good morning. how ' bout dat? the new orleans saints are winners over the indianapolis coltand they partied until the wee hours on bourbon street. here we go again. another storher storm takes aim east coast and we could see another foot of snow in areas that already received up to three feet over the weekend. and "today" exclusive. former sportscaster steve phillips speaks out for the first time. the affair with the young co-worker, how she terrorized his family when she broke things off. 45 days in sex rehab and the status of his marriage. he's telling his story in a live interview today, monday, february 8th, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good morning. welcome to "today" on a monday morning. i'm matt lauer. >> and i'm meredith vieira. you know, the city of new orleans no stranger to parties, but the big easy has rarely seen a celebration like the one that erupted after last night's super bowl victory. >> this was clearly a victory for a football team, but it was also a victory for a city and a region, a region that's had a very tough 4 1/2 years. >> and they were the sentimental favorite going into last night's game, but the colts were predicted to win, so, saints did a great job. both teams did. it was exciting. >> most importantly it was a really good game. >> a really, really good game. >> exciting game. you always want that in a super bowl. of course, the commercials, we have to talk about those. we'll break down the good and the bad, the downright unexpected, all coming up in just a couple minutes. by the way, we both stayed up to watch this thing in its entirety. >> we did, and ann as well. >> it's rare for a morning show team. anyway, also ahead, on a very different note, just how popular is the potentially deadly choking game among kids in the u.s.? coming up, some startling new information from a survey of teens and what one father who lost his son wants to say to parents who think my kid would never try it. also ahead, is sarah palin gearing up for a presidential run in 2012? she delivered a big speech on saturday at the national tea party convention, then raised a lot of eyebrows with something she said on sunday. we're going to talk about that, coming up. but let us begin on this monday morning with the new super bowl champions, the new orleans saints. how's that sound? nbc's hoda kotb, a form resident of the big easy, is in miami this morning. hoda, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning it sounds really, really good. i'm a little bit partisan. i don't know if you can tell. but i lived in new orleans for about six years it feels like home it was a terrific game. the colts ended up having a pretty good game, too, but in reality, it was all about the saints. and let me tell you something, it was a dream come true. >> they are the super bowl champions. >> reporter: a championship. 43 years in the making. even as the game's final moments unfolded, some still could not believe the saints were super bowl champs. for a while, it was touch-and-go. >> touchdown indianapolis! >> reporr: the saints trailed at halftime 10-6. it's okay. it's okay. >> onside kick. >> reporter: but stunned the colts with an onside kick to start the second half. >> they recovered the onside kick. >> reporter: opening the flood gates. >> he's in and the saints have taken the lead at the super bowl! >> reporter: when the colts powered back to take the lead -- >> and he's in for the touchdown. >> reporter: dir-- the saints wd not give up. >> and the touchdown. >> reporter: when the saints intercepted colts quarterback peyton manning in the game's final minute and tracy porter ran it back for a uchdown, the saints' fate was sealed. the saints had a motto throughout the year -- finish strong. it saw them through the game, the season and through katrina. >> we just believed in ourselves and we knew that we had an entire city and maybe an entire country behind us. >> reporter: after the game, we talked to drew brees, the mvp quarterback who came to new orleans as a free agent four years ago, an active supporter of the city. how's it feel today? does it feel all right? >> unbelievable. >> reporter: really? >> incredible. >> reporter: is it the best? >> i know you were rooting for us. >> reporter: at one point, brees savored the moment with his son, wearing earphones to deafen the thunring noise, a moment that charmed the national tv audience. >> guys, that's what it's all about, drew brees with his son. >> reporter: moments earlier, we had been there when wife britney handed her son up to his father, a proud moment for the brees family. >> i'm so proud of the whole team. the city of new orleans, it' so much fun. >> reporter: a team once called the aints, but no more. in the french quarter, a level of joy almost impossible to define. four years ago, a superdome in tatters, now the home of the super bowl champions. >> way to go! whoo-hoo! we love it! love it! >> reporter: it was pretty