Transcripts For MSNBCW Weekends With Alex Witt 20120205

it is gone! >> done it again. it is caught for a touchdown! back-to-back world championships. >> the new england patriots in their long and storied history with going to their seventh super bowl. >> in the end zone with 35 seconds to go and the giants regain the lead. >> the patriots will not be -- the giants are the most improbable win of super bowl bowl xlii. this is costas tonight, live at the super bowl. presented by chevy. here's bob costas. and at the indiana repertoire theater, site of this live nfl town hall meeting. over the next two hour, a live array of panelists, coaches and players among them. as well as nfl commissioner, roger goodell. they'll weigh in on the vital issues. the reason we're in indianapolis this week, the giants and the patriots in super bowl xlvi. joining us now to talk about the game, a super bowl champ with the giants in 2008 and an analyst for fox, michael strahan. the just retired pro bowler, jason taylor. a star of super bowl xliii, larry fits verld and since we're in indy, here comes the applause, colts defensive end and super bowl xli champion, dwight freen i. [ applause ] michael, let's start with you because four years ago seems like the score i line coming in. other than the odds on the game was the same as this time. can the giants pass rush get to brady, get him out of rhythm and give them a chance to win the game? you say? >> it's the same formula, the same thing. eb september for the giants have a better offense now. eli used to drop back. i would hold my breath and go, please don't mess this up. now he drops back. you have the utmost confidence that he's going to get it done. in the pass rush, it could possibly be as good if not better than they were, than in 2007. >> not jason pierre paul. >> tuck can play inside. as before, osi and i were the ends. that's great when you have guys who can play all over the place. >> tom brady, win or lose on sunday, is one of the best quarterbacks. >> win or lose, he's going home to gisele. he's winning. that cat is winning. i don't care. he's winning no matter what. [ applause ] >> absolutely. >> win or lose on the scoreboard at lucas oil stadium, he's one of the best ever. you went up against him in the super bowl. jason, starting next year no more but this year twice a season usually with the dolphins. the book is that even the best of them can get rattled if they don't know where it's coming from. an unnamed assistant coach went over the film of the patriots loss to the jets in last year's playoffs and said he saw tom brady acting like he had never seen him act before. that he ducked a couple of times and looking for things that weren't there because the jets were getting to him that much. true? >> i don't know who the unnamed assistant is. every quarterback in the league hates to get hit. they don't like being hit -- unless you're tim tebow. he likes to be hit and he usually does the hitting. to rattle any quarterback, you immediate to get in their face, move them off the spot, so to speak. pressure them a little bit. none of them like that. they all want to be comfortable. if anybody can deal with it, i think it's tom brady. i know the giants did it a few years ago in the super bowl. we've done it over the years. tom tom brady. he can still throw the ball and make plays. he's good at adjusting and making his line better. >> how good is their offensive line, dwight? >> it's very good. they may not have the best person but together they play very well. they play smart. tom gets rid of that ball. it's almost like you can probably play the game without the offensive line. that's how efficient they are. it's going to be a tough matchup. >> the way he gets rid of it quickly and the way necessity use a short passing game in place of a running game, they stayed out of third and long which doesn't negate but neutralizes the pass rush a bit, right? >> absolutely. they probably have the best i've seen in a couple years where they get the defensive line, almost like running the bau. it's going to be tough. >> you went to the super bowl larry and veneerly won it as a 9-7 team. a 9-7 never won the super bowl. the rams against the steelers many years ago, played them tough, lost it, you guys the same against the steelers. here are the giants at 9-7. they got on a roll late. in that sense, it's similar to what you did a few years ago. >> it was. we got beat up pretty bad. foxboro, they beat us by 40 point. that was the turn around for us. in seattle, weigh played well. i know the positive momentum from the regular season played a factor into the way we played in the post-season. we were underdog in every game we played. they had to go on the road, play in hostile environments, you saw it in 2008, they did it again this year. that's always about positive momentum going to the playoffs. >> i think, all of this -- they're staying healthy. you have the teams who are great one year and the same personnel, but everyone is hurt. the packers were a little different last year because they were injured but for some reason their backup stepped up well. for the giants -- they were beat up early in the season. all of a sudden everybody is healthy now, you have every key player that you depended on at the beginning is playing their best football now. that rarely happens that you get guys healthy at the right time. that's only to their advantage. >> the key injury is rob gronkowski with the high ankle sprain which is the identical injury that you had, dwight, two years ago when the colts played the saints in the super bowl. as i understand it, the injury was pretty much okay in the first half, a sack in the first half, then it tightened up in the long super bowl halftime which is always longer than any normal game. >> absolutely. it was pretty much day and night, just working on that ankle, working on that ankle. great first half. halftime killed me. i don't know what was going on out there. i don't know what was happening. it killed me. it stiffened up, the pain came back. i was 30% less than the start of the game. probably the biggest problem for him. i don't know exactly what his injury is. i know it's a high ankle sprain. my ligaments were torn. it's a little different. they have to keep him warm during halftime. >> mike flore yoe is in the audience. you see him every sunday on football night in america. what's the latest on gronkowski in. >> he did practice today on a limited basis. it's the first time he since he suffered in the afc championship game. it's widely expected he will play. his agent told nbc sports talk earlier today, if it wasn't the super bowl, gronkowski would not be playing. super bowl, gronkowski is going to give it a try. >> if you had to guess, what is it, 60%, 70%. >> probably between 60 and 80. when you need a guy like that to step up big, that may not be enough. >> if he is not truly gronkowski, even though they have aaron hernandez, how much of an effect does that have on the game? >> the only thing i'm sitting here, i'm going to tell madonna to sing two extra songs. [ laughter ] >> he is such a big part of that offense. every week it's gronkowski. he is huge. i've never seen a tight end that big and that strong, yet age i will. not just tom brady, for that team. when they need a big play, they know they can look to him. now to look at that guy may not be as effective. that could just affect the psyche of everyone. >> it's going to be interesting what they do with him. they do a lot of things. like a receiver. or they can keep him in the core. >> i think the patriots go as long as wes welker goes. welker opens up so many things. i know gronkowski is a matchup nightmare. he's the -- he almost slows you to death. he's so big and lumbering. the thing with him with the ankle sprain is you can't tackle him up high. you have to tackle him low. the more that happens, it could be bothering him. >> what about the giants receiving core which is sometimes overlooked and the patriots secondary which some think is suspect. >> those receivers, the way they've been playing as of late, nick's had a phenomenal run but cruz will be tough. victor cruz is phenomenal. not only catching the football but once he gets the ball in his hands, breaking tack ms and making plays it will be tough to deal with. >> you had a great quote post super bowl after your team had a couple of down years. you said, i've tasted the caviar so i'm not interested in eating out of the garbage can. we have some news that may in some way relate to upgrading your cuisine. let's go to peter king who is in the audience. lot of speculation here about the future of peyton manning and many people had been seriously saying he may never take another snap in the nfl. what's the news today? >> bob x i don't think it's that big a story that the news came out today that peyton manning has been cleared by doctors to play. he was cleared for contact in december and could have played back then in december. but the whole issue with him now obviously is his arm strength. if he's going to continue his career whether it be with larry in arizona, will it be mike shanahan in washington or rex ryan with the jets, wherever, if it's anywhere, he's really going to have to make sure that his arm strength is right first. but i'll tell you this, peyton manning does not want to be told to retire. i think that peyton is going to take the next step and he's going to try to play at some point in the 2012 season. >> it's clear now he doesn't play here anymore, right? >> it's almost certain that he won't play here. i don't think the owner of the team wants to take a $28 million risk on peyton manning. >> well, i'm assuming it's not just a social occasion. i'm told that you plan to have dinner this week with peyton manning. i'm thinking to tell him all about how it's just a dry heat in arizona and it's very comfortable. [ laughter ] >> i don't even have peyton's number. i got the room in the green number. >> i have peyton's number. >> i don't have it. >> i'm hearing it. >> i'm thinking -- >> i saw jeff over there. he put his head down when he heard that. >> st. elmo's, palomino's. some place in town. >> i've had no contact with him. i don't know where that started, honestly. >> it's not true? >> no, it's not true. >> wait a minute. >> larry is smart enough to know about tampering. the things that come with it. >> give me your scenario by which your team, your old team the giants wins the game and the flip scenario by which the patriots win the game. >> giants put pressure on tom brady. if you don't he's a surgeon with the football. you have to do that. i think they have to -- it's the same form. protect eli, get to tom brady. i think eli is a much more confident player. he has receivers around him, the young guys, i'm surprised the way that they're playing. i think for the giants, to win, have to find a semblance of a run game. can't depend on all on eli. jacobs and bradshaw have to come out of the shell they were in until three weeks ago. i think for the patriots to win, keep brady up right, short passes, frustrated defense. nothing worse than rushing a quarterback and he throws the ball. i would have been called for so many penalties or fined so much money, i was going to hit you anyway. i work that hard to get that close and you throw it. oh, no, sir. michael is going to take a chance. you have to frustrate the giants up front. if you can do that, it can break down the defense >> i think michael said, the giants have to establish a run game. if they can get a run game going and take possessions away from the patriots. i think if they get in that huddle, hurry up offense and shorten their possessions up and then the giants can run the ball effectively and take some poe teg possessions away. >> in the giants run the ball effectively, i don't think the game will be -- >> the giants will win big. >> the patriots have to guard the giants receiver man-to-man outside, bringing that safety down and the running game. i think it's a disadvantage for the patriots on defense. >> that doesn't happen, and if the pass rush doesn't get to brady and he sits back and gets in rhythm, then the scoreboard explodes, right had. >> yes, it does. i don't see that. the giants have shown it week after week. gotten to aaron, gotten to the quarterbacks they've played and be able to get to tom. >> absolutely. you definitely have to minimize the amount of times that tom touches the ball. if the giants score some points running the ball and doing those things, then the defensive line on the giants going to have a better chance to get to tom. they'll hold on to the ball a little bit longer trying to catch up. in the beginning, it's going to be no huddle. get rid of the ball quick. try to precise passing. >> this is the first time in your long and distinguished career that the colts have not made the playoffs. not only that, here is the super bowl on your home field and a different manning starting the game. how weird is this whole experience for you? >> you said it. it is very weird. we're used to year in and year out being in the hunt, playoffs. this year, it's just been -- i don't know. then now being here talking about the super bowl and not -- the thing is my season has been over for a while now. [ laughter ] >> week five maybe? [ laughter ] >> yes. it's okay. >> so i had a long time to kind of let everything calm down, digest, calm down. you're mott in the super bowl this year. i was able to do things like that. >> is it galling at all that not just anybody but the patriots, your long-standing rivalry are using your facility, dressing this your locker room? >> i definitely heard about that. that's definitely going to be strange. i have some friends over there making sure that we lockdown certain areas of the facility, making sure the playbook isn't there, give them a fake playbook. it's funny. definitely is. >> larry, dwight and michael have super bowl rings. you came this close, caught seven passes in the super bowl against the steelers. two for touchdowns in the fourth quarter. there's the famous shot we may roll it in here of you heading for the end zone and looking up at the big board and see yourself hitting the end zone with what looked like it might have been the winning touchdown. how often do you think about how close you came? >> something that's crossing my mind especially during this time year round. you see the highlights you're watching tv. something that you think about quite often. you have to tip your hat. sometimes they make a play. they made the play to win the game. we didn't get it done. as simple as that. that's something i have to live with. >> michael, how would your post career life be different if you hadn't won super bowl xlii? >> can i curse? no, i'm joking. >> last time we were on hbo. then you could say whatever you wanted. i'm not sure what the new rules on the nbc sports network. >> it would definitely be different. i'd still be playing. i'd be -- i wouldn't be here, man. i'd be in a walker. come here, tom brady. [ laughter ] i take my hat off to eli and david tyrese and to those guys because they don't -- they still -- they will never know how much it meant for me 15 years in to have these guys step up and play the way they played in a season, bob, i came back from almost retierpg. didn't care about football. i wanted to have fun with the fellas. they turned it into ha it became. my career would be different. i would have to sit on stage and have them talk bad about me not having a ring. there's no shame in that in anything. >> he put in 15 long years. >> never played a one. >> larry got to one, barely lost. these guys have been there and won. you had a great career. but never got there. now you have to walk away without fulfilling that dream. >> yep. thanks. >> you get late in your career, maybe you could engineer a trade to a team closer to contention than the dolphins are right now. did you have a sense maybe, one more year if i could find the right situation, i could push for it one more time? >> the right situation was probably not the past season was the previous in new york with the jets. we came into a playoffs. we came here and beat dwight and the colts, went to new england -- sorry. i know, i know. let me have my three minutes of fame. i never had a super bowl. let me enjoy this for a minute. like i was saying, we came to indy, dweet peyton manning, dwight freeney and those guys. we beat tom brady, and wes welker and lost to pittsburgh in the afc championship game. it took me 14 years to get to that point and that loss was so difficult that afc championship game because of all the struggles that we had in miami for so many years and never had the chance to get there. i'm probably one of the few players in in room tonight that has not played a one. i know tony gonzalez has not either. sorry tony. misery loves company, baby. it's unfortunate. >> what did he say? >> i don't know. >> what was that? >> huh? >> nothing. >> yell it right out, tony if you want to. >> i said i'm still playing though. >> he's still playing. still got a shot. last thing. jason is thinking about making a move to television. you preceded him. what's your broadcasting advice? >> man, you know what, have fun with it. it's work. the key is to be yourself. you can't be what you're not. i'm fortunate to be where i am with god. i can have fun. it's a great life. you wake up on sunday, you won't be blamed for losing. you won't be sore. none of that. it's not bad, man. but welcome to the other side. [ applause ] >> all right, guys. michael, jason, larry dwight, thank you very much. we're just getting started here in indianapolis. chargers quarterback philip rivers. just a few of those will be on stage during this live town hall meeting from indianapolis. still to come, coaches on one of the hardest jobs in all of sports. plus, nfl commissioner roger goodell live on stage for a wide ranging interview. and up next, a discussion of the state of the nfl, 2012. welcome back to costas tonight presented by chevy. here again, bob costas. >> at the indiana repertoire theater, a little less than 72 hours before super bowl xlvi and a little more than six months since the cop collusion of a lockout that seemed to put the start of the season in jeopardy. instead, no games were lost. of course, the league continues to face critical issues. touchdown, 91 yards. 