mom in chief. for five decades, michelle obama has chartered her own course. corporate power house, regal first lady. and now role model to women the world over. tonight on "unguarded with rachel nichols" -- unprecedented. how coach john fox led the broncos to within a game of the super bowl just months after major heart surgery. >> i really thought i was dying. >> unusual. >> i'm former nfl mvp boomer esiason. tonight, rachel and i will discuss figure skating. are you kidding me? >> undercover. the great one, wayne gretzky, opening up about his life, his kids, and a very interesting recent outing. >> i put a hat on, pair of sunglasses and toelgd them not

to call me by my name. ♪ >> welcome to "unguarded." this weekend, future hall of famers peyton and tom brady will face off for the chance to go to the super bowl. as much as that has football fans salivating, the man directing manning from the sideline is drawing nearly as much interest. broncos' head coach john fox has done a masterful john leading denver, especially since he spent a third of the season coaching from 1400 miles away, recovering from a condition that nearly killed him. john fox is a football lifer. spending decades chasing a super bowl championship. he's taken jobs for it. moved cities for it. missed school plays and family dinners. spent hundreds of thousands of hours watching film.

>> he's playing pretty good. >> you've probably seen the image of the lombardi trophy more than the pictures of your children. you've come close to winning it a few times. >> yes. >> but you don't have a super bowl trophy yet. >> i've been twice. one as a defensive coordinator, one as a head coach. i don't want that rug burn again, or that rope burn as you walk across the field and you're not the winning team. but some day, you know hopefully this year, we'll be able to be in new york and hoist that trophy. >> there's not much that fox wouldn't give to finally win. but this year, he nearly gave his life. broncos head coach john fox hospitalized today after feeling light-headed on a north carolina golf course. >> i had had this aortic valve problem since birth. it's something you're born with. they monitor it the older you get. >> 1997 is when this was diagnosed? >> yes. >> that's 17 years ago. >> yes.

>> doctors fold fox his ayorta was calcifying over time, and only surgery would correct it. but fox delayed, season after season. there was always another team to coach. that trophy to chase. >> it's open heart surgery. it's a major, major surgery to go and replace the valves. so it's not a minor surgery. it's not a little affair by any stretch. so i put it off. i thought i was going to make it to the end of the season. >> he didn't. 2 1/2 months ago, in the midst of the broncos' bye week, fox collapsed on the golf course near the house he keeps in charlotte. >> i was literally 200 yards from the backyard of my house, and probably 100 yards to the backyard of one of my better friend's house. i could have very easily been down in marko island fishing 60 miles out, and that wouldn't have been quite the same

scenario. >> i imagine when you're an nfl coach and moving these players around like chess pieces, compared to lying on your back in a hospital gown. >> it was pretty humbling and a little bit scary. i had an episode to where i thought i was dying. fortunately i was with friends. they called 911, got the paramedics there. they were able to get me stabilize. two days later i had open heart surgery. >> as fox began the road to recovery, one of his assistants was named the broncos' interim head coach. that didn't mean fox could step away from the game. >> with technology today, we was ipads that they can fish video over the internet. so i practiced tapes, i was able to set up a skype and stalk to the team in the team room. so with today's technology -- >> it was like you weren't each gone. >> it was like a virtual coach.

>> you can watch film on your ipad, you be skype, but there's still someone standing in for your on game day coaching your team. what is that like to watch? >> that was the hardest part. it had been about 200 games since i missed a game. >> were you like a kid on christmas morning when you got to come back here to denver and coach the sneem >> yeah, it was neat. the i flew back the day before thanksgiving. the team couldn't have been better. you know, going through an adverse situation, i think all in all, it's made us better. >> oh, come on, guys! it's so simple. maybe you need a refresher course. hey, it's all ball bearings nowadays. >> i did read you watched "fletch" the movie. >> i usually try to watch all the pregame shows and all that kind of stuff, just tends to

hype you up. >> so you can thank the doctor that helped you get back on the field and chevy chase. >> that's right. happy to be back. >> you heart had to work so hard before the surgery. now that it's not working as hard, do you feel better? >> 100%. my surgeon told me my valve was the size of a pinhead. now it's the size of a 50 cent piece. i have a lot more energy, i feel stronger, healthier. but i feel 150% better than i did eight weeks ago. >> amazing to think of the strain fox's heart had been under all those years. we'll have much more from john fox coming up, including some fun revelations about his quarterback, peyton manning. and later, the great wayne gretzky joins us. even he's a little shocked about what's happening in his home in los angeles. >> i got to be honest, i didn't

