Crimson tide, yes, well talk about it steam rolled to victory. Rolls past notre dame. And second straight bcs title. And an eyebrow race raising comment, yes, were talking to you brent mussberger. Chuck hagel named defense secretary nominee. His confirmation will be anything but easy. And we have a date. The u. S. Could default on the debt ceiling earlier than expected. What it means for you. And an exclusive exchange when piers morgan sits down with a man who wants him deported. 1776 will commence again if you try to take our firearms. More from that, coming up. Members of the championship crimson tide football team, mike xwnch olic, and mike greenberg. Mike buttry. Talk about addiction with Patrick Kennedy and Christopher Kennedy lawford and the former university of texas track coach, bev kearney will join to us talk about her lawsuit against the school. Tuesday, january 8th. Starting point begins right now. Welcome back, everybody. Starting point, a crimson tidal wave fair to call it. Alabama crushed alabama, 4214 was the score at the end of it all. Won the bcs National Championship. The game was pretty much over, kind of not long after it started. Alabama scored the first three times, and led 280 by halftime. The tide has won two Straight National titles, three of the last four titles. Carlos diaz in miami for thus morning. Good morning, carlos. Thats right, soledad. Coming into the National Championship game, a battle between two storied programs. Notre dame taking on alabama. A battle in the trenches. A great defense versus great offense. And the offense won. Alabama cut right through notre dames defense to score 35 unanswered points this thing over at halftime. The jokes were flying. Basically saying that notre d e dames marching band crossed mid field more than notre dames actual football team. Alabama has won three of the last four National Championships. In fact, they won two in a row. This is truly a dynasty. Nick saban has put together. A. J. Mccarron, the new colden boy. Quarterback of america if you will. Thrown for 500 yards in the last two National Championship games without throwing one single interception. As flawless last night as he was last night against lsu. Guess what . A new celebrity, a. J. Mccarrons girlfriend. Thats right, kathryn webb, the current ms. Alabama usa, shown over and over again last night on espn and went from 2,300 twitter followers to over 100,000 followers over the span of the game. She has more twitter followers than a. J. Mccarron himself. He says i guess shes more famous than i am. I guess east okhes okay with t. He has a couple National Championships and a very attractive girlfriend, just ask brent mussberger. A little weird, he was raving on and on over this 23yearold woman. She is hot, i will give her that. This young lady is the former ms. Alabama. Her name is kathryn webb, and as carlos was telling us, she gained 90,000 twitter followers last night. This is what brent mursberger had to say. I tell you, you quarterbacks get all of the goodlooking women what a beautiful woman. Wow, a. J. Doing some things right. If you why a youngster in alabama, get the football out in the backyard and start throwing it around with pops. Brent, youre 73 years old. Shes 23 years old. Come on, man. But shes hot. Ill give it to her. There was a lot of action in the game. It was just filler, thank you, john, pointing that out. Felt like the 1970s. Like when they would do closeups of the cheerleaders half the game. It didnt bother me, but it felt like the 70s. We will talk, not to the cheerleaders, not to the girlfriend, well talk to some of the players of alabama. That ahead this morning. Chuck hagel also saying its time to set the record straight. President obamas controversial pick of the secretary of defense, firing back at those firing back at the president s pick. Senator hagel says what our troops deserve as the president introduced his pick to the nation yesterday. Chuck hagels leadership of our military would be historic. The first person of enlisted rank to serve as secretary of defense. One of the few secretaries who has been wounded in war. And the first vietnam veteran to lead the department. Lets get to brow anna keeler this morning. Senator haggel gave his first interview to a newspaper in nebraska and said he has been unable to respond. What is he saying in the first interview . He said exactly what you said. This was an exclusive with the Lincoln Journal star and says critics have distorted his record and now he has a chance to answer some criticisms and. He says when he does he are show an accurate assessment of his record. Unequivocal total support of his record. A lot have criticized his record. Point to certain things like he called apac the main pro Israel Lobbying Group the jewish lobby. Hes gotten a lot of questions about that. Also questions about what kin of sanctions against iran he has supported. He has been skeptical of unilateral sanctions and this is something the white house very much acknowledges, but they point to the fact that he supported sanzes against iran backed by a coalition. The u. S. And other countries. President obama sort of in a veiled way referred to this yesterday and his commence in the east room and he said that haggle realizes that america is strongest when it stands with its allies. I will tell you, soledad, the white house feels that although this will no doubt be a tough confirmation process, that hagel will get some really tough questions from republicans and democrats who at this point, many of them holding back on endorsely hagel, the white house and president obama feel when hagel has a chance to answer those questions, he will give good answers, convincing answers, that will get him the support he needs in the process. To that end, it was at least twice yesterday that he was urging congress to move forward quickly with this nomination as well as others on his National Security team, these are really imperative roles that need to be filled. He is in the unenviable position of being on both sides. Thank you, appreciate it. Well talk to senator hagels former chief of staff, mike buttry. And a story that combines our love of football and politics, kind of sort of. Secretary of state Hillary Clinton returned to work yesterday. As she was ready to leave her home and head into the office, you remember she suffered from the flu that led tie fall which led to a concussion and led to a blood clot. And her colleagues gave her a football helmet and Football Jersey with the number 112. The number of countries that she visited as the head of the state department. Shes expected, of course to step down from her role at the end of mott. Notre dame could have used her on the line. As alabama running all over her. I was rooting for notre dame, so lay off the notre dame jokes this morning. Other news this morning . I have other news. Two americans among seven People Killed in a helicoptp kopcouldn in center peru. Three bodies recovered away from the site, and four still trapped in the wreck. Alleged gunman in the Aurora Movie Theater massacre is due back in court this morning. A preliminary hearing to determine if james holmes will stand trial. One officer described holmes as very, very relaxed after the shootings. Casey wian joins us from centennial, colorado. Good morning. Reporter good morning, john. It was a dramatic day of testimony yesterday. Prosecutors were warning victims family members who were in the courtroom, there would be a lot of graphic testimony and they should be prepared for that. They certainly delivered. Several Police Officers took the stand, testified about their First Encounter with james holmes. One officer, the one you mentioned who said his demeanor was very relaxed. Not normal. He said when he First Encounters james holmes, he thought he was another Police Officer because of the way he was dressed. Wearing a helmet, gas mask, body armor on, as he got closer, he realized, in fact, it was the suspect. Other officers describing horrific bloody scene inside that theater as they tried to rescue victims and get them out of the threater. One officer saying he walked in, had trouble keeping his footing on the floor because there was so much blood. After several trips to the hospital with victims in his patrol car, that he could actually hear blood sloshing around in the back seat of his car. In in addition to the graphic testimony that we heard, all eyes were on james holmes to get a look at what he looked like. Is he now has a very long beard, does not have the dyed red hair any longer. He sat and listened to the testimony with an emotionless, expressionless look on his face. And at least one relative of one of the victims of james holmes shooting spree allegedly says he believes that holmes is faking his demeanor. Lets listen to what that man had to say. I never stopped watching him in the courtroom. As soon as he saw Different Things happened and he smiled a couple times and very quickly, because he caught himself, hes really pretending to be crazy. That guy is evil, but there is no way that guy is crazy. Reporter also going to his argument about whether he formed the intent to commit the crimes, prosecutors played video of holmes walking into the theater, using his cell phone, and he purchase thad ticket 12 days before the shooting spree began. John. Thank you very much, casey wian live in colorado with details from the shooting. Today mark fwtwo years sinc tucson shooting massacre and a new gun control initiative, americans for responsible solutions. Org will encourage elected officials to fight gun violence while protecting the rights of responsible gun owners. Bells will ring across tucson at the exact moment that jarred lautner opened fire outside a supermarket, killing six people and severely wounded giffords. New this morning, a second inquest into Amy Winehouses death confirmed she died of accidental alcohol poisoning. She died in 2011 at the age of 27. Going up . Well, maybe not. An escalator at a new jersey commuter train station abruptly reversed direction, sending people into panic. Commuters riding the escalator at the jersey city station, when suddenly they werent at all. It sent a stampede of people down the moving staircase, people clear didnt know what to do, five people suffered cuts, scrapes and bruises in the confusion. Thats weird. I wonder what happened. Some kind of malfunction. People try to fight their way up, just go down and take a better escalator. One person trips, you get a clog of people. Ahead this morning on starting point, many say notre dame didnt stand a chance against alabama. I was not one of those many. The host of mike mike in the morning join us. They disagree with that. And a monster of the deep filmed alive and in its natural habitat. New images of a giant squid, the thing is massive. Christine, whats in Business News . Nothing that cool. Its its disgusting and ugly, the u. S. Will hit debt crisis sooner than thought. 