10 to the 5, touchdown. how did he do it? >> in many ways, the state of the game has never been stronger. there's no sport as popular. and none nearly as profitable. with a product that's not only exciting but perfectly tailored for the ever expanding appetite of today's sports fan. but along with its overwhelming success, football is shadowed by one of its defining attributes. its level of violence. more and more being uncovered about the link between head injuries and serious medical problems later in life. already, former players have taken the step of suing the league, claiming that it didn't do enough to protect them. but just how to achieve that protection is an ongoing dilemma. new rules against hits to the head satisfy some but confuse and even frustrate others. plus, until recently, the nfl's concussion policy seemed to place the responsibility for taking players out of action on those with conflicts of interest. training staffs, team doctors. coaches. and the players themselves. and if the hits can be more frightening than ever, it's mostly because the players are bigger, faster and stronger than ever. still after the lockout, the nfl and the players union were unable to come to an agreement on human growth hormone testing. meanwhile, as these issues hover over the league, there's another very different one looming in the stands. seat licenses and skyrocketing ticket prices are countered by the new reality of big screens and hdtv. raising the question, could football be too perfect a fit for television? and eventually start to cost nfl teams paying customers on sundays? these and other topics help define the state of the nfl. three nights before super bowl xlvi, thriving and growing, yes. but also struggling to tackle issues that could someday change the game as we think we know it. >> okay. we're going to break the discussion of the state of the game into two parts and devote the first half to what is clearly the nfl's most serious problem which is player safety. here now to talk about it patriots owner, robert kraft who we thank for taking time out during a busy week. lewis and chargers quarterback philip rivers. before we get to the top ib at hand, i would be remiss if i didn't congratulate you mr. kraft on a return to the super bowl and you do it -- [ applause ] even the colt fans have to acknowledge that this has been quite a run of excellence. how has this year been different and what has it meant to you? >> the colt fans have been terrific. i've been walking around the town. people from the midwest are very special. you know, some of us in the northeast are a little neurotic at times. people in the midwest are very friendly and nice. i thank you for the nice, kind way you've -- [ applause ] >> okay. >> i started this season with a heavy heart. i lost my sweetheart. had an opportunity to chat with the team and tell them that they'd be wearing that mhk patch. for your wife myra. >> who passed away right before the season started. what she represented and what this season represented and the kind of person she was. you know, i believe in spirituality and i just think we're very fortunate to be here in this game and i love our locker room. i happened to be sitting with three great players. i see that video but i also remind you that all your networks did long-term deals that are going to be free television for the next 11 years. >> it wasn't free for us, mr. kraft. >> it's free for them. that's what counts. [ applause ] >> and these players, even with the problems you pointed out, were wise enough to do a ten-year deal to create stability, which isn't going on in america the way it should. we need washington to listen to the leadership of these men too. >> all right. [ applause ] >> all true. now we move to a more sobering subject. jamaal you gained more than 10,000 yards, you had a 2,000-yard season in 2003. you're one of the game's great running backs. you are among 300 former players, tony dorset was just added to that list this week who are suing the nfl basically saying that the league knew or should have known more than it let on about the dangers of the game and didn't do as much as it could have in years past to protect you and other players from the problems you either face already or are likely to face in the future. true sm. >> true. i think it's more about the awareness and putting it out as far as what the -- the players, give them a decision and give them choices that they can make when they do suffer these injuries and go through these symptoms on the field. but it's almost like when they come in as a rookie, they put you through a rookie symposium, let you know the ins and outs of the nfl, what can go on and it can't. as far as concussion, that was never mentioned at least when i came out. >> you're still in your 30s. you're a young guy. do you have any symptoms yet? >> oh, yeah. i had symptoms, that's one of the reasons why i did retire from the browns at the time with five games left in the seasonment it was due to multiple concussions. >> what if somebody were to say to you, look, it's a rough game, everybody knows what they signed up for, it's a willing assumption of risk and so -- though we sympathize, the suit has no merit? >> basically, let me know honestly, if this is a concussion you know and it's not a ding or i just got my bell rung and throw me back out there on the field. it's more of go deeper into it like they do now and let us know so at least as a player, as a human i have a choice. that's pretty much it. i think that's all we're pretty much asking. >> jeff, as the colts player representative and one of the key figures in the negotiations that ended the lockout, for you and almost nonnegotiable item was that there had to be a reduction in the number of full pad practices and various other provisions put in that made the game, if not safe, at least less dangerous. >> i mean, to jamal's point, when you play a violent game as we do on sundays, there will be times, the stigma that was out there, you got your bell rung, you went gray, there's all these terms that we knew as football players. i think the reality is, we didn't know what kind of damage it was doing long-term. i think it's probably the most difficult situation that we face as players now. because you, as a competitor, have a drive. everybody who plays in the nfl plays as hard as they can for as long as they can. they have this ability to fight through pain, to fight through difficulties, to fight through circumstances that most athletes wouldn't go through. so when you look a man and say hey, i don't think you should go back on the field because you got your bell rung, players are going to look at you and say no, no i'm going back out. it's fourth quarter, 2:00 left, all my fans are here. there's this energy going on as a player. it's a very difficult situation from both ownership and players that we're trying to talk and get things solved and try to help players make an educated decision on when is best to come back and when is best to sit out. >> in fact, a little more than a month ago, the a.p. published a survey, talked to 44 nfl players shall at least one from every team. slightly more than half said they would conceal a concussion so that they could stay on field. that is the mentality, isn't it, philip? and it's part of the reason why they have independent neurologists on the sidelines so it's taken away from a team doctor who might have a conflict of interest. >> it is. i think the phrase, you keep hearing, dating back to little league is get your bell rung. it's distinguishing that difference. you know, how many times has it happened during practice, during training camp and during a game and get your bell rung and you can play the next play. you feel you can. i've been fortunate, i don't think i've had any concussions. i've certainly had none diagnosed. i've had my bell rung. what does that mean? you just see you've had some scary incidents throughout the league more so it seems like or gotten more attention the last few years. it is scary. because we're guys -- young guys here that have a long life ahead of us. >> let me just say something, though. the league and the players are doing a good job -- when rereduced our number of padded practice, i heard all kinds of coaches and football is never going to be the same. we got the two best teams playing in the super bowl. we got some of the greatest football we've ever seen played. obviously, that didn't make that big a difference. what it does do is a guy like myself, i don't hit wednesday and thursday anymore. i hit one day a week as the season begins and then we taper off so that the more hits you get consecutively, you do it less and less throughout the year. long-term, we feel like that's going to make a big difference to keeping guys healthy and not having the same symptoms once we leave the game. >> mr. kraft, led in large part by the reporting of allen schwarz of the new york times, we'll hear from him in a moment. the information has reached critical mass. we can no longer deny, we can quibble about the particulars, but can't deny that the game is dangerous, that it includes not just the risk but the likelihood for many players of catastrophic injuries that have long-term effects. that there's a relationship between repeated concussions and constituent problems with dementia and brain damage. the league is clearly acting upon that knowledge now. acting proactively. but were you slow? when i say you, i mean the league overall. should you have known or suspected more than you did five years ago, ten years ago, 15 years ago? >> i don't claim to be an expert in this area. excuse me. i can tell you that i played the game so i know what happens. i can tell you that the leadership that the gentleman on my left brought to the union negotiations was very strong in this area in terms of protecting the kind of practices and i hope prolonging careers. you know, but the facts are that the game is a very physical game. people who sign up for it do it -- like philip said, i think people like to hide it if it does happen or maybe it was jamal, i'm not sure. that's something i think the commissioner has shown great leadership. we've been working with, i know, boston university and i believe his name is dr. cantou there. >> yeah i remember i went with roger when he received an award for a couple years ago how we're trying to stay ahead of the curve. i don't claim to be an expert in this area. but i will say this. before i own the team, there was a player who was seriously injured on our team who was paralyzed and -- >> darryl stingily. >> someone who we became close to. i never like to see that happen. god forbid that happens. the potential is always there, unfortunately. we have to do everything with equipment and the rules to protect these players and do everything we can. but it is a physical game. >> let's move quickly here. just to give you an idea. this is a sampling of the kind of mind-set that perhaps has to change, maybe it can't change. brian urlacher told hbo. if i have a concussion, i'm going to say something happened to my knee so he can get my bearings and get pack in. it may be stupid, but i want to get back in. >> channing crawford, they give me a helmet, i'm going to auto use it. ray lewis says they're penalizing us for the hits they used to praise us for. brady james said, we're going to be playing flag football in about five years. maurice jones drew. i would hide it if i had a concussion. i know there will be a day when i will have trouble walking but that's what i signed up for. james harrison, it's my job to hurt people. terrell suggs. i'll take a fine if i get a good shot at a quarterback. i don't care where i hit him or how i hit him. let me ask you this. how often have you felt that defenders weren't just trying to stop you or shake you up, but they were trying to hurt you and knock you out of the game? >> i mean, honestly, not very often. i really do think for the most part, we got a pretty clean league. i really do. the more times you're get to be around other players that you competed against and -- they go hard. they're trying to get after you. i've really never honestly, throughout my eight years felt like, that guy was trying to hurt me. are they trying to hit you as hard as you can, give you extra. all that is part of it. you do that in the backyard to your little brother too to a certain extent. >> that's right. >> i really do think it's been really clean. >> jamal, did you ever feel in a pile, bottom of pile, whatever it might be that somebody was going beyond the bounds of fair play? >> oh, yeah a lot of times. i think that it happens. you know, it happens. it's in the competitive nature of an athlete and a football player that hey, my dad told me to hit them before they hit you. it's like i'd rather give it than take it. but at the same time, if you're a key to a game, like the quarterback or a running back who is going to touch the ball a lot, i think that a lot of these guys on defense, they would rather take you out the game. they might not want to hurt you. but some kind of way, they would rather limit your time on the field. >> jeff, is he right? >> i think he's right. what these guys are saying is all bulletin board hype. i played 13 years. i can tell you, never in my career have i ever seen somebody try to hurt me or come after me or my running backs or even my quarterback. do something dirty where they're saying hey, we're going to come get you. i think all of those things sound good, they help you in the locker room with leadership. getting people to rally around you. but it doesn't play out like that. >> some of the grabbing and scratching and clawing underneath that piles, that's part of it too that's o-line, d-line. >> i never get to touch it, so i'm going to get it. >> let's take a quick look at a play just about everybody is familiar with. now, almost every member of the media, and most fans say this can't be right. but one of the players said. colt mccoy and here come the notorious james harrison. we'll see it from a number of angles. as it happened, they didn't diagnose him right away with a concussion. clearly he had one. that led to changes in procedures and independent observers on the sidelines. as a quarterback, what do you think about that hit? >> you never like to see a quarterback get hit like that. >> was it dirty? >> was it intentional. >> it's james harrison. >> by the way, we invited him to be on the show and he declined. >> i understand that. i do think it's tough. i appreciate all the way they're protecting the quarterbacks, believe me. i do -- in a small way i feel for the defensive players. it makes it hard on them. i appreciate it. but i think they get put in tough situations. you're running and guys are moving. it's a moving target. it's not