incredible. it was pretty incredible. and a great sportscaster friend of mine named jim henderson, and it was such a long-shot for the saints to win, but this was his line -- well, pigs have flown, hell has frozen over and the saints have won the super bowl." and guys, i have some parting gifts for you. lindsey, thank you. sarah, thank you. i got you your own drew brees shirt. that's for matt. meredithyou get some of these -- >> what? he gets a shirt and -- >> reporter: it was so much fun, you guys. i can't -- >> they're very nice. i'm very happy with my gift. some are less appreciative. >> no, no, i'm very appreciative, hoda. thank you very much. >> reporter: meredith, yours cost $2.15. >> we, thank you, hoda, for rubbing that in. >> that's nice. well, congratulations. >> yeah, congratulations. >> all right, we're going to get to the super bowl commercials coming up in just a little while. all right, but now to that powerful storm that blanketed parts of the east coast over the weekend. some places got as much as three feet of snow and another storm is on the way. nbc's tom costello lives in maryland and his neighborhood is only accessible by the biggest suvs. in fact, he joins us now by skype. tom, good morning to you. >> reporter: hi, meredith, good morning. we've got 30 inches here in our yard, and down the street we haven't seen a snowplow yet. we have had throughout this entire region hundreds of people without power, without heat. and so, they've been staying with neighbors, including us. the heat just started to come on for those folks overnight, but up and down the east coast, a lot of people have been doing an awful lot of heavy lifting. from washington, north to baltimore, all the way to new jersey. >> man, this is a nasty snow. >> reporter: digging out from snowmageddon has been an around-the-clock, herculean job. >> i worked i think 22 hours yesterday and i slept for 5 and i was back doing it again, and it's a lot of snow. >> reporter: with neighborhoods up and down the mid-atlantic buried in anywhere from two to three feet of snow -- >> even with the four-wheel-drive, i don't think it could get through. >> reporter: area schools are closed at least through tuesday, the federal government shut down today. >> a lot of snow. oh, my. >> reporter: and highway crews are triaging which roads get cleared first. >> we've had plows on the smaller streets, but first we've got to open up the biggest streets to be able to get to the next smaller streets, then the next ones. >> reporter: the storm has also left hundreds of thousands without heat or electricity, sending families to bunk with relatives, neighbors, even hotels and shelters. >> i've never seen that without any airplane. >> reporter: by mid-afternoon sunday, the crews at baltimore's bwi airport had managed to clear most of the snow off the ramps and runways, while reagan national airport in washington looked like a ghost town with travelers waiting patiently for flights to resume later today. >> it's great. smaller crowds. >> reporter: but for some die-hard enthusiasts on the national mall, the snow provided a perfect backdrop for snow football and some cross-country skiing. the bad news, d.c. is in for even more of this on tuesday. >> it's going to be a mixed bag of almost every kind of winter weather coming our way. >> reporter: several more inches on the way. >> are you kidding? i've had enough snow to last me the rest of my life. >> reporter: yeah, all of us have, i think. you know, the big question is how much this digout is going to cost, because a lot of state budgets were already stretched out, running deficits in many cases. they simply could not afford this kind of a massive digout, and now more snow, they say, is on the way. oh, joy. meredith, back to you. >> oh, joy, is right. tom costello, thanks. be careful with that snow shoveling, too. at snow is very heavy. >> no question. you've got to be careful about that. al will check out now what's coming up next in the tuesday night-wednesday situation. sounds interesting, al. >> it sure does, matt. as you take a look, you can see on the radar we've got some activity going now. this system is going to be getting itself together. a double-barrel low pressure system is going to get together and reform as one system off the mid-atlantic coast. snowfall amounts generally three to six inches, some areas picking up nine inches of snow. here's the path of this storm. it gets itself together this morning, works its way right now over texas and minnesota. the two systems merge and you can see that snow spread into indiana, ohio, on into new jersey, philadelphia, pennsylvania, on into new england with this storm, moving up the coast. more of a classic nor'easter. here's what we've got through dnesday morning as far as snowfall amounts. washington, d.c., we're talking to the west in parts of west virginia, 9 to 12 inches of snow, washington about another 5 to 8 inches of snow. this is going to