ND Press Conference - Thoughts?

Submitted by TheGhostofYost on

I realize there is a thread about the general topic below, but I'm very curious about the responses to the press conference in particular.  For me, I find the lack of notification to authorities very puzzling.  Did your opinion shift after listening to Swarbick?

MGoBoard
Football

lhglrkwg

January 16th, 2013 at 10:42 PM ^

I expect to see legendary signs about this. Signs that will be displayed in gif form by ND haters for decades to come. Signs that people will reference as classic ND burns. We can do it people. This is absolute grade A material and if we don't exploit that, then can we truly call ourselves MICHIGAN MEN (and WOMEN)??

Joined: 07/03/2008

MGoPoints: 87881

mackbru

January 16th, 2013 at 10:57 PM ^

God, is there a single honest AD left in America? Given what we know already, it's inconceivable that Teo (and, by extension, ND) are blameless victims. The kid told elaborate lies to the media, and the photos of his "gf" can be traced directly back to one of Teo's own buddies. So, unless you believe one of the guy's oldest homies was simultaneously orchestrating a massive catfish hoax on Teo, then you must conclude that Teo was in on it.

And ND knew all this a while ago. 

Swarbrick will be out by February.

Joined: 09/01/2009

MGoPoints: 34069

Tyrone Biggums

January 16th, 2013 at 11:06 PM ^

with his girlfriend on Oct 2 with Gene Wojciechowski on espn. Listening to Wojo's recollection of the interview now it's really hard to come to the conclusion that he was not complicit in this hoax. Not to mention all the countless interviews and references to the tragedy Te'o has mentioned up until now.

In my experience friends who had made up girlfriends or boyfriends typically ended up being gay and just used the distant other as a ruse. It's hard being different. He is a Polynesian, Mormon, at a Catholic school in the midwest with ridiculously high expectations for their football program and he was the poster boy this year.

That's a Tremendous amount of weight to carry, specially if he started this whole thing. If he wants to play in the NFL, trajectory is deny, deny, deny. 

Joined: 01/16/2013

MGoPoints: 4720

triangle_M

January 16th, 2013 at 11:22 PM ^

Welcome to the blog. 

The most plausible explanation to me isn't necessarily that he's gay.  Its more that he needed to keep telling bigger and bigger lies in order to cover up for his initial lie, and he just got caught up in it.  When he decided it was getting too difficult to manage he simply killed off his fake GF and the problem was supposed to go away.  Unfortunately for him, his team mates, the ND media and then the national media picked up on and leveraged it into a human interest story.  By then it was too late to back off and he was stuck telling even bigger lies. 

Joined: 03/09/2011

MGoPoints: 5648

jblaze

January 16th, 2013 at 11:29 PM ^

but a Heisman candidate at ND? Really? Why? He was a hero on campus and could have had a real girlfriend or could have slept around. Hell, he could even have gone the virgin Tebow route. 

Faking an internet girlfriend reeks of the fact that he wanted to hide something,

Sadly, if he would have been honest, he would have had a lot of love from all.

Joined: 08/29/2008

MGoPoints: 19239

bluebyyou

January 17th, 2013 at 5:39 AM ^

If the relationship were purely fictitious, wouldn't the easiest way to have ended it be to say he and she decided to go their separate ways? That is the way most college relationships end, and just about every other week.

This story has legs.  Seems to me that Teo and ND ought to make sure they have ever "i" dotted and every "t" crossed before they go on record in a presser.  In addition, should this thing become the subject of a criminal investigation, every phone conversation is available to investigators as is every internet session, so if he and she were on the phone all night, as is alleged, that shouldn't be too hard to establish. I'd bet that ND won't push for a formal investigation by authorities.

Joined: 09/07/2009

MGoPoints: 18555

marlon

January 16th, 2013 at 11:11 PM ^

What about the story about Manti staying on the phone with his girlfriend all night long, while they both slept, and waking up in the morning to hear her still on the other end of the line?  That's what Te'o told the media.  What are the chances this fake girlfriend left the phone on for eight hours just to maintain this elaborate ruse?  Makes no sense.