anybody standing still. >> allen schwarz of the new york times is in the audience. allen, you have done some fine reporting over the last few years that kind of brought together all the medical research and what we know about the dangers of the game. i realize i'm asking you to boil a broad subject down into a bullet point, but what's the bottom line of what you've discovered. >> the bottom line is that what happens in the national football league happens among the 4.4 million children who play the game throughout the united states on friday night o not on sunday afternoons. children emulate these guys and when a player suggests that it's just fine to play with a concussion, that's a grown man making a grown man's decision. he also isn't susceptible to second impact syndrome and could die on field if he goes back with a concussion and sustains another or lands in the hospital, gets a craniotomy. the reason that the nfl was put under such a microscope was because of the influence it has on children and why the statements that the league made from 2007, 2008 up through middle of 2009 were under so much scrutiny was because of that influence. >> we're going to move on to chris know wits i. >> i want to thank jerry jones for being kind enough to let me come in -- >> he'll be here in a minute. we got to do this quickly because of time constraints. >> chris know win ski was an all ivy defensive tackle at harvard. then made the unlikely shift to it the world wrestling federation or whatever it was called at that time. has had a number of concussions himself and basically in conjunction with boston university is involved in this brain bank where athletes pledge to donate their brains subsequent to their deaths for study. based on what you know, what percentage of the players on the field on sunday likely have some early stage of brain damage? >> that's a great question that we don't know the answer to. i will say that 18 of the first 19 deceased nfl players we've studied have had chronic traumatic encephalopathy. i will say that last week we revealed that a 17-year-old high school football player had the disease when he passed away. so i don't think it's a small number. i think the players need to realize that a lot of them are walking around with this. a lot of people sitting here. i might have this. i think we need to be a lot more aggressive. i think allen made a great point. this is really about kids. you know, we're talking about this is a dangerous job. yet, we're letting four million kids do the same thing. >> quickly, what can be done or is the game -- it can be cleaned up at the edges but is the game at the highest level so fundamentally dangerous that that's just the way it is? >> you need some real radical changes to make football safe and not have people walk away with this brain damage. we also have to realize all of these protections we put in place for nfl players aren't in place for kids. that's probably where a lot of this is happening. >> when we come back, harry carson is in the audience, we'll finish this subject and move on to other aspect of the state of the game. for now, we thank our panelists. we're going to pause here for just a moment. when we come back, we'll hear from a few new voices on more of the headlines issues, controversial calls, overtime ticket prices and more on concussions when we continue from indy. 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[ applause ] as the hall of famer stands up, you listened to the discussion. you suffered concussions yourself. you have been very open publicly about memory loss and cognitive difficulties which is suffered. a, do you regret having played the game as you did and b, what would you do to reform the game without changing the essence of what makes it owe appealing as entertainment and a sport? >> you know, i really don't think there's anything that you can actually do to make the game safer. yeah, there's equipment and so forth. but you're talking about the brain. the helmet covers and protects the skull. it does not protect the brain. so when you have that rapid movement, when you have the brain moving forward when someone gets hit and then the brain hits against the inside of the skull, you know, that is when you sustain concussion. nothing is going to prevent that from happening. more and more, you hear players talk about when they sustained concussions. when you play against one another, you don't share. you don't talk. you keep those things to yourself because it really does show a sign of weakness and you don't want people to know what's going on. but when you retire, you start talking to other players about what happened and it becomes clear that there was a lot of damage that you either received or you gave out to players who played the games. >> thank you, harry. some of that is incidental. tony, you said you disagreed with some of what you heard in the previous segment about a lot of it not being intentional. >> absolutely. i'm sitting backstage and looking at you guys saying, i've never played a player that didn't want to knock me out of the game or intentionally try to hurt me. i'm saying yeah, right. are you kidding me? that was part of the -- especially when we came in the -- the new rules dictate that's frowned upon. but players do it every once in a while. before, that was encouraged. i remember when i was coming up, we watched crunch course. i don't know if anybody saw that in the day. it's these hard hits. i remember lonnie lott saying if you get a guy across the middle and you can hit him so hard that the crowd goes ooh, that's what you want. when i came into the league, there's a guy sitting right over there, name is rodney harrison, right there, and i know rodney that you were trying to come knock me out of the game or anybody else. that is the point. you were trying to knock them out of the game. i don't care what anybody says. that's going to help you win if that happens. >> the truth is, you never see a player celebrate a nifty tackle as designed by amos alonzo stag that prevents a touchdown on an open field run. guys only celebrate when they launch an attack and deliver a kill shot. that they celebrate. it's something about the culture of the game. >> it's like getting a big old blake griffin on your face. it gets the crowd going and gets the team going. it says we're here to play. guess what? that hurts. that hurts your head, it hurt your body. it does all that stuff. that's how i feel. there's no way you can tell me they're not -- >> jerry jones, how much of this is tied to the basic appeal of the game. some like it despite the violence, others like it because of the violence? >> the physical impact is a must. it separates us from basketball. it separates us from baseball. attrition during a season, who is standing at the end. all of that is a little bit a part of what we are about. i grew up being taught to do everything with my face. make every tackle, make every block. hit with your face. your neck was strong, hit with your face. use your face. i got a better as face masks evolved. lamar hunt, one of the great people of the nfl, advocated taking away the face mask because that gives you courage. when you have courage with your face, human nature is you will avoid it if it's coming at you. >> is there validity in that? >> you'll have a lot of people with no teeth and flat face. seriously, there is a courage that comes from protection with your face that sticks your head and your neck in there. those are the critical areas that we are focusing on right now. in general, certainly as we look at society, we see how we've evolved about dwi's. we see how we've evolved about what is tolerant in society, why does it surprise us that we are looking at our game. we know it's important to make it physical. we know it's important to make it about hard work. we know it's important about that. we negotiated about that across the table and it was your point as much as anything, when do we give it up. we don't want to give it up when it doesn't countment we want to give it up in front of 70,000, 80,000 fans. >> true. >> that's when we want to he can pose being injured in front of 70,000 fans. not on the practice field. >> i hear you saying that a certain amount of catastrophic injuries, may be tragic post career events are unavoidable. you can do what you can to reduce it. that amount is larger than in baseball or basketball certainly >> i'm not saying that. >> you're not? >> i'm not saying that. i'm saying that we are beginning a mentality of working in our game and we are starting -- jeff started it with this last time. it was started before that. i heard you ask bob. have you guys been late on the draw here? should you have been quicker to look at some of the -- >> you yourself have a better understanding. you said from what you understood, that concussions would not lead to long-term difficulties. your understanding now is different than it was then. >> i agree with that. let's look at everything in a way. i bet you i've had 50 concussions. i bet you i never had a practice but when i didn't have a ding. >> you think you've had 50 concussions. >> i could have been president if i hadn't had that. seriously. it's a degree. that's not to diminish in any way the kinds of -- the kinds of things that our players are dealing with. i went to a reunion of my championship, national championship college football team. >> at arkansas. >> they were there. the players were there. they were in their 60s and in their 58s and in their 61s. i'm going to tell you one thing, it looked like the walking wounded. never a down most of them of professional football. that happened either because you got to be 60 or 61 or it happened because i played college football or because you played high school football. >> or some combination of the two. >> all i'm trying to say is this, bob. the nfl and certainly we have the incentive plan, we're on the plan to do it, if you think i'm not, the dallas cowboys aren't interested in making this game safer so that we can keep players on the field -- >> despite good intentions there's litigation. you got to be concerned approximate that. >> we're just on the threshold. it's called becoming more intense, more focused, bob was right, roger goodell our commissioner is leading the way. but we're all into this thing. we are going to make great strides as ee go forward in years to come. a lot of it helped start with the kind of labor agreement that we negotiated right there. >> other issues. the game couldn't be more favorable than it is today for quarterbacks. dan marino's record stood for a long time. three guys threw for 5,000 yards this year, drew brees, tom brady, matthew stafford. you picked a good time to be in the prime of krur career as a quarterback. the passing game is everything now. >> they've helped us out a little bit with rules. defenses don't like it as much. i think too, you see the game, it looks like going back 20 years, watching it, it goes in circles. the run games and the defenses are at the top and everybody is trying to get that. then it's the passing games and not worrying so much about the defense. score one more point than the other team. it kind of goes in circles. i don't know. i think the one thing that's helped more than anything in the passing game obviously with the contact and all that, is this new, the tight end. the tight ends are different now. tony was kind of the start of that. these tight ends are such a comfort for your quarterback. they're all over. you look at everybody -- they all got tight ends. no doubt. you look at all the guys are throwing for a bunch of yards, all got tight ends mixed in with the wide receivers. it gives you a level of comfort. >> you got antonio gates. used to be the tight end was at the end of the offensive line, more blocker than receiver. got guys like you, you say you're going to play one more year, you've been around a long time. then along comes gronkowski and jimmy graham and vernon davis and on and on. it's like a new breed of cat. >> absolutely. pause it's a mismatch. when you're out there, one thing you can do with the big guys, look at gronkowski for example. 6'6", 275 pounds. big old hands. just throw the ball up in the air. he's open. he could get down the field. he's pretty fast. same thing with jimmy graham. drew brees is out there. line him up by himself in a wide receiver split. you know what, i won't even call the route until you get out there. let's see what the defender is doing. a quick slant. the three-step slant, a fade. all this stuff. he throws the ball. big body it, you can't guard it. it's something that you're going to see a lot more nfl team. they're all going to go to it. i think the reason also too, it's more of a glamour position. they're seeing guys like antonio and sharp. it's becoming a position where you can score touchdowns. you can catch 85, 95 balls a year and maybe -- gronkowski, he probably would have played defensive end. >> defensive tackle. >> jeff, 18-game season. 18-game season, good? [ inaudible question ]. >> anybody can play defensive end. >> nonathlete. that was what i mean. >> you can take it as a compliment or you can take it as an insult. honestly, i would say this. there's a lot of defensive ends. i think you guys would have made good tight ends. i think if i played defensive endoowe. >> thank you. [ applause ] >> let's rattle through topics here. 18-game season. tabled for a while but still a possibility. good idea? >> i don't think it's a possibility now. obviously made a bunch of changes for the health and safety of our players. but you know, all of this takes time. see how this affects players, how it's going to look on guys later on during the seasons and throughout their career. that was one of the major fights that we had. jerry and i had some serious battles that we -- and some serious words across the table. from a players' standpoint, i think we give the fans exactly what they want at 16 games. [ applause ] >> 16 -- 16 seems like a good number. on the other hand, the popularity of the game seems poundless. if you're going to continue to create, jerry, additional television packages and values for the networks, one of the ways is just more product. but then that runs contrary to the idea of player safety, right? >> well, i think that the approach that we took, which was let's see how some of these off season things we changed and are doing, let's see how this two a day procedure that we use, let's see what that does to injury. i'm an advocate that players play four pre-season games. let's remember that we're talking about reducing four pre-season games to two pre-season games. let's remember that the pre-season games aren't at all what we want our fans to come to the stands and -- >> the fans should not have to pay for that as part of the season ticket package. that's wrong. [ applause ] >> agreed. that's why we need 18 games. we've had such suggestions. let's make the pre-season count for a half a game in the standings. then you would quit having brother-in-law football and start having real football. i'm using -- i'm using his terms. >> we can get into the whys and where fors, but the anti-doping a soerk, the u.s. officials when it comes to this, virtually everyone who is informed on the subject says that the science is pretty solid, there aren't very many false positives. one in 10,000. the only logical conclusion that can be drawn is that the players association has been stalling on an agreement for hgh so guys who are on it could at least get off it in the off season. fair? >> that statistic i didn't hear that. i heard it's less than that. i heard you can come up with a positive in the hgh, i don't know what it was. i thought it was easier to come up with a positive. >> the science is pretty good. >> i agree. i say why not? it depends how they do it. it's a blood test too. >> it's a blood test. do it the day before the game or day before. hgh moves through your system pretty quickly. you as players have an objection to blood testing for hgh, philip? >> y'all are speaking over my head right now. >> it will be over in a second. >> i'm not opposed to getting stuck i look to jeff for these kind of things. >> the people who are saying the science is so good created the science. i would say that let's be careful that we just agree with everything they say. from our standpoint as a players association and being a part of that, i don't want there to be one out of 10,000. i want there to be zero. once you diminish that man's career and put him out there as a doper, you've ruined his career, his reputation, his