Manti Te’o stays losing. First he got catfished by a dude pretending to be a girl, kept the lie going even after he found out, was exposed, and is now the most disliked athlete in America.
Te’o is No. 1 on a Neilen/E-Poll and put up some stiff competition for first place against Lance Armstrong. The public has pretty much turned its back on the disgraced former cycling champion, who recently admitted to using performance enhancement drugs.
From the Bleacher Report:
You will hardly be surprised by the athletes who claim the top prize in this list of the unappealing.
Manti Te’o 15% Appeal
Lance Armstrong 15% Appeal
Tiger Woods 19% Appeal
Jay Cutler 21% Appeal
Metta World Peace 21% Appeal
Alex Rodriguez 22% Appeal
Michael Vick 23% Appeal
Kurt Busch 27% Appeal
Kobe Bryant 27% Appeal
Tony Romo 27% Appeal
Like Te’o, Armstrong explained his story during a television interview, and it appears that both messed up attempts at reconstructing their images. “The Oprah interview hurt him [Armstrong],” said Neilen’s vice president of sports, Stephen Master.
As for Te’o, Master was completely turned off by his story. “That story was just so creepy,” he said. “And even when he knew he’d been dumped he stuck with the story for a while, and he’d told people he had met the woman in person.”
Neilson conducts its surveys with market research firm, E-Poll. Candidates are usually active athletes, and even though Armstrong has been barred from cycling, he still competes and was therefore eligible to be added to the poll.
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Photo: Peter Morrison/Ryan Jones