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Te'o thread cont. (as of 1/17/11 7:30 AM EST)

PhDeac said:
Wilder than an all-white professional football league?

Manti Gay'o would be ridden out of football by August. It would be the quickest fall from grace we've seen in a long time. There were already questions about his skills. Now there are questions about his competency/character. If he was gay, it would be easy to get rid of him. GMs would have plenty of reasons not to draft him.

The first prominent gay NFL player, especially one trying to break into the league, would have to have unquestioned skills and ability and be a great guy to the point that hesitating to draft him based on sexuality would widely viewed as stupid.

Now before you think that not drafting a guy because he's gay is simply homophobic, think about all the crazy reasons guys slip from mild injuries, to weed, to a poor Wonderlic, or controversial statement or whatever. Gay is just another petty reason for a guy to drop a few spots.
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First, Manti Te'o is currently #6 on Mel Kiper's draft board. He isn't really a questionable talent at all. Without any stigma, there is zero possibility he drops out of the top 20 picks. None.

Second, what if it turns out Te'o was so afraid of coming out, because of how society might treat a gay pro athlete, that this was all a result? Say he invented an internet girlfriend (not really unreasonable at all), let it play for a few years to keep people off his back (again, reasonable), tried to get rid of the story because it got too hard to keep up (not unreasonable, as questions inevitably cropped up -- they've never met? none of his friends ever met her?), then had it all come crashing down on his head when he picked a truly dumb way to get rid of the whole thing (killing her off -- a terrible choice, because of how big the story would get, but, again, not a terribly hard choice to understand from a dumb kid who didn't fully understand the reality of media in 2012).

Say that is what happened, for argument's sake. How many people are still going to think Te'o has "character issues" because of this scandal? For trying to stay in the closet with a simple lie that spiraled out of control? A lie about who he was, that thousands make ever single day? I think he immediately becomes a massively sympathetic figure -- a poor, dumb kid who had to go to great lengths because he couldn't be himself, but ultimately made the riskiest confession possible. His national disgrace -- and accompanying dishonesty -- suddenly becomes totally understandable. It wouldn't be a "fall from grace," it'd be a near complete character redemption, in my view. You think that narrative would mean you can't trust him, to the point where he drops off of draft boards? Because he really didn't want people to know he was gay?

So, at this point, you really just have to deal with Ph's contention that gays can't get drafted on merit in the NFL, because the NFL won't take gays unless they are essentially flawless on and off the field. I'm not buying that one. I think some organization would grab the talent and worry about their organization's homophobia second. I think some team would imagine the millions of jersey sales Te'o would rack up, and the Tebow-like following he might bring to their squad (yes, I know this cuts both ways, but it's pretty different between a MLB and a QB who can't throw). I think Te'o still goes in the first or second round.

This is all just my opinion, but I think PH could not be more wrong on how this hypothetical would play out. Truthfully, I don't think Te'o is gay.
 
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ArlingtonDeac said:
So at this point you just have to deal with Ph's view that gays can't play in the NFL because the NFL won't take gays unless they are superhuman. I'm not buying that one. I think some organization is going to take talent, and worry about their organization homophobia second. I think some team imagines the millions of jersey sales Te'o would rack up, and the Tebow-like following he might bring to their squad (yes, I know this cuts both ways, but it's pretty different between a MLB and a QB who can't throw).
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I don't really agree with these points. I doubt there would be millions of jersey sales for an openly homosexual football player. I realize this is a gross oversimplification, but who buys football jerseys? Major football fans. Who are major football fans? Straight dudes. Te'o would stand for much of the opposite of what I feel like Tebow fans love about Tebow, so to compare the two doesn't really make sense to me.

Probably all moot because like you, I don't think Te'o is gay, just a blithering idiot and a liar.
 
It does appear to have been taken down. When I was clicking on the link a cached version was coming up. When I accessed it through Couric's website it was gone. Deadspin still has one of the messages in the above link.
 
AnonymousDeac said:
Just came here to post this.