career after football. there's a lot of things that go too with that. as we're looking at the science, make sure that the te has the right -- the baseline. when you get the baseline test, who was in the test and why were they put in a test. >> fair enough. what percentage of the players in the league at present would you guess are using hgh? >> not very many. if they are, this was the whole thing. i'm a 6'2", 285 pound center. i played 13 years, right. i would want the big strong guys as fast as i could get them out of the game. if they're doping, kick them out of the league. here's my suggestion. get the test squared away. if you fail the test, you're done for a career. you fail the -- i'm all for it. you want to have rules, let's get rules. if you fail a test, we're gone. if wata want to put their name or whoever's stamp on that, if something like that happens, they take responsibility for that man's career or whatever he could have made in our game, i think now you're calling some people to come to the table. >> will we have an agreement before next season? >> i don't know. i really don't know. >> still in doubt? >> still in doubt. >> your guess as to how widespread the use is? >> well, it's there. there's no doubt approximate it. it is there. what i would say too, let's say it came up -- one out of 10,000. what will a player say when he comes up. i didn't do it. >> always. >> doesn't matter how big the evidence is in any sport. they always say that. >> last thing, mr. jones, we'll get to it briefly. yours is a perfect example. your team. the in-stadium experience, people complain about the ticket prices or pso's if you wish. but it's unparalleled with the giant television screen and everything else. there are those who say that given how much it costs now to attend an nfl game, but how great your home entertainment tv can be with an hdtv with the package that comes through, the average fan is going to say why should i shell out hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars per game and schlep to the stadium and see only that one game. why shouldn't i just stay at home? is the league running the danger that it's too good a television product and too expensive an in-tad yum product and the balance will be out of whack. >> before i built the cowboys stadium that we have today, i had a great director, great movie person say that we built all of these screens in our private homes, we built them in private areas and we'd have screening of the greatest movies of all whatever. titanic and all of them. do you it with 20 or 30 or 40 people. we're there in a private area. we've got our nice hors d'oeuvres over here. it wasn't the same as watching it with several hundred people in a movie theater, the social, the feeling, somebody coughing, popcorn rattling, somebody's phone going halfway off. all of that. it was more social and it was a better movie, a better movie with the social surroundings of the theater than it was in the setting. >> if you can afford it. >> having said that -- i agree with you. having said that, what we -- tex ram who ran the cowboys for the 29 years that it existed before i got involved. said jerry, this league can never become a studio game. it can never not have the pageantry of the crowd, the coliseum of rome. television can't get there if it's a studio game. it's got to be happening and portrayed. we tried very much to take that stadium and have you there and have al there, michaels, or whoever is there, say what was going on in the stadium so if you were at home watching, yet it be a big deal to have been at the stadium. we have a bunch of standup. if anybody needs advice at this super bowl on how to put some seats in, i'll have them there. >> we'll end on this note. in support of your point, actually, at least in this case, the first three super bowls, the ticket prices were 12 bucks. didn't go to 100 bucks until super bowl 22. this year, they're between 900 and 1200 bucks. the average seat on stub hub, the secondary market, $2750. they could probably sell out lucas oil stadium twice over. but that's for the super bowl. >> i remember lamar hunt telling me that his payroll for his first super bowl team was under a million dollars. you could get a great commentator, bob costas for $20,000 a year. wonder what bob is doing today. hello. >> just to his point, with the greatest game i played, afc championship game at the rca dome here in indianapolis. [ applause ] >> i can tell you this. not one person, no matter how much they paid for that ticket, would have not wanted to be at that game. that's a fact. >> thank you all very much. okay. we're far from finished here at indianapolis. john harbaugh, dick ver meal are up next. still to come tonight, national football league commissioner roger goodell. live on stage for a one-on-one interview. and nbc's nfl analyst preview the super bowl. and up next, a panel of coaches joins bob costas to offer their thoughts on the game when we return to indianapolis. of these scoops chips? it was the 1990s. dips had become extreme. layers of intense ingredients. it was too much. no! [ sighs ] i was a broken chip, and i needed to change. but how? i wandered the world looking for answers. i looked at stuff. then it hit me. i'd change my shape. now i'm ready for any dip. even this big old dip? boo-yah! bring it! bring it! boo-yah! boo-yah! boo-yah! they are the titans of tread. the rulers of rubber. what happens when phd meets mvp? when precision driving meets precision dribbling? when passing lane meets, well, passing? bridgestone is bringing its "a" game to the games we love. and the sports world may never be the same. still to come from the indiana repertoire theater in downtown indianapolis. a panel of coaches with their view of the game. bob costas goes one-on-one with league commissioner roger goodell and nbc's nfl analysts preview the super bowl. all ahead when costas tonight returns after this. your zero-weight shoes aren't enough. nothing you put on is. it's up to you. ♪ you and what's inside you. ♪ what you put in to it is what you get out of it. simple as that. ♪ you win from within. ♪ od. how are you?ododod good. have you seen this? this is the best bike we have. top spec gears, super-light frame. i love it! right now, you can have it for free. - shut up! - free. yeah. 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[ female announcer ] nature valley granola bars, rich dark chocolate, toasted oats. perfect combinations of nature's delicious ingredients, from nature valley. ♪ nature valley granola bars, nature at its most delicious. >> the best thing about spring is the snow melts, the spring seasonals come out, there's life again. >> man: alpine spring is our new spring beer. with sam adams alpine spring, we wanted to make something bright, citrusy and refreshing. >> man: as a style we started with helles, and we said, hey, what if we let that thing out of the box? let's use more malt, more hops. while it is very malty, it has a very nice, citrusy character. >> man: sam adams alpine spring. it's a perfect balance. >> citrusy but not overwhelming. >> smooth with a nice, sweet taste. >> alpine spring. it's a great spring beer. welcome back to indianapolis and costas tonight. presented by chevy. here again, bob costas. indiana's capital city has been the capital of the football world this week. as we continue this town hall meeting, we've heard from super bowl winning players and owners, but in today's nfl, the men who may have the most stressful jobs of all are the ones who wear the headset on sunday. chuck knoll wasn't asked to determine if mean joe green had a concussion. tom landry never had to worry about roger staubach heading into free agency. and vince lombardi certainly didn't have to deal with so many reporters or with this much scrutiny. being an nfl coach today is a bigger job than ever before. on the field and beyond it. which makes the men on the sidelines some of the most compelling figures in the sport. and what's just as interesting is the wide range of personalities that make up the list of the most successful in the game. they all became coaching legend as they captured super bowl titl titles. championships remain the primary definition of coaching success. but today calling plays and motivating players is just the start of an nfl coach's agenda. with us now are three familiar names from nfl sidelines past and present. john harbaugh of the baltimore ravens, whose team came this close to being here this weekend as participants in the game. not on this panel. tony dung i of nbc, a super bowl winner with the colts. and hometown favorite still. and dick vermeil who coached three teams over parts of four decades and of course, led st. louis to a memorable super bowl title in january of 2000 following the 1999 season. you know, the old expression goes, i don't know who first said it, but it's so true. losing hurts worse than winning feels good. can you attest to that, john, after coming this close against the patriots? >> i tell you, winning feels pretty good too. that's probably why we do this thing. more than anything, i think being with the players and being those monumental moments where everything is at stake, whether it's the ultimate triumph or in some cases that disaster, it's being together and experiencing it together and making a positive of it. i'm proud of our guys. that made it a special moment. even in defeat, it was a special moment. >> we have a giants/pats rematch. it would have been harbaugh versus harbaugh. again the 49ers come this close against the giants. you come just as close against the pats. could have been happened. >> it could have happened. >> we had a harbaugh and harbaugh in bloomington this afternoon in basketball. >> who won? >> i can't say. i can't divulge that. i hit a couple jumpers. >> tom is your brother-in-law. >> he's coaching at indiana. go hoosiers. >> all coaches are intense. your brother jim harbaugh is one of the most intense human beings in the history of the planet earth. is he taking his loss a little harder than you're taking yours? >> no. jim is an intense guy. he's a competitor. we had a chance to talk to the basketball team there. they got a glimpse of that. i'm just proud of them. you take every loss hard. he's proud of his guys. what they accomplished this year was special. they'll be back. >> here's a question that has to be asked. billy cundiff goes on the field, misses the kick he would usually make. you had a time-out remaining. in retrospect should you have used it? >> and froze my own kicker before i kicked the field goal. >> in this case they felt he was rushing. >> i didn't feel that. i felt like they were in rhythm enough. i think billy felt the same way. in hindsight, sure, you would like to have it back. beforehand, i probably wouldn't have. >> the kicker is a small portion of the game but a disproportionate effect on the outcome. how difficult was it for cundiff in the locker room afterward, on the plane back and what do you say to him? >> that's the thing about a team. to me, that's what being a team is all about. our guys understand that there's a lot of plays in that football game that lead up to that moment where you win or lose football games. you know, billy has been the hero so many times. he's a big reason why we're in that situation. our guys put their arm around him and told him, it's going to be okay. we're going to be in that situation again, you're going to make that kick. ray lewis after the game, most people saw what lewis had to say. that epitomized where our team was at. there was a great sense, there's disappointment certainly, you're never going to forget. you'll always have been there. the sen of peace that i had personally, the sense of peace that our team had with effort is something that's hard to describe. it surpasses all understanding. that's what you're grateful for and our guys recognize that. >> tony, your primary rival through all the years was the patriots. is bill belichick the best coach you ever went against? >> a lot of great coaches. i'd have to put him up there, though. i'm not going to put him with my coach, coach knoll. >> of our contemporaries. >> contemporaries and practicing and playing against and counteracting what they did. he's exceptional. he has a great ability to use talent in guys and put them in the right place and be the best that they can be. you see so many guys go there. they're not household names and they go out and play great in the system. that's a great coach. >> the relationship between the two of you was icy. >> it never really as that way. we had a couple handshake incidence and stuff like that. really, that's just bill. it's so intense and in the games and two months later we're at the league meetings, he's telling me stories and we're sitting down just like this. completely different. so i wouldn't say we were buddy, buddy. but -- [ laughter ] it wasn't icy. >> do we need the handshake by the end? in most other sports you don't have it. in college you do. in baseball, managers don't shake hands. the nba they don't. sometimes these are awkward moments. do we need it in. >> you know, we do need it. the drama. it's exciting. it's good television. >> especially when it's your brother. >> that's right. >> it's a good moment. i think it's a good moment to walk across the field. it's hotly contested. things happen. it's a physical sport. you stand on the sidelines of nfl game. it is so fast and they're so big and so physical and so emotional. to walk across the field and take a deep breath and look someone in the eye and shake hair hand or pat them on the back or give them a shove, it's okay. it's a good thing. >> i think it is a great lesson to our young men that you can go out there and compete and at the end of the day, one team wins, one loses, but we can still be men and handle it appropriately. [ applause ] >> i first became a head coach in 1976. it was not mandatory. not every coach crossed the field and shook the other coach's hand. i can remember getting beat by tom landry many times in my career and expecting to walk across the field because we did that in college and they didn't do that in pro football at that time. it wasn't automat ib. >> as great as your career was, how would your life over o the last dozen or so years been different had you not won a super bowl? >> well, you know, to me, football controlled my life at one time and i had to get out of it. i took a long break and went back and fortunately the rams gave me an opportunity to do something i loved doing. we are fortunate, very fortunate and lucky and i had a lot of outstanding people help us win a super bowl. the whole experience was sharing it with other people and fulfilling a dream as a young high school coach. did it make a difference in my life after that? not really. not really. but remembering the joy it brought to everybody in the community in st. louis and to the ownership and to my coaches and nine guys that were on the roster who got to play in a super bowl game and win it. it was an unbelievable experience that way. but after it, probably had more speaking engagements. i never went back and looked at the game tapes or anything like that. of that super bowl. my grandchildren can go word by word by the television but it wasn't me. >> you never saw this? you just won by one yard. were you aware of that? >> oh, yeah. >> look at this. there's mcnair, the late steve mcnair. >> i remember this. >> i couldn't tell whether he stopped him or not from where i was standing. >> could not tell. >> it's a great moment in my life. i love everything that happened. i really appreciate what the people did to get us there. help us win it. >> what dick just said brings up a question i've always had. how much in the swirl of what's going on and the expanse of the field, how much can you really see, can you really dissect and how much are you at the mercy of guys upstairs and in your headset? >> it's a lot better now. dick let it go a couple of years ago. now with the new screens jerry jones' screen there, you can see everything. didn't used to be that way. but it's a lot better now. >> i agree with that. >> when you go for a replay challenge, are you pretty sure you're right or is it a roll of the dice in. >> you're pretty sure you're right. you have your people in the box who see the tv. on the road it's tougher, you don't get to see it all the time and sometimes you have to make a guess more on the road. that's something you can ask mr. goodell when he comes in here. perhaps we can even up that imbalance on the road and at home. >> by the way, i