept. 11 (per the Sept. 21, Sept. 23, and Sept. 29 South Bend Tribune and the Oct. 26 New York Times), Sept. 12(per the Sept. 16 and Oct. 13 South Bend Tribune as well as Thamel's SI article and most other sources), Sept. 13 (KHON-Honolulu on Sept. 14, and KITV-Honolulu on Sept. 15), Sept. 14(the Dec. 30 New York Post), and Sept. 15 (ESPN on Dec. 7, the Associated Press on Dec. 7, and CBS on Dec. 6).
Meanwhile, there was somehow debate over which woman died first. The Oct. 13 South Bend Tribune reports that Lennay Kekua had sent a text message to Manti's parents, Brian and Ottilia, "expressing her condolences over the passing of Ottilia's mom, Annette Santiago." But according to the South Bend Tribune's reporting on Sept. 21, 23, and 29, Lennay was already dead:
Te'o's girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, had been valiantly and successfully battling leukemia but died Sept. 11. His grandmother died the next day.
Te'o's girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, died Sept. 11 of complications from leukemia. His grandma, Annette Santiago, died after a long illness less than 24 hours later.
Te'o lost his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, Sept. 11 to leukemia and his grandmother, Annette Santiago, the next day after a long illness.
[h=3]Where was Lennay Kekua's funeral?[/h]The AP reported Oct. 4 that her funeral took place in the non-existent city of Carson City, Calif. The Jan. 4 Palm Beach Post said her funeral took place in Hawaii.
Perhaps the Post figured Kekua's funeral was out there, because Brian Kelly gave Te'o the game ball after the Michigan State win and told him to take it back to Hawaii, to Lennay. Asking a question might have parted some of the fog. And they would have found more mystery.
ClubDirt
Pretty much a regular
you know things aren't going well when you're one of the most popular college athletes in the country and coming out of the closet may be your best next move even if you aren't Yag. but of course, clearly he is.
ok, where were we. i'll look around and see if i can find some more good pictures like last night. if twitter was a public company, i'd buy stock in it based on the teo closet mormon catholic repressed homosexual event alone. their numbers must be going through the roof.
JumpOnBoard
CTG Partner
JumpOnBoard
CTG Partner
[h=1]Manti Te’o’s Teammates Had Their Doubts About Lennay Kekua[/h]
Barry Petchesky
The big question is: What did he know and when did he know it? We may never get a straight answer from Te'o. Nor from his family, who have thrown hissy-fits anytime the media doesn't work as Manti's PR agency. But what about those who spent the most time with Te'o over the last few years. According to reports, Teo's teammates had suspicions about Lennay Kekau going back to the beginning of this season.
Sports reporter Jackie Pepper spoke to a member of the Notre Dame football team who declined to be named. That player said Te'o's story didn't add up, but they never confronted him about it.
The big question is: What did he know and when did he know it? We may never get a straight answer from Te'o. Nor from his family, who have thrown hissy-fits anytime the media doesn't work as Manti's PR agency. But what about those who spent the most time with Te'o over the last few years. According to reports, Teo's teammates had suspicions about Lennay Kekau going back to the beginning of this season.
Sports reporter Jackie Pepper spoke to a member of the Notre Dame football team who declined to be named. That player said Te'o's story didn't add up, but they never confronted him about it.
The Notre Dame football player, who asked for anonymity, told Pepper On Sports, "No we all knew he had only seen her once. But when the media was saying how he went through both deaths we knew," said the source, referring to the back-to-back deaths of Te'o's grandmother and girlfriend Lennay Kekua, who allegedly died of Leukemia.
[...]
In response to my follow-up question asking if the source thought that Te'o kept the story going because of the media attention, the player replied, "Yeah. Right after the Michigan [State] game. He should have never brought her in the media. His grandma passing was enough."
Notre Dame's victory over Michigan State and subsequent media explosion appears to have been the turning point for the source and many of his teammates.
The source said while the players discussed their suspicions amongst themselves, they never confronted Te'o.
"We would never bring it up. But we would look at him when he would get all emotional during media about his girl," the player said.
When asked if he thought Te'o was a good actor, the player replied, "Very good."
That player believes Te'o initially fell for a hoax, but carried on with it for the publicity even after he discovered the truth. That fits with what Tyler Moorehead, the Notre Dame rep for college sports network College Spun, recounts from the on-campus gossip:[...]
In response to my follow-up question asking if the source thought that Te'o kept the story going because of the media attention, the player replied, "Yeah. Right after the Michigan [State] game. He should have never brought her in the media. His grandma passing was enough."
Notre Dame's victory over Michigan State and subsequent media explosion appears to have been the turning point for the source and many of his teammates.
The source said while the players discussed their suspicions amongst themselves, they never confronted Te'o.
"We would never bring it up. But we would look at him when he would get all emotional during media about his girl," the player said.
When asked if he thought Te'o was a good actor, the player replied, "Very good."
The debate among teammates wasn't whether or not Manti actually knew this girl - it was clear that they had been in contact; no, players just didn't think that it was fair to call Lennay Kekua Manti's girlfriend, period (it is well-known on campus that he has had relations with other girls during his time at Notre Dame). They recognized what was going on for what it was - a terrible publicity stunt used to fuel Manti Te'o's Heisman campaign. In fact, many of the players privately commented that they didn't want the students to wear leis in support of Manti and wouldn't participate themselves - they cited that the team never responded so publicly to tragic events for other players. But there was also the feeling that Manti didn't deserve to benefit from publicity from the death of somebody he barely knew.
Last night, AD Jack Swarbrick hitched his and the university's wagon to Te'o's flawed version of events. The crux was that Te'o only learned he had been hoaxed on Dec. 6, and the university didn't find out until Dec. 26. But if Te'o's teammates knew something was up going back to September, and he continued to repeat the lie to reporters throughout the season, then something doesn't add up with his story. And remember, it's Notre Dame's official story now, too.
JumpOnBoard
CTG Partner
JumpOnBoard
CTG Partner
L
Lareux
Guest
Sure, but he won't play in the NFL if he does. Hope public speaking makes him enough money, although it won't be near what he's missing out on in the NFL.
L
Lareux
Guest
lolololol. Ahh Bonjour
L
Lareux
Guest
lolololololololol
D-Woww
Old Man Dan
he can be Yag and play in the NFL. why teh hell not? there had to be one black man to be willing to man up and take the abuse that was gonna be there and play baseball, and Jackie Robinson turned out alright, didnt he? Theres no reason a Yag guy shouldnt be welcome on a roster. If ppl wanna not draft him bc of that, id gladly bring him to camp as an UDFA and take that steal.
L
Lareux
Guest
Why the hell not? Because they (the NFL) won't have it. I'm not saying I agree with it, but those are the facts...it's not going to be the NFL that has the first openly Yag star. You're one of the few (actually the only) who I've heard think he could. Come on D-Woww, open your eyes.
