BRADENTON, Fla. (AP)
Manti Te'o told USA Today on Monday that he doesn't believe the online hoax that fooled him will affect his stock in the upcoming NFL draft. The former Notre Dame linebacker also said he has shut down his Twitter account and isn't sure if he will ever use social media again. Te'o has only granted a couple of interviews since he acknowledged falling in love with a nonexistent woman invented by another man who insists the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy was unaware of the scam during the online relationship.
The NFL combine begins Wednesday in Indianapolis, and Te'o is certain to face a lot of questions from teams wanting to know more about how he was drawn into the bizarre hoax that made national headlines.
''I have to just go out there and perform and all that other stuff is behind me,'' he told USA Today. ''What I did on the field is what I did on the field. I don't think what I did with this whole situation, I don't understand how it takes away from what I did on the field.
''As far as my stock dropping or rising, that's not up to me. The only thing I have to do is just do well, run fast, just be myself, be quick.''
Te'o, who has been training in Florida, also told the newspaper he isn't dating anyone and remains the same person he was before he found out about the scam.
''My trust in people is the same,'' he said. ''I'm just more cautious.''

WebFire;1392221 wrote:It's not Twitter's fault he fell in love with an online "girl".

karen lotz;1392289 wrote:Is that what he said? I'd imagine his mentions weren't very pretty, it shouldn't be a shock he shut it down.

WebFire;1392343 wrote:No, but what does Twitter have to do with anything? Nothing.

vball10set;1392380 wrote:^^^ yeah, I had the "twitter" line highlighted (the way it was forwarded to me) with a comment about "maybe others in the public eye should consider doing this", but I figured it took away from the intent of the article...sorry, Webbie.

Commander of Awesome;1392320 wrote:Still no mention of the $$$ or the other players who said they knew about it for a long time. Media fails again.

sherm03;1392432 wrote:You've mentioned it a few times, now. What money are you so concerned about? From what I've seen...Manti Te'o never took part in any fund raisers and nobody gave money to his "girlfriend's" family. So what $$$ are you referring to?

karen lotz;1392461 wrote:The only thing I can think of is this http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2013/1/10/3859526/notre-dame-fans-gif-bcs-national-championship-2013

A Notre Dame grad was on TV during the title game facepalming/shaking his head. It got turned into a gif and went viral and he thought it would be a good idea to use his new found fame to raise money to fight Leukemia. He said he chose to raise money for Leukemia research to help support Te'o and his gf's family. Notre Dame played basketball at St John's a few days later and one of the FIDM (Fighting Irish Digital Media) guys interviewed the Sad Irish Fan, who lives in NYC, to help promote the cause. That interview has since been pulled off Youtube. Te'o didn't take part or comment on it at all, and I'd guess with ND pulling the video, it wasn't approved by the athletic department originally as an endorsement of the project.

sherm03;1392467 wrote:Right. So a graduate is inspired by the story and tried to raise money to fight Leukemia. It has nothing to do with Te'o or Notre Dame (other than ND interviewed him for a YouTube video about it).

So I'm still confused by COA's constant harping on "where's the money?" His comments make it seem like ND or Te'o scammed people out of money. When in actuality, it was a graduate that tried to turn the NC loss into a good thing by raising money for a good cause. The revelation of the story doesn't change that the money raised went to fight Leukemia.

sherm03;1392432 wrote:You've mentioned it a few times, now. What money are you so concerned about? From what I've seen...Manti Te'o never took part in any fund raisers and nobody gave money to his "girlfriend's" family. So what $$$ are you referring to?

Commander of Awesome;1392924 wrote:The cancer fund that was set up in her honor. That's fraud and donators should be able to get their money back. Last I heard it was a large chunk of change. Since Te'O knew of the fraud waaaaaaaaayyyy before the story came to light (IMO he's known all along and is a lying scumbag) he perpetrated the lie and fraud 1000s of people of their hard earned money.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/17/manti-teo-girlfriend-cancer-fund_n_2497071.html

But after news of the hoax broke Wednesday, Tudesco and his friends were faced with the decision of how to move forward with a cause that was based almost entirely on falsities.
The fundraisers ultimately decided that their mission to support cancer patients still rang true and they issued a statement about their determination to keep raising money.

sherm03;1393021 wrote:From the article you just posted...


So...like I thought, you're just trying to make more out of this than what is true.

Thanks for the clarification.

Commander of Awesome;1393147 wrote:The fund was started before Wed, and Te'o knew about it. He knew that she was fake the entire time. He also knew about the fund and that ppl were giving them hard earned money under false pretenses.

Commander of Awesome;1393147 wrote:No, not true. The fund was started before Wed, and Te'o knew about it. He knew that she was fake the entire time. He also knew about the fund and that ppl were giving them hard earned money under false pretenses. Not surprised that went over your head though, keep on the ND glasses.

sherm03;1393449 wrote:Yes...the fund was started shortly after the NC game. Nobody reached out to Te'o...nor did they ask him to talk about the fund to promote it in any way. Te'o may have known about the fund (because ND also knew about it), but as the article that you posted points out, the people who started the fund were just as shocked about the revelation and decided that their efforts to raise money to fight leukemia were still worthwhile, even if the initial reason for starting the fund was found out to be fraudulent.

Not surprised that went over your head though, keep on the ND-hater glasses.

Commander of Awesome;1393715 wrote:lol hating on a team that has as many BCS bowl wins as Marietta College, that's rich. You're right it has nothing to do with the fact that he's a lying scumbag POS. Its the factt hat I didn't watch Rudy as a kid and fall in love with a team that I have zero connection too. Makes sense /sarcasm

Mohican00;1393904 wrote:02/21/13 - Still talking about this

:huh:

sherm03;1393901 wrote:Never said Te'o isn't a liar. Just saying that you're harping on something that has absolutely nothing to do with him. And there's only two reasons to keep doing that. Either you hate Notre Dame, or you're stupid. I gave you the benefit of the doubt.

And yeah, choosing the team you like based on whatever place your parents happened to fuck and pop you out is a much better way of choosing what school to root for.