want you guys to take a look at a still picture that ran several months ago in sports illustrated. this is the early 1960s. that's the great jim brown, obviously. these are the cleveland browns at franklin field in philadelphia against the eagles. paul brown is obscured, he's somewhere along there. but look not only at the relatively smaller size of the players, look at the small contingent. where are all the assistants and the other guys running around. this looks like a high school game. life was simpler then. >> you maybe had, what, six coaches. now it's 20 coaches. i was the first to have owe so many assistant coaches. i had coaches say what are you go to do with all those guys. i said i had ten at ucla. i need them. staff gradually got bigger and better. >> what's the most important part of coaching, strategy, motivation, organization, teaching? what's the most important part? >> relationships. number one thing is relationships. i think for coaching in every level, head coach, assistant coach, high school coach, junior high, peewee coach. that's what it's all about. it's mentoring, it's the relationship. it's building the trust with the player and helping them become something he maybe never thought he himself could become. everything falls behind that. >> i think it's building single mindedness in the organization. getting 53 players to have egos and goals and have personal goals and put it behind the team goals and say this is the one thing that's important. if you go et that, you're going to have a championship team. >> what sort of behavior that you might personally find not too appealing will you tolerate from a player and where will you draw a line? i've always wondered why coaches aren't more adamant about guys going off on personal displays because if the rules are what they are, change the rules if you can, but as long as the rules are what they are, if it's going to cost you 15 yards, how can a coach let a guy do that to his team? >> well, to me you don't. i think we would draw the line at selfishness. when it's team oriented, the rules are in place, if it cost your team 15 yards, anything that draws attention to yourself, we encourage our guys to include the rest of the guys. nobody in football does anything by themselves. there's no individual accomplishment in football, it does not exist. if you're going to celebrate an accomplishment, celebrate it with the rest of the guys. to me you draw the line at selfish necessary. >> the rules say you can't get together and celebrate. >> choreographed, yeah. you can hug one another. >> what's the worst decision you ever made? >> kicking off the devin hester in the super bowl. [ applause ] special teams coach says hey, our defense, we can stop these guys. they won't score. we got to keep it away from them. you're right, you're right. saturday night, i'm not going to be a scared man. hey, i hope we lose the toss. we're going to kick it to him. when we pound him, they'll know the game is over. 13 seconds later, they're ahead 7-0. >> you live to tell the tale. you won the game. worst decision you ever made? >> to retire from the rams right after the super bowl. was not a good thing to do. i thought it was the right thing to do. i think most of us make decisions based on what we think is the right thing to do. i was drained, i'm an emotional intense guy. my family wanted me home. i felt that's where i belonged. >> john? >> probably yet to be made. we kicked an john sidekick in dallas to the cowboys. they caught it and ran it back for a touchdown. we were down 7-0. less than ten seconds coach. that's probably the worst one. as we pointed out at the beginning, life was simpler, there were great coaches, more focused on football. there's so much peripheral things now. players tweeting and the media is bigger, talk radio and the internet and stuff that can drive you crazy. is it tough to just not be worn out by the job? >> i don't think so. i had fun when i coached. we had great players and you've got those issues -- i think john said it right. the relationships. it's just like a family. you have tough times, you have things that are going on. you have to work your way through it. but at the end of the day, you're having fun. >> if you could change one aspect of the game, one rule, one aspect, what would it be? >> i have to think about that. >> you think about it, let john answer. >> wow. i think the move towards safety is really important. i'm for that. i think the players -- i think most of the players buy into it too. our guys made a concerted effort to try to make the hits in the strike zone, i think they push back a little bit. >> even suggs and lewis who we quoted earlier. >> yes. let's keep moving in that direction. the doctor is right. filters down. everything our guys do filters through college, high school, peewee. they are role models, they are great men. we talk about them being mighty men all the time. kids look up to them. it's the number one thing. go ahead. >> i would take the salary cap out of it as a coach. nothing hurt me more than to -- david thornton was our captain here. he came into the office and said tennessee is offering me $3 million a year more than you guys can pay me. you can't tell him to stay for the $3 million less but it hurts -- >> but they're going to say no salary cap, then the small markets won't be able to compete with the larger. it's kept the league different from other sports. i think if there's one hinge that the average fan says, sometimes i think i could do better than an nfl head coach. certainly not all the x's and o's. but it's clock management. they sit at home and tear their hair out. why don't they call a time-out. why don't they use time-outs on defense? then they can control it more had they get the ball back. why don't they run to the line of scrimmage and spike the ball on first down instead of wasting 30 seconds for a four-yard pass into the flat? it makes guys nuts. [ laughter ] >> to me, this whole rule thing is giving the officials so many different things to call. sometimes sitting home watching a game, i think i'm watching the officials play. there are just -- the game is so fast. the officials are no faster than they used to be. it's hard for them to keep up with the speed of the game and interpret it full speed and call everything by the rules as they're instructed to call them. i'm sitting there watching the game, starting to watch tony play, this time-out for a commercial, and it's penalty, penalty. all i see is officials. >> am i right about clock management though? that's a tricky thing. >> personally, i think we do a pretty good job of it. i don't know what the ravens fans think. there's always challenging things that come up. you have to make quick decisions and sometimes they don't work out. after the fact, the to me the answer is always this. would you do it again? in i knew the outcome was going to be negative, i would do it differently. not knowing the outcome, i would do the same thing. most coaches understand the personals. you are on top of it, it doesn't always work out the way you planned. >> i'll say this. it's harder down there. i'm a much better clock manager sitting in the studio at nbc. you know, i make the decisions and seem to work out. >> the other thing, got a guy in your headset. you think i'm going -- the other guy is contradicting what you want to do. you have a guy in the press box talking to you, you're going to do that and the coach beside you saying do this. holy mackerel guys, i'm one person. >> that last bit of energy, i wish we had more time for this segment. it brings me to my closing observation. forget hgh, forget sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber like dwight freene y. look at this man. he's 75 years old. i want some of what he's taking. [ applause ] >> thank you. i had nothing to do with it. >> thank you, dick. >> it's all the vermeil wines. that's what it is. john, tony, dick, thank you very much. we want to let you know that after the show, the conversation continues at least for a while on nbc sports.com. keep your laptops at the ready. meanwhile, up next on the program, a wide ranging discussion with nfl commissioner roger goodell when costas tonight, live from the super bowl continues.  [ male announcer ] yep that's your mouth. and it's surprising what it goes through in the course of a day. but what's even more surprising is that brushing alone isn't enough to keep it clean. fortunately, you've got listerine. unlike brushing which misses 75% of your mouth, listerine cleans virtually your entire mouth. so what are you waiting for? it's time to take your mouth to a whole new level of health. listerine... power to your mouth. what if someone steals from you? like a lot. then they go away for a long time. 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[ camera flash ] ♪ every kiss begins with kay welcome back to costas tonight. presented by chevy. here again, bob costas. and as this live town hall continues at the indiana repertoire i theater, it's been an evening of group discussions. we go one-on-one with nfl commissioner roger goodell. lots places we could begin. let's start here arbitrarily. if this games goes to overtime, new rules in effect now in the post-season. >> correct. >> are you happy with the new overtime rule where if you score a touchdown when the coin flips, game is over. but you can't end a post-season game, including a super bowl on a first possession field goal. >> yeah. we think it's a great rule. it's a nice balance of trying to make sure people win the game in regulation versus keeping that sudden death nature of overtime. we've seen it twice this post-season. it's worked quite well for us. i think people are comforted that in a big game like the super bowl, you're not going to end it on some kind of a penalty and a long field goal and never see the other team get the ball. you score a touchdown, you deserve to win. >> i realize it's apples and oranges. even though it was a touchdown, when tim tebow and the broncos scored at the beginning of overtime, isn't that roughly the equivalent of a baseball ending in the top of the tenth on a home run. josh hamilton did hit one in game six an epic world series game, the cardinals rallied and won the game. the game would have been over on that basis. if you play that long to the end of the year, if you examine replays from every angle and determine if there's any discrepancy, if you measure to within a millimeter for a first down, do you want to leave that much to chance? >> well, i personally think that play is one that fans will remember for a long tiemt i. >> because it was tebow and in denver. >> sure. that helps a little bit. it was so unexpected. that's what we're all about in football is that unscripted drama. you don't know how it's going to end. you don't know when it's going to end. the fact that that play happened that quickly, i think that was exhilarating for fans. not so much for steeler fans, but certainly for bronco fans. >> it seems like the market will bear higher and higher super bowl tickets. probably sell the stadium out twice over. people are calling me all the time for tickets. i'm sure they're calling you ten times as often. but do you worry that when you walk into lucas oil tomorrow, many of the people there will not be the salt of the earth football fans. they've been priced out. and many of them have been priced out of the regular season as well. >> you always worry about that. you always want to make sure your ticket prices are according to the event that you're having. we hold about 2,000 tickets at $500. we give those to fans because we want to make sure it is affordable. even with the $500 tickets, we give those to fans, a lot of times they end up the tickets being scalped and they sell for five, six times the value that we sold it for. when you have an event that's in this much in demand, you're going to have that kind of thing. >> i grant you that some of this is selective. though it is true. the new stadium in new jersey for both the giant and jets was built without public funds when there were cost overruns, one way to make up for that was psl's. if you took a jets season ticket hoemder five years ago, that might have been cost 5 grand a season for him and his family. roughly the same location, throw in 20 grand for the psl and $700 a game for the tickets. it's $100,000. that's more than his parents paid for the house he grew up in. >> right. >> that's stunning, isn't it? >> it is. it's something we have to balance with the demand for our tickets, need to build new stadiums privately in this case. the only way we could build that stadium was with private fund and the fans contributed to that. a lot of people look at it as a tax on the people using the stadium. it was developed actually 40 years ago in dallas and it's been used effectively throughout the country to get our stadiums built and people want to have great stadiums. we see it here in indianapolis. great facility here and it's one of the reasons we're here for the super bowl. >> given the dynamic we've talked about, the increased cost of attending a game, about how attractive it is and compelling to follow football on television, is the blackout rule antiquated? in a way, does the blackout rule put it to the average fan twice? he may not be able to afford to go to the game at all or as often and maybe if it doesn't sell out, he can't watch his team. >> i don't believe it's antiquated. we had 16 blackouts this year out of 255 games. fans want to see the game on free television. we're fortunate that we extended our agreements with the broadcast partners. we're the only league to stay on free television. what we do is try to balance staying on free television with making sure our stadiums are full. we've been very aggressive in trying to price our seats accordingly to make sure they're sold out. to create policies where teams can use comp tickets for military and youth football and other ways of getting the stadiums full. in fact, over the last ten years, our stadiums are much fuller than they were in the '70s when the policy was created by congress by the way. >> hard to believe that it took until 1989 for art shell, when he was -- to become the first african-american head coach in the nfl in the modern era. this past year, there were ten black head coaches. plus an hispanic head coach with the panthers, ron rivera. now, three of the african-american coaches just as it happens, because that's the nature of sports, jim caldwell, raheem morris and hugh jackson were fired. it's a plus for the league that that's almost routine. coaches, no matter ethnicity, they get hired and fired. now it's not a big deal. two african-american head coaches in a super bowl, not a big deal. to me, a sign of progress. people take it in stride. >> i think you're right. we're clearly making progress because african-american coaches, hispanic coaches are getting the opportunity to be head coaches in the nfl. and now we're seeing them rehired. romeo cornell is now being rehired after cleveland, he's going to be back in kansas city as a head coach. he had that chance as an interim coach. what teams are looking for now are the best coaches. that's what fans want. they want people who can win. i think we've got a system now where teams are seeking out the best coaches for their fans. >> we talked about the dangers of the game earlier and it's inescapable. i believe you to be entirely sincere even if there weren't liability issues forethe league. i've known you, we talked about this issue. i believe you're concerned for the safety of the players and want to make the game as safe as practical. but if someone were to say look, this isn't the league's critics, it's the league itself spending $100 million to head -- an expensive commercial running on the super bowl, that charts the steps taken to make the game safer. to go through various steps changes in rules and what not, all these things, if the league itself believes that that's prudent and necessary, shouldn't i think twice about letting my son play football? >> i disagree, bob, completely. i think we're in a leadership position in sports. the people look up to the national football league. we do have a game that's rough. there are inherent risks playing it. but the second highest incident of concussions is girls soccer. what we're learning about concussions in football is helping every other sport. not just every level of football but every other sport and yont sport. one of the things i'm most proud about, i had the privilege of going to iraq and afghanistan with the chairman of the joint chief of staffs, he said his number one issue besides morale was concussions. now the nfl is sharing our research with the defense department to help treat our military personnel in the field. so we call it return to field. [ applause ] in battlefields, it's return to the battlefield, we call it return to field. a lot of the processes, a lot of the protocol that we've developed with our medical experts are being used in the military. >> will you have an agreement soon on hgh testing? >> i hope so, bob. i think we're making progress. a couple weeks ago we had a meeting where we came closer to reach an agreement. i'm confident that the players want to reach that. it's important for the integrity of the sport. i think it's important for the health of the players. >> we, by the way, invited dar morris smith to be here. for whatever reason, he is not. i know you have to negotiate with him and you respect him. but a reasonable person can reach no other conclusion other than the players have been stalling on this issue. >> i think the players want to have the right kind of testing in place. we all want a valid test. we've resisted this test for many years by the way. this was developed in 2004 by wata. we resisted. we believe the science is real. every scientist globally believes that the test is valid. we want to make sure we've got all of the issues that the players are concerned about, address them properly, we thought ee were there. that's why we had it in the agreement. some other issues were raised. we've addressed those. i think we'll have it done. >> three things quickly. 