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?

missoulawolverine

January 16th, 2013 at 9:13 PM ^

Jack swarbrick had been a lawyer for 28 before coming to notre dame and has 3 weeks to be ready for this to drop in the media..thats what makes this more disturbing. Complete cover up..how deep will it really go..that is the scarey sick part

TheGhostofYost

January 16th, 2013 at 9:14 PM ^

If you thought your girlfriend of one year had died, and then suddenly you get a call from her, you don't go to authorities?  You don't wonder, "holy shit, is this person real?  Is she hurt?  Is she really dead?  Has there been a huge mistake and someone else is dead?" I would call the police in five minutes. The fact that Teo and ND did not is a huge issue for me.

TheGhostofYost

January 16th, 2013 at 9:26 PM ^

Swarbick said that on the night of an ESPN award ceremony, Teo received a call from his "girlfriend" who he believed to be dead (as did the rest of the country).  Instead of going to authorities, he went to his coaches the next day.  That doesn't make any sense.

TheGhostofYost

January 16th, 2013 at 9:33 PM ^

Ok, but you would go to them soon after, no?  And even if you didn't, don't you think the University of Michigan would?  Am I really supposed to believe that ND admins thought "'hmm, she was supposed to be dead?  Oh well, I guess it's just a hoax!" ?

willywill9

January 16th, 2013 at 10:34 PM ^

I'm not really sure what i'd do. I wouldn't have viewed this as a crime.  I'd have viewed it as a prank.  I mention this below, but this happened to a friend of mine around 1999 in HS.  A few acquaintances thought this was funny, and had him going for a couple of months.  When all was said and done, he didn't go to the cops, he was humiliated, devastated.  I mean, can you imagine mean High Schoolers would get you to talk about and admit to?

 

willywill9

January 16th, 2013 at 11:14 PM ^

Thank you, i think you nailed what I was trying to say.  I don't know what the crime is?  I'd be embarassed that it was clearly a hoax.

That said, i'm making a lot of assumptions about Manti and the case.

Also, I don't know who keeps downvoting my posts just because i'm offering an explanation or giving someone the benefit of the doubt.

TheGhostofYost

January 16th, 2013 at 11:33 PM ^

It's not about implicating someone in a crime.  It's the fact that this person may not dead!  Maybe she is behind it, maybe she has been kidnapped, maybe she in hurt, maybe she is dead and these people are involved, maybe she is a con artist, maybe she is extorting, etc etc.  I honestly can't believe you wouldn't call the police.

willywill9

January 16th, 2013 at 11:26 PM ^

Ok, not that this is a credible source, but this is bad:

http://pepperonsports.tumblr.com/

 

"In defense of the Heisman Trophy candidate, the source said he believes the lie may have indeed started with somebody duping Te’o using a phony twitter account, and eventually, faking their own death.

Early in my conversation with the source, the Notre Dame player said, “He lied, but the media blew it up.”  In response to my follow-up question asking if the source thought that Te’o kept the story going because of the media attention, the player replied, “Yeah.  Right after the Michigan [State] game.  He should have never brought her in the media. His grandma passing was enough.” 

ixcuincle

January 16th, 2013 at 9:16 PM ^

Fake presser and just trying to spin flimsy excuses for Mant'i. Now, if the rumors are true and he is gay, then maybe my opinion will change. But from what happened today, this is just absolute mismanagement and everything about this story seems shady and questionable. 

willywill9

January 17th, 2013 at 8:22 AM ^

It's not about justifying the lies, it's about making the best decision for him, given the current point he's currently in.  It's not a university's right to get involved, it's a university's right to protect its students privacy.  That said, if he were gay, and he made this lie, it's about the worst thing you can do, because you're calling attention to yourself and your sexuality.  Really dumb if he's lying.

woomba

January 16th, 2013 at 9:14 PM ^

...cover up the fact that it was a 100% online relationship than anything malicious.  Still a pretty embarassing spotlight on their star player though.

clown question

January 16th, 2013 at 9:29 PM ^

at the very least, Te'o exaggerated his relationship with this girl to gain national sympathy for his heissman run. At the worst, he orchestrated it all.

 

Lots of questions remain for me, including inaccuracies between previous interviews and his story, the delay in timing, why ND didn't say something before the national championship game, the relationship between Te'o and the supposed orchestrator, etc.

 

It comes down to either:

Te'o is a naive angel, who as a star athlete feel for an internet gf he never saw in person, never skyped, and never meet her family or saw her grave

or

Te'o orchestraed a hoax for heissman publicity and/or motivation for his teammates.

 

With ND and Te'o not releasing their findings or his phone records I'll go with the latter for now.

willywill9

January 16th, 2013 at 10:31 PM ^

I've got to say this is a strange case, but I have to admit... this happened to a friend of mine.  (No seriously, not me... a friend of mine.)  He'd been a victim in HS to something similar,  a group of guys created a fake screen name (this was like 1999)  and had an online relationship with him for a few months.  This of course, was before having skype or anything like that was common place.

I don't know if i do or do not believe Te'o, but I doubt he invented this to win a heisman.  You don't win heismans for sympathy.  And if anyone voted for him based on that, they shouldn't be allowed to vote.

maizenbluedevil

January 16th, 2013 at 10:33 PM ^

The part about seeing her grave is actually a great point.  It's small details like this that often can lead to solving mysteries, and the fact that he never visited her grave leads me to believe Teo was in on it. 

He called her the love of his life.  He didn't go to the funeral because it was her wish for him not to miss any games....  ok, I can buy that.  But if she was THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE, how is it he still had't visited her grave more than 3 months after her death?  

Yes "she" lived in Cali and Teo was a student athlete in the middle of football season.... Still there has to have been a time he could've gone out there, right?  

For one, ND played at USC, I find it really hard to believe that if he wanted to go out there a day early to visit his late girlfriend's grave, that the ND AD wouldn't have moved heaven and earth to accomodate him in that.  So, why wouldn't he have done that?  

rmic2

January 16th, 2013 at 9:14 PM ^

the AD at ND had to hold a press conference to explain that the best player in at ND in 20 years had an imaginary girlfriend is just hilarious.

mbrummer

January 16th, 2013 at 9:21 PM ^

that ND and media were parading this apparition's name through the media and the world and not one of them tried to contact her fictional family.  

Also, I find it hilarious in the South Bend Tribune article, it talks of Te'o using Skype with his family but never occured to him to use it with his girlfriend.

pharker

January 16th, 2013 at 9:31 PM ^

This gets me, too. No skype. No google-stalking. Te'o didn't make arrangements to meet her? Ever? Did he send her cards? Flowers? 

And no one else tried to find her either. Not Te'o's family. Not ND. Not a single media outlet fact-checked any of the story. It took four months for anyone to reveal that their was no obituary. No on attended or reported on her death or funeral despite the spotlight on Te'o. How is this possible?

triangle_M

January 16th, 2013 at 10:07 PM ^

I hate to go all RCMB here, but wouldn't you have had to consumated the relationship to carry the torch like this?  I can understand forming an ideal partner in your head and all of that, but even internet relationships end by meeting or end by never meeting and you figuring out that the person you were talking to was a phony. I have to think that Manti had his choice of women.  So either he did and this was all publicity, or he didn't and is incredibly naive.  I'm too cynical to believe the latter.

As far as the media's utter failure here.  If I'm Thammel or someone from the South Bend rag I'm going on vacation for a few weeks.