No way the September 11th one is a guy. No way. Right? Riiiight? OH GOD!
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I can't hear them. But how is that dude gonna get a chick to spend hundreds of hours on the phone with Manti? I'll be shocked if it's not that guy. He looks pretty effeminate. I could see him pulling off a female voice.
 
CDeacMan said:
I don't really agree with these points. I doubt there would be millions of jersey sales for an openly homosexual football player. I realize this is a gross oversimplification, but who buys football jerseys? Major football fans. Who are major football fans? Straight dudes. Te'o would stand for much of the opposite of what I feel like Tebow fans love about Tebow, so to compare the two doesn't really make sense to me.

Probably all moot because like you, I don't think Te'o is gay, just a blithering idiot and a liar.
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If an openly-gay player was in the NFL, you knows who's suddenly buying lots of jerseys? Every gay person in America. He creates an entire market of millions just by picking up the banner. They might not care about the NFL, but they'd support one of their own on the front line of gay acceptance. I have little doubt about that.

He'd be the Tebow to his community -- the gay community. And it's a fairly large community.

But hey, what do I know? You could be right.
 
I tried the Katie link in IE and it works.
 
If gay people wanted to buy jerseys, they would have bought more Randall Gay jerseys or in the NBA, Rudy Gay jerseys.



ImgDyn.cfm
 
hoaxer Ronaiah Tuiasosopo claims he disguised his voice over the phone, and Te'o was always talking to Tuiasosopo posing as a woman.
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I wanna hear this guy pull off that voice in an interview. It sure sounds like a chick. I think he might be trying to protect someone.
 
Wtf, the voicemails were taken down?


The plot thickens... Starting to seem like Te'o's camp provided Couric with the voicemails at some point before Ronnaiah's lawyer came out talking this morning. Now that he's talked... no more voicemails?
 
TexasDeac10 said:
Wtf, the voicemails were taken down?


The plot thickens... Starting to seem like Te'o's camp provided Couric with the voicemails at some point before Ronnaiah's lawyer came out talking this morning. Now that he's talked... no more voicemails?
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I have downloaded all 3 voicemails that were posted on her site FYI...
 
PhDeac said:
If gay people wanted to buy jerseys, they would have bought more Randall Gay jerseys or in the NBA, Rudy Gay jerseys.



ImgDyn.cfm
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No offense PH, but that's pretty dumb. Gay people have no interest in simply promoting the word "Gay" on their backs, out of context, for no reason. Why would they buy those jerseys? That's reductionist nonsense. But they'd buy jerseys with the name "Te'o" on them, however, because the whole point would be to support a member of their community who was on the front lines of pushing gay acceptance in American life. I have a few gay male friends who've stated that they'd buy apparel of an openly gay pro athlete, whatever the sport, for that reason. They want to support someone with the courage to cross that threshold.

Asian people wouldn't flock to buy the basketball jersey of "Tony Asian." Because that's dumb. But they bought Ming and Lin jerseys in droves, because they were/are representative of their community, one that was virtually nonexistent in pro sports. Openly gay athletes are even rarer. As in, there are none.
 
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Someone is still lying. Since all of this "proof" is coming from Te'o and the opposite coming from the other guy, I would venture to say Te'o is still lying about something. There is no way that's a guy on those voicemails and no way he talks to a guy for hours a night without figuring out it was a guy unless he is, without a doubt, the dumbest man on planet earth.
 
TexasDeac10 said:
Wtf, the voicemails were taken down?


The plot thickens... Starting to seem like Te'o's camp provided Couric with the voicemails at some point before Ronnaiah's lawyer came out talking this morning. Now that he's talked... no more voicemails?
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You can still listen to them here. Look at the pic of that guy in the Village People-like Indian headdress. Doesn't that look like a dude who can pull off a woman's voice? Then again, it sounds so much like a chick. Poor Manti, what if he was regularly jerking it to a dude- that's gotta be traumatizing for anyone, let alone a devout Mormon like him. I really hope Katie asks the tough questions. HaHa! This story is such tabloid trash. I'm embarrassed to say I'm loving it.
http://deadspin.com/5978713/listen-to-manti-teos-voicemails-from-lennay-kekuaronaiah-tuiasosopo
 
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