32 seems like the right number for any number of reasons. the right number of teams. if l.a. is going to get a team, it's going to be a team that will move. could be the chargers, talk about the rams, but apparently st. louis is has stepped up and may make improvement to the edward jones dome. jacksonville has been mentioned, the vikings. how likely is it that l.a. has a franchise sometime soon? >> it's hard, bob. there's several issues. first you have to have a stadium. we're developing a stadium. >> city council approved the fund recently, right? >> there's two plans developing in los angeles. both of which we think have a great deal of potential. really, we want to keep our teams where they are. that's the dilemma. not only do we have to get the stadium in l.a. and -- >> 33 is unwieldy. >> probably wouldn't go to 33. probably go to 34. you would have to do it by two. >> have you talked with your buddy james harrison lately? what was the meeting like when he came to your office? this is only part of the quote. roger goodell is a crook and a puppet. he said i was the dirtiest player in the league. i hate him and will never respect you a punk, a dictator, and the devil. what was -- what was that meeting like? and what was served? >> the meeting was actually not this season. waits year ago. and -- i came into the meeting of late and i was only there for 20 minutes. i listened and -- i don't think i -- i think i asked one question. the entire meeting. so -- i do not think he's a dirty player. i think -- >> although you suspended him this year after repeated violations. >> that's the point. we have rules, bob. every player plays by the same rules. we have 2,000 players. have you seen a lot of them tonight. they violate the rules repeatedly, eventually they are going to see a suspension. >> the last thing, you have an outdoor potential cold-weather super bowl scheduled for 2014 in new jersey. if that -- i don't see any cold weather around here. do you? [ applause ] >> thank you. >> two things. unseasonably warm this week in indy which made it great to walk around. >> we are thinking about opening the dome sunday night. what do you think? >> plus -- they have a retractable dome. in new jersey they do not. suppose this is successful. would you expect to hear from organizers and team owners in denver, philly? mr. kraft in new england? in d.c.? >> you are lrp behind it because i already heard from them. it is true. here's the biggest challenge we have at the super bowl. this committee -- have you done fantastic job [ applause ] fantastic. you have. the biggest challenge we have putting on an event like this it takes 25,000 hotel rooms. and -- that's a -- that's a -- heavy lift for a lot of communities to be able to do. this community has really put out hospital apartment force and know how to do great events. and they are proving it to the world. >> on sunday, one of the great pleasures of your job, you will present this to one of the two teams. thanks for meeting with us. >> thank you. >> roger goodall. we are late in the fourth quarter but when we come back the town hall finishes up. back to indianapolis after this. [ laughter ] tostitos, i heard you were a football star. it's true. check it out. so, championship game, i get the ball, i'm in the clear, and that's when i heard the pop. pop! ugh! blew out my bag! you could've gone pro! i'd never play another down. aw, tostitos. hey, listen, it's okay. look, i partied my way through school, i got an education, and i still got the fiesta bowl named after me! what's that? that's my touchdown dance, sweetheart. ♪ [ laughter ] boo. touchdown! you're a funny bag! [ laughs ] i'm a party bag, dude. [ female announcer ] nature valley granola bars, rich dark chocolate, toasted oats. perfect combinations of nature's delicious ingredients, from nature valley. ♪ nature valley granola bars, nature at its most delicious. welcome back to an nfl town hall at the super bowl. when time runs out here it continues at least for a while with a live stream on nbcsports.com. in the meantime, more to discuss, joining us now, duo will call the game on sunday, al michaels and cris collinsworth. football night in america. al, have been around the game long time. called lots of super bowls. one observation about either the state of the game or sunday night's game that jumps out at. >> did you state of the game is terrific. we know all of the awards. discussed them the last couple of hours. i think that everything is out there. i think that the people that are in charge of this know what to do. er in going to do the best they can. wouldn't mind seeing eminem performing at next year's halftime seeing as he gave me a shoutout. i can be bought. >> i was once named checked by ludacris, pal, so we are equal. >> i have rapped with 50 cent so we are going on tour. tom coughlin, i think, finally getting the respect he deserves. we all know about bill belichick. a lot of people think maybe the greatest of all time. i always felt that coughlin was a little bit underestimated and i think he is finally going to getting respect he deserves. >> i say thank god you got another show. because really, we never see enough of bob costas. and -- we received some honors in our lifetime collectively. but to have you, bob costas, bring us out here for the final three minutes of your television show -- >> that was all hi left. >> had us on the -- go how about a little internet, buddy? how are you going to do with that? i defer my time. >> not -- not giving up any of the "a" material which you are saving for sunday night. >> correct. >> rodney? >> i'm going to talk about just walking down the street in indianapolis. now it is bad enough that i wake up, i walk through the lobby, and i have to see david tyree. okay? >> by the way, david tyree, your nemesis, is out there. on sunday on our super bowl telecast on nbc, we are going to re-enact the whole play. the catch against the helmet and whole thing. >> then i have to deal with the indianapolis fans which every time i'm walking -- very respectful but they are booing me. and, of course -- they are booing me in a nice way. but of course because the giants here, i had a die walk up to me and he had a football and he just put it his head and started -- yeah. yeah. i'm like -- i'm like -- for six months after that 2007 game i had nightmares. hi nightmares because of that game. okay? and it was only because my sweetheart wife she said hey, did you everything you possibly could. that's what got me to that point. but the fans -- the fans have been terrific here. considering it is a small town. and eight-block radius. you can walk everywhere. the hospitality has been great. thank you, guys, so much for everything you have done. >> only have about 30 seconds but the last word goes to the hometown guy. >> and for me, i have to say it is great to be back home. the response has been great. i love you guys. [ applause ] of all the issues you discussed tonight and everything i heard to me the most important one is we have to make sure we don't price the average fan out of the game. >> looking forward to madonna at halftime? y'all keyed up about madonna at halfti halftime? >> absolute pip let's all do the david tyree one time. >> while they are doing that, we are out of time. thanks to all you guys. especially cris collinsworth who gave us everything he had to give. remember, there is a bit more of the conversation coming up. we can't wait to see what cris has to offer there. nbcsports.com. logon. the next edition of "costas tonight" airs here on the nbc sports network march 1. our next town hall meeting will take place on april 4. we will examine the state of college sports. of course, perhaps you are aware that nbc's coverage of super bowl xlvi begins noon on sunday. big thank you to all of our guests, to all of you joining us in the theater and to all of you for watching at home. for now, so long from indianapolis. that was a special encore presentation of nbc sports network costas tonight live from the super bowl. now it is time for weekends with alex witt. next up, colorado. mitt romney wins nevada big. there are go narn tees for a rocky mountain high. the road may get rougher and uglier. >> i will be candidate for president of the united states. we will go to tampa. >> newt gingrich in a fighting mood. he vows to go the distance as he trashes his chief rival and in just minutes you will hear some of his stinging comments. to the moon, "snl swts spoofs what colony might look like there. game on. the grandest spectacle in sports, just hours away. we are there live for you with a critical and developing security update and some staggering numbers behind the super bowl. health oh everyone. i'm alex witt. it is noon here on the east coast. it is 9:00 a.m. out west. here is what's happening on this super bowl sunday. it all kicks off super bowl xlvi happens in just a matter of hours. while the game between the new york giants and new england patriots is the main act, the side shows and accompanying subplots are lone spectacular. estimated 111 million people will be watching the game. sponsors will pay $3.5 million for 30 seconds of commercial time after the first time, the game will be streamed live online. this will be the first super bowl played in indianapolis. 67,000-plus fans will attend some paying as much as $3400 a ticket. madonna will person form at halftime and will be her first comment ever in indianapolis. her entire much-hyped appearance will last about ten minutes or so. against the backdrop we are taking you live to indianapolis. there is our guy. nbc's craig melvin for us. with a good day to you, craig. let's get the scene set in terms of security. is it more about having a good time and fun? >> reporter: a careful balancing act. you mentioned security your use. last night was a lot better than friday night. partly because of the weather. as you can see now, absolutely gorgeous day here in downtown indy. not the case yesterday. cold, wet. it was very rainy. a lot of folks weren't out and about. friday night, however, super bowl village, the term that had been thrown around a great deal was overwhelm iing human gridlo. at least 100,000 people in a very small area. a lot of free concerts, lot of folks turned out for the free concerts as you might imagine. so friday night, there were 11 injuries, 22 arrests, cop car damaged. folks climbed on top to get a better view of one of those concerts. but friday night, again, exception for the most part here, things have gone fairly smoothly here in indianapolis. i spent time yesterday talking to the director of public safety and he said that at this point there have been no credible threats to speak of and number one priority has been sheer number of people. lot of folks don't realize about the city of indianapolis is that when you compare it to other cities hosted super bowls in the past, it is fairly small city. as a result, you have a large number of people in a very small area. last year in dallas, some of the other cities, super bowl has been to, it spread out. in indy it is very compact. you can see the stadium over my shoulder, super bowl village, right there as well. so -- they have -- demoyd a number of officers, additional officers, to basically conduct crowd control today. >> yeah, yeah. i'm looking at the pictures and reminded of times square new year's eve because you all are packed in there. but -- it has to be lot of fun, too. there has to be side shows and people just in great spirits, right? >> it is a nonstop street party. it has been a nonstop street party here in indy for about a week now. in addition to those free concerts i mentioned, there are four zip lines that have been wildly popular. >> fun. >> reporter: four ziplines. right over the city. there have been a slew of parties. there have been a couple of parties you can get tickets to as well. so, yeah, people here in indy, they are having a good time. >> all right. i-want to you have a great time the next hour or two when we come back and check in. how much has changed since the very first super bowl over 46 years of this game? 30-second spot has gone from $42,000 to $3.5 million. one of the favorites in the early years, noxema commercial from 1973 featuring joe namath and the late farrah fawcett. we are going to look ahead to the big hits of this year a bit later on this hour. are you going to watch super bowl t super bowl nbc more for the game or commercials? talk to me on twitter. i will read some of your tweets. let's go to the other big event. fight important the gop nomination. newt gingrich took second followed by ron paul and rick santorum. romney celebrated his win last night in las vegas, accompanied by his family. he thanked caucus-goers while taking aim at president obama. >> america needs a president who can fix the economy because he understands the economy. and i do and i will. >> newt gingrich took to the lectern last might and dismissed any talk he would be dropping out of the race. >> i am a candidate for president of the united states. i will be a candidate for president of the united states. we will go to tampa. >> join me now for more on where the gop race goes from here and political reporter for "the washington post." good day. thanks for joining me. >> hey, alex. >> all right. anjanette, i will reach out to you first. just after 9:00 a.m. there in nevada. still the boat count sing going on, we hear. is that right? >> that's right. i wish i could say i have never seen anything like this but that's not quite true. four years ago we had a similar problem with the gop delegate count. and latest i have heard, clark county republican party, largest county in the state, counted until 4:00 in the morning and took a break and supposed to start again right now as i'm speaking to you. and they have only gotten through half of the vote and there's some concern, i'm hearing reports there may be more ballots than people signed in. you know, this is an organization, caucus run by volunteers. and it was put together pretty quickly. rules are changing at the last minute. it is not too surprising we are seeing last-minute problem. >> okay. dane let's get back to what gingrich was unleashing last might. this was not the worst of it but let's take a listen. >> i'm pretty comfortable when you come down to it as we go state to state to state, a pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-tax increase, george soros approved, probably is not going to do very well. i'm happy to have that debate with governor romney. >> dayoes this talk energize th gingrich supporters or do you think it can attract others to his cause important turn them away? >> i mean, to look at the big picture you have got newt gingrich saying he's going all the way to tampa which is -- like a -- football team starting out 1-4 on the season and saying winning the super bowl. we don't view that as terribly plausible. what he can do is create a lot of mischief and lot of headache for mitt romney. in