L
Lareux
Guest
It has nothing to do with the abuse he would have to take. It has everything to do with the "macho" attitudes of everyone else in the league, and the fact they won't allow it. Again, I think it's ridiculous to think that someone won't be afforded the opportunity to play in the NFL just because they're Yag....but unfortunately, that's how it is.
detroit187
Pretty much a regular
L
Lareux
Guest
In the comments section, I was just reminded of the time that ESPN hired that girl who didn't really exist, that Deadspin then found out about and exposed. ESPN is such a joke at this point, it's amazing to me they are considered a "major" sports news network.
L
Lareux
Guest
Who is that? It doesn't say OPENLY Yag. There is a difference.
detroit187
Pretty much a regular
[h=1]What Te'o, Armstrong, and Steubenville Say About the Media Coverage of Paterno/Penn State[/h]Submitted by John Ziegler on Thu, 01/17/2013 - 10:51
This has been a good week for me.
It has also been a productive week for those of us who are trying to open minds that the media was taken for a ride on the fraud/hoax train when it universally bought into a narrative about the Sandusky scandal that makes even less sense than a star linebacker at Notre Dame faking the death of a fictitious girlfriend. After all, one of the biggest hurdles that we face is convincing people that nearly EVERY single member of the news media was completely wrong about what happened.
That job is getting easier almost every day.
In different but similar ways, the three biggest “sports” scandals of this young year all tell us volumes about how and why the media got is so incredibly wrong about Penn State and Joe Paterno’s role in the Sandusky scandal.
First, let’s take the bizarre story of Notre Dame captain Manti Te’o who was forced to admit that the girlfriend whose death he famously mourned on the same day as that of his grandmother, never really existed.
While we still don’t know for sure (and may never know) what really happened here, we do know enough to make a few relevant judgments. Obviously the media got a story it loved (star football player overcoming horrible personal tragedy to lead Notre Dame back to national prominence) and went out of their way not to question whether it was actually true.
Now, to be fair, part of that lack of journalism was because they didn’t want to seem rude to a grieving star in the making, but that wasn’t the only reason this fraud was perpetrated.
The media is inherently busy, lazy, gutless, and unimaginative. This is why they so often (like with Penn State) act as one with a serious pack mentality. When you add in that no one wanted the story to be false, then you have yet another perfect storm ripe for a fraudulent outcome. An ESPN reporter who featured the Te’o story has already admitted that he was one of many who didn’t question the story even though he could not even find an obituary for the girlfriend.
The parallels and double standards between the media’s handling of Te’o and Paterno are really quite striking.
In both cases the media became enamored with a narrative which seemed on the surface to be highly unlikely and ignored a massive amount of information which should have made them at least question that storyline. However, at the same time, it appears that the media has bent over backwards to protect Te’o (ESPN apparently had the story during the entire BCS title game coverage and never mentioned it, deciding instead to treat him as if he went to Syracuse) and give him every possible benefit of the doubt, even after his seemingly ludicrous cover story has exploded before the nation’s eyes.
Why is this? Well, first of all, the media doesn’t like to admit it was duped and then upstaged by a website best known for naked pictures of Brett Favre. Secondly, Te’o could still have a long career ahead of him and therefore could still be useful to them. Finally, there doesn’t seem to be a real victim here for them to get really angry about and Te’o’s college career is already over.
These factors and others have created the strange circumstances where a college kid we know almost nothing about is getting far more benefit of the doubt over a relatively trivial matter, than a man who had coached successfully for 61 years with out a hint of scandal got involving a situation which was about as serious as it gets.
It is also important to note the remarkable lack of imagination, introspection or curiosity on the part of the media here.
They now have to accept that it was possible for a star football player to almost win the Heisman Trophy while faking the death of a fake girlfriend, and yet to them it is somehow still “crazy” to think that Mike McQueary’s inconsistent, nonsensical testimony about a ten year old, three-second scene in a shower might have been manipulated or misunderstood? Similarly, we now have to believe that Te’o was just duped by a fake girlfriend for three years and yet Penn State couldn’t have just been fooled by a pedophile that got away with it for 30?
Seriously?! And we are the “crazy” ones here?
Ironically, I think there is actually a scenario where what happened to Te’o is remarkably similar to what occurred with Mike McQueary. I think it is quite plausible that both found themselves in situations that they never imagined, got locked into a story that they knew wasn’t true, and then out of fear and pursuit of self interest decided to exaggerate it rather than recant.
Finally, there is the issue of Notre Dame completely backing Te’o entirely implausible story. After seeing the Notre Dame AD’s bizarre press conference, I am sure that many Penn Staters had to immediately think of how their former president Graham Spanier was immediately raked over the coals and forced out of his job after he totally supported Tim Curley and Gary Schultz when the evidence was exponentially more on the side of their veracity than that of Te’o’s.
Then there is the much-hyped Lance Armstrong cheating “confession.”
I get a particular joy out of this downfall for several reasons. First, I have been saying for many years that Armstrong had to be doping and that it was patently obvious. But more importantly, there is a really remarkable connection between members of the media who got the most bamboozled by Armstrong and those who were hardest on Paterno.
It can not be a mere coincidence that Armstrong’s three biggest media defenders, even after he was obviously going down, were Sally Jenkins, Buzz Bissinger and Rick Reilly, when those three were also among the very most vitriolic (and inaccurate) critics of Paterno.
While I am personally most connected to the dreadful human being that is Buzz Bissinger (because, among other things, his profanity-laced attack on me led to FCC complaints and his leaving talk radio), I actually have a great story about Sally Jenkins on this front.
Jenkins, who strangely was given the last interview Paterno ever did before turning on him in an extreme manner, held a cyber chat back in 2008 to discuss the book she co-wrote with Lance Armstrong. I happened to participate in it and I essentially asked her this question: “Is it possible that Armstrong built his Livestrong charity in part because he knew that as a cheater he would eventually get questioned about it and he wanted to create a base of political support and several layers of political correctness protection as a defense against future attacks?”
The answer Jenkins gave, almost word for word, was, “That is the most cynical and absurd thing I have ever heard in my entire career.”
As it turns out, I was, if not dead on, far more correct about what was really going on with the subject of her book than Jenkins was (and I had never even met Armstrong). And yet, even though Armstrong lied to her constantly for years, Jenkins still has not unleashed nearly the same venom on him that she did on Paterno because she somehow determined he “lied” to her once based on an incredibly vague email that was written by someone else and which doesn’t even mention his name.
This dichotomy of burden of proof is so dramatic that, in my view, it has to be somehow based in something deeply psychological rather than be merely circumstantial.
Obviously, much as with Te’o, the media desperately wanted the Armstong story (cancer surviving philanthropist dominates a sport of cheaters without cheating) to be true and they fought tooth and nail for him until Armstrong literally had to tell them to give up by “confessing” (isn’t it interesting that many in the media wouldn’t convict Armstrong until he confessed, and yet didn’t care that Paterno always maintained his innocence?).
