Saturday marked the three-year anniversary of one of the most bizarre, embarrassing and previously unimaginable stories to hit both the national sports media and the local landscape. So much state pride had propelled Manti Te’o to stardom and a close
Saturday marked the three-year anniversary of one of the most bizarre, embarrassing and previously unimaginable stories to hit both the national sports media and the local landscape. So much state pride had propelled Manti Te’o to stardom and a close second place in the Heisman Trophy voting, but much of that was quickly swept to the side when Deadspin filed their bombshell. A tragic story we had all accepted as truth was a complete fabrication.
A few things happened on Jan. 16, 2013. One underrated result was that Deadspin leapt from still something of a punchline for many national media outlets to a viable investigative body. They were able to smugly eyeball stations like ESPN and ABC, which had not only accepted the Lennay Kekua tale, but had leveraged it to prop up Te’o for their own benefit.
It seemed that everyone, Te’o included, had gotten so entrenched in the story that it was beyond the scope of criticism. The old saying goes “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” Everyone did just that.
But when things came crumbling down, Te’o was the one we all turned to for answers. He was a tremendous football player, but he was quickly being asked to be more than that. He needed to make us understand how this could have happened and many of his explanations fell short. Everyone had quickly accepted the legend as it was being built, but we were understandably skeptical as Te’o tried to salvage its destruction.
Things only got worse as Te’o underperformed at the scouting combine and fell out of the first round of the NFL Draft. But winding up in San Diego with the Chargers and missing some early action with injury was probably a good thing, as he was in a familiar place and had some time to become just another football player without much of a spotlight.
Three years into his career, Te’o is not the standout player he was at Notre Dame. He’s played in 35 of the team’s 48 games. He has 143 solo tackles, 1.5 sacks and two interceptions during that time.
But while he hasn’t dominated on the field, he seems to have found his place within that Chargers defense. When his speed and athleticism were questioned entering the league, his football IQ was always propped up as the equalizer. In some ways, that’s been true. Though San Diego was a major disappointment this past season, their group of young linebackers is one of the few bright spots moving forward.
I wasn’t very optimistic that Te’o could ever be viewed as anything other than the face of a scandal. I’m happy to say that I think I was wrong. I don’t know whether that says we are a forgiving culture with short memories or that we have a severe case of collective attention deficit disorder. But he seems to have found himself and his place in the league, hopefully for many years to come.
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David Simon can be reached at dsimon@thegardenisland.com.