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At the end of the day, irish eyes were not smiling. Bcs championship game, 4214. From the very first drive, tide dominance left the irish to nurse their wounds. Team captain manti teo said the team did the best it could. We were battling, and i think they just did what alabama does. Like i said, we had opportunities to make plays, we just didnt capitalize on those. Much of the credit goes to nick saban, celebrating his fourth bcs title. He gives credit to the players, the university, and the fans. Very politic of him. Its not about me, its about seeing all of those people being happy and proud of what this team was able to accomplish. That makes me happy, and, you know, whether i look it or not, im happy as hell. Lets talk about the game with mike and mike, mike golic and mike greenberg. Nice to talk to you, guys. Hes so funny, im happy as hell. As he sits there, not looking particularly happy at all. People have said dynasty. Is that a fair word to use . I think it is, soledad. In the world in which we live today in college football, where it is as competitive as it has ever been no, team ever won backtoback championships in this era. At this stage, 3 out of 4 does qualify as a dynasty. He doesnt want to talk about it, hell leave it to others, i guess thats us. One of only four coaches who have won four National Championships. He deserves that title to be above him. Hell never admit it, but he deserves it. Built a fantastic program. He has it humming right now. What happened to your team, notre dame . I was rooting for them. Physically, they got beat. I appreciate that. But it was about lining up and establishing dominance on the line of scrimmage. I thought it would be certainly closer than it would be there, but they dominated, especially offense against notre dames defense. Great all year. Never seen them physically dominated like that. Took control of the game when that happened and opened up the passing game and they just rolled from there. This was a physical beatdown by alabama. What everybody was looking forward to. The best offensive line in the country and a great running game against arguably the best front seven defensively. This was the matchup everybody was looking for. And unfortunately for notre dame and my alma mater, no matchup. Physically beaten at the line of scrimmage by alabama. It opened up so many more things for a. J. Mccarron to throw for four touchdowns. Thats how they continued to roll and dominate. Oh. I was rooting for notre dame. I really thought after ten minutes, you knew where it was going. Thats will cain joining us. I had ignowill ignore you the r of the morning. At halftime you knew it was over. Still kind of painful. We may not see a championship game like this again. Maybe with the sort of playoff situation, we will get two better teams. Texas longhorns since usc, probably the last really good game. Its been a while since we had a really good National Championship. They learned a lot. I guess next year well see how much they learned and if they apply it. Next, did you see this guy who has been trying to get piers morgan deported. Kind of scary. On with piers morgan. Totally interesting. Listen. 1776 will commence again if you try to take our firearms. Will it really . 1776 will commence again . I dont think he means the musical. Anyway what did you think of that . Well play more of that and talk about what piers morgan said, back in a moment. Welcome back. Im Christine Romans minding your business. Stock futures flat. Earnings season kicks off today when alcoa reports after the closing bell and unemployment in the euro area hit a record 11. 8 . Red alert. The United States could default on its debt in five weeks in congress doesnt raise the debt kree ceiling. Half a month earlier than expected. America could be in default as early as february 15th and almost certainly before march 1st. Despite extraordinary measures taken by the Treasury Department to delay that from happening. On that day, the luu. S. Will ha 9 billion coming in to the treasurys coffers. 52 billion going out. Committed spending, including Social Security checks, paying f active duty military. Thats what they are fighting in washington. How to cut that spending. That math does not add up. It cannot work. So it wasnt exactly point counter point. Because piers morgan didnt say much when he sat down with alex jones, the guy who created this petition to have piers deported because is he an outspoken advocate of guns and gun control. Jones went completely into rant mode last night. Here is what he said. Im here to tell you, 1776 will commence again if you try to take our firearms, doesnt imagine how many lemon us get on the street, begging to have their guns taken. We will not relinquish them. Do you understand . Okay. So that guy has biz his own count, 50something guns. Just put that in your back pocket for a moment. Here is what piers said when he got a chance to respond. Is he really one of the reasons why im so concerned about the lack of gun control in america. A man that owns 50 weapons. He has sort of a pathological view about it seems unhinged to me. The irony of guns rights guys saying im rude to them, wont be lost on me. I try to stay calm and there is no other way of dealing with him. Hes a ranting guy who doesnt want anybody to grab his gun. The gun control debate, we go every single time should we talk about ar15 weapons being more easy to get than a package of sudafed. To taking everyones gun as way. Why is that . Why dont we go to the middle. I will say the a american, sort of recognizes there is a big middle there. Every time we invoke the middle, i gqueasy. We might want an intellectual debate. Alex jones is a 9 11 truther, the guy that Charlie Sheen went out and said he drank tigers blood and so forth. Thats how he got famous. And a wonderful triumph on a Television Show last night to alex jones. I would suggest to piers, have a oneonone debate. Not about meeting in the middle, but a valid intellectual points laid out for audience to choose from. Im going to say there is a middle, and the middle doesnt necessarily have to be a bad compromise. And we never talk about a middle, this to this, and a discussion about the middle. And i think president obama is talking about taking some very sensible middle ground positions. President obama is not suggesting we appeal the second amendment. The stuff being proposed is very modern. Well see what that discussion becomes. Still ahead on starting point, here is a guy who worked as former senator chuck hagels chief of staff when he was making the comments about the jewish lobby. Well speak with mike buttry. That ahead in a moment. Surgery was successful, but he will be in a cast until it is fully healed, possibly several months. So, if the duck isnt able to work, how will he pay for his Living Expenses . Aflac. Like his rent and car payments . Aflac. What about gas and groceries . Aflac. Cell phone . Aflac, but i doubt hell be using his phone for quite a while cause like i said, he has a fractured beak. [ male announcer ] send the aflac duck a getwell card at getwellduck. Com. [ male announcer ] its lightweight construction makes it nimble. Its road gripping performance makes it a cadillac. Introducing the allnew cadillac xts. Available with advanced allwheel drive. [ engine revving ] its bringing the future forward. Olaf gets great rewards for his Small Business pizza [ garth ] olafs Small Business earns 2 cash back on every purchase, every day helium delivery. Put it on my spark card [ pop ] [ garth ] why settle for less . Great businesses deserve great rewards awesome [ male announcer ] the spark Business Card from capital one. Choose unlimited rewards with 2 cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day whats in your wallet . Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. Watching starting point. We begin with john berman with a look at todays top stories. Pakistani intelligence Officials Say several u. S. Drones killed eight suspected militants, it happened this morning on the Afghan Border near mir ali. The fourth u. S. Drone strike in the region since the new year. On sunday, nine Pakistani Taliban fighters were killed when american fighters fired from several drones and slammed into militant hideouts. An advocate for stricter gun laws, now Michael Bloomberg is helping Vice President s task force to curb violence. Joe biden not a shrinking violet, particularly when it comes to crime and the gun problem in this country and the number of murders. Bloomberg is pushing for criminal background checks on all gun sales, not just gun dealers and called for renewal of the assaults ban, similar to the one in 1994 that expired ten years later. Attorneys for Casey Anthony will be in a courtroom. He is appealing four convictions after her daughter kaleigh first reported missing. She was acquitted in 20 11. Casey anthony is not expected to attend todays hearing. The death of a chicago man who died before he could collect a winning Lottery Ticket has been ruled a homicide. The chief medical examiner said there was a lethal amount of cyanide in the mans system. He won 1 million in a Lottery Ticket. The check was issued on july 19th. Khan died the next night before he could cash the check. Wow. Robert griffin iii headed to florida to see a specialist after tests on his right new reveal potential ligament tears. Mike shanahan facing all sorts of heat to allow him to continue to play. Rg3 says many may question, criticize, and think they have all of the right answers, but sfru been few have been in the line of fire in battle. You either step aside and give in or continue the fight. They cant tell how badly the ligaments are damaged. He this injury in college. They may have to go in and see how bad it is. If they tore an acl, they have to go in and see how bad it is. They dont know if its a new tear or part of the old tear. If you dont play, they say you are a us with, and if you do play, they say youre irresponsible. No way you can win. I love his tweet. Its his coach whose responsibility is to protect the player and make the tough decision, and the medical team. Im on a tear this morning. How much of the National Championship game did you watch last night . Those giants are amazing. You watched the hornets. My husband is afraid when i Start Talking football. He says dont do that. Lets talk politics, safer ground for all of us. Even before chuck hagel nominated for secretary of defense, he was facing attacks from both sides, even before official. Remarks on hagel made in the past on gay rights to u. S. israeli relations, he forcefully defended his record in an interview with the Lincoln Journal star there is not one shred of evidence that im antiisraeli. Not one senate vote that matters that hurt israel. I didnt sign on to certain resolutions and letters because they were counterproductive and didnt solve a problem. Right to mike buttry. Hagels chief of staff. Worked with him from 2000 to 2008. Thank you for having me, soledad. Who is the real chuck hagel . A guy who at one point 14 years ago said a diplomat was aggressively gay and that made him unfit to be ambassador to luxembourg. The guy who talked about the jewish lobby and he really meant the israel loebby, or a guy who says im sorry. I am a decorated vietnam veteran and i would be tremendous secretary of defense. Who is he . Let me speak to the chuck hagel i knew. This guy served on the ground in vietnam. Earned two purple hearts while he was there. Thats the prism to which he sees making policy for the United States government. The point of view someone on the ground, in the mud, during the fighting and the dying and so many of those people have carried the burden for the last ten plus years in the United States of america as weve been in this endless cycle of war. Those are the people who chuck hagel will orient himself to wars and standing up for. With regard specifically to the point on israel, you know, i have been astounded at the way senator hagels record has been distorted on israel. This is someone who understand not just in his pead, but his heart, the importance of our relationship with israel. He wrote a book in 2008 on american policy and wrote in the book of the importance with our relationship with israel. Specifically our military relationship with israel. Lets talk about all of the other things that people will bring up when they have the hearing. The comment about someone being aggressively gay. He says as much as there was an apology, it wasnt to him. It was to politico. A press apology cynics might say. Those are those nonapology apologies. What does he say now . Senator hagel would take that back if he could. It was an incensensitive thing say. It isnt his view. One, senator hagel was opposed to a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage when he was in the senate at a time it was very difficult for republicans to be opposed to that ban. He stood up, he was opposed to it. I worked with the man. In our office, it didnt matter what your Sexual Orientation was, what your race was, how old you were. What marrittered was the work y did. Unless you are aggressively gay and you want to be ambassador to luxembourg and then maybe not so much. If you could have that one back, i think he would. But in our office, it did not matter if you were gayer not. What mattered was the work you did. And thats how he will operate in the pentagon. I can just ask you. Good luck to you. This will be a big fight in washington i think. On that point, you say his record on israel has been distorted. But the record on the rights issues is pretty clear. He received a 0 rating from the human rights campaign, which rates members of congress on these issues. But i think going forward, he has an opportunity to show he can be a real leader on this. Can you say today hes fully committed to protecting the rights of gays and lesbians to serve in the military . What actions will he take . He will support the president s policy of letting people open the service, and i have no doubt about that. I would commend to you and your readers, a piece for atlantic monthly, go on the atlantic site, steve wrote a great piece from a credible perspective about senator hagels relationship with the lgbt community. We will have a chance in Senate Hearings for on senator hagel to address this head on. I suspect maybe he is second only to rg3 this morning in terms of washingtons bandwidth. I expect they will be well attended and highly viewed. Not bad company to be in. A quick question on iran. Thats a whole other category and lots of questions. If you look, a long record of opposing sanctions on iran. Look at what the president has done, he has aggressively and increasingly ramped up sanctions on iran. Seems completely contradict trooe ry on that front. He has a report of opposing unilateral sanctions on iran. He was supportive of multilateral sanctions on iran. They are, woulding to some affect. He is opposed to unilateral sanctions, because is he very clear on the threat that iran poses, and the danger iran poses, but he doesnt think unilateral sanctions are effective. He thinks they isolate the United States and strengthen the rulers in iran. Multilateral sanctions can be highly effective. That was his position in the senate. More to the point, the secretary of defenses job is to protect our military, build a 21st century fighting force and fight and win wars in the terrible event thats whats required. And chuck hagel is enormously qualified to do those three things. Mike buttry, thank you for your time. Appreciate it. Thank you for having me. That. That is the question. Not only anti gay, but anti sem might. I am a position have you a very high bar to prove claims like that but legitimate questions about how he views iran, hamas, and sanctions. Those are very important questions. If you look at it, right, on all of those issues and both sides of the aisle, people will come at him. Fascinating to watch. By the way, i dont think nor have i said hes anti gay. Some unfortunate things and taken positions that have been not supportive of gay rights, but hell have a real opportunity to prove himself in these hearings. I hope he does. Potentially he could be i real leader on this. Vieam vet. Interesting pick by the president. Not afraid of a fight. The president picks somebody who is outside the box thinker. The interesting fight on susan rice. Also interesting. Ahead, on starting point, the giant quid. Twice the size of a car, for the first time in history, the pictures of the sea creature in its natural habitat. Thats ahead. Woman were helping joplin, missouri, come back from a devastating tornado. Man and now were helping the east coast recover from hurricane sandy. Were a leading Global Insurance company, based right here in america. Were now leaner, and focused on what we do best. Weve repaid every dollar america lent us. Everything, plus a profit of more than 22 billion. For the american people. Aig, we turned it around. Thank you, america. Thank you, america. Thank you, america, for the freedom to insure a brighter future. When we make guarantees for peoples lifetimes, we have to act as a company that will make sure we are here for their lifetimes. We made a commitment to repay and we did, and gave america a profit. Pretty proud of that. Helping people recover and rebuild thats what we do. Now lets bring on tomorrow. Welcome back, everybody. Watching starting point. The Discovery Channel is about to air never seen before video of a monster squid in its natural habitat. Japanese scientists caught it on video for the first time. We have still pictures right now. Obviously Discovery Channel wants you to watch it on the Discovery Channel. The American Museum of history says the creature used to be stuff of legend. This is the first time anyone has ever seen these things alive. People have been searching for them for hundreds of years, literally. Not with the technology of today, but they wash ashore, and people know that they exist. But no one has ever seen a live one. Always dead when they wash ashore. Nine miles east of the c hhii island. About the size of a Standard School bus. This is a small one. The biggest they found, which was dead, 18 meters. How big is that . Multiply by three people. 