Similarly, the media so fell in love with the Paterno downfall narrative that almost nothing was going to allow them to let go of it, especially once they became so committed to it that their perceived credibility was then permanently attached to that storyline being seen as not only true, but universally unquestioned.
Of course, I have always taken the opposite view of where the burden of proof should lie in the Sandusky scandal. When I look at the scenario the media wants us to believe happened at Penn State my reaction is to say, “Okay, that’s pretty wild stuff. You better have a boatload of evidence to back up that wild theory.”
One of the most maddening aspects (of many) of the how the media has handled the Penn State story is that you are considered by them to be “nuts” if you don’t accept the conventional wisdom. Making this concept particularly galling is that the “Conventional Wisdom” scenario is one that makes absolutely no sense and for which there is shockingly little evidence.
So we end up with the bizarre spectacle of the same members of the media who defended Armstrong despite a mountain of circumstantial evidence which fit a guilt narrative which was based in sound logic, destroying Paterno despite the fact that there wasn’t even a remotely plausible motive for him to have done the alleged misdeeds for which there is almost no evidence he committed.
Finally, there are stunning similarities between how the media has handled the Penn State story and the so called “Steubenville Rape Case” which revolves around several players on the vaunted “Big Red” football team allegedly being involved in some sort of sexual assault.
In maybe the most incredible coincidences of a life that has seen many, my connection to the Steubenville story is actually stronger than that of the Penn State saga. I covered the team for two years as a TV sportscaster at the NBC affiliate in Steubenville and then spent an entire calendar year with their current coach so that I could write a book called, “Dynasty at the Crossroads” (which, ironically, was the first time I had contact with Buzz Bissinger).
Since the story broke nationally in December (four months after the event happened, which is the first sign a story is probably not being portrayed accurately), I have been in very close contact with the coach advising him on how to handle the media in this situation. I even traveled to Steubenville for several days to meet with him and plot strategy and did a national TV appearance and a local newspaper column to discuss how the media blew it here. Because of this I will refrain from commenting too deeply at this time.
However, you should know that in seeing the media up close try all the same tactics they used from their Penn State playbook has further strengthened by confidence that we are right about how wrong they were on the Sandusky story.
In the Steubenville case the media (including the New York Times and Deadspin) has completely concocted a cover up narrative which simply didn’t happen and, much like with Penn State, doesn’t even pass the basic test to even theoretically qualify as a cover up. Even more shockingly, the mainstream media has even used anonymous, masked, law-breaking, internet hackers who have told numerous monstrous lies in this case as prime sources or false and grossly misleading information!
I don’t know what the final outcome there will be, but watching the Penn State saga unfold again before my eyes in slow motion has truly been a surreal experience. While far from a certainty, I fear that the coach, who is remarkably similar to Paterno in many ways, may end up being thrown under the bus by cowardly board members who are intimidated by an out of control media.
I do know however that I am even more sure than ever that the media, as proven by Te’o, Armstrong, and Steubenville, is simply not to be trusted on any story where they become enamored with the narrative and is particularly vulnerable to being completely fooled on a “perfect storm” story like the Sandusky scandal.
In other words, I was always confident that we were correct, but the events of the past couple of weeks have made me morally certain of it. Unlike with Sally Jenkins and Buzz Bissinger, that doesn’t happen unless I am right.
<fb:share-button href="http://framingpaterno.com/what-teo-armstrong-and-steubenville-say-about-media-coverage-paternopenn-state" type="button_count" class=" fb_iframe_widget" fb-xfbml-state="rendered" style="position: relative; display: inline-block; "><iframe id="f159fef718" name="f2c6953a1" scrolling="no" src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/share_button.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fframingpaterno.com%2Fwhat-teo-armstrong-and-steubenville-say-about-media-coverage-paternopenn-state&type=button_count&app_id=&locale=en_US&sdk=joey&channel=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.ak.facebook.com%2Fconnect%2Fxd_arbiter.php%3Fversion%3D18%23cb%3Df2439d6d3c%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fframingpaterno.com%252Ff30952735c%26domain%3Dframingpaterno.com%26relation%3Dparent.parent" class="" style="position: absolute; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; width: 87px; height: 18px; "></iframe></fb:share-button>It is probably a sad commentary on my life, but few things give me more pleasure than seeing our increasingly corrupt news media be exposed for the fraudulent prostitutes that they are.This has been a good week for me.
It has also been a productive week for those of us who are trying to open minds that the media was taken for a ride on the fraud/hoax train when it universally bought into a narrative about the Sandusky scandal that makes even less sense than a star linebacker at Notre Dame faking the death of a fictitious girlfriend. After all, one of the biggest hurdles that we face is convincing people that nearly EVERY single member of the news media was completely wrong about what happened.
That job is getting easier almost every day.
In different but similar ways, the three biggest “sports” scandals of this young year all tell us volumes about how and why the media got is so incredibly wrong about Penn State and Joe Paterno’s role in the Sandusky scandal.
First, let’s take the bizarre story of Notre Dame captain Manti Te’o who was forced to admit that the girlfriend whose death he famously mourned on the same day as that of his grandmother, never really existed.
While we still don’t know for sure (and may never know) what really happened here, we do know enough to make a few relevant judgments. Obviously the media got a story it loved (star football player overcoming horrible personal tragedy to lead Notre Dame back to national prominence) and went out of their way not to question whether it was actually true.
Now, to be fair, part of that lack of journalism was because they didn’t want to seem rude to a grieving star in the making, but that wasn’t the only reason this fraud was perpetrated.
The media is inherently busy, lazy, gutless, and unimaginative. This is why they so often (like with Penn State) act as one with a serious pack mentality. When you add in that no one wanted the story to be false, then you have yet another perfect storm ripe for a fraudulent outcome. An ESPN reporter who featured the Te’o story has already admitted that he was one of many who didn’t question the story even though he could not even find an obituary for the girlfriend.
The parallels and double standards between the media’s handling of Te’o and Paterno are really quite striking.
In both cases the media became enamored with a narrative which seemed on the surface to be highly unlikely and ignored a massive amount of information which should have made them at least question that storyline. However, at the same time, it appears that the media has bent over backwards to protect Te’o (ESPN apparently had the story during the entire BCS title game coverage and never mentioned it, deciding instead to treat him as if he went to Syracuse) and give him every possible benefit of the doubt, even after his seemingly ludicrous cover story has exploded before the nation’s eyes.
Why is this? Well, first of all, the media doesn’t like to admit it was duped and then upstaged by a website best known for naked pictures of Brett Favre. Secondly, Te’o could still have a long career ahead of him and therefore could still be useful to them. Finally, there doesn’t seem to be a real victim here for them to get really angry about and Te’o’s college career is already over.