Joined: 01/21/2009

MGoPoints: 590

Smithnic

January 16th, 2013 at 11:19 PM ^

And what star of a huge university who is on television all the time doesn't have women flocking to him and if he is heterosexual, why does he then hold on to a girl he's never met on the internet?  Not to mention what has been said before about facetime and skype.  He's totally either hiding his sexuality or simply making things up to get more attention.  Either way it is sad but I can't stop being interested.

Joined: 11/27/2012

MGoPoints: 1

SFBlue

January 17th, 2013 at 2:00 AM ^

Respectfully, this unwarranted speculation about T'eo's sexual orientation needs to stop. Not only is it unfounded, but it's far from the only inference to be drawn here from T'eo being duped (if he in fact was duped).

He could be really naive, inexperienced, and overly trusting. His public persona supports this. He could be observant, religiously, and drawn to the idea of platonic unrequited love. He could also be one of those guys who actively has like six girlfriends.

Joined: 11/02/2009

MGoPoints: 15699

TheGhostofYost

January 16th, 2013 at 11:41 PM ^

I cannot agree that Teo would do this to hide his sexuality.  You don't need to create this fiction to do that.  Mormonism can do it for you.  

Joined: 04/20/2011

MGoPoints: 2971

maizeonblueaction

January 17th, 2013 at 12:27 AM ^

My internet goes down for a day, and when I come back Manti Teo and his dead girlfriend are shown to be hoaxes, and Chip Kelly heads to the NFL. Remind me to never leave the internet ever again.

Joined: 12/19/2011

MGoPoints: 777

Danwillhor

January 17th, 2013 at 12:36 AM ^

Like many I find this to be too odd to stop looking into. I don't want to obliterate the possibility that he was tricked but it just doesn't make sense that he was. The only thing that makes me hold 1% belief that he was tricked is that Manti has always seemed like a very introverted guy, shy for sure. People like that can and do fall deeply in what they think is love at the slightest attention/mutual interest. That said, there are multiple quotes (game interviews, regular interviews) pre and post "death" where he claims to have known her personally. He has claimed to have met her and her family personally. If he didn't, why say so? Some say family pressure or to appease his family while some speculate his sexuality. I happen to think (as of now with what I know, past and present) that he underestimated the true reach he has as a star athlete. I mean, it's easy enough to call out and prove your buddy has a made up Facebook (or the like) GF, let alone a Heisman finalist. I think he just thought he could get some attention and/or sympathy but underestimated how small the world truly is now due to the internet. I liked the guy but this just doesn't pass the logic test and I'm not using any of my nd hatred to conclude that. Yet, every nd fan on Twitter is claiming "the media hatred of nd" for this story, lol. SO odd.

Joined: 12/02/2008

MGoPoints: 8609

SFBlue

January 17th, 2013 at 1:43 AM ^

Just watched this. A few observations.

1. ND certainly had advanced knowledge of the subject matter. Swarbrick was prepared and would not likely have been so specific had this been news to ND.

2. If there really is a conspiracy like the one alleged it will come out. Several participants. Online footprints. I doubt this was fabricated.

3. ND is treating this as a serious crisis. If ND had reason to believe T'eo was in on this I doubt Swarbrick would have been so unequivocal in his wording. The stakes are very high and Swarbrick is too smart to take positions that can easily be refuted.

4. ND would not hesitate to throw T'eo under the bus if it had to. The story had no direct credibility risk to ND. Until they defended T'eo, that is.

Joined: 11/02/2009

MGoPoints: 15699

Jmyers1528

January 17th, 2013 at 1:50 AM ^

Just some explanation for saying he met her multiple times . 1. Too embarrassed to tell public it's only an online relationship. 2. He's gay, and made her up to teammates, which escalated out of control teammates want to meet her then he says she can't make it because she has cancer etc.

Joined: 12/04/2012

MGoPoints: 20

Spunky

January 17th, 2013 at 7:12 AM ^

This whole story is just weird. I don't know what to think with NFL players also claiming to have met the girl, too. This Lennay thing is just all kinds of crazy. And Swarbrick's tears during the press conference just added to the strangeness of it all. What a mess.

Joined: 09/12/2012

MGoPoints: 2393

marlon

January 17th, 2013 at 5:03 PM ^

Astoundingly, a lot of ND fans on the message boards seem to be buying the BS coming out of the South Bend spin machine.  Can't wait to see it blow up in their faces.

Joined: 01/21/2009

MGoPoints: 590