54 feet long. This is a rough crowd this morning. You have to be on your game. Were proud americans, will cain and i. Coming up next, a really interesting book thats been written. Well explain the struggles of addiction. The author is Christopher Kennedy laughford, who says he is clinically predisposed for addiction. Well talk about that in a moment. Welcome back, everybody. Drug and alcohol abuse is a growing problem across our nation. The number of problems diagnosed by doctors was up 70 , according to a Study Released last fall. Our next two guests know a lot about the power of addiction and the struggle to recover. A new book, called recover to live, kick any habit, manage any addiction. Is he here with former congressman patrick kenntuckken. Are this is really a textbook. This has the best information on the planet. I interviewed some of the smartest people, neuroscientists, behaviorists, psychologists, treaters. Who really know their stuff. Everybody in this the book is evidencebased. I want to give people information thats credible beyond reproach and nobody is selling anything in this book. You were an addict, cocaine, alcohol, heroin. In recovery for 26 years. Yeah, have you been in recovery for two years, patrick. Alcohol and prescription drugs. Oxycontin, anything i could get myon. This book, is it a personal journey for to you kind of figure out how it was done and how the recovery, how the addiction happened and how the recovery could work . Well no, for me it was really about the science. Were learning so much about the brain that we understand this is a brain illness, the American Society of addiction medicines says that this is, theres no difference between the way a process addiction occurs like gambling or the way substance addiction comes. Were understanding these illnesses are in the brain. People need to know that. Im about reducing stigma and shame and giving people the opportunity and the empowerment to do something about this illness if they want to. Is it genetics . Are certain people predisposed to being an addict. Just like being predisposed to cancer or diabetes you also are for depression, anxiety and addiction and many of the genetics overlap so you might have a higher propensity for addiction but also anxiety, depression. Theyre common mechanisms in the brain. What i love about what chris did, he brought all of at dictions together. Its not just addiction to alcohol over here. If youre addicted to alcohol, better off than not youll have problems in other areas of your life. So i think what he did is very important because theres a vacuum in terms of understanding addiction and Mental Health in our society, and we need to fill the vacuum with good knowledge and what the Evidence Base tells us. Its kind of selfhelp and i always thought the theory was you go and the only way to recover is to check yourself in to a betty ford or a promises or something. Thats been the model the 28day model, now its 90 days and going to Treatment Centers is really expensive so if you want to look at this illness, it affects millions of americans, 22 Million People have a chemical dependency, 60 million have a nondependent use disorder. Lots of people are suffering and not all can afford good out or inpatient treatments. I began my abuse at 12. If you have the genetic frontloading for this and you have trauma in your life, at sass nations of two of my uncles and divorce, i had, the chance is 50 greater youll develop this in later in life. There is very little cupability for folks who develop the illnesses. If you cant afford to get expensive professional help what are the things people can do . The first thing is to assess where youre on in the continuum. Its all about harm in your life. Were not prohibitionists. Were saying if these things arent working for you anymore, and they often arent and you want to change your life, what can you begin to do . First assess where youre at and i have seven tools here that, first you have to stop using, 12step programs are enormously beneficial, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is enormously beneficial. Meditation, exercise, nutrition, all of these things, all of these things have some Evidence Base that they can affect your ability to recover. Chris, how do you rationalize, one of your big message we can help take control of it yourselves, selfhelp, but that seems to run counter to everything weve been taught youre a victim or its genetics or denial. How do you get over denial . Thats a difficult thing and its up to the families and loved ones of people. Theres a lot about codependency. People in selfhelp sections of book stores are usually family and friends of people who are suffering, theyre the ones who bring it to them. The truth is many people do need help with this and they can get that for fun and free at 12step programs or from friends. The critical thing is to believe that you can change your life. Thats the process. We understand that a lot of this stuff is about retraining the brain, the neuroplasticity of the brain has enormous capabilities for relearning things and changing these kinds of behaviors. Let me ask both of you a question, patrick ill start with you. Do addicts have to bottom out, is that what happened with you . Was there a point . A moment of clarity you no longer want to live the life that youve been living. What was yours . My father dying, my feeling desperate because i had been a chronic slipper. I could stop but i couldnt stop for long periods of time. Since i left congress, ive had the longest period of continual sobriety and those of us who know who are in recovery its about continual sobriety, so did having a baby . The baby is a guarantee im going to be taking this more seriously even if i dont take myself as seriously and dont want to save my life i want to be here for my kid. Something bigger than me, the moment of clarity, the psyching change it took me ten years of trying, i had all of the resources and all of the desire to arrest this illness and still took me to ten years, went to college and law school, got a masters in Clinical Psychology while fully enmeshed in my addiction and trying to get over it and couldnt do it. The point is people have to hit bottom but we can raise the bottom. Thats the critical. And shouldnt give up. Right. The sooner you intervene in the process the better chance you have of changing someones trajectory. Is being famous make it so much more difficult . Most people we think about with addiction are the hollywood stars and starlets who go off nine out of taken dikof ten started when they were teenagers, its when the prefrontal cortex hasnt developed. The big area for the next 50 years in terms of Mental Health is prohibiting and preventing addiction from happening in the first place by eliminating this notion that its okay to experiment when youre a teenager and weve thrown up our hands as a society think oh well thats what kids do. Listen, if we can get people to put it off longer and longer, our chances of reducing longterm addiction and disability is enhanced. The book is called recover to live, kick any habit, manage any addiction. Christopher kenny lawford is the author and cousin patrick. He did the forward which i was grateful to have him do. Great to have you with us this morning. Thank you. Still ahead on starting point well talk about football, the irish could have used some luck last night, well break down the bcs blowout at and talk to Barrett Jones and Beverly Kearney, she says she was pushed to resign after admitting she had a relationship with a student athlete, but she says theres something strange about the timing of being dismissed. Well talk about that ahead. [ loud party sounds ] hi, im ensure clear. Clear, huh . Im not juice or fancy water. Ive got nine grams of protein. Thats three times more than me [ female announcer ] ensure clear. Nine grams protein. Zero fat. In blueberry pomegranate and peach. Nine grams protein. Zero fat. Ive always had to keep my eye on her. But, i didnt always watch out for myself. With so much noise about health care. I tuned it all out. With unitedhealthcare, i get information that matters. My individual health profile. Not random statistics. They even reward me for addressing my health risks. So im doing fine. But shes still going to give me a heart attack. Were more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. Thats health in numbers. Unitedhealthcare. Waiting for your wrinkle cream to work . Clinically proven neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair. It targets fine lines and wrinkles with the fastest retinol formula available. Youll see younger looking skin in just one week. One week . Thats just my speed. Rapid wrinkle repair. And for dark spots rapid tone repair. From neutrogena®. Welcome back. Youre watching starting point. It wasnt erin about raugh, it was erin go home. Well talk to the players about the big win last night. A chopper is down, two americans are dead, crews are still trying to pull the bodies out this morning, happened in peru. Well update you on the accident straight ahead. Getting out before the cliff, luxury home sales shoot up right before the cliffs deadline. Well show you how many homeowners and why theyre richer for it. It is gadget lovers heaven, highlights from the Consumer Electronics show in las vegas coming up including a selfdriving car. I need one of those. We have a packed show, alabama players, eddie lacy and Barrett Jones will join us, maryland Senators Ben Cardin and bev kearney will join us and talk about her lawsuit. And starting point begins right now. Good morning, welcome, everybody. Our team this morning, will cain, whats with the beard . You love the beard. No, actually have i not been clear on that. She told me yesterday to shave the beard. I said you set the cause now a week. Hate is such a strong word but hate. Old man. No beard. Richard socarides, newyorker. Com is with us this morning. Completely clean shaven. Your favorite panelists are here this morning. Always my favorite panelists, always. Early start coanchor john berman and Business CorrespondentChristine Romans with us as well. Our starting point is the crimson tide really left no doubt whatsoever who the kings of college football, rolling over notre dame, 4214 was the final score. The game wasnt even close, like ten minutes in you knew what was going to happen. Alabama scored the first three times in the bowl, 2810 halftime. Alabama has won two bcs titles in a row, three out of four. Players, fans, sportscasters talking about dynasty but the coach nick sabin is a mellow guy, not that cheery about his big win. Heres what he said. I dont think words like dynasty are really words im much interested in. You know, were interested in accomplishment, and consistency and performance, and we want to continue to try to do that in the future, so those are for other people to talk about. Yes, so hes like yeah, you see another part of the interview, im really happy. Hes famous says a 24hour rule on celebration, theyre insigned the window for another 18 hours. 