ESPN to Air Off Camera Audio Interview with Te'o on Sportscenter Following OKC vs. DAL.

Christmas in January. Why can't Notre Dame embarrass themselves this much every week.

Yep, wait till Friday and in doing so wait till midnight.  Plus with MLK Day Monday, it'll help in some ways to extend the weekend.

Copyright this, I'm calling this awesome male soap opera Dames of Our Lives...except ya'know, the lack of an actual dame.

How will we know it is really him in the interview?

This agent is a PR nightmare. Is he going to hold him out of the public combine interviews? Approach head on or you're hiding something, which is probably pretty obvious at this point anyway.

This picture is all we have to go on. 

http://www.boards2go.com/boards/board.cgi?action=read&id=1358565670.7868...

so I'm starting to feel bad for the guy. I'm sure he felt stupid enough before, now the whole world knows how stupid he was.

Coward.

To refuse to go on camera makes him look all the more guilty (and at this point its really hard to do that).  Taking a lawyer with him makes it even worse.

I bet he cries.

So all the bottom line is saying (and all the tweets I've seen) is that he denies that he "created the hoax" and he couldn't be part of something like that.  That at least is not an outright statement he didn't learn it at somep point and go along with it.  Will be interesting to see what his entire interview says.

He must think we are all as stupid as he is if he thinks we believe he was completely duped.

Regardless of what he says, the fact that he waited this long just makes me think he just wanted more time to think of a story/scenario where he comes off as the victim.



I hope Schaap asks him why, if he found out it was a hoax on December 6, he continued talking about her like she was real.

I don't think we're gonna learn anything from this interview other than that Te'o is a liar.

Espn sure does look like they're trying to spin the he was duped angle if you look at their front page. Protect the brand!

I find it hilarious how ND just shot themself in the foot with this story.

They need to hurry up with this game.  I dont want to leave in the middle of his explanation.

Don't watch this shit. The headlines say it all. Not worth your time, no real questions will be asked. Disney at its best.

Overtime. Bahahahaha

Durant is so not clutch

So T'eo refuses to do a video interview AND has his lawyer present during this audio interiew.  You're really helping sway the opinion of the public towards your side with this one, Manti.  

ESPN released quotes from the interview already: Teo: "when they find out the facts".

Yeah, this interview sounds like it's gonna be worthless. 

I honestly have not watched the NBA once this year. Figures that the one time I catch the end of a game it goes into overtime when I'm waiting for the program after.

However, I think he decribes everyones thoughts about this interview pretty well

According to ESPN people on Twitter, Te'o said he was not involved int he hoax but it effected his play in the National Championship game.  I actually can beleive that, but come on, he was getting run over by linemen all game long.  Please don't try to blame the loss in the Championship game on the hoax.

wtf! this is bs. ESPN is in on it. its all a scam. they paid the players to go to OT so that less and less people will be inclined to watch this supposed interview.
/foilhatrantover

Te'o keeps being characterized by the media as a "devout Mormon".  I'm not an expert on the religion, but I do have a pretty good LDS friend and from what I can gather they know who their people are and the church is pretty involved in the dating/future marriage aspect of its members lives.  Us non-LDS folks were not allowed to attend the actual religious marriage ceremony in the church when my buddy got married because non-LDS people aren't supposed to go inside the Tabernacle or whatever they call it.  And supposedly they can tell if you're not supposed to be there.

Maybe some Mormon MGoBloggers can clarify, but it seems really odd that this kind of thing would happen without anyone noticing that the girl he was so serious about wasn't an LDS member, much less an actual living human being. 

I'm rooting for double overtime.

ND and ESPN were in on this from the start too

Most NBA I've watched all year.

Think he wanted to hear the interview too with that shot selection.

Clown question #1: did you "create" lennay kakua

College basketball is so much better than the NBA

It's taken 45 minutes to play roughly 7 minutes of basketball. I love the nba.

Finally this crap is off my television, but only to be replaced by more crap. Oh jeez, I think I should just go to bed.

HAHAAHAHA

Now Facebook?

JUST GO TO SLEEP THIS SHIT IS WORTHLESS

He talks to this "girl" on Facebook for over a two years and falls in love. This guy has to be monumentally stupid.

More like Jeremy telling his impressions of the interview. Seriously, I don't believe this interview ever happened.