theory, in theory only, there's still enough of an anti-romney vote out there that they could conceivably mount a real campaign but it is not going to newt. it is being carved up and more and more of it as we saw last night, nearly half of the vote is now going to romney. he can just make mitt romney's life miserable and prevent romney from focusing on obama. >> and now that all the gop candidates swept through town is there a sense that it is a state which went to barack obama by 12 percentage points in 2008, could flip to republicans in 2012? did no candidate leave a favorable impression? >> i think the story will be whether or not the state republican party can pull it together enough to be organized and mount a campaign against barack obama who extremely well organized in nevada while, well-funded. a ray of hope for some republicans if mitt romney does win the nomination. he's proven so far to be among the best organized republican it is he can kind of translate that primary machine into a general election machine. it is possible that they could give barack obama a run for his money. turnout for the primary was small. lot of people are saying that's indication that there is a lack of enthusiasm among republicans. and i think whoever the republican nominee is, is going to have a fight on his hands to win nevada. >> dana, romney focused his speech last night on the president. sheer a bit of what he said. let's listen to that. >> this week he has been trying to take a bow for 8.3% unemployment. not so fast, mr. president. this is the 36th straight month with unemployment above the red line your own administration drew. and if you take into account all the people that are struggling for work, just stopped looking, the real unemployment rate is 15%. >> so if the employment numbers keep improving how long can romney recalibrate this line of attack against the president? at some point he's going to have no room to battle on the economy if things con to do well. >> right. i mean, it gets more difficult with each favorable jobs report. to romney's advantage, the -- predictions are that unemployment -- unemployment rate will be roughly where it is now in november. he can continue to make that case. if people things are moving in the right direction and each favorable jobs report indicates that, it has less and less effect and that is why it is -- it is a little late for -- to come to obama's advantage but finally for the president is moving in the right direction. and -- that argument is going to -- still be effective but diminishing effectiveness. >> dana and angela, i want to read you some entrance poll from nevada. mitt romney got 46% of voters that say they are very conservative. gingrich got 25%. similar trend among white evangelicals, romney winning 43% compared to 28% for gingrich. among the tea party supporters, romney beat gingrich 35% to 32%. electability, 43% said quality mattered most. give me a read on that. how do you -- anything surprise you there, dana? >> not necessarily. what i was saying earlier is that in theory there is -- enough of an anti-romney vote out there. but the problem is when they peel away from -- they either go to gingrich or santorum or ron paul, if those guys aren't in the race it is not at all clear it goes to the other conservative in the race. and romney is picking up a lot of those. he can be called a liberal or massachusetts moderate by gingrich. the fact of the matter is there are enough people out there and the republican electorate regarded as a conservative. >> anjanette, your thoughts? one element, the tea party supporters, romney beating gingrich. do you think they are supporting romney or because the vote is split between others? >> yeah. definitely the vote. particularly among the tea party people here in nevada, the vote is split. often you hear that the tea party just is not enthralled with romney. but nevada is romney's state. he has been organizing here since the last time he ran for president. he spent a lot of time maintaining that organization, maintaining the relationships here. and i think particularly in nevada, after republicans nominated sharon engle to go up against harry reid they want someone that can win. >> thank you so much. good to see you. here's a final note coming out of vague rag. a new report suggests newt gingrich's biggest financial backer may be willing to switch allegiances. the billionaire casino magnate could back romney if gingrich becomes out. he would back the former massachusetts governor if romney becomes the nominee. a defiant newt gingrich vows to fight on. does that mean the gop presidential battle could get uglier? that story coming up in strategy talk. folks at "saturday night live" show us what is so funny about gingrich's idea of a moon colony. it is really hysterical. when you have diabetes... your doctor will say get smart about your weight. that's why there's new glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. 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[ female announcer ] ask the doctor about your loved one trying the exelon patch. visit exelonpatch.com to learn more. overseas today. iran flexing its muscle in the strait of hormus. reports after israel could strike sites soon. the w congress got word after potential threat. joining us from washington is p.j. crowley. good day and nice to see you. i will tell you, this is concerning stuff. the director of national intelligence james clapper testifying to congress that iran jane officials are more willing to conduct an attack in the u.s. how do you read that, p.j.? >> i certainly think that the complexity of the relationship between iran and the united states and then what choices iran makes in terms of its nuclear options will be the most consequential and complex issue we face over the next three years. >> okay. talk about the rhetoric, though. why is it being ratcheted up this way? does this suggest to you that iranian agents are already here in the united states and they are just waiting for the go word? >> well, right now the -- rhetoric is ratcheting up regarding the nuclear program. iran is pretty close to the point where it could build a bomb if it chose to. i don't think it is made that -- it made that decision yet. but in the face of a potential confrontation between israel and iran, the united states, and iran or the international community and iran, i think that -- iran is -- prepared to defend its interests just as israel is expressing understandable concern that the leak from a capability to an actual weapon is a very short one and does pose a threat to israel. >> okay. defense secretary pan ate saying this week still a might attack i'm ran as nuclear facilities and putting a target date as soon as may or june. is this con nikt clo-- conflict closer than we imagined? >> i'm not sure that that -- conflict similar nen for a couple of reasons. one mr. the united states' standpoint it can say to israel, i think it has, current strategy is having an effect on iran. iran has admitted in terms of the economy and currency, you know, the sanctions that are -- you know, tightening against iran are, in fact, having an effect. but not so much of an effect that has changed iran's calculation vis-a-vis its nuclear options, nuclear rights, which is very popular in iran. >> but sanctions, i mean, it hasn't kept them way from pursuing something that they want to pursue. i mean, so how effective are they? what's a worst-case scenario? best case is they stop. they are showing no signs of doing that. >> well, sure. and -- you know, for leaders from secretary panetta to others to say that the military option remains on the table understandably rightfully so but does not necessarily say an attractive option. when you contemplate the use of significant force, you want to have some confidence you know what the outcome would be and dilemma here is that we don't really know what the effect of military strike would be. and it might retard the iran wran nuclear program and probably would not stop it. and you can construct a scenario where israel attacks and iran retaliates against israel and draws the united states into a conflict defending israel and then, you know, drawing in a country like syria which is under trait pressure which we saw this week and prospect of a wider conflict in the middle east without any idea what the outcome would be. >> do you think that israeli u.s. officials both envisioned a day after the -- what happens next? >> i mean, to quote david petraeus, different context, where this -- where does this end? i don't think we have this as of yet a real confidence that exercise the military option as viable as that may need to be at some point in the future necessarily tells you how perspective conflict would unfold. we have a couple of examples when -- israel knocked out the nuclear reactor 20 years ago, iraq shows not to retaliate but it did reinvigorate nuclear program. likewise, you know, some of the last few years, israel knocked out a nuclear reactor in syria and syria ended up just kind of leveling the site and trying not to admit what it was up to. those are two options but i think what iran is signaling with its -- its -- rhetoric and actions, that there will be a retaliation if israel or the united states tries to take out iran's nuclear program and that can go eeth eshg directly or through hezbollah. >> the fact is we -- iran is more capable of making good on those threats than they were. p.j., thank you so much. >> thanks. newt gingrich and a struggle to get women voters. can you win the gop nomination without them? 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[ male announcer ] get the venture card at capitalone.com and earn double miles on every purchase every day. what's in your wallet? cover for me. i have an audition. ♪ ♪ carry on isive win was due in part over women voters. romney won with 48% of the vote and newt gingrich was a distant second. entrance poll showed romney got the majority of women voters in nevada. joining us from atlanta is patricia murphy who wrote an article asking can newt gingrich win the gop nomination without women. good morning to you. it is afternoon now. little past noon. hi. >> hey, alex. >> so newt gingrich not doing very well with women voters in nevada. according to the entrance polls. romney about 56%. gingrich about 20%. that is, in fact, worse than he did in the florida primary. tuesday and n florida, romney had 52%. gingrich had 26%. do you think that this is an issue that will haunt are gingrich's campaign? >> it already is hahning his campaign. he cannot win the nomination, republican nomination, without significantly improving his standing among female voters. you don't win enough men in the world to make up for a 36-point deficit he had last night among women voters. i think those numbers will change a little bit once the votes actual will you counted. he has a huge gap amok women and in florida it cost him the victory down there. he needs to change not only his message, he needs to change what he is talking about. he needs to just turn everything around and get women voters back on his glide you know, in your -- you write about newt gingrich's well-documented problems but -- women influenced by that, they weren't going to be going for gingrich in the first place. why is that? >> i think that this is not new news to female voters. they know about gingrich's marital history and may have a few more details than they had maybe two months ago. but they know all about the fact that he's been divorced twice. what i heard from female voters in florida really was that they wanted to hear more positive message from gingrich and they were hearing from mitt romney this -- thing called believe in america. they want to know their kids are going to be able to pay for college, they can get a job when they finished college, they can buy a house in the future. that's what female voters wanted to hear and heard it from romney. they didn't hear anything like that from gingrich in florida or nevada. >> they are worried about their kids, they are -- considering family values. is there anything that gingrich can do, though, to turn that around in his favor? >> sure. sure. he can start talking about what women want to hear. women in this election are so significantly influenced by what's going on with the economy and pay most of the household bills. they know when the money is coming in and not coming in. so i think if he refocuses his message to be more on the economy and less about process, more about issues, and more about just speaking in a language that women relate to, it is -- ironic he is surrounded by lots of strong women and strong adult daughters and strong wife. strong women in his campaign. it is just not connecting with female voters. if he can turn that around he can definitely do better than he has been. >> in part you say he really should lose any negative stances he takes because when he does that, that's when he lose it is female vote. >> yeah. that's when he loses. i talked to pollsters and they saw this without question he was very positive. aggressive but positive in south carolina saying i'm the best candidate and here is why. here is why it matters to you. in florida, nevada, he was saying mitt rom my is doing negative ads. mitt romney is doing this. i'm getting outspent. who cares? women want to know if you are president how will it make my life better? when he is on message he does bet everyone he did the last two states. >> our show having better for having you, patricia murphy. thanks see you. a skit on "snl" last night the cast had a lot of fun with newt gingrich's idea of a moon colony. >> where's my trusted colleague? >> at your service. >> what's on today's moon agenda? >> well a young girl who won the miss moon paj pent is here for a photo. >> wonderful. spend her in. >> hello, moon president gingrich. >> what do you do, little girl? >> i go the school when you are not at school? >> i work as a janitor at the school per your moon decree. >> on earth they thought the idea of student januarytors was crazy. i guess that's why they didn't want me to be their president. >> the people of south carolina wanted you to be president. >> not all of america is as forward-thinking as south carolina. >> a good moon to you. >> and may divorce be with you. are you still sleeping? 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[ male announcer ] 80 delicious calories. fiber one. the biggest sporting event in america is getting under way in hours. the giants will take on the patriots in super bowl xlvi. welcome back to "weekend with alex witt." as host city indianapolis getting a lot of praise for its hoosier hospitality especially from out of towners. >> this is very friendly. in new york everybody is stressed out. here everybody wants to have a good time and they don't care where you are from. >> all right. high praise from a giants fan. and indianapolis mayor greg ballard is joining me now. good day, mr. mayor. pretty big day for you folks. you seem to be winning overing the critics. what do you think about indianapolis that's so appealing to the sports fans? >> well, i think the hospitality is a big aspect of it. no question about that. we know how to put on big events. we do the 500 every year. final four. we have large conventions coming into the city. we know how to put on a big show and make the people feel welcome, organization is very, very strong and have several agencies to make sure that happen. >> yeah. i want to get to that security. how tough a challenge is it to prepare for something like this? you have a pretty concentrated area. have you people packed in. >> we do. but that's -- that's one of the beauties of indianapolis where we put the events and have like an at months pier and ambience if will you to celebrate that event. it does prevent -- present certain security challenges. this is a federal event. obviously as most people know and lot of activity, great cooperation, though, between the practical and state. and the local officials. we have had huge, huge crowds and really just minor incidents so far. as long as the agencies cooperate i think we will be fine. >> how much of your day, mayor, in preparation for this event was taken up with, you know, super bowl reps? >> well, certainly -- few hours a day. but before that, you know we had great communities and volunteer base. over 8,000 volunteers right now. helping with the super bowl event and plus we have -- like i said we have a different agency like the sports agency that have been planning for this for years now for these ten days. so far it worked out pretty write well. at this point in time we are in the execution stage and it is about selling the city and really presenting a good format for everybody. >> it certainly will pay off for you guys. your city could earn between $1 on 50 million to $400 million on the revenue front. if you were to compare that to the cost of the game does that make for a realistic figure for you or do you think you might make more? >> no. i don't think -- i don't think we will necessarily make more. we will be in that range. that's the nfl estimates. we want the direct spinning into the city and help -- spending into the city and restaurants and hotels and business that's come along with it. we also like the tax receive new and i think that will have an impact on our city. also, we hope that there's some impact on future business expansions and future conventions coming into town. when they come here today, they will see what indianapolis is all about. we have a lot of those people lined up to go to the game with us and so we can help sell the city go city. >> best of luck. thanks so much for joining us thank you. more super bowl by the numbers now. breakdown of viewershipp. 