12 hours. Well see how it ends tonight. Lets talk to some of the players, eddie lacy is a running back and Senior Center is Barrett Jones, allamerican. Nice to have you both with us this morning. Congratulations are in order. Will was mentioning the 24hour rule. Eddie you got to look happy. Youre still within your 24hour window to celebrate here. For National Championships we like to extend the window just a little bit. I dont know if you all ever met coach sabin i would not describe him as mellow. He looked so glum, he was talking about how happy he was but he literally would not smile and you would have thought youd lost, and you had won. Is it more than 24 hours, 36 hours, go into a whole 48hour window for fun and celebration . Well i think we usually have a meeting on thursdays after these games so that gives us about four or five days to celebrate and have fun and you know, i think after that, its back to business. Thats how you create Something Like we have going right now where you go from year to year, certainly you enjoy your success and look past it and get ready for the next year. Thats how weve learned how to handle success. Thats why theyre the champs. The beginning of the game, we were talking about how ten minutes in, it felt very, very bad for notre dame. Did you know that . Did you feel like weve got it early on in the game . Can you repeat that . Sorry, i dont know if youre having a problem hearing me. I was wondering if by halftime its 280. Do you feel like thats it, you are agetting into the locker room for the break at halftime, weve won this, were going to win . I mean at halftime coach comes in, he teaches us dont worry about the scoreboard. Its a 60minute game and by halftime we have 30 minutes left to play in and in this league teams come back all the time so you know he drives a 60minute game, drives it in our head so we came out after halftime we knew we had to finish. Let me ask you this, alabama has shown a great deal of dominance, three titles in the last four years but the sec seven straight titles. You play a tough schedule. You know, can the sec ever lose . Do you ever see the sec falling off the turf years . Is it different playing in a League Schedule than notre dame . Were very proud to play and what we feel is the best conference in america and certainly the sec is a huge task week in and week out. Its just so difficult because you have to bring your best every week and you have to be able to get up for every game because if you dont youll be playing against an opponent who will beat you. We love our league and certainly the streak will end eventually but the sec is the best league in america. Im going to brag on the two of you because youre laid back for people who have won a big giant game. Barrett jones a 4. 0 gpa, campbell award, academic heisman basically. You played injured. You had a foot injury, now you have to go into surgery, right . How is that looking for you . How are you feeling about that . Well, never too excited about surgery but you know its just part of the game and i had an option to have it before but certainly i was not going to miss this game and you know, theres no way you could have maybe missed this being my last game as a senior, so you know it was a great experience and really a great way to go out. Its not often you win your last game as a championship game so thats just a pretty cool way to go out on top and finish out my career. Bleacher report headline, eddie, i dont know if you saw it, i bet you did, eddie lacy, first round nfl draft pick or 2013 Heisman Trophy winner, question mark. How do you feel about that . Theres the big smile. They both sound great, man, but i havent made my decision yet. I dont know what im going to do. I still have my parents to talk to and we still have to meet with coach sabin. No matter which one i pick its a good situation. Barrett, youre buddies with a. J. Mccarron, you got some good material from last might so brent mus berger took a liking to a. J. s girlfriend. Are you picking it up on twitter . Me and eddie honestly are a little jealous. We worked for a long time for our followers and lebron follows her and she goes from 1,000 to 100,000. Where is the love for actual players. She is certainly very pretty but you know, i just think brett needs to share the love a little bit. Barrett almost sounds a little bit its great to talk to you, congratulations. Theyre all very calm, they have a few more hours on the clock before they get back to work on thursday as coach sabin said. Nice to see you, thanks for talking to you and the whole team as well. They smiled more than 100 times they did than nick sabin. Nice to see some alabama peoples teeth. John berman other stories making it news. Authorities in peru are investigating a Helicopter Crash that killed seven people including at least two americans. The chopper went down after taking off from an airport in central peru. Three of the victims were recovered a distance from the crash site. Day two to determine whether james holmes will stand trial for the Aurora Movie Theater massacre. In chill testimony one officer said after the shootings last july holmes appeared to be relaxed and detached. Two officers took the stand cried as they described the horrific scene at the theater. 12 people were murdered, dozens and dozens were injured. Former soccer olympic championships joined a soccer camp in connecticut. Their goal was to bring smiles to the kids in the community that really has been devastated by last months Deadly School shootings and for one night it looked like they succeeded, awfully nice from all of the soccer stars. Thousands signed up to buy tickets for this years inaugural ball can forget it. Foul up at ticketmaster left them shut out. Sunday morning ticketmaster sent an email informing everyone theyd be receiving another email monday with a special link to purchase tickets to an official inaugural ball with president obama and the first lady attending but four hours later the tickets accidentally went on sale and sold out in a hurry. Everyone waiting for the monday Morning League received an email from ticketmaster they were sold out. They just werent planning, they were waiting for monday, who knew it was going to be sunday night they had to get it together during the game they were watching. Saved thousands of dollars on hotel rooms. Oh, always the business angle. Very nice. Critics of the former republican senator chuck hagel say hell have to explain his comments about israel from the past, comments about a diplomat who was gay and wanted to be ambassador, one of them is maryland senator ben cardin who would like to hear some of the explanations. Well talk to senator cardin this morning. She resigned after admitting to an affair with a former student athlete. Is there more to the story . Well talk to the former university of texas track coach bev kearney straight ahead as well. What are you doing . Nothing. Are you stealing our Daughters School supplies and taking them to work . No, i was just looking for my stapler and my. This thing. I save money by using fedex ground and buy my own supplies. Thats a great idea. Im going to go. We got clients in today. [ male announcer ] save on ground shipping at fedex office. [ male announcer ] save on ground shipping with two times the points on dining in restaurants, . You may find yourself asking why not, a lot. Chase sapphire preferred. Theres more to enjoy. The blissful pause just before that rich sweetness touches your lips. The delightful discovery, the midsweetening realization that you have the house all to yourself. Well, almost. The sweet reward, making a delicious choice thats also a smart choice. Splenda nocalorie sweetener. With the original sugarlike taste you love and trust. Splenda makes the moment yours. Republicans have been lining up against the former republican senator chuck hagel weeks before president obama nominated him for the secretary of defense position. Now that haguele is officially the pick some lawmakers in the president s own party dont seem that thrilled either including ben cardin who says senator hagel will have to clarify some of the things hes said in the past. Senator cardin, nice to see you sir. Its good to be with you, thank you. You clearly have reservations about chuck hagel. What would you say is your Biggest Issue with him . I wanted to get an explanation about his position in regards to iran. Hes been reluctant to support tough sanctions against iran. Irans an extremely dangerous country. Senator hagel and i served together. Hes a good position. I agree with his positions with regards to iraq. I believe the president should be able to have his team, but the advice and consent of the senate is a very important responsibility. We have to do it independently and there are questions that need to be answered. He says now that when he used the phrase jewish lobby he meant the