For 5 months he was on the phone with her.  WTF.

Does any one else get the impression Schapp is on here lying his ass off? He looks like he's searching for the answers rather than recalling from memory.

this is possibly the biggest pile of horseshit I've ever heard

What a fucking joke.  ESPN is a joke of a network and they clearly have interest in keeping T'eo clean in all of this.

Why bit age

All these things do is give us more to think about. I don't think we'll ever know the full truth.

Wait.  He still believed that she was real until two days ago!?!?!?!??!?!

What a joke.

The need for a lawyer? Actually, when the lawyer stops the question, I guess they don't want us to see the question that they asked.

That was more nothing then I have ever experienced...does Teo have an insane struggle or was Schapp playing on his phone for those 2.5 hours, because he brought me nothing

What a joke. No phone records were produced?

I really just want to see him answer questions with a lie detector.  Clearly he is a good actor and ESPN is falling for his shit.

So Schapp wants us to believe that Teo recieved a call from his dead girlfriend and STILL didn't know he was being duped? That he actually believed she may have been alive, and had to fake her own death to avoid drug dealers? 

If that were true, Te'o would be the stupidest person on the face of the planet.

Am I the only guy who regularly reads this blog who doesn't care? At All? Like even a little? I don't understand this obsession with Te'o.  What he did was creepy at best and sleezy and creepy at worst. I know it looks like he wanted public sympathy to motivate his team-- and, especially we may assume, his heisman candidacy-- but I am not sure it made much of a difference. He didn't actually kill anyone, he didn't sell drugs to kids-- I guess I am not as fascinated with creeps as others here seem to think. Whatever he did he will pay for ten times more in humilation. 

Am I the only guy who regularly reads this blog who doesn't care? At All? Like even a little? I don't understand this obsession with Te'o.  What he did was creepy at best and sleezy and creepy at worst. I know it looks like he wanted public sympathy to motivate his team-- and, especially we may assume, his heisman candidacy-- but I am not sure it made much of a difference. He didn't actually kill anyone, he didn't sell drugs to kids-- I guess I am not as fascinated with creeps as others here seem to be. Whatever he did he will pay for ten times more in humilation, and that's ok by me. 

It's kind of sad. He's the face of one of most well known programs in college football and he could only get an internet girlfriend who wasn't even real?

What kind of tv network agrees to do an interview off air? Espn....zero credibility as a news outlet. Waste of time, why did I stay up for this? Hah

If I were to fake my own death to avoid drug dealers, I probably would have chosen a long lasting battle with leukemia too....perfectly believable.

The only thing worthwile knowing in this story is that Te'o is a liar. There's nothing more to it. Who cares if he was set up, this story has gotten out of hand.

This is so infuriating -- did they not even ask him why he kept talking about his girlfriend after December 6th?  That is a critical issue.  Schaap just seems like a cheerleading for the guy.

From espn.com

"He tried to speak with Kekua via Skype and FaceTime on several occasions, but the person at the other end of the line was in what he called a "black box" and wasn't seen."

Yea, that happens sometimes. For years.

So what about the players on the team who came out and said they knew it was a hoax and manti was just playing along because it was a good story???? I THINK SOMEONE NEEDS TO QUESTION THEM AGAIN!!!

For those of you that aren't watching, I'll sum it up: Just trust Schaap, Teo sounded believable. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain

At worst Teo lied and perpetuated a hoax and at best he's simple and clearly delusional.

If this catfish dude is looking for another mark, he should hit up Jeremy Schaap.

Deadspin loves to rip on espn so tomorrow should be some good reading as they break down this great journalism by espn

So someone had time to be on the phone with Teo for hours at a time over the span of a couple of years?

Who keeps old texts from a "dead girlfriend"? I mean, Schapp is referencing texts that Te'o showed him... WHY would you keep those? Especially if he had a "new girlfriend" since the supposed death.  Wouldn't the new girlfriend feel weird about those being saved? 

Has anyone seen the video of that great American chess player (bobby Fischer?) going nuts on jeremy Schapp during a press conference? The chess player was a loon, but that's all I can think of watching this..

jeremy schapp is impossible to understand 

bunch of non-sense

what kind of tv reporter does not film his interview?