These factors and others have created the strange circumstances where a college kid we know almost nothing about is getting far more benefit of the doubt over a relatively trivial matter, than a man who had coached successfully for 61 years with out a hint of scandal got involving a situation which was about as serious as it gets.
It is also important to note the remarkable lack of imagination, introspection or curiosity on the part of the media here.
They now have to accept that it was possible for a star football player to almost win the Heisman Trophy while faking the death of a fake girlfriend, and yet to them it is somehow still “crazy” to think that Mike McQueary’s inconsistent, nonsensical testimony about a ten year old, three-second scene in a shower might have been manipulated or misunderstood? Similarly, we now have to believe that Te’o was just duped by a fake girlfriend for three years and yet Penn State couldn’t have just been fooled by a pedophile that got away with it for 30?
Seriously?! And we are the “crazy” ones here?
Ironically, I think there is actually a scenario where what happened to Te’o is remarkably similar to what occurred with Mike McQueary. I think it is quite plausible that both found themselves in situations that they never imagined, got locked into a story that they knew wasn’t true, and then out of fear and pursuit of self interest decided to exaggerate it rather than recant.
Finally, there is the issue of Notre Dame completely backing Te’o entirely implausible story. After seeing the Notre Dame AD’s bizarre press conference, I am sure that many Penn Staters had to immediately think of how their former president Graham Spanier was immediately raked over the coals and forced out of his job after he totally supported Tim Curley and Gary Schultz when the evidence was exponentially more on the side of their veracity than that of Te’o’s.
Then there is the much-hyped Lance Armstrong cheating “confession.”
I get a particular joy out of this downfall for several reasons. First, I have been saying for many years that Armstrong had to be doping and that it was patently obvious. But more importantly, there is a really remarkable connection between members of the media who got the most bamboozled by Armstrong and those who were hardest on Paterno.
It can not be a mere coincidence that Armstrong’s three biggest media defenders, even after he was obviously going down, were Sally Jenkins, Buzz Bissinger and Rick Reilly, when those three were also among the very most vitriolic (and inaccurate) critics of Paterno.
While I am personally most connected to the dreadful human being that is Buzz Bissinger (because, among other things, his profanity-laced attack on me led to FCC complaints and his leaving talk radio), I actually have a great story about Sally Jenkins on this front.
Jenkins, who strangely was given the last interview Paterno ever did before turning on him in an extreme manner, held a cyber chat back in 2008 to discuss the book she co-wrote with Lance Armstrong. I happened to participate in it and I essentially asked her this question: “Is it possible that Armstrong built his Livestrong charity in part because he knew that as a cheater he would eventually get questioned about it and he wanted to create a base of political support and several layers of political correctness protection as a defense against future attacks?”
The answer Jenkins gave, almost word for word, was, “That is the most cynical and absurd thing I have ever heard in my entire career.”
As it turns out, I was, if not dead on, far more correct about what was really going on with the subject of her book than Jenkins was (and I had never even met Armstrong). And yet, even though Armstrong lied to her constantly for years, Jenkins still has not unleashed nearly the same venom on him that she did on Paterno because she somehow determined he “lied” to her once based on an incredibly vague email that was written by someone else and which doesn’t even mention his name.
This dichotomy of burden of proof is so dramatic that, in my view, it has to be somehow based in something deeply psychological rather than be merely circumstantial.
Obviously, much as with Te’o, the media desperately wanted the Armstong story (cancer surviving philanthropist dominates a sport of cheaters without cheating) to be true and they fought tooth and nail for him until Armstrong literally had to tell them to give up by “confessing” (isn’t it interesting that many in the media wouldn’t convict Armstrong until he confessed, and yet didn’t care that Paterno always maintained his innocence?).
Similarly, the media so fell in love with the Paterno downfall narrative that almost nothing was going to allow them to let go of it, especially once they became so committed to it that their perceived credibility was then permanently attached to that storyline being seen as not only true, but universally unquestioned.
Of course, I have always taken the opposite view of where the burden of proof should lie in the Sandusky scandal. When I look at the scenario the media wants us to believe happened at Penn State my reaction is to say, “Okay, that’s pretty wild stuff. You better have a boatload of evidence to back up that wild theory.”
One of the most maddening aspects (of many) of the how the media has handled the Penn State story is that you are considered by them to be “nuts” if you don’t accept the conventional wisdom. Making this concept particularly galling is that the “Conventional Wisdom” scenario is one that makes absolutely no sense and for which there is shockingly little evidence.
So we end up with the bizarre spectacle of the same members of the media who defended Armstrong despite a mountain of circumstantial evidence which fit a guilt narrative which was based in sound logic, destroying Paterno despite the fact that there wasn’t even a remotely plausible motive for him to have done the alleged misdeeds for which there is almost no evidence he committed.
Finally, there are stunning similarities between how the media has handled the Penn State story and the so called “Steubenville Rape Case” which revolves around several players on the vaunted “Big Red” football team allegedly being involved in some sort of sexual assault.
In maybe the most incredible coincidences of a life that has seen many, my connection to the Steubenville story is actually stronger than that of the Penn State saga. I covered the team for two years as a TV sportscaster at the NBC affiliate in Steubenville and then spent an entire calendar year with their current coach so that I could write a book called, “Dynasty at the Crossroads” (which, ironically, was the first time I had contact with Buzz Bissinger).
Since the story broke nationally in December (four months after the event happened, which is the first sign a story is probably not being portrayed accurately), I have been in very close contact with the coach advising him on how to handle the media in this situation. I even traveled to Steubenville for several days to meet with him and plot strategy and did a national TV appearance and a local newspaper column to discuss how the media blew it here. Because of this I will refrain from commenting too deeply at this time.
However, you should know that in seeing the media up close try all the same tactics they used from their Penn State playbook has further strengthened by confidence that we are right about how wrong they were on the Sandusky story.
In the Steubenville case the media (including the New York Times and Deadspin) has completely concocted a cover up narrative which simply didn’t happen and, much like with Penn State, doesn’t even pass the basic test to even theoretically qualify as a cover up. Even more shockingly, the mainstream media has even used anonymous, masked, law-breaking, internet hackers who have told numerous monstrous lies in this case as prime sources or false and grossly misleading information!
I don’t know what the final outcome there will be, but watching the Penn State saga unfold again before my eyes in slow motion has truly been a surreal experience. While far from a certainty, I fear that the coach, who is remarkably similar to Paterno in many ways, may end up being thrown under the bus by cowardly board members who are intimidated by an out of control media.
I do know however that I am even more sure than ever that the media, as proven by Te’o, Armstrong, and Steubenville, is simply not to be trusted on any story where they become enamored with the narrative and is particularly vulnerable to being completely fooled on a “perfect storm” story like the Sandusky scandal.