israel lobby. What do you make of that, and what kind of questions, if there are any, would you like to ask him about that . Well, senator hagel on a couple of occasions used language he should not have used. Hell apologized for his language about a gay person, his use of the projewish lobby was inappropria inappropriate. These are concerns and matters i want to talk personally to senator hagel about. If it werent chuck hagel, who would you prefer to see in that position . Thats the president you look at his background, decorated vietnam veteran, shrapnel in his chest, some people point to that alone as he has tremendous experience that many others who have served in that position do not have. Well, this is president obamas choice. Its not who i would prefer to see as secretary of defense. Senator hagel has a distinguished record, serving in vietnam, i served with him on the Foreign Relations committee, i very much admired his independence in regards to our involvement in iraq. I think he spoke from his own personal convictions and we agreed on that issue. So i think its important for us to let the process go forward. It should be an open and fair nominating process, with the confirmation hearings, and well see, but i do have questions. These questions need to be addressed and well see where it goes. Whats the number one question. Youve asked for a one on one meeting. What is the first thing you ask him . Its going to be about i understand his reluctance to use our military but will he stand strong against those who threaten us and support terrorism and his conversations with terrorist groups. I dont serve on the Armed Services committee that conducts the hearing so its an opportunity when he comes to my office to get these questions answered. We were talking earlier this morning with his former chief of staff and asking him about his comment about a diplomat who was gay who he called aggressively gay, which what he believed would make him ineligible for ambassador in luxembourg in 1998. Is that a question you want to ask him about . Absolutely, i want to know what his position is with regards to gays in the military, whether he i understand the president s commander in chief but i want to snow what senators view with regards to making sure theres no discrimination in our military service. These are questions that need to be addressed. Weve walked through 15 questions you have for him. Do you think at the end of the day hell be confirmed realistically . Normally we allow the president to get his team in place but it is an independent process and its too early to make a prediction as to how his confirmation process will go. Senator ben cardin thank you for your time. Appreciate it. Thank you. Got to take a break. Still ahealed the u. S. Will likely default on its debt sooner than weve been calculating. Christine romans walks us through what that means for the economy. Heres a hint bad, bad, bad things. Thats ahead, back in a moment. R for only 1cent after maxperks rewards. Find thousands of big deals now. At officemax. Schwab bank was built with all the value and convenience tdd 18003452550 investors want. Tdd 18003452550 like no atm fees, worldwide. Tdd 18003452550 and no nuisance fees. Tdd 18003452550 plus deposit checks with mobile deposit. Tdd 18003452550 and manage your cash and investments tdd 18003452550 with schwabs mobile app. Tdd 18003452550 no wonder schwab bank has grown to over 70 billion in assets. Tdd 18003452550 so if youre looking for a bank thats in your corner, tdd 18003452550 not just on the corner. Tdd 18003452550 call, click or visit to start banking with schwab bank today. Tdd 18003452550 welcome back to starting point. Im Christine Romans minding your business. Earnings season kicks off when alcoa reports after the closing bell. New this morning, unemployment in the euro area hit a record high 11. 8 in november. Now the u. S. Could default on its debt in five weeks, half a month earlier than expected according to a new report by the bipartisan policy center, it predicts it will hit the debt ceiling as early as february 15th and almost certainly before march 1st despite extraordinary measures taken by the Treasury Department to delay that from happening. On that day the u. S. Will have 9 billion coming in to treas y treasuries coffers, and 52 billion. Thats not going to work. Hence the budget wars we are about to live through. Federal regulators announced a settlement over alleged foreclosure abuses and bank of america agreed to a 10 billion settlement with fannie mae. Bank of america hit a twoyear high on the day it had to cough up 10 billion. And rich homeowners rushed to sell their property before the fiscal cliff, sales of luxury homes spiked in the last months of 2012 according to the National Association of realtors the goal to avoid the Capital Gains tax hike and the medicare surtax on Investment Income part of at fordable care act. The rush was worth it because a high earner would pay 88,000 less in taxes on every 1 million profit booked on a home in 2012 instead of 2013. Wow, definitely worth it. Im not in that category. We can all dream. Thank you. Lets talk tough call today one of the teenagers featured in the awful web video mocking a girl at the center of the rape case in ohio regrets his behavior and his comments, thats the quote from his lawyer, the teen in question is 18yearold michael nodiano. His Attorney Says he did something dumb but didnt commit a crime. Michael was very callously talking about the sexual assaults he had been told about by others. Theres no excuse or justification for the comments and jokes michael made on the video, and with some sober reflection, he is ashamed and embarrassed to hear them himself. Apologies are always so much more sincere when they come from the actual person as opposed to the actual persons attorney is my take on this. Two 16yearolds who were on the football team, the High School Football team are charged with sexually assaulting a young woman after a series of parties that happened last august and those two are expected to face trial in Juvenile Court next month. A lot going on including an Ongoing Investigation where there is the possibility that more than those two kids will be charged. It is not surprising that a lot of the other kids particularly ones who may appear on a video have lawyered up and taking some measures to deal with whatever predicament they might be in. When you see that kid in that video its awful what hes saying. Hes saying he was not involved in the attack and certainly his lawyer is saying that but it goes on and on in great depth. His attorney in other comments how he regrets it and the effect its had on people in the community and his own family and he comes from a good family, wasnt raised and goes on and on and on, kind of like well the video speaks for itself. If you were that kids mom or dad and you were watching your child say those things, i mean, what would you its horrific, all of that 18 years of child rearing to result in that kind of behavior tearing up a town, destroying peoples lives, its just heartbreaking. It is, awful. Moving on a head this morning on starting point were going to talk to a legendary track coach who resigned after she admitted an affair with the student athlete. The story has come out ten years after their relationship ended. Does the timing matter . Well talk to bev kearney, shell join us to tell her side of the story. Thats ahead. Were back in a moment. So, we all set . Ive got two tickets to paradise pack your bags, well leave tonight. Uhh, its next month, actually. Eddie continues singing to tickets to. Paradiiiiiise no four. Remember . Whoooa whooaa whooo you know ronny, folks who save hundreds of dollars by switching to geico sure are happy. And how happy are they jimmy . Happier than eddie money running a travel agency. Get happy. Get geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. The blissful pause just before that rich sweetness touches your lips. The delightful discovery, the midsweetening realization that you have the house all to yourself. Well, almost. The sweet reward, making a delicious choice thats also a smart choice. Splenda nocalorie sweetener. With the original sugarlike taste you love and trust. Splenda makes the moment yours. Welcome back, everybody. 28 minutes past the hour, just a few moments well be talking with coach bev kearney, former university of texas track and field coach, very, very successful, resigned over an affair she had with a student. Heres the catch the affair was ten years ago. We take to you the Consumer Electronics show in vegas with a look at selfdriving cars, i need one of those to highpowered phones. First we want to get to john berman for a look at other stories making news. Good morning. Hes already on californias death row but convicted serial killer rodney al calla got another life sentences after admitting to killing two others in new york. The 69yearold was dubbed the dating game killer because he was once a contesting on the dating game in the 1970s. Questions in pauls valley, oklahoma, where a pregnant woman who went to the hospital with severe stomach pain ended up dying in jail. Hospital staff say when 33yearold Jamie Lynn Russell was in too much pain to lie down they asked a Police Officer to help but when police found two prescription pills that didnt belong to russell they hauled her off to jail with the permission of the hospital staff. Less than two hours later she was dead. The state medical examiner said she died from ruptured Ectopic Pregnancy where an embryo implants inside the uterus. The search for two teenaged boys who fell into a lake in new jersey say recovery operation. The boys reportedly 14 went about 200 yards out onto the ice and fell through last night. Another ice event in green bay, wisconsin, ten fishermen stranded in ice had to be