cheers and applause stephen whooo welcome to the report, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you so much. Stephen Stephen StephenStephen Stephen. Stephen thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you so much for being here, in here, out there. cheers and applause . Ladies and gentlemen, colbert nation, one and all, it is the final night of my epic, superb owl coverage. cheers and applause . Im proud to say, folks, i am proud to say it has brought a lot of new viewers to the show mainly owls. At least now someone is watching our 1 a. M. Rerun. Folks, im afraid what i learned this week isnt all sunshine and rainbows because theres an ominous cloud wafting over football. A new push to allow Medicinal Marijuana use in the nfl. Should the nfl reexamine its Marijuana Policy . Were willing to take a look at medical marijuana if there is proof that it could help some of our players, i think thats something that we should explore. Stephen you cant have marijuana in football. No those players will be so high, theyll foor get to take their percocet. cheers and applause and folks, folks cheers nfl commissioner Roger Goodell is not helping. I dont know whats going to develop it as far as the next opportunity in medicine to evolve, and to help arthur deal with pain or to help with injuries, but we will try to continually support the evolution of medicine. laughter stephen that was a clear endorsement of marijuana. Lawr lawr applause . Stephen because that statement cheers and applause that statement was so ra rambli, he had to be high. Folks, this is reefer madness. After hitting the prescription pipe, players wont want to hit their opponents anymore. Theyll just incapacitate each other with mindblowing science facts. Dude, dude, did you know that all the gold in the Championship Ring was created in a supernova billions of years ago . cheers and applause folks, pot is not the only threat football faces. So is the selfish concern some people have for their fellow mans skull meat. laughter just because of some crackpot theor they huge men colliding at full speed might be dangerous. The growing awareness of head injuries is perhaps the biggest crisis facing the nfl. You have a number of independent scientists separate from nfl doctor thoz have been saying february years there are connections between repetitive brain trauma, repetitive trauma from football and the possibility of getting longterm brain damage. According to espn sports science, big blows like this can be the equivalent of taking a sledgehammer to the head. Stephen oh, they worry about the nfl, yet nobody is protesting the national sledgehammer league. laughter applause come on. Look, dont get me wrong. Dont get me wrong, ladies and gentlemen. Ive got nothing against brains. Some of my best friends have them. laughter but you cannot scrap football over brain damage. Just ask the brain damaged. This is an american pastime. I mean, its really tied in for so many years with our tradition. Its sad, but at the same time i mean, we all love to watch it. For me and for millions of others, we get too much pleasure out of watching this. In this day and age, people are not very happy with their lives. The one thing theyve got to look forward to is football. Stephen yes, some peoples lives are so bleak, stuck in a soulcrushing and pointless job, surrounded by coworkers who dont respect them, that the only bright spot is laying on the couch in a nachoinduced coma just praying by the grace of god theyll choke on a chicken wing and end it all. You cant take that away. Its his only hope. Besides cheers and applause besides, if we cant watch people hurt themselves, it would cripple cable television. No more horders. No more deadliest catch. No more ice road truckers, or man vs. Food. All well be left with is q. V. C. 1860 is the item number on this one. And the nice thing about these oh that hurt laughter oh, that hurt big time. A piece of that just the tip just got me obell. laughter oh, that got me good. You all right . A piece of that tip just got me. We may need emergency surgery in the studio. cheers and applause . Stephen he will be missed. laughter the point is there is nothing to worry about in football. Here to worry about it are the authors of league of denial, steve fainaru, and mark fainaruwada. Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining me. All right, gentlemen. cheers and applause . Now, you guys have ruined football. All right. Are you going to be watching the game on sunday . Absolutely. Stephen okay, lets hear your argument. What is happening, do you say, to the brains of these players . The point of the book was to lay out two decades worth of denial by the league. When they were confronted with the suggestion that, you know, football was possibly causing brain damage, they would say its not really an issue. We dont have a problem with it. They created their own committee to study this issue. Stephen yes, they did d. They appointed a rheumatologist to head the committee not a brain person. Stephen whats wrong with a rheumatologist . Want rain is nothing but a skull ligament. laughter right . Holds the two sides of the skull together, connect the two sides of the skull. There you go. Stephen who should they have brought in . Well, at the time there were a number of neuroscientists who were actually trying to get the leagues attention. Some of them actually worked in the league. They loved football. One of them had worked for the pittsburgh steelers. A neuropathologist at Boston University was a huge football fan. And they were trying to tell the nfl that this was a problem. And in response, the nfl attacked those people, tried to discredit them. Stephen