Everyone likes to think that when they are gone their body of work will leave a legacy for others to follow behind them. For Manti Te'o that legacy would have been one of hard work and even harder play that almost made him the first true defensive player to win the Heisman trophy.
Instead it will be to never trust who you meet online until you actually meet them in person.
The sad tale of Manti, Lennay, and Ronaiah has been slowly playing itself out over the course of the last few weeks. It is something that most college football players have been paying attention to either because they know Manti, have played against him, or can relate in some way, shape, or form to the story.
What? Did you think Manti was the only gullible football player out there?
You would think that most of them would learn a lesson from watching the circus that has surrounded the whole mess, but chances are that they have not. it is more likely that they watched the coverage the same way that folks watch traffic accidents and reality TV--you know it sucks but since it is happening to someone else you can't stop watching.
Most probably didn't learn anything. Most of them are probably thinking that they are too slick, too worldly, too suave for that to happen to them. The folks at Michigan appeared to think that some of their players might think this way--so they 'cat-fished' them.
Basically what they did was have an attractive female staffer contact a bunch of guys over various social media outlets. Suffice it to say that some of them had no problem putting all sorts of things out there for any and all to see.
A couple months later at a team meeting the kids were shown a picture and asked if they knew who this young lady was. Little did they know...
This lesson is especially poignant with the Manti Te'o hoax still in the headlines, but college players have been getting in trouble for things they say and post via social media outlets for years. For some teams it has gotten bad enough that coaches have felt the need to ban players from using them.
It will be interesting to see how the public reacts to this revelation and use of the team's resources. Will they see it as a lesson that needed to be taught or as a cruel waste of money? Only time will tell.
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