In other words, I was always confident that we were correct, but the events of the past couple of weeks have made me morally certain of it. Unlike with Sally Jenkins and Buzz Bissinger, that doesn’t happen unless I am right.
detroit187
Pretty much a regular
[h=1]What Te'o, Armstrong, and Steubenville Say About the Media Coverage of Paterno/Penn State[/h]Submitted by John Ziegler on Thu, 01/17/2013 - 10:51
This has been a good week for me.
It has also been a productive week for those of us who are trying to open minds that the media was taken for a ride on the fraud/hoax train when it universally bought into a narrative about the Sandusky scandal that makes even less sense than a star linebacker at Notre Dame faking the death of a fictitious girlfriend. After all, one of the biggest hurdles that we face is convincing people that nearly EVERY single member of the news media was completely wrong about what happened.
That job is getting easier almost every day.
In different but similar ways, the three biggest “sports” scandals of this young year all tell us volumes about how and why the media got is so incredibly wrong about Penn State and Joe Paterno’s role in the Sandusky scandal.
First, let’s take the bizarre story of Notre Dame captain Manti Te’o who was forced to admit that the girlfriend whose death he famously mourned on the same day as that of his grandmother, never really existed.
While we still don’t know for sure (and may never know) what really happened here, we do know enough to make a few relevant judgments. Obviously the media got a story it loved (star football player overcoming horrible personal tragedy to lead Notre Dame back to national prominence) and went out of their way not to question whether it was actually true.
Now, to be fair, part of that lack of journalism was because they didn’t want to seem rude to a grieving star in the making, but that wasn’t the only reason this fraud was perpetrated.
The media is inherently busy, lazy, gutless, and unimaginative. This is why they so often (like with Penn State) act as one with a serious pack mentality. When you add in that no one wanted the story to be false, then you have yet another perfect storm ripe for a fraudulent outcome. An ESPN reporter who featured the Te’o story has already admitted that he was one of many who didn’t question the story even though he could not even find an obituary for the girlfriend.
The parallels and double standards between the media’s handling of Te’o and Paterno are really quite striking.
In both cases the media became enamored with a narrative which seemed on the surface to be highly unlikely and ignored a massive amount of information which should have made them at least question that storyline. However, at the same time, it appears that the media has bent over backwards to protect Te’o (ESPN apparently had the story during the entire BCS title game coverage and never mentioned it, deciding instead to treat him as if he went to Syracuse) and give him every possible benefit of the doubt, even after his seemingly ludicrous cover story has exploded before the nation’s eyes.
Why is this? Well, first of all, the media doesn’t like to admit it was duped and then upstaged by a website best known for naked pictures of Brett Favre. Secondly, Te’o could still have a long career ahead of him and therefore could still be useful to them. Finally, there doesn’t seem to be a real victim here for them to get really angry about and Te’o’s college career is already over.
These factors and others have created the strange circumstances where a college kid we know almost nothing about is getting far more benefit of the doubt over a relatively trivial matter, than a man who had coached successfully for 61 years with out a hint of scandal got involving a situation which was about as serious as it gets.
It is also important to note the remarkable lack of imagination, introspection or curiosity on the part of the media here.
They now have to accept that it was possible for a star football player to almost win the Heisman Trophy while faking the death of a fake girlfriend, and yet to them it is somehow still “crazy” to think that Mike McQueary’s inconsistent, nonsensical testimony about a ten year old, three-second scene in a shower might have been manipulated or misunderstood? Similarly, we now have to believe that Te’o was just duped by a fake girlfriend for three years and yet Penn State couldn’t have just been fooled by a pedophile that got away with it for 30?
Seriously?! And we are the “crazy” ones here?
Ironically, I think there is actually a scenario where what happened to Te’o is remarkably similar to what occurred with Mike McQueary. I think it is quite plausible that both found themselves in situations that they never imagined, got locked into a story that they knew wasn’t true, and then out of fear and pursuit of self interest decided to exaggerate it rather than recant.
Finally, there is the issue of Notre Dame completely backing Te’o entirely implausible story. After seeing the Notre Dame AD’s bizarre press conference, I am sure that many Penn Staters had to immediately think of how their former president Graham Spanier was immediately raked over the coals and forced out of his job after he totally supported Tim Curley and Gary Schultz when the evidence was exponentially more on the side of their veracity than that of Te’o’s.
Then there is the much-hyped Lance Armstrong cheating “confession.”
I get a particular joy out of this downfall for several reasons. First, I have been saying for many years that Armstrong had to be doping and that it was patently obvious. But more importantly, there is a really remarkable connection between members of the media who got the most bamboozled by Armstrong and those who were hardest on Paterno.
It can not be a mere coincidence that Armstrong’s three biggest media defenders, even after he was obviously going down, were Sally Jenkins, Buzz Bissinger and Rick Reilly, when those three were also among the very most vitriolic (and inaccurate) critics of Paterno.
While I am personally most connected to the dreadful human being that is Buzz Bissinger (because, among other things, his profanity-laced attack on me led to FCC complaints and his leaving talk radio), I actually have a great story about Sally Jenkins on this front.
Jenkins, who strangely was given the last interview Paterno ever did before turning on him in an extreme manner, held a cyber chat back in 2008 to discuss the book she co-wrote with Lance Armstrong. I happened to participate in it and I essentially asked her this question: “Is it possible that Armstrong built his Livestrong charity in part because he knew that as a cheater he would eventually get questioned about it and he wanted to create a base of political support and several layers of political correctness protection as a defense against future attacks?”
The answer Jenkins gave, almost word for word, was, “That is the most cynical and absurd thing I have ever heard in my entire career.”
As it turns out, I was, if not dead on, far more correct about what was really going on with the subject of her book than Jenkins was (and I had never even met Armstrong). And yet, even though Armstrong lied to her constantly for years, Jenkins still has not unleashed nearly the same venom on him that she did on Paterno because she somehow determined he “lied” to her once based on an incredibly vague email that was written by someone else and which doesn’t even mention his name.
This dichotomy of burden of proof is so dramatic that, in my view, it has to be somehow based in something deeply psychological rather than be merely circumstantial.
Obviously, much as with Te’o, the media desperately wanted the Armstong story (cancer surviving philanthropist dominates a sport of cheaters without cheating) to be true and they fought tooth and nail for him until Armstrong literally had to tell them to give up by “confessing” (isn’t it interesting that many in the media wouldn’t convict Armstrong until he confessed, and yet didn’t care that Paterno always maintained his innocence?).
Similarly, the media so fell in love with the Paterno downfall narrative that almost nothing was going to allow them to let go of it, especially once they became so committed to it that their perceived credibility was then permanently attached to that storyline being seen as not only true, but universally unquestioned.
Of course, I have always taken the opposite view of where the burden of proof should lie in the Sandusky scandal. When I look at the scenario the media wants us to believe happened at Penn State my reaction is to say, “Okay, that’s pretty wild stuff. You better have a boatload of evidence to back up that wild theory.”
