Is Manti Te’o Just A Glutton For Punishment?

By Kyle Golik

I often wonder in life some people are just a glutton for punishment and why is Manti Te’o trying to make a claim to be the epitome of this? I could come up with a bunch of girlfriend jokes, but that horse has been dead for a decade and the Netflix documentary did more than I could ever write in 500 words or less. Hopefully I get some residuals for the shameless plug.

This time, Te’o doesn’t have technology to hide behind, or say he was “catfished” in his response, he let the cat out of the bag that his teammates were frightened by the sight of the Crimson Tide.

As Te’o recounts on NFL Network's Good Morning Football prior to the 2013 BCS Championship Game: "My (teammates) are hyped, they're getting their loud, they're doing their thing, and when I'm in Game Day mode I'm kind of just in my own little zone. Alabama's locker room door opens and they start running out. My soon-to-be teammate, D.J. Fluker, and Chance Warmack come running out of the locker room with their big bellies out and they have their fours (fingers on both hands) up. I vividly remember D.J. going by and saying 'WA-WA WA-WA.'"

"I remember the silence behind me, and I kind of glanced back at my teammates, and the eyes on them were so large. I knew at that time, I was like, 'Alright, this is going to be a long day.' To my guys' credit, they never flinched. But let me tell you guys, when we played the Alabama team in 2013, there was a difference. There was a difference with those Bama boys. Obviously, the game didn't end the way we wanted it to, we got hammered and I try to erase it from my mind."

"When we ran out of the tunnel (after Alabama) in 2013, there was definitely a pregame intimidation factor. I wasn't used to being on that end of that factor, I was used to being the intimidator. But that day was a little different."

I honestly don’t know what Te’o was trying to achieve by revealing that information. Grant you, the game has been over for over a decade. The players who played in that game are in the NFL or have moved on. Why even bring it up?

Former Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron took to X and had a field day with it too, saying “He is RIGHT about that. They never flinched or even got started. They stayed completely still, while we came flying off the starting line. Manti was one hell of a player and ND had some great players. I'm not bashing them but that Notre Dame team as a whole was WEAK.”

Te’o just handed his teammates another loss without ever realizing it. I doubt McCarron or anyone who participated in that game wanted to bring it up. There is a sanctity of competition, some things are best left to remain on the field. Te’o didn’t benefit from that, most of what he said after was fair, Saban being prepared and the physical superior Alabama demonstrated.

You don’t want to out your teammates, ever. Te’o made himself out to be the only warrior ready for Alabama and even he wasn’t the same player that he was during the 2012 season.

Te’o sought attention with his girlfriend, he could have kept that underwraps, now it is immortalized in documentary lore. I personally think Te’o loves attention no matter how ugly it is and just rolls with it. Now there is Manti Te’o and a bunch of Frightened Irish instead of Fighting Irish. We all remember the 42-14 demolition Alabama administered that gave us Brian Kelly’s epic halftime interview , and Lou Holtz pouting in the end , now let’s add this to the folklore.