INDIANAPOLIS ? It was somewhat fitting that media spent an hour hovering around a podium in a horseshoed pattern that was starting to come together in the back, at least a dozen people deep in all areas, waiting for something that never arrived.
Other players came and went throughout the day, detailing their dreams of playing the NFL and the arduous week that is the Scouting Combine, but they were just opening acts for Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o.
The first whistle signaling Te'o's arrival came around noon when a rumor spread through the conference room at Lucas Oil Stadium that Te'o would be arriving within an hour. Almost immediately everyone with a recorder or video camera started jockeying for position to ensure they were within range to record his voice or capture his image.
No one wanted to know about his struggles or how his week was going. They only wanted to know about Lennay Kekua, his supposed girlfriend whose reported death fueled his senior season and pushed him into contention for the Heisman award. Only Kekua never existed in the physical form. She was merely a Twitter handle and a voice ? a voice that really belonged to a man named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo.
Or so the story goes.
Te'o has been interviewed since the details of his story have become public and was mostly exonerated by the public, who have become satisfied that the linebacker was the unfortunate victim of a very public and very embarrassing hoax.
But Te'o was yet to face a contingent of media. The group in Indianapolis was frothing at the mouth to catch him in a small detail or a lie, and passed the time in the horseshoe by making jokes about the circumstances of his situation ? something Te'o has become accustom to.
The linebacker may have chosen to play football, but now he is going to be subjected to a life of ridicule for wanting to believe that someone he had never met could love him the way Kekua had.
"I just wanted to care for someone who needed help," he later said.
A couple hours passed and Te'o had still not arrived. The mob slowly fractured and went off to interview other players, eat lunch or grovel with other media types over the fact that they spent an hour staring at an empty podium.
Word finally came back through the room that Te'o would soon be returning, and the horseshoe was welded back together, body-by-body.
"Lot of cameras," Te'o said with a nervous smirk on his face and eyes wide.
Te'o was lobbed a softball on his first question. The second came in on target, and Te'o replied by stating that everything he wanted to say about the situation was said during his previous interviews.
The questions kept coming and Te'o quickly realized that he wasn't going to get away that easily. He politely and elegantly answered every question, including one where he was asked if he was "dating anyone in real life." He said he isn't.
Despite his poise, it's obvious that the pain is still there. He talked about how he soiled his family name and struggled to say he granted Tuiasosopo his forgiveness.
It's obvious that the pain is still there, close to the surface. He can cite the date his life changed, Jan. 16, the same way a recovering alcoholic or married couple can quickly recall the day their lives changed.
He can no longer go in public without being looked at with eyes of pity and confusion. The worst moment came when sister had to sneak his family into their own home to avoid the media that had assembled on their front lawn.
"That had to be the hardest part. For me, something that I've always had a problem with is when I can't do something about it, when I can't help," Te'o said. "To know that my family was in a situation because of the actions that I committed was definitely the hardest part."
He wishes that he had done things different, but says he is no longer embarrassed by what happened.
"If I was still embarrassed I wouldn't be standing in front of you," he said.
Te'o answered a few more questions most about the hoax, some about football, before thanking everyone and pleading for relief.
"Hopefully after this I've answered the things I need to answer and we can move on with football," he said.
It's doubtful that it will be that simple. He may have aced his media session and will likely sway whoever else chooses to listen, but there be jokes from his future teammates, and insults from opponents.
Some day it will begin to fade away, but it will always be there, following him like his family name.
All of this because he chose to love someone who needed help.
Source: http://blog.masslive.com/patriots/2013/02/nfl_combine_2013_manti_teo_ace.html
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