thats not entirely true. The nfl took action. Theyve changed the rules. Theyve created this fund with 765 million to take care of the Players Health needs. Why are you saying they are in denial . Ic its interesting. When you look at the way the league has dealt with this over times, there is certainly a move theyve made, but when the commissioner is asked, is there a connection between football and brain damage, he says the same thing he said four years ago when he got hammered before congress, well let the medical people decide that. The medical people already decided that. You get your medical people, ill get my medical poom. Thats sot of what they did. Thats exactly what they did. Stephen okay, isnt there a point at which we make things too safe . All sport are dangerous on a certain level, arent we . You didnt see the ancient romans worrying about the brain damage the christians and the lions, okay. laughter so have you guys been attacked by nfl . Have you been attacked by the nfl . Because the doctor vbz attacked. Have you personally been attacked by the nfl . Well, the nfl, from the very beginning, has not been cooperative with our research. They they really just refused to be to be interviewed. There was a frontline documentary that was made in conjunction with our book. At the very end of tour employer, espn, pulled out of the partnership of that documentary, and then it was and then news came out that it was after meeting with the nfl, the implication was that there was pressure applied by the nfl to pull out of out of the documentary. So the nfl has been you know, theyve been uncooperative, i would say. Ic were providing information that they probably dont want people to know. Stephen do you ever wish you had taken on an organization that is less vindictive, like maybe the mafia or taylor swift . laughter cheers and applause well, steve, mark, thank you so much for joining me. Steve fainaru and mark fainaruwada. The book is league of denial. Well be right back. cheers and applause fn,x,pnpp cheers and applause stephen welcome back. Nation, you know, i got to say, i think somethings going to happen because i kind of thought i knew everything i needed to know, but i have learned absolutely so much about football this week. For instance, in football, dribbling is called fumbling, and gets you fired from sports. But ive also learned that the superb owl is about seattle and denver, the northwest versus the west. Grunge versus country. Plaid versus other plaid. laughter and more importantly, these are the big cities in americas two legal pot states. cheers and applause . So, whether whether youre from the mile high city or the absolutely baked city, you want to win this game like its a box of little debbie swiss cake rolls. And who better to represent these two cities than the people who represent these two cities, their mayors. Please welcome the honorable mayor ed murray of seattle. Thank you so much. cheers and applause . And the honorable mayor Michael Hancock of denver. Thank you so much, mr. Mayor. All right. Gentlemen, gentlemen, are you ready for some football . Yes. Absolutely. Stephen all right, lets do this thing. Mayor murray, you are seattles first openly gay mayor. Thats a lifestyle i do not cob dont. cheers and applause . , im sorry but everyone knows being mayor is a choice. laughter . And im glad seattle made that choice. Stephen okay, good. And yet, and yet, you dont let them vote on whether you should be gay. That sounds like a double standard. Mayor hancock, mayor hancock, you are, likewise, the openly black mayor of denver. Now, colorado colorado has legalized recreational marijuana, but you want to ban smoking it in public. Right. Stephen okay. Right. Stephen but you also support allowing bars the option to stay open later. That is correct, stephen. Stephen okay, you heard him, broncos fans if you have a victory riot, dont do it because youre stoned. Do it because youre drunk, okay . cheers and applause all right, lets get to the game. Mayor hancock, on sunday what, team do you like . Thats an easy one. There arent many teams that can take the denver prorchgos out. Stephen wow, wow. Where do you find the courage . laughter for the mayor of denver to pull for the broncos, that really that takes go, broncos. Stephen if you dont mind, that takes some huevos rancheros. Seattle, seattle is going to win. Stephen the seattle mariners. No, no, the seattle seahawks. Stephen february better the sea hawks the mariners of football. Gentlemen, as you both know, there is a longstanding sports tradition that the mayors of opposing team cities to make a friendly bet of things associated with their city. For instance, the mayor of San Francisco might bet a loaf of sourdough bread, and the mayor of detroit might bet something of equal value, say, the city of detroit. laughter applause so, mayors, so, mayors, mayors, what is it going to be . Stephen, in the very unlikely event that seattle would beat the denver broncos, im going to offer to mayor murray some colorado beef steaks. Stephen all right, all right, thats nice. Okay, mayor murray what, are you putting up . Well, in the impossible event that seattle were to lose, im going to offer to mayor hancock some incredible salmon from the northwest. applause . Stephen all right, all right, excellent. Its its meat against meat. Lets make this wager official. Gentlemen, get up here. Lets shake on it. And applause hold on busted take them away. Gambling gambling is illegal in new york it state. Youre under arrest. Yeah have fun cheers and applause have fun saying high to your friends in jail. Folks, i cannot believe they didnt see that coming. I mean, im wearing a wire. laughter well be right back. cheers and applause . cheers and applause . Stephen welcome back, everybody. My guest tonight is an nfl quarterback with a new exx box game playoff faceoff. Please welcome drew brees cheers and applause whooo whooo all right thanks so much for being here this is the perfect way this is the perfect way to finish our superb owl coverage. This week. Because cheers you youre a super bowl champion, super bowl mvp, eighttime pro bowler, quarterback for the new Orleans Saints. 