Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o is at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, and this weekend faced the media still curious about his relationship with a girl who turned out to be a guy. Te'o didn't say anything new and short of more revelations, I am not sure what new there is to say about the weird story. Jason Cole of Yahoo spoke with some football people over the type of reception Te'o is likely to face on the field and in an NFL locker room:
Sometimes, however, it’s a series of below-the-belt remarks about anything from the women you date to your sexual orientation. Te’o’s story of the girlfriend who wasn’t, but who was actually a man, is the kind of material that some players feast upon.
Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o is at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, and this weekend faced the media still curious about his relationship with a girl who turned out to be a guy. Te’o didn’t say anything new and short of more revelations, I am not sure what new there is to say about the weird story. Jason Cole of Yahoo spoke with some football people over the type of reception Te’o is likely to face on the field and in an NFL locker room:
Sometimes, however, it’s a series of below-the-belt remarks about anything from the women you date to your sexual orientation. Te’o’s story of the girlfriend who wasn’t, but who was actually a man, is the kind of material that some players feast upon.
“Oh yeah, I can see some of that happening,” one AFC general manager said. “He’s going to get some of that on the field, maybe a little in the locker room.”
Said an NFC offensive line coach: “Your opponents are going to see what you can take. If they can get in your head, they’ve got you. No question, there are some people who are going to see what he can handle.”
Te’o says he is not gay, but that won’t stop the questions or people riding him about that and everything else about his bizarre relationship and his role in it. NFL players are young men and his kind of stuff is fodder for jokes and trying to get under another guy’s skin. However, unless Te’o were to come out, at some point even that will stop and he’ll just be another player.