One of the most maddening aspects (of many) of the how the media has handled the Penn State story is that you are considered by them to be “nuts” if you don’t accept the conventional wisdom. Making this concept particularly galling is that the “Conventional Wisdom” scenario is one that makes absolutely no sense and for which there is shockingly little evidence.
So we end up with the bizarre spectacle of the same members of the media who defended Armstrong despite a mountain of circumstantial evidence which fit a guilt narrative which was based in sound logic, destroying Paterno despite the fact that there wasn’t even a remotely plausible motive for him to have done the alleged misdeeds for which there is almost no evidence he committed.
Finally, there are stunning similarities between how the media has handled the Penn State story and the so called “Steubenville Rape Case” which revolves around several players on the vaunted “Big Red” football team allegedly being involved in some sort of sexual assault.
In maybe the most incredible coincidences of a life that has seen many, my connection to the Steubenville story is actually stronger than that of the Penn State saga. I covered the team for two years as a TV sportscaster at the NBC affiliate in Steubenville and then spent an entire calendar year with their current coach so that I could write a book called, “Dynasty at the Crossroads” (which, ironically, was the first time I had contact with Buzz Bissinger).
Since the story broke nationally in December (four months after the event happened, which is the first sign a story is probably not being portrayed accurately), I have been in very close contact with the coach advising him on how to handle the media in this situation. I even traveled to Steubenville for several days to meet with him and plot strategy and did a national TV appearance and a local newspaper column to discuss how the media blew it here. Because of this I will refrain from commenting too deeply at this time.
However, you should know that in seeing the media up close try all the same tactics they used from their Penn State playbook has further strengthened by confidence that we are right about how wrong they were on the Sandusky story.
In the Steubenville case the media (including the New York Times and Deadspin) has completely concocted a cover up narrative which simply didn’t happen and, much like with Penn State, doesn’t even pass the basic test to even theoretically qualify as a cover up. Even more shockingly, the mainstream media has even used anonymous, masked, law-breaking, internet hackers who have told numerous monstrous lies in this case as prime sources or false and grossly misleading information!
I don’t know what the final outcome there will be, but watching the Penn State saga unfold again before my eyes in slow motion has truly been a surreal experience. While far from a certainty, I fear that the coach, who is remarkably similar to Paterno in many ways, may end up being thrown under the bus by cowardly board members who are intimidated by an out of control media.
I do know however that I am even more sure than ever that the media, as proven by Te’o, Armstrong, and Steubenville, is simply not to be trusted on any story where they become enamored with the narrative and is particularly vulnerable to being completely fooled on a “perfect storm” story like the Sandusky scandal.
In other words, I was always confident that we were correct, but the events of the past couple of weeks have made me morally certain of it. Unlike with Sally Jenkins and Buzz Bissinger, that doesn’t happen unless I am right.
<fb:share-button href="http://framingpaterno.com/what-teo-armstrong-and-steubenville-say-about-media-coverage-paternopenn-state" type="button_count" class=" fb_iframe_widget" fb-xfbml-state="rendered" style="position: relative; display: inline-block; "><iframe id="f159fef718" name="f2c6953a1" scrolling="no" src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/share_button.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fframingpaterno.com%2Fwhat-teo-armstrong-and-steubenville-say-about-media-coverage-paternopenn-state&type=button_count&app_id=&locale=en_US&sdk=joey&channel=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.ak.facebook.com%2Fconnect%2Fxd_arbiter.php%3Fversion%3D18%23cb%3Df2439d6d3c%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fframingpaterno.com%252Ff30952735c%26domain%3Dframingpaterno.com%26relation%3Dparent.parent" class="" style="position: absolute; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; width: 87px; height: 18px; "></iframe></fb:share-button>It is probably a sad commentary on my life, but few things give me more pleasure than seeing our increasingly corrupt news media be exposed for the fraudulent prostitutes that they are.This has been a good week for me.
It has also been a productive week for those of us who are trying to open minds that the media was taken for a ride on the fraud/hoax train when it universally bought into a narrative about the Sandusky scandal that makes even less sense than a star linebacker at Notre Dame faking the death of a fictitious girlfriend. After all, one of the biggest hurdles that we face is convincing people that nearly EVERY single member of the news media was completely wrong about what happened.
That job is getting easier almost every day.
In different but similar ways, the three biggest “sports” scandals of this young year all tell us volumes about how and why the media got is so incredibly wrong about Penn State and Joe Paterno’s role in the Sandusky scandal.
First, let’s take the bizarre story of Notre Dame captain Manti Te’o who was forced to admit that the girlfriend whose death he famously mourned on the same day as that of his grandmother, never really existed.
While we still don’t know for sure (and may never know) what really happened here, we do know enough to make a few relevant judgments. Obviously the media got a story it loved (star football player overcoming horrible personal tragedy to lead Notre Dame back to national prominence) and went out of their way not to question whether it was actually true.
Now, to be fair, part of that lack of journalism was because they didn’t want to seem rude to a grieving star in the making, but that wasn’t the only reason this fraud was perpetrated.
The media is inherently busy, lazy, gutless, and unimaginative. This is why they so often (like with Penn State) act as one with a serious pack mentality. When you add in that no one wanted the story to be false, then you have yet another perfect storm ripe for a fraudulent outcome. An ESPN reporter who featured the Te’o story has already admitted that he was one of many who didn’t question the story even though he could not even find an obituary for the girlfriend.
The parallels and double standards between the media’s handling of Te’o and Paterno are really quite striking.
In both cases the media became enamored with a narrative which seemed on the surface to be highly unlikely and ignored a massive amount of information which should have made them at least question that storyline. However, at the same time, it appears that the media has bent over backwards to protect Te’o (ESPN apparently had the story during the entire BCS title game coverage and never mentioned it, deciding instead to treat him as if he went to Syracuse) and give him every possible benefit of the doubt, even after his seemingly ludicrous cover story has exploded before the nation’s eyes.
Why is this? Well, first of all, the media doesn’t like to admit it was duped and then upstaged by a website best known for naked pictures of Brett Favre. Secondly, Te’o could still have a long career ahead of him and therefore could still be useful to them. Finally, there doesn’t seem to be a real victim here for them to get really angry about and Te’o’s college career is already over.
These factors and others have created the strange circumstances where a college kid we know almost nothing about is getting far more benefit of the doubt over a relatively trivial matter, than a man who had coached successfully for 61 years with out a hint of scandal got involving a situation which was about as serious as it gets.
It is also important to note the remarkable lack of imagination, introspection or curiosity on the part of the media here.
They now have to accept that it was possible for a star football player to almost win the Heisman Trophy while faking the death of a fake girlfriend, and yet to them it is somehow still “crazy” to think that Mike McQueary’s inconsistent, nonsensical testimony about a ten year old, three-second scene in a shower might have been manipulated or misunderstood? Similarly, we now have to believe that Te’o was just duped by a fake girlfriend for three years and yet Penn State couldn’t have just been fooled by a pedophile that got away with it for 30?