2013 was your record 5,000 yard passing season. And lets face it it all comes down to the quarterback. cheers and applause . Right . I guess so. Stephen all right, all right. You as a quarterback, youve been out there in on the big game, if i can call it that. Sure. laughter stephen what are these two quarterbacks thinking right now . Well, peytons been in this situation a few times. So im sure hes kind of got it down to a science. He stephen at this point, its only thursday. Right. Stephen do you just want the game to be tomorrow . You know your game strategy at this point. Right, exactly. It cant get here fast enough at this point. Theres so much chatter around you. Youve had really two weeks to prepare for it, not just one week. So youre constantly going through the game plan over and over again until finally its like, man, ive watched this play 1,000 times. Ive read through this play 1,000 times. Lets just go play the game. Stephen are you staring in the bathroom mirror going, im going to disney world. Im going to disney world. Ime going to disney world. Im going to disneyland, either one. bleep ill go to epcot. Just let me win. Disneyland always gets neglect gld it really does. Thats a shame. Stephen not to pick a wound here, but the saint lost to seattle, okay, and thats why theyre there . Who are you pulling for . Are you pulling for seattle because you want to have been beaten by the best or are you pulling for the broncos because you want seattle to share your pain . laughter applause or are you just going to watch golf all day sunday . Im definitely going to watch football because im a fan of the game, and i love these two quarterbacks. And to be honest with you, i would not bet against either of them. Stephen really . Yeah. And i could give you arguments for both sides. I think Peyton Mannings career, number one, what hes accomplished is remarkable, what he did this year was unprecedented. What hes overcome over the last few years with his neck injury and kind of his you know, really starting fresh in den den veris something you really have to tip your hat to. I have so much respect for him as a player and what hes brought to the game. Russell wilson, im not sure theres a guy in the first two years that has the success he has and has been able to handle it the way he has. Hes pla tour beyond his years. Hes a true pro. The more success that comes his way the more humble he becomes. I really appreciate that approach, and i think that both of them certainly are ready for this moment. Stephen so whos going to win . laughter applause come on, drew grow a pair. I had justin tuck here on tuesday night, and he he loves hitting people for a living, all right. I looked it up. Hes never sacked you. Hes never sacked you. Lets keep it this way. Stephen he likes to kind of like wounded forest animal sound quarterbacks make when you hit them. Like the huuu sound they make. How do you as a quarterback get back into the pocket . You have, like, three seconds, you can see this much, and you know that there are four, 300pound angry pot roasts coming at you . Right eright. Stephen how do you stay focused in that tiny compressed zone . Uh, its kind difficult. You have to have tremendous trust for the guys in front of you because ive got five big pot roasts blocking their four for their four pot roasts. And so you know that theyre coming very close to you. Theyre there to take your head off. And yet you still have to maintain your poise and youve got a job to do. You have to deliver ball down the field. Thats your job. Stephen i got trained add a quarterback this week for cheers and applause and one of the things they were trying to teach me was quarterbacks own the room. How do you own the room . You have command. Youre prepared. Youre ready for request situation. Stephen is this it . Are you owning the room right now . cheers and applause its its a quiet confidence. laughter yeah. cheers and applause . Youre owning it. Youre owning it. You had the who dat nation. Stephen theres crossover between the who dat nation and the colbert nation. How many hodats . cheers and applause all right. How many colbert nations . Youre the face of an xbox game called playoff faceoff. What is playoff faceoff . It allows you to be more interactive than you ever have before. It allows you to watch the game yous you want to watch, track your fantasy stats and predict the games in the playoff, including the super bowl with a chance to win tickets to next years super bowl. Stephen how hard can you play this game . laughter . For for you know how long you practiced to be a quarterback earlier . Stephen yeah. That long . Really. Stephen almost 45 minute. Almost 45 minutes. Stephen drew, thank you so much for joining us. New Orleans Saints quarterback drew brees, well be right back 7 rjrj,x,x cheers and applause . Stephen well thats it for the report, everybody. See you on captioning sponsored by Comedy Central captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org this happened on animal planet. Com today, are you ready for some fuzzballs laughter thats right, guys, there sunday is upcoming puppy bowl 10 marks the biggest spectacle, the puppies those are penguin cheer lead ares. What are those . I