make its way up the coast, and right now, new york is looking at about five to eight inches, and that extends up into new england by wednesday evening. so, the snow starts in new york late tomorrow night on into wednesday, but washington and the mid-atlantic, you're getting it tomorrow morning on through tomorrow night. matt? >> all right, al, thanks. we'll get your local forecast in just a couple of minutes. let's turn to politics now. as former vice presidential candidate sarah palin planning a run for president? over the weekend, she made it pretty clear she's considering it. nbc's andrea mitchell has more on that. andrea, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, matt. well, she could be serious or she could just be leveraging her commercial and political clout. but sarah palin definitely opened the door to running for president. she's already a star attraction for conservative republicans. sunday in texas for governor rick perry. >> let's send a message to washington. let's get our country back. god bless you and god bless texas. >> reporter: and tea party supporters saturday night in nashville cheered her lacerating, sarcastic attack on president obama. >> now a year later, i've got to ask those supporters of all that, how's that hopy-changy stuff working out for ya? >> reporter: now sarah palin's making it clear this could be the opening round of a race for the white house. speaking to fox news, where she's a paid commentator. >> i would if i believe that that is the right thing to do for our country and for the palin family, certainly, i would do so. i think that it would be absurd to not consider what it is that i can potentially do to help our country. close a door that perhaps could be open for me in the future. >> reporter: in her red meat speech to tea party members, she took direct aim at the president, especially his anti-terror policies. >> to win that war, we need a commander in chief, not a professor of law standing at the lectern. >> reporter: but while taking shots at president obama's speech-making -- >> this is about the people and it's bigger than any king or queen of a tea party and it's a lot bigger than any charismatic guy with a teleprompter. >> reporter: palin was beyond using a handy crib sheet of her own. so, when she was asked her top priorities, she was ready. we have got to jump start these energy projects. >> reporter: so far, appearing with hosts who talk about president palin and friendly crowds who don't question her facts is working f her. that, plus a fox tv studio being built in her kitchen and controlled messages on facebook and twitter. >> i think it may be that sarah palin is the first made for social media president or presidential candidate. >> reporter: whether sarah palin is just increasing her lecture fees or seriously considering a run for the white house, democratic and republican leaders are sure paying attention. matt? >> all right, andrea. thanks very much. andrea mitchell in washington this morning. joe scarborough is a former republican congressman and host of msnbc's "morning joe." hi, joe, good morning to you. >> hi. good to be here. >> so, let's talk about this speech here. critics have weighed in. they said it had a lot of conservative red meat in it but it was short on polic and solutions. here she was speaking to what to her is a friendly audience. how's this fit? >> right. the bottom line is she's a frontrunner right now, if you look at a lot of polls, for the gop nomination in 2012. so, everything she does takes on signicance. what's interesting is, what's being said off the air. republicans are afraid of sarah palin right now. conservatives afraid of sarah palin right now. but behindhe scenes, they're talking about how embarrassing her performance was and the press conference afterwards, not because of any crib notes, but just because she still doesn't seem to have a great deal of substance about her delivery. >> you say republicans are afraid of sarah palin. republicans have a right to be afraid of some of the people she was talking to also. got a guy like charlie crist down in florida in the political fight of his life against the tea party candidate, and so, when she says that she wants to see the republican party absorb as much of the tea party as possible, is that a reality? >> i don't know that that's a reality, and it's not a reality because the perot people in 1992, 1993, 1994, they didn't like the republican party any more than they liked the democratic party. these tea party people are very independent. they are conservative, they are small government types, a good chunk of them, but they are also a lot of people that are just as disillusioned th the republican party that supported big government over the past eight years as they are with barack obama, who supported big government over the past year. >> she talked about president obama, criticized him for his attempts at fighting the war on terror, specifically for