40% of men said the game is most important of watching the super bowl. more than 16% of men and 21% of women said watching the commercials is the most important. more women watch the nfl than any other team sport. in 2011 more than 51 million female viewers watched the super bowl. and in 2010 that number was 48.5 million. worth noting here, more women watch that year's super bowl than the academy awards. if you haven't heard the game will be streamed in the entirety online. you can watch at nbcsports.com. live coverage starts there at 2:00 p.m. eastern. focusing on the gop caucuses in minimum after a mitt romney win in nevada. romney claims the top spot in the gop nevada caucuses by a big margin. look at the numbers he is followed by newt gingrich and ron paul. rick santorum coming in fourth. romney celebrated last night by thanking republican voters in nevada. a state he won in 2008 talkses. gingrich also spoke vowing to stay in the race. >> this is not the first time you gave me your vote of confidence. this time i have to take to it the white house. >> i also believe that the vast majority of republicans across the country are going to want an alternative to a massachusetts moderate who has -- career pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-tax increase. >> and fresh off that speech last night gingrich appeared this morning on "meet the press." >> my goefrl the next few weeks is to draw a very sharp distinction between romney's positions which are very -- washington journal described them as timid and in terms of tax policies being like obama. so this, you know, i don't want to have a process campaign. i want to have an issue oriented campaign. and when we available to get those issues out in the open, we have done very, very well. >> from there now the strategy talk, joining me now former vermont governor and former dnc chairman howard dean and msnbc analyst and rnc chairman michael steele. in other words, guys, opposite sides of the aisle. good day to you both. thank you for taking time from watching the super bowl prep. michael, i will go with you first. how nervous does this gingrich defiance make the party leaders? do you envision gop types reaching out to his champ or letting the process simply play itself out? >> no, they want to reach out as much as they can. they are nervous bit and want to get it wrapped up and cleaned up as soon as possible. they are not happy about the elongated schedule because they think that -- takes away from the opportunity to do other things, whether it is fund-raising or organizational -- i think the party can multitask as this -- as the base has about the process and who ultimately will be the nominee. and getting the ground troops together. but, yeah very nervous about it. but -- newt brings that out in folks and he has from the very beginning and ity that has challenge today is -- one of -- going forward as much as as far as he can. and -- see what happens with it. >> howard, you ran for president. and you had points where the momentum was in your favor. but at what point do you decide to bow out? specifically or a candidate today or do you think gingrich is -- as michael suggested, a did you have type of player in a very unique political game? >> hard to tell. pt wouldn't surprise me if he didn't go tall way. i bowed out after wisconsin and hadn't won -- won one primary, d.c. and then i -- subsequently won a write-in in vermont. thats was about it. i bowed out in wisconsin. i think newt has a strong message. there are problem was romney even though he won by a big margin last night. one of them is 5% of the caucus-goers were latino. he can't win the presidency without significant latino vote. and those guys have been attacking so far the right on immigration. that cause as problem. the other problem that romney has is -- three out of five republicans still don't want to be a nominee. we have a ways to go here. i think newt gingrich will stay in for a while. he might for the purpose of messaging stay in all the way which is exactly what the republican elders do not want. >> how about -- michael, here is a bit of insight into gingrich's strategy. let's listen to this together. >> i suspect this debate will continue for a long time. our commitment is to seek to find a series of victories broached by the end of the texas primary, lead bus a parody with governor romney and from that point forward see if we can't actually win the nomination. >> michael, as we look at the states here, all of them have contests between now and april 3rd. a number of them right there you can see in the south where gingrich could have a strong showing. and so parody by texas on april 3rd. you think that's possible? >> very possible because -- super tuesday you are doing have well over 600 delegates that will be select order that one day alone. it is in the south majority of those states are in the south. that's going to be his backyard where mitt probably still has some weakness there. you know, look, the -- last night was a great win for mitt romney and his campaign team. it was expected. but what was not expected was he did -- got 48% of the vote. and so -- he still has -- cracked open the 50% mark consistently enough to show that the base is moving towards him. you still have some 54% of the base that's not voting with him. he's now got to figure out how he does that without upsetting the apple art to the extent attacks on newt are wearing thin. people want to hear more about what you are doing versus what the other guy isn't doing. and i think that's true for both mitt and for newt. as the polls have shown you just were talking about in the last segment with women voters. >> howard, though, look, newt gingrich may have the will. he may have the desire. but money is going to be a problem. if it is not there, how long can a candidate last? can you merely just get to the next state and compete and then make it on to a next state even if you are not well-funded? >> that depends on mr. adelson's wallet. he funded $10 million. a lot of this will be up to shelley when he wants to pull the plug. it is possible to survive for a while without much money. newt gingrich is a household name among certainly among republicans and he has a brand. so he's if a little bit different position. i say he and ron paul have been v the ability to continue for quite some time. even if they don't have any money, i think santorum does now. we haven't talked about that. this is an incredibly disappointing showing for rick santorum. i don't see how he continues. >> i was going to ask you, who do you think will drop out first and when? are you going for rick santorum? >> i think so. i think paul may stay in all the way to the end because he's always a message candidate like newt. that will help mitt romney enormous. >> i how about you, michael? >> i think santorum is going to -- follow right through to super tuesday to see how he does. some of the caucuses but most especially super tuesday where have you so many delegates and -- you know, a cross section of the party, if you will. voting on that day that he could -- peel off enough votes to -- you know, stay a strong second in some races and maybe win one two states. >> yeah. okay. michael steele and howard dean. always a pleasure. thanks so much. >> thank you. >> have a good one. up next on the campaign calendar, results on 11th. michigan holding primaries on the 28th. in march march washington state voters will caucus on the 3rd. then 11 states hold their caucus on super tuesday, march 6. remaining contests will continue through june. it is time now for a quick look at today's number ones. new gallup survey shows largely conservative in the south. no surprise. ten most conservative states are south of the miss only dixon line. mississippi, the most conservative state nearly 53.5 of the residents identify themselves as conservative. checking out the other end of the political spectrum you have the nation's capital it is a most liberal. nearly 40% of washingtonians calling themselves as such. rest of the top five, massachusetts, oregon, washington state and new york. it was one of the hardest hit cities in the housing market collapse. now the city of miami is making such a comeback that realtor.com calls miamiing the top turnaround town in america. one of the reasons, sales of existing homes went up more than 50% in the third quarter. phoenix, arizona is the runner-up to that. followed by orlando, florida, two other florida cities. in fact, the sunshine state is home to eight of the top turnaround towns. >> people that don't live here are not from florida, they assume you are on the beach and assume that it is stereotypical images you see of miami. my life couldn't be any different than that. >> apparently miami's housing comeback has a long way go. "forbes" magazine calls miami the most miserable city in america and the housing market is one of the main reasons. detroit placings second on that list followed by flint, michigan. those are your number ones on "weekends with alex witt." ♪ uhh! [ alyson ] just keep walking... ♪ oh, come on! ♪ ugh, again! [ sniffs ] that's what i'm talkin' about. [ female announcer ] new head & shoulders green apple, with an enticing scent. works on the scalp for up to 100% flake-free hair that's irresistibly fragrant. [ both laugh ] [ female announcer ] new head & shoulders green apple. "weekends with alex witt." what makes the sleep number store different? you walk into a conventional mattress store, it's really not about you. they say, "well, if you want a firm bed you can lie on one of those, if you want a soft bed you can lie on one of those." we provide the exact individualization that your body needs. wow. that feels really good. it's about support where you find it most comfortable. at the ultimate sleep number event, queen mattresses now start at just $599. and save an astonishing 50% on the final closeout of our innovative limited edition bed. only at the sleep number store. ♪ imagine zero pollutants in our environment. or zero dependency on foreign oil. ♪ this is why we at nissan built a car inspired by zero. because zero is worth everything. the zero gas, 100% electric nissan leaf. innovation for the planet. innovation for all. ♪ 111 million people expected to watch the super bowl on nbc. most watch for game but there are a lot ofs that watch for the side shows. commercials are almost as popular as the game itself. that tradition began years ago. here's a flashback to 1973. >> i'm so excited. i'm going to get creamed. ♪ let noxema clean your face >> the closer you shave the more you need creamy, soothing medicated noxema. ♪ let noxema cream your face ♪ so the razors don't >> you have great bare hands. >> oh, my goodness. ad executive jim cooper is here live. my producer just said in my ear classic. i think he was channelling joe namath. half the guys out there. >> production is better but sex still else one report suggests that 20 of them railroad r already out there, these commercials. good thing? >> by the time the game airs there will be half the ads already out on the -- on the web. i think it is a good thing. these guys are spending so much money on the ads they want to get as much exposure for them as possible. we have a bit of a -- pre-buzz and post-buzz all based on the viral chatter around the aps. >> 3.5 million a pop i guess you want to make sure you get your money's worth. let's take a look at one. get you to rate it afterwards. check it out. >> mom, i'm getting mayor lead who's the girl? >> it is not a girl. it's bacon. >> if you love bacon, make it official. >> bacon is beautiful. >> with my new blt cheeseburger, 100 had be 100% patty. >> is it a winner or loser? >> i don't think it is either. funny but not laugh at loud funny. these guys are -- it is a big risk. you can go too far and get snarky or bizarre. they are playing it safe and a fine ad. lit not be remembered. >> you know, we were saying how sex sells. let's take a look at a suggestive one from an online. let's roll it. >> guys, valentine's day is not that complicated. give and your receive. give and you shall receive. >> it works. >> it works. it does. we were looking at each other yeah, that one works. >> no-brainer. the -- giving the audience, lit do very, very well. >> i think so. absolutely. teleflora. okay. let's go to a super bowl staple, let's roll this one and get your reaction. >> what's up with gary? >> every time he craves doritos, he turns into a bird of prey. >> really? >> yes. >> a bird? >> watch this. >> i 00 seen this one. >> this ad will be shared so aggressively online it will really blow up as soon as it airs. i this is one of the laugh-out-loud people will respond well to. >> okay. all right. i know you have a huge day ahead. you have to work and watch this show. also enjoy the giants. we will let you go. thank you for weighing in on these. i appreciate it. >> my pleasure. thanks. in our next hour, fact or fiction? super bowl edition including how the game got its name. we will have it here on "weekends with alex witt." >> who is your business entrepreneur of the week? james wanted to translate the look and feel of a high-end paper invitation to the paper route in he and his sister pooled their savings and started paperless posts. it attracted high-profile users like prince charles, condoleezza rice and the white house. for more watch "your business" sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc. time out. sweet. [ female announcer ] with charmin ultra soft, you can get that cushiony feeling while still using less. designed with extra cushions that are soft and more absorbent and you can use four times less. charmin ultra soft. yoenchlgts now, secretary of state hillary clinton is calling the lack of action against syria a travesty. meanwhile, more gunshots. you can hear them on the streets of the city of holmes this morning. activists say at least 200 people have been killed there this weekend. we are closely following the situation from cairo. good day to you. it is evening there. let's get the latest all of this activity. how bad is it getting? >> well, you know, according to the activists on the ground, it is difficult for journalists to verify this information. according to a lot of the information on the activists and human rights workers, the death toll continues rise. if anyone thought the united nations vote would bring a lull to the violence so far it has not. sunday saw more protests across the country, many of those people coming down to the streets calling on president assad to step down. the death toll continues to rise in the city earlier in the week there was a -- some activists described it as massacre. killing more 00 people. the syrian government welcomed the veto by russia and china and say it was a block to american interference and domestic affairs. the arab league which was the -- original supporter of this resolution to try to solve the problem diplomatically says it was not deterred by the diplomatic failure and will push to try to resolve the situation peacefully without foreign military intervention. the situation in syria remains very dire depending who you speak to. no doubt the protests and killing continue. >> pretty threat frightening thought. what lies ahead after mitt romney's win in nevada? newt gingrich is promising not to go away. is this good or bad for the gop?

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