Say it’s so, Te’o

Manti Te’o, a football star at Notre Dame, started something big back in September when he told sports journalists that not only his grandmother but also his girlfriend had died the day of a big football game.  This story was repeated in the media many times.  Then in early December, according to a statement he released to the media this week in response to an online report, he was informed that the girl never existed, that he had been the victim of a hoax.  Obviously a bizarre situation. 

Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick, generally thought to be smart and savvy, said in a press conference that they had engaged a company to conduct an inquiry and now stood completely behind Te’o as a victim.

Here are some possibilities:

• Maybe he was the innocent victim of a hoax, now doubly victimized.  Potential motives are varied, including contributing to Notre Dame losing a game because their football star was shaken and questioning its importance, or, once the story had gone viral, was there an extortion?  You pay or be humiliated!   
• Maybe he was initially the victim of the hoax then went along for various reasons, including avoiding or delaying the humiliation, and (most troubling) the boost it gave to his Heisman and other career opportunities.  
• Maybe he is gay, which remains problematic in sports (despite the decades since Navratilova's bravery), and especially in male team sports, and especially for Te’o as a Mormon at Catholic Notre Dame, because both religions continue to persecute gays. Te’o might have amplified the girl friend into a “girlfriend” to lessen scrutiny.

The vitriol heaped upon him could only come to someone associated with Notre Dame. While Tim Tebow’s piety and purity inspires both believers and skeptics, Te’o’s claim to a deeply-meaningful-but-not-physical relationship stimulated largely ridicule, with few believing or even withholding judgement.  ESPN on-line poll showed the large plurality in all but 2 small western states thought Te’o was a liar, followed distantly by a group who were waiting for more information; almost nobody believed he was a victim.   

At no other school would this story have grown so large, either back in September or now. No other school has so many fans/fanatics, cheering for and against them. This big market gives them independence from conferences but also keeps alive a cottage industry of haters; even the New York Times has taken this opportunity to rehash obscure claims of negligence by Notre Dame.  And Notre Dame itself is full of religious extremists, especially when it comes to sex.  Most of the students attended single-sex high schools, and so peer relationships are even more complicated than usual.  Notre Dame has also sets an exceptionally high standard for recruiting and graduating student-athletes, which stimulate hyperbolic supporters (noble!) and detractors (fraud!).  

People who ask now, if she was the “love of his life”, wouldn’t he go to her funeral?  They are overlooking the context.  Grieving was not occurring in a normal situation, which might have entailed raising some money, going home, and missing a few classes.  To do so, he would’ve missed playing in a rivalry game, telecast nationwide, the biggest game of the year to that point, his last year in college.  He was projected to be a high NFL draft choice, so the loss of exposure and future income were considerations, not to mention the potential loss of the game and letting down his teammates.  

I’ve never liked “human interest” stories in sports, not since first becoming aware of them when ABC started “up close and personal” pieces on athletes in an attempt to broaden interest in the Olympics.  Occasionally, they are practically demanded by the nature of the story, and sometimes then they “work”, such as when a triathlon participant is joined for the entire ordeal by his handicapped son, or when the runner has artificial legs.  Otherwise, they seem cloying and often contrived, at least “airbrushed” in service to some corporate need. 

Nearly a century ago, some Chicago White Sox players conspired to "throw" the World Series.  Superstar "Shoeless" Joe Jackson was somehow involved, perhaps only peripherally, and his fans asked him to "say it ain't so, Joe!".  He might have been entirely innocent, though now his memory is tarnished by the "Black Sox" of 1919.  

Did Te’o invent the girlfriend and her concoct the story of her death?  Evidently not.  Did the sports announcers (lookin’ at you, Brent Musburger) harp on the story relentlessly?  Obviously.  Did Te’o over emphasize the “girl friend”?  Yes.  Did he avoid revealing the hoax because it was humiliating?  Probably.  Did he let the hoax continue because it benefited him?  I hope not.  Can we all take a deep breath, give the young man a break, and focus on what is real in our own lives? Yes, please.