I will never forget the look of compassion in Manti's eyes at the spring game two years ago. When my friend, Patrick, Manti's biggest fan, so slaughtered his name, and got stuck tongue tied. It started, "Man-e-o, Man-e-o!" Then his voice cracked. And the pitch grew shrill. He couldn't stop himself. It seems like it lasted forever, but it probably only took a few seconds. Manti first looked at him shrewdly, and evaluated him. I started laughing, and told Manti that Pat was his biggest fan ever. To see the look in Manti's eye. The smile on his face; you knew that Manti totally understood. No razzing, or shrinking back, Manti took Patrick's hand in both of his, and said, "Manti Te'o, glad to meet you! How you doin' today, man?" I mean we talked to Manti, Zack Martin, Kappy, Ethan Johnson, and a few others for five or ten minutes, before they unlocked the gate and let the team into the stadium.
Of course the most priceless part is when all of us were walking a few minutes later and out of nowhere, in a small voice Patrick stated, "Boy, was that a Seinfeld moment!"