stranded yesterday when the ice shelf they walked out onto broke free. A School Superintendent in Washington State is coming under fire for her proposal to disarm the districts guards and Police Officers. There are 20 armed officers in the Highline School district protecting more than 180,000 kids, but new superintendent sue enfield wants every school under her watch to be a gunfree zone including security officers. The school board is expected to take up enfields idea tomorrow night. So today marks david bowies 65th birthday, 65, and bowie is giving his fans a present, his first new music in a decade. Had to get the train from potsdam that sounds like david bowie. The new single. The new album called the next day will be released in march. Great news. The whole thing, track and field coach, Beverly Kearney has been coaching for 21 years at the university of texas, she has six National Championships under her belt. She has a storied career, back in 2002 you might remember she was injured in a terrible car crash, she was told she would never walk again, two people were killed in that car accident. She survived it and then she was able to walk, she ignored what the doctors were telling her, she walked again. Now she has resigned after she admitted to what she calls a consensual intimate relationship with a student athlete who was on her team. She says the university basically said to her she had to resign or they were going to fire her and shes saying now the punishment does not fit the crime. The added wrinkle in one of this she was negotiating a new contract and a big raise when this relationship that happened ten years ago surfaced. Beverly kearney joins us now in austin, texas. I have to add, welcome, miss kearney we appreciate your time this morning. We asked a rep. From the university of texas to join us on the program, that invitation was declined so well start with you. Walk me back to 2002, which is when this relationship with a student athlete who was a track athlete 2002, take me back to that time. How long did that relationship last for . Did you know that it was completely wrong to be dating a student on your track team . Well, you know, if youre asking me from a legal perspective, it was something that i never really thought about from a legal perspective. Did i know as i engaged in it, you know you get caught up in the emotional and the physical components of a relationship, and the last thing youre doing is thinking rationally, but as the accident occurred, you know, there was a transformation that went on within me that really changed my perspective on life. That was the accident and life within itself. The accident in 2002. In 2002. So your relationship lasted i believe a few months, five months, correct . At that point did the relationship end . Prior to no, i cant say that it truly ended then, from a connective point but i think that was the beginning of the end for the relationship, because i was pretty much paralyzed from the waist down, and as i said, my life totally changed after that accident. I think it probably took to really sever the relationship i cant tell you how many months after that, but it was within the next year going into the next season that it was pretty much over. I ask about you know forgive for me interrupting. I ask about the time line because its relevant in all of this. That was 2002, fast forward 2012. Yes. Youre negotiating a contract with a hefty raise, and this is brought up. Is that correct . Why do you think that is . You know, that is true. Why it was brought up, i had to finally come to embrace not knowing why, and i had to embrace it because the more you try to figure out why, the harder it is to forgive, and the one thing that i needed to do was to be able to move through the process in a loving manner without intent to do harm, and the only way to do that is through forgiveness and until i could forgive the people that came, because i dont believe that this was a situation where one person initiated all of this, but in order to forgive myself, i had to forgive everybody else around me, and that was the most important thing for me is that ive always tried to live my life in a manner that i did not want to do harm, and its always been easier for me to forgive others, but this was a challenge for me to forgive myself for making a poor decision. It sounds like you think ten years later there were people around you and maybe even your lover herself, the student, who ratted you out, is that fair to say . Oh, yes, thats fair. The employee handbook for your school, university of texas s fairly straightforward, says this, employees in positions of authority who enter into or persist in consensual romantic or sexual relationships without reporting them or who fail to cooperate in efforts to eliminate the conflict of interest or appearance of impropriety they present will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination. You never reported the relationship at the time. Did those rules seem clear to you, that this is a fireable offense . You know, i didnt know that there was even a rule on the book, and i think the rule had come into play maybe a year prior to the relationship, and i dont ever even remember reading such a rule, but you know, it talked about disclosure, and you know, i was never throughout the whole process, the disclosure part was never brought to me as to why i was being terminated. I was being terminated as a result of the relationship, and at that point, i said then, has everyone else been terminated as a point of reference of having had a relationship, and the answer was, is that we dont view those the same as yours. Because youre a head coach and those other relationships were not head coach . Professors, are professors or administrators or anyone, and to me, i dont see how you distinguish between the value of one student over another because of what they do, whether its a musician, a musical student, a business student or an athlete, i think the one thing that i hired an attorney for is not to deny, because the moment it was brought to my attention, i openly admitted to its existence, and so it was never to deny, it was just to guarantee i was given equal treatment because i had grown to not trust the university that i served in terms of equal treatment. Your attorney has said that there are male counterparts who have engaged in similar conduct which i think in a nutshell means sleeping with a student who is hierarchally lower than them on the kind of scale there, and have not been given a similar punishment. He has not though named who hes talking about. Why not . To me that seems it would be very straightforward to say listen here are the three head coaches or coaches or professors who have done similar things and look, they still have their jobs. Well, you know, i think that theyre in the process of the open records act, you know, but for me, the most important thing was the application, you know, i never denied that what i did was wrong, absolutely, and i dont know how many people would come forth and say wow, i just made this huge mistake, whether it was a year later, two years later, ten years later, and say i knead huge mistake. The only thing i think we can ask of each other is to continue to selfevaluate and selfcorrect, but i think the institutions have to begin to do that. They have to do selfevaluations and selfcorrections and not protection. It has circled the wagons on me and i feel like ive been a casualty within this whole process, not because i was innocent but all ive asked for was fair due process and equal treatment as opposed to how everyone else that had been under similar circumstances have had. Sounds to me youre saying listen if theres a professor, who had a relationship with his student and he was not fired or if there was a coach who had a relationship with a student and that person was not fired, then im being treated unfairly. What why would you be treated unfairly . Is it a race thing, is it a gender thing . Is it the fact its a female student . What do you think is at the core of it . You know, i have been under extreme stress and turned in for internally for years at ut and always come out of it never having made any mistakes, because of my record, its pristine there. At a certain point you have to stop asking why. I stopped wondering is it because i have a disability, is it because im black, is it because im female, is it because im successful, is it now because of my sexual preference . I dont know. And to me, at a certain point when its happening to you, continuously, you begin to only want it to stop and thats why my concern has been i really wanted to have peace of mind and thats what ive gone to the university before, even before all of this came to light is to stop the harassment. I dont know why its been happening. What do you want . Do you want your job back . Do you want them to fire the professors i know your attorney has said that there are, hes going to i guess come forth with some names and specifics down the road, you want those people to lose their jobs . What would you like out of it all . No, i dont want anybody to lose their job. I dont want to create harm to anyone but i do want to bring to light that you dont get to arbitrarily administer your rules and decide who is punished at what levels because of something that you dont like, because you never know if its because of that particular situation or is it because of the fact that you may be harboring some type of ill will towards that individual. I think that everyone should deserve an opportunity to have fair treatment based upon your policies, whether something is morally acceptable to an individual or not, our law says its about the application of the law, and then at some point, there ought to be some form of consideration for that persons past history, they didnt find a prior relationship or a subsequent relationship. And 21 years. 