It is to journalism what pig vomit is to fine dining.

His manner was ... off. Either he was fighting off stomach flu and was trying to hold it together before he defecated something explosive, or DomeFan texted him to tell him that his daughter was tied up in the trunk of his car.

This is the weirdest goddamn story ever. (The only way it makes even a miniscule amount of sense, of course, is that Te'o was in on it. But that's pretty weird too, I'd reckon.)

Lance Armstrong, that little girl from the NFL commercial that asks Ray Lewis what his favorite color is, my online girlfriend. These are just three people I would have rather seen interview Teo

Whoa. I was curious what the reaction on this board would be.  You guys are sick

By reading the comments on here, I think it's clear that Notre Dame fans aren't the only

ones who are hearing what they want to believe. 

and we've just been Sidd Finched

We're expected to believe he communicated with this girl on facebook and twitter and is somehow oblivious to the phenomenon that is video chat? Skype, facetime, facebook video... and yet he used none of them?

ESPN makes this Tuiasosopo kid sound like quite the manipulator. I'm surprised he doesn't want to tell his side, clear his name or fess up to the public. Frankly, the media needs to stop reporting on this bizarre story. At this point it's too hard to determine who's telling the truth, lying, or possibly being paid to say certain things. Plus, this is all probably too much public humiliation for Manti, Ronaiah, and "Lennay" to handle over some foolishness. I hope someone is keeping an eye on Tuiasosopo, and everyone involved in this strange mess (including Manti) seeks mental help.  

I am so confused at this point. The longer this goes on, the worse everyone involved continues to look. How can he continue to change his story and the media is just OK with it? How can anyone believe Teo at this point?

Hoax regardless, you're Manti Teo - you have ND coeds flinging themselves at you every night on campus, many of which may actually have class and would welcome your gentlemanly courtship, but you turn to a chat buddy you've never mat as your official squeeze? 

The spider sense tingling says there's a question about this kid's sexual orientation.  He's probably gay, and in college football, where the boys bang each other up about who they're dating and what they're doing, Teo probably felt the pressure to come up with some long distance girl in his life to stave off questions from his teammates as to why he was never chasing girls with the rest of them. 

There is nothing wrong with being gay.  I have many gay friends actually.  But the fact remains that, while strides are being made with each passing generation in terms of greater tolerance, in this day and age being openly gay in college or pro football remains taboo and a major no-no toward your place as a cohesive member of the team.

End of day, Teo's sexual orientation and the pressure he was under is his business, but the fact that he went along with this chat buddy girlfriend story to his team, friends, coaches and the media, invited all of us in unfortunately, to behold a sad, confused young man.

I will bet Teo comes out of the closet within 20 years.  Again, nothing wrong with being gay, but in the macho world of college football, this kid was in a tough bind and clowned himself in an effort to stay in the closet.  There is no other rational explanation unless he's just really, autisticly bad with girls.

So sketch.  Not only did he do this off camera and with his lawyer there, but Schapp said he looked very comfortable...  Look at the photographs.  They say otherwise...  He's hunched over playing with water bottles in one pic (a very defensive and uncomfortable, fidgety posture) and covering his mouth with his hand in another pic (often a pretty obvious tell that someone is lying).

So yeah, the interview was off-camera, but we're totally supposed to take Schapp's word for it that Te'o looked comfortable and relaxed, when what little visual information (the photographs) that we do have say the exact opposite.

Unbelievable.

Furthermore, what he said tonight contradicts things that were said in the ND press conference on Wed.

Wed: Swarbrick says Te'o came to him saying he got hoaxed on Dec. 26.

Today: Te'o says he wasn't convinced he was hoaxed until 2 days ago.

Further, in the interview today Te'o admitted to lying to his dad about meeting Kekua.

So at this point, we do know for sure that Te'o is a flat out liar.  Even in the muddy waters of this story, that much is clear at this point.  Whether he was in on the hoax: who knows and I don't think so.  (Although where is the receipt for the whtie roses and the phone records?  He could easily show these to corroborate his side of the story and hasn't.)  But at this point what we can say for sure is the guy is a liar and has no credibility.

I think the most pathetic thing about this whole thing is how many people care about this. Someone may or may not have lied about something that doesn't affect the vast majority of people in any way? TO THE INTERNET!!!!