Seriously?! And we are the “crazy” ones here?
Ironically, I think there is actually a scenario where what happened to Te’o is remarkably similar to what occurred with Mike McQueary. I think it is quite plausible that both found themselves in situations that they never imagined, got locked into a story that they knew wasn’t true, and then out of fear and pursuit of self interest decided to exaggerate it rather than recant.
Finally, there is the issue of Notre Dame completely backing Te’o entirely implausible story. After seeing the Notre Dame AD’s bizarre press conference, I am sure that many Penn Staters had to immediately think of how their former president Graham Spanier was immediately raked over the coals and forced out of his job after he totally supported Tim Curley and Gary Schultz when the evidence was exponentially more on the side of their veracity than that of Te’o’s.
Then there is the much-hyped Lance Armstrong cheating “confession.”
I get a particular joy out of this downfall for several reasons. First, I have been saying for many years that Armstrong had to be doping and that it was patently obvious. But more importantly, there is a really remarkable connection between members of the media who got the most bamboozled by Armstrong and those who were hardest on Paterno.
It can not be a mere coincidence that Armstrong’s three biggest media defenders, even after he was obviously going down, were Sally Jenkins, Buzz Bissinger and Rick Reilly, when those three were also among the very most vitriolic (and inaccurate) critics of Paterno.
While I am personally most connected to the dreadful human being that is Buzz Bissinger (because, among other things, his profanity-laced attack on me led to FCC complaints and his leaving talk radio), I actually have a great story about Sally Jenkins on this front.
Jenkins, who strangely was given the last interview Paterno ever did before turning on him in an extreme manner, held a cyber chat back in 2008 to discuss the book she co-wrote with Lance Armstrong. I happened to participate in it and I essentially asked her this question: “Is it possible that Armstrong built his Livestrong charity in part because he knew that as a cheater he would eventually get questioned about it and he wanted to create a base of political support and several layers of political correctness protection as a defense against future attacks?”
The answer Jenkins gave, almost word for word, was, “That is the most cynical and absurd thing I have ever heard in my entire career.”
As it turns out, I was, if not dead on, far more correct about what was really going on with the subject of her book than Jenkins was (and I had never even met Armstrong). And yet, even though Armstrong lied to her constantly for years, Jenkins still has not unleashed nearly the same venom on him that she did on Paterno because she somehow determined he “lied” to her once based on an incredibly vague email that was written by someone else and which doesn’t even mention his name.
This dichotomy of burden of proof is so dramatic that, in my view, it has to be somehow based in something deeply psychological rather than be merely circumstantial.
Obviously, much as with Te’o, the media desperately wanted the Armstong story (cancer surviving philanthropist dominates a sport of cheaters without cheating) to be true and they fought tooth and nail for him until Armstrong literally had to tell them to give up by “confessing” (isn’t it interesting that many in the media wouldn’t convict Armstrong until he confessed, and yet didn’t care that Paterno always maintained his innocence?).
Similarly, the media so fell in love with the Paterno downfall narrative that almost nothing was going to allow them to let go of it, especially once they became so committed to it that their perceived credibility was then permanently attached to that storyline being seen as not only true, but universally unquestioned.
Of course, I have always taken the opposite view of where the burden of proof should lie in the Sandusky scandal. When I look at the scenario the media wants us to believe happened at Penn State my reaction is to say, “Okay, that’s pretty wild stuff. You better have a boatload of evidence to back up that wild theory.”
One of the most maddening aspects (of many) of the how the media has handled the Penn State story is that you are considered by them to be “nuts” if you don’t accept the conventional wisdom. Making this concept particularly galling is that the “Conventional Wisdom” scenario is one that makes absolutely no sense and for which there is shockingly little evidence.
So we end up with the bizarre spectacle of the same members of the media who defended Armstrong despite a mountain of circumstantial evidence which fit a guilt narrative which was based in sound logic, destroying Paterno despite the fact that there wasn’t even a remotely plausible motive for him to have done the alleged misdeeds for which there is almost no evidence he committed.
Finally, there are stunning similarities between how the media has handled the Penn State story and the so called “Steubenville Rape Case” which revolves around several players on the vaunted “Big Red” football team allegedly being involved in some sort of sexual assault.
In maybe the most incredible coincidences of a life that has seen many, my connection to the Steubenville story is actually stronger than that of the Penn State saga. I covered the team for two years as a TV sportscaster at the NBC affiliate in Steubenville and then spent an entire calendar year with their current coach so that I could write a book called, “Dynasty at the Crossroads” (which, ironically, was the first time I had contact with Buzz Bissinger).
Since the story broke nationally in December (four months after the event happened, which is the first sign a story is probably not being portrayed accurately), I have been in very close contact with the coach advising him on how to handle the media in this situation. I even traveled to Steubenville for several days to meet with him and plot strategy and did a national TV appearance and a local newspaper column to discuss how the media blew it here. Because of this I will refrain from commenting too deeply at this time.
However, you should know that in seeing the media up close try all the same tactics they used from their Penn State playbook has further strengthened by confidence that we are right about how wrong they were on the Sandusky story.
In the Steubenville case the media (including the New York Times and Deadspin) has completely concocted a cover up narrative which simply didn’t happen and, much like with Penn State, doesn’t even pass the basic test to even theoretically qualify as a cover up. Even more shockingly, the mainstream media has even used anonymous, masked, law-breaking, internet hackers who have told numerous monstrous lies in this case as prime sources or false and grossly misleading information!
I don’t know what the final outcome there will be, but watching the Penn State saga unfold again before my eyes in slow motion has truly been a surreal experience. While far from a certainty, I fear that the coach, who is remarkably similar to Paterno in many ways, may end up being thrown under the bus by cowardly board members who are intimidated by an out of control media.
I do know however that I am even more sure than ever that the media, as proven by Te’o, Armstrong, and Steubenville, is simply not to be trusted on any story where they become enamored with the narrative and is particularly vulnerable to being completely fooled on a “perfect storm” story like the Sandusky scandal.
In other words, I was always confident that we were correct, but the events of the past couple of weeks have made me morally certain of it. Unlike with Sally Jenkins and Buzz Bissinger, that doesn’t happen unless I am right.
L
Lareux
Guest
Oh, and since you're back Detroit...can you respond to this, the part in italics? I want to know which interview you watched. Thanks!
It's not necessarily just looking to the left (or right) though, it also has to do with looking up or down as well. There is a chart about this (from the FBI) that I'll look up.
I'm also assuming you meant he looked to your left, which is his right. Looking to his left would indicate that he is accessing memories. Looking to his right would indicate he is creating in his mind, or lying to you. I'm sure that's what you meant, since you said you're experienced with this. If not, I hate to tell you this, but you're doing it all wrong.