the christmas day attempted bombing of that jetliner headed for detroit and the fact that the suspect on that plane was read his miranda rights as opposed to being held for a military tribunal. she said this -- "treating this like a mere law enforcement matter places our country at great risk because that's not how radical islamic extremists are looking at this. they know we're at war, and to win that war, we need a commander in chief, not a professor of law standing at the lectern." now, that received thunderous applause from the people in the room. >> right. >> how's that issue resonating outside? >> unbelievably well. you just heard the applause line of a lot of republican candidates moving forward. scott brown, the day after massachusetts -- we thought it was about health care reform, we thought it was about deficits. his own pollsters said, no. actually, terrorism was rating best. this is sarah palin's best line politically that, again, is going to be picked up by a lot of republican candidates and it's going to draw political blood out on the trail. >> quickly, on "meet the press" on sunday, john brennan, the white house counterterrorism chief, said that on the day, christmas day, when the arrest was made of this suspect, he briefed some top republican leaders in congress and none of them expressed any reservations or concerns about the way this suspect was being handling, so, are there some republicans who are now vulnerable on this? >> no, i don't think so. it does sound a lot, though, like nancy pelosi and dick cheney going back and forth about who said what and when they said it. john boehner came out, said that's not the truth. i think you're going to see the unfortunate specter of the continued politicalization of intel gathering, and it's bad when rublicans do it, it's bad when democrats do it, but it's going to be a huge political issue this year. >> joe scarborough. joe, thanks very much. >> thank you very much. >> nice to have you here this morning. go back to work. >> i shall. >> joe will be going back across the street because "morning joe" airs weekdaystarting at 6:00 a.m. eastern on msnbc. let's get a look at our other top stories from ann at the news desk. >> thanks a lot, matt. good morning, everybody. also in the news this morning, an investigation is under way into a massive explosion sunday at a power plant under construction in connecticut. at least five people were killed. nbc's ron allen's in middleton, connecticut, with more on the story. ron, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, ann. the blast was so powerful, it blew out windows and caused damage miles from here. the workers were testing the gas lines. search-and-rescue operations continued through the night. and this morning, officials say it's still unclear whether everyone is accounted for. the clean energy system power plant was going to be one of the biggest in new england until a gas explosion ripped through it. >> it was like a boom and a shake. >> reporter: people as far as 15 miles away say the concussion shook their windows and jolted their nerves. >> the whole house shook. >> reporter: an unknown number of workers from several different companies inside, perhaps as many as 50. relatives and co-workers converged on the plant, desperate for information. >> it's horrible, man. we got some people up there, they've got little kids at home. we lost them. >> reporter: hospitals treated at least a dozen workers for injuries like broken bones. >> several of them were by report thrown 30 to 40 feet. >> reporter: the plant was almost complete, designed to generate electricity by burning natural gas for nearly 500,000 homes, starting this summer. however, it's now been devastated by a massive, deadly explosion. >> we go to work in the morning, you expect to go home to your family at the end of the day, and there are a whole lot of people out there for whom that's not going to happen. >> reporter: officials believe only a small number of workers was near the site of the blast because the work being done required the area to be evacuated for safety reasons. ann? >> all right, ron all this morning. ron, thank you. toyota says it will now soon announce how it will deal with braking problems on some prius hybrids. the problems affect some 200,000 priuses sold in the u.s. and japan since may. a new study suggests that people who drink two or more sweetened soft drinks a week have a higher risk of developing pancreatic cancer. some say sugar may be to blame, while others say it's unclear whether there is a proven link to pancreatic cancer. the shuttle "endeavour" lifted off this morning. it is carrying six astronauts as well as a new room and observance deck for the space station. let's go back to matt, meredith and al. maybe it's carrying mardi gras beads as well, new orleans. >> that's a room with a view they're carrying. that's going to be nice. ann, thank you. mr. roker, how are you do? unfortunately, our frid