21 years at the university of texas, six National Championships. It goes all the way back to my entire career from, i started coaching when i was 21 years old, and ive never had any violations, ive never stepped outside the lines, and every time, and even in this situation i selfcorrected the situation myself, i admitted to it when brought to me and even after i admitted it, they sent me through an eightweek investigation for something, for other things and ended up firing me for something that i admitted to from the beginning. Why does someone have to suffer through all of that and they even called me in on december 26th, the tenth anniversary of the accident, to fire me. Were obviously going to watch this case closely because i would like to see how this is being applied across the board to everybody at the university of texas, and what the legal arguments will be in the case. Beverly kearney thank you for talking with us this morning. We appreciate your time. I definitely appreciate you and i just wanted to also say that i wanted to apologize to anyone that my behavior has oftened or disappointed, and i take full responsibility for what ive done, but i also want the university to take full responsibility and ownership for what its done as well. We will see what they have to say about that. Nice to talk to you, coach. Thanks for being with us. We appreciate it. Okay, god bless, thank you. Thank you, likewise. Still ahead on starting point well talk about the Consumer Electronics show, selfdriving cars and tvs that take high def to a new level. The exclusive air suspension] in the 2013 ram 1500. Engineered to move heaven and earth. Guts. Glory. Ram. The new ram 1500. Motor trends 2013 truck of the year. The new ram 1500. Are you flo . Yes. Is this the thing you gave my husband . Well, yeah, yes. The name your price tool. You tell us the price you want to pay, and we give you a range of options to choose from. Careful, though that kind of power can go to your head. That explains a lot. Yo, buddy i got this. Gimme one, gimme one, gimme one the power of the name your price tool. Only from progressive. You wont just find us online, youll also find us in person, with dedicated support teams at over 500 branches nationwide. So when you call or visit, you can ask for a name you know. Because personal Service Starts with a real person. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. Our support teams are nearby, ready to help. Its no wonder so many investors are saying. [ all ] im with scottrade. Welcome back to starting point everyone. Some stories were watching this morning, beta blockers may reduce the risk of dementia, a class of drugs to treat high blood pressure, glaucoma and migraines. Hundreds of men who died found they had fewer alzheimers brain lesions and less brain atrophy than other participants. Astronomers report one in six stars has an earth sized plan net close orbit. It spotted more than 2,700 possible planets including more than 460 earthsized planets in the socalled habitable zone where liquid water could exist and based on the numbers, Scientists Say there could be a total of 17 billion earthsized planets in our very own milky way galaxy. I cant get over that. Beyond imagination. So is this. Check this out. What is that . Its a kangaroo. Police chasing a kangaroo inside a parking garage in melbourne, airport, for two hours it was in the airport running wild. The wildlifes requill officer had to be called to tranquilize it. Hes being treated for damage to his feet and when thats all done hell be released back into the wild so good news from australia on this kangaroo this morning. Theyre so cute but theyre supposed to be kind of mean little animals. Personality not quite as cute. Like koalas look very cuddly, very tough. Whats going on in australia . Lets talk a little bit about a cancer diagnosis which obviously could be devastating and lifechanging. Theres a man whose name is don wright and he used his diagnosis as a challenge. What he decided to do was that he would continue to run marathons in spite of his diagnosis and then decided he would run a marathon in each and every state. Dr. Sanjay gupta has his story, its this weeks human factor. Reporter don wrights career spanned engineering, being a company Vice President and the law. At age 62 he discovered a new passion, marathons. Nine years ago just days after running his first 26mile race, he got some devastating news. I had gone to the doctor a couple of times for pain in my back. It was multiple myeloma. Reporter this say conditioner is of the blood where the white blood cells invade the bone marrow causing pain, usually in the back or the ribs, and patients are rarely cured. Ive got this devastating diagnosis. My family and i, we just kept on going. There wasnt any reason to stop and be sorry. Reporter on december 9th under a hot hawaiian sun, wright now 71 reached his seemingly impossible goal, running a marathon in all 50 states. It feels wonderful, ill tell you, a philosophy of life that i have is live one day at a time and make it a masterpiece, and that was a masterpiece. Reporter wright wasnt sure he could fulfill his dream because the median survival for his cancer is just five years. Hes had a number of treatments that have failed but for the last four and a half years, wrights taken an experimental drug, just one pill at night, thats worked. Kept the cancer at bay. I can still run, and i can still enjoy life and im riding that for all its worth. Reporter his advice to others facing what seem like insurmountable odds, take charge of your own destiny and never give up hope. Dr. Sanjay gupta, cnn, reporting. I love that story so much. Have you run a marathon . No, but ive cheered people on. John, you look like youve run a marathon. Richard . Me neither. Lets start with one. In every state. Start with one. How about a Half Marathon . Ahead this morning on starting point, selfdriving cars, really, really, really highdef tvs, theyre some of the highlights of the this years Consumer Electronics show. If loving you is wrong i dont wanna be right [ record scratch ] what . its not bad for you. It just tastes that way. [ female announcer ] honey nut cheerios cereal hearthealthy, whole grain oats. You cant go wrong loving it. C can. Welcome back. That time of the year where the Tech Companies show off their slickest edgeiest most innovative gadgets, the Consumer Electronics show taking place in las vegas kicks off today. Dan simon has an early look for us. Reporter its a january tradition here in las vegas as crews work furiously to get the booths and exhibits ready for the start of the Consumer Electronics show. More than 150,000 people are expected to roam these vast halls over the next couple of days to get a glimpse of the technologies that might hit the store shelves in the coming year. Tvs are always the biggest crowd draw at ces. Last year they pushed 3d tvs. Theyre hoping ultrahd will win over consumers, screens with four times the resolution as a typical hd tv but theyre expensive, some sets cost as much as a car, and speaking of cars, theyre becoming a bigger deal every year at ces. This year youll hear the term connected car lot, that means using your smartphone for a lot of Different Things including using the phone to start the car on those especially cold winter days. Another big theme, home automation, run your home from wherever you are, this category used to be for people who were really wealthy, now these products are a lot more affordable and its about being able to control your lights, your thermostat, your appliances, while on the go. Of course look for the latest innovations in pcs, tablets and cameras, more than 3,000 companies are on display here, all of them really vying for one thing, attention. Dan simon, cnn, las vegas. I dont know about the selfdriving cars though. I dont see those really, would you buy a selfdriving car . No, i like to drive. It takes the fun out of driving. All the fun out of driving, thats the whole point. It can Parallel Park and also the whole idea maribella mac has a car that automatically parks. And automobiles are good for things that are routine like farm trucks and stuff like that. You must have been watching the show. Obviously you were. I wonder if will cain was watching the show. I was betting against that, five years. Ive been wrong before. End point is up next. Be back in a moment. , i figurede would decrease my sex drive. But when i started losing energy and became moody. Thats when i had an honest conversation with my doctor. We discussed all the symptoms. Then he gave me some blood tests. Showed it was low t. Thats it. It was a number not just me. [ male announcer ] today, men with low t have androgel 1. 62 testosterone gel . 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Turn it up [ male announcer ] in a clinical study, over 80 of treated men had their t levels restored to normal. Talk to your doctor about all your symptoms. Get the blood tests. Change your number. Turn it up. Androgel 1. 62 . Our end point begins with richard sacorides. Interesting article you wrote in newworker. Com. I think this hormel nomination is going to be hagel. The jim hormel in t98 was a big fight but obamas effort to get chuck hagel confirmed is going to be a big fight. On the issue of gay rights hagel has a lot to prove, but i think he can do it. I think everybody, in order for this movement for greater equality to be successful, it has been dependent upon people changing their minds and i think if hagel has really changed his mind, he can show it but hes got to show leadership on it. Weve had the conversation and danced around it. Its interesting that president obama so willingly went into something he knew would be a big fight as you suggested. What does that say about