This all has to do with the eyes, and if you're talking about the interview after the MSU game, I didn't see his eyes really move in either direction. His head was turned to his left a few times, but that's not his eyes (and looking to his left indicates he is telling the truth and accessing memories). I may be misunderstanding which interview you're talking about though.
Originally Posted by detroit187
liars usually do many things to tip us off at work...a few which i noticed tonight
1. look to the left, teo did this in espn interview at least five times
2. drink beverage between answering questions. the nd guy did this repeatedly when answering questions
3. slow down his speech. noticed teo did this in interview as well when asked personal ?s about lenae.
one thing i am decent at in life is because my career depends on it is i can look at an inexperienced kid like him and tell he is lying within 2 seconds if there is suspicion, he is lying! i just watched the interview
i learn this in day 1 of training at the mgm in vegas and teach this to anyone i train.
It's not necessarily just looking to the left (or right) though, it also has to do with looking up or down as well. There is a chart about this (from the FBI) that I'll look up.
I'm also assuming you meant he looked to your left, which is his right. Looking to his left would indicate that he is accessing memories. Looking to his right would indicate he is creating in his mind, or lying to you. I'm sure that's what you meant, since you said you're experienced with this. If not, I hate to tell you this, but you're doing it all wrong.
This all has to do with the eyes, and if you're talking about the interview after the MSU game, I didn't see his eyes really move in either direction. His head was turned to his left a few times, but that's not his eyes (and looking to his left indicates he is telling the truth and accessing memories). I may be misunderstanding which interview you're talking about though.
detroit187
Pretty much a regular
Lareux if you ever get the chance check out some of Zieglers work about the media. From his movie on Obama to the Steubenville football rape case, the guy is pretty much spot on.
L
Lareux
Guest
:shake:
Smokedawg
Eagles Fan
Well played, Tide. Well played.
L K <s>@</s>LennayKay My statement: This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but I have been told by Alabama's offense that Manti Te'o is not real.
L K <s>@</s>LennayKay My statement: This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but I have been told by Alabama's offense that Manti Te'o is not real.
T
tipyerbartender1
Guest
As a domer apologist, I'm not supposed to be so amused by this story, but I can't get enough of these gag pictures and jokes.
ClubDirt
Pretty much a regular
i think he can do it. it would be tough but it's been done before- kordell, yancey thigpen, charles oakley in the nba. i'm sure there are a few others.
L
Lareux
Guest
OPENLY Yag. And we're only talking about the NFL here. OPENLY Yag. This isn't a difficult concept to understand. Any player you've mentioned or will mention was not OPENLY Yag while playing in the NFL.
Sorry to go Meatball-style, but that word needs to be stressed in this discussion.
T
tipyerbartender1
Guest
My head's in the sand, I never even heard a rumor about Oakley or Thigpen. Kordell, yes.
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Lareux
Guest
Fair enough, but I disagree. There hasn't been an openly Yag player in the history of the NFL. That's the one league that I don't think it would work. Again, I don't agree with it and don't think it's right, but that's how the people who are in the league think. You and D-Woww are kind of on an island here, most don't think it can or will work. We shall see I guess.
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Lareux
Guest
Me either, but naming names of guys who may have been rumored to be Yag isn't doing much to help their argument anyway, so I just let it go.
T
tipyerbartender1
Guest
It's going to happen one of these days though as society becomes more tolerant. For instance, I think some of these male figure skaters might be Yag.
detroit187
Pretty much a regular
lol, i am experienced with it. i do not know exactly what interview it was, they played it on sportscenter last night, so that one. and we are taught, i teach, looking to his left, sorry but i dont have that mixed up. we dont google our tips, otherwise anyone could do that and just post dumb shit.
if we get someone suspected of cheating, which we catch from above through the sky, or there is a known cheat walking in our casino, these are some of over 100+ principals we are taught if we are to question that person. are they always accurate? hardly. but 8 out of 10 do at least one of what i mentioned coupled with some other of the over 100 instances we are given.
obviously some do not have a beverage with them, so that is out in that example.
but i have the utmost confidence that what i have been taught is effective in catching cheaters once interrogated, even if the amount of questioning i do is minimal. i observe for the most part up top.
but counting on just one or a couple aspects is tough and maybe i should not have said anything as the theories are just way too broad. for example, based on the hand of a person, their lie would lead them to the opposite direction. some would say eye contact or no eye contact, etc. we are taught tons of examples though, but the eyes going one way predominantly, to the left, up or down is not in the equation. now you have so many cheats that google these ideas to beat the system and liars, its becomes that much harder. though i doubt manti did this, he is not a professional cheat, more like a college cheat.
D-Woww
Old Man Dan
so your saying if he says hes Yag, the nfl will blacklist him?
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Lareux
Guest
It is going to happen one of these days. But again (for like the 22nd time), when it does happen, it's not going to happen in the NFL first. The NFL will be the last league that has an openly Yag player.
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Lareux
Guest
Yes, pretty much. Most other people feel the same way about this.
Please don't think I agree with it either, because I don't.
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Lareux
Guest
Okay, so the NBA would be last and the NFL would be 2nd last. Semantics.
You don't think the NFL is the most "macho" league though? Seriously?
ClubDirt
Pretty much a regular
i guess i will have to concede you are right until ti does work. whether you believe the guys i mentioned are Yag or not, i think we can all assume there have been Yag guys who have played in the nfl and nba, yet none of them have played in the respective leagues as openly Yag guys, as you said, so until it happens and it works, we have to assume it won't work. i concede that. however, i think it will happen one day and it will work. like you said, maybe we'll see.
tip, i'll send you a message about my source and you can evaluate it.
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Lareux
Guest
Why not share the source with everyone? You just claimed that Charles Oakley was Yag, I think we'd all like to know why.
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Lareux
Guest
But the FBI disagrees with you 100%. When someone looks to their left, they are accessing their memories and are NOT lying. It's not just the FBI either, you can read any book you'd like about eyes and lying. I'm sorry, you're just wrong here. When someone is looking to the right, they are most likely lying.
You also don't have to "google your tips" either, I'm not even sure what that means. The information is out there, and accessing it through google is one way to find it. I'm not sure if you're saying that you feel more credible because you don't use google for the information? In 2013 that's a pretty ludicrous statement.
CAPital
Pretty much a regular
It's not so much that the NFL wouldn't/couldn't handle an openly Yag player, it's just I don't see any GM lining up to drafting an openly Yag, untested, liar to his team. Now if AP came out tomorrow, the NFL and team would accept it. Probably begrudgingly so, but they'd accept it
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Lareux
Guest
VC - visually constructed
AC - auditory constructed
F - feeling/kinesthetic
VR - visually remembered
AC - auditory remembered
Ai - internal dialogue
"Frogs into Princes: Neuro Linguistic Programming" by Richard Bandler and John Grinder for a more thorough explanation if the subject interests you.
