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

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!!!!

I'm sure glad Millen isn't our GM! He'd snag this guy in a heartbeat.

The Yahoo! Sports write-up is here (LINK)

I rather agree with them when they say:

"It’s unfortunate that Te’o declined to do the interview on camera and that we’re hearing Te’o’s side of the story secondhand. It makes it feel disingenuous and will only fuel conspiracy theories as to how much Te’o really knew and when."

Others here have touched on this, but an off-camera interview in the small hours, airing after an NBA game just does not seem like the sort of thing you would do if you were truly interested in quelling the interest in this story or indeed reassembling his now extremely shattered  image. 

Supposedly, ESPN will provide the audio later on their site for those who  didn't catch it after the game - I haven't been able to find it, or I would post it, although a summary of the interview is up and posted here.

T. J. Yeldon and Eddie Lacy say they've never met Te'o and doubt he exists.

PLEASE; MAKE IT STOP!

Until a couple of days ago, I thought "Catfish" was just a fish that everyone in Louisiana loves to eat or a nickname they’d given to a now-deceased Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher. Now, I’m trapped in an intimate online relationship with a beautiful Nigerian princess who claims to be the real Lennay Kekua and who has promised to send me her fortune for safekeeping if I send her photocopies of my all credit cards and blank checks from every one of my bank accounts and the passwords to my investment accounts. And I keep hearing this song play wherever I go. 

ND (B Kelly) and Teo had to be in on this from the beginning. Why else hold a rushed Presser right after you found out about the Deadspjn article? Now, ND will distance themselves as much as they can.

I hate that there are people in this world stupid enough to buy this bullshit.

Now I think he was the only one involved. He is lying through his teeth and this makes the Lance Armstrong confession seem genuine and heartwarming. What a joke this clown is. Do us a favor, put on 150lbs and become a sumo wrestler, your NFL career is already over.

When asked why he never visited his dying girlfriend he replied "it never crossed my mind." Say what? That doesn't sound like the type of guy that would fall asleep with his girlfriend over the phone every night.

Deny, delay and obfuscate - same tactics used by tainted politicians.

Everything occurring in the last 72 hours is directly COUNTER to the best practices in PR to maintain a reputation. Cover-ups are never forgotten.

He clearly perpetrated or continued the hoax for publicity reasons

As others have pointed out, this is just ESPN trying to save face.

Te'o is opting to look like a moron instead of a pathological liar. Possibly getting some cash from Mickey Mouse.

ESPN has every incentive to make Te'o play the fool because otherwise it means they were the ones who were duped. Like Lenin said, man, you look for the person who benefits and uh..... um.....

And make no mistake: no matter how stupid and unreasonable this all sounds, there are plenty who will buy it. ESPN gets their official line and plausible deniability. Te'o gets to extend his publicity stunt.

Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket.

A lot of people, supposedly in the know, are claiming this whole hoax story will not affect his draft status.  All I can say, any GM who doesn't see Teo's stock falling is an idiot.  Talk about a distraction. This "interview" is only fueling further speculation. 

Otoh, the MSM is already complicit in this story, and this whole Teo interview ploy that ESPN was happy to participate in (and likely paid him a pretty penny for) means there is the possibility the sports reporters will just let the story die, and just pretend there's no elephant in the room everytime they interview him. 

Watching this slowly unravel is such a guilty pleasure for me.  I have tremendous faith in two things occuring simulantiously which is why I enjoy the farce as much as I do:

1. The MSM, who have a vested interest in keeping Teo's story at least reasonably plausable to protect their own reputations, will continue to try and protect him

2. The Bloggosphere will have none of it and are working night and day to confirm the truth of what really happened (what did he know and when did he know it so to speak).  You know....the way reporters used to do things back in the day.

I'm hitting refresh for updates here - not on any of the conventional "news" sources cause I know it's only through the alternative sites will real investigative reporting get done.

Did we really expect the company that employed a fake person to really dig deeper?

An nfl GM should realize that a guy who falls for an Internet girlfriend is probably suspect to get beat on a trick play



#justsaying

http://espn.go.com/blog/notre-dame-football/post/_/id/13553/miller-inter...

Well he said "No, never." That seems to be enough to convince this schmuck. Ha

Te'o was asked what he thought should happen to Tuiasosopo.

"I hope he learns," Te'o said. "I hope he understands what he's done. I don't wish an ill thing to somebody. I just hope he learns. I think embarrassment is big enough."

How can a superhero be all forgiving but not all knowing?

What does this do to his mojo?  The outing of Tiger didn't exactly help Woods' golf game.

So she is allegedly coming to Hawaii to meet him and she doesn't show up. Who the hell swings by Hawaii for lunch?? Who doesn't show up in Hawaii? It's not like she's in Chicago and he's in South Bend...

And what's the deal with the little cousin who doesn't speak? What a dipstick.

Is anyone else as sick of the word "duped" as I am?