Maqdown.com
Silence is generally golden, but not in the instance of Manti Te'o.
What Deadspin wrought Wednesday afternoon has already evolved into a fable so incredible, so virally insatiable, that if its central figure took the Fifth, it would only exacerbate things. The reason is when people want to know the "why" but don't yet have that in their possession, they will fill in the blanks with their own theories until they do--and that's a dangerous proposition for Te'o, who clearly cares about his image.
As a result, I expect the big news outlets, all of whom were fooled beyond belief (and have been chastised for spectacularly failing to do a diligent job in researching the tale's veracity) to come out angrily at the Notre Dame linebacker with guns blazing. Fair or not, they will be chock-full of bloodlust hoping to carve the truth out of the turkey Te'o has provided so far.
Te'o's family members will be hounded, his teammates will be grilled, and any of his friends or acquaintances in Hawai'i will be milked for any drop of information these investigative reporters can procure. (So if that includes you, better double-check the address book on your cell phone and refrain from answering unlisted numbers.)
If Te'o really was the victim of an cruel, "elaborate" plot, as both he and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick claimed Wednesday night, then the Heisman runner-up needs to fortify his case-in-chief with more evidence and endure this pickle with faith in the fans to acquit him in the court of public opinion.
But from my perspective, if Te'o did in fact participate in the ruse willingly, I think the best option he has at this point is to own it and come 100 percent with the truth ASAP. There's nothing he did here (that we know of) that could land him behind bars, and while ethically distasteful to make up a whopper about a "girlfriend" dying of cancer, it's nothing that would legally bar him from playing football ever again.
Moreover, he still has his whole pro career in front of him to excel on the field and make fans forget about this transgression. Besides, any further decrease in his NFL draft stock due to character issues will be inevitable regardless of what he does now. (Maybe Te'o can chalk it up to immaturity, but that would be a pretty weak argument.)
I will say this, with the recent news surrounding Lance Armstrong in mind. The longer the details of the story linger in the air ambiguously, the longer they will fester in the public consciousness, and in turn, the more fanciful the conspiracy theories that can be conjured up and hurled into the maelstrom. In this particular scenario where Te'o's desired endgame is surely forgiveness from the general public, the more monstrous the circus, the more difficult that objective will be to achieve.
Therefore, the quicker Te'o comes clean, the quicker he will be able to sweep this embarrassing episode under the rug, though I admit that it will be akin to hiding an elephant turd under a sheet of Saran Wrap. Personally I think the kid made an egregious error--but not one in the realm of fully irreparable if he makes the right moves, especially in light of how imperfect athletes are as role models time and time again. But I digress.
Like I said earlier, aside from the Deadspin piece, as devastatingly damaging as it was to his reputation, this is just the beginning. As long as demand exists for the latest on Te'o, then the memes will exponentially multiply. The punchlines will continue to flow like machine gun fire. (For one, Armstrong might want to send him a thank-you card for shifting the attention away from his own scandal.)
Worst of all for Manti Te'o, media bigwigs from managing editors to TV producers have undoubtedly begun to apply pressure on their attack dogs to dig up the next bombshell in this mesmerizing drama. And when they sink their respective teeth into him, he might wish he spoke up and proactively framed the narrative before they did.
Norcalboxing.net's Ryan Maquiñana is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and Ring Magazine’s Ratings Panel. E-mail him at rmaquinana@gmail.com, check out his weekly column for Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, his archive for BoxingScene.com, or follow him on Twitter: @RMaq28.
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