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i'm rachel nichols. welcome back to "unguarded." we've been talking to john fox. in a few months, fox has made an amazing recovery, and now one of the nfl's most popular coaches reveals to "unguarded" what it's like to work with one of the nfl's most accomplished quarterbacks. >> fires to the end zone, touchdown! >> most nfl coaches wouldn't be

a game away from the super bowl just months after major open heart surgery. but john fox has an ace in the hole, peyton manning. i once read you described him as a special cat. >> the guy's remarkable. i mean, from rehab to strength and conditioning, the mental work, game preparation, film work, the guy's probably the best time manager on the planet, let alone in the nfl. >> he's so detailed oriented on the field. can you give us a peek into how detailed oriented he is off the field? >> he sent me a picture, he was in the cold tub soaking an ankle of his that was sore, looking at his ipad and had his football helmet on so that he could listen to the coach-to-quarterback outside, while he was rehabbing, he was gettingmental reps on the field. >> so he can multi task, no

doubt? >> yes. >> earlier this year, the owner of the former colts' team criticized manning for having only won one super bowl in indianapolis. it was fox who stepped in to defend manning. you called them a cheap shot. you called him ungrateful. why did you decide you had to speak out so strongly? >> i knew peyton wasn't, number one. and i think it was important that was voiced. i just know how much work goes into those seasons. sometimes it doesn't end up perfectly, but last time i looked they did get one. >> peyton has been scrutinized for his cold weather game performance. after he had a good game in cold weather, he had an interesting comment after it. >> he can shove that one where the sup don't shine. >> when you do what he does or what any of us do here in the national football league, you're going to be described. you're under attack.

we're compensated very well for that. but it doesn't mean there's never any frustration. sometimes people voice it. i thought it was a classy way to voice it. but you do get frustrated at times. >> what do you think of peyton's ability? >> i think he's tremendous. he's proved that with a lot of things he accomplished. >> they are playing the super bowl in cold weather this year. >> yes, they are. but we've had a lot of positive cold weather experiences. we've got to take care of business first. >> john fox is a football lifer. and he still wants that trophy. but this year, this life threatening, life affirming, scary, wonderful year, he's happy just to be in the chase. you know fox and manning would like to do nothing more than back up those words about cold weather by playing here in new york. let's keep the conversation going with my panel. joining me is a man who quarterbacked his team to a super bowl, boomer esiason,

broadcaster, and the co-chair of the boomer esiason foundation. we're going to welcome cnn's legal analyst, jeffrey toobin. we know it's been one of those weeks in sports and we are going to start with this woman, federal judge anita brody. she shocked the sports world by rejecting the $765 million settlement the nfl reached with its former players over concussions. this has really become the defining issue facing america's favorite sport. this judge is saying $765 million is not enough to cover the problem. >> cte, which is the illness that is at the heart of this problem, can't be diagnosed until people are already dead. so no one knows how many people are affected, and it's -- so you can understand why the judge said this much isn't enough, but how much is? >> one of the reasons i did not

get involved originally, is because i've taken care of myself. i never felt any team i played for ever put me in harm's way. i always was taken care of. i felt that doctors watched out for me. i think i had four diagnosed concussions in the nfl. i never took any drugs to put myself back out on the field or anything like that. so there's a lot of other things going on behind the scenes. but i will say this, when i think about some of the players, the john mackeys of the world that basically fell into dmen cha and had nowhere to turn, that's a disgrace. >> one of the reasons they wanted a settlement now, you could get money right away, to the extent this extends with no settlement, people in need, players in need, ex-players are not getting help. >> why can't we put $250 million in a fund, we know we'll have to spend that much right now to help the players that need it the most. not all of the players require

payments. but a lot of players are going to go after it, because they will feel like they're entitled because they made bad decisions in their own life. i'm 52 years old. do i search for a word every now and again, am i forgetful? yeah. >> that's my excuse. high school baseball. >> we're going to have to take a break. but we will be back. afterward, you'll hear more from this panel. you'll also hear from wayne gretzky. he's going to tell us how he's preparing his son to follow in his footsteps to be a pro athlete. >> the name is going to open him some doors here and there. but ultimately it will come down to his work ethic. you stopped by the house? uh-huh. yea. alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner. you leave the house in good shape? yea. yea, of course. ♪ [ sportscaster talking on tv ] last-second field go-- yea, sure ya did. [ male announcer ] introducing at&t digital life. personalized home security and automation. get professionally monitored security for just $29.99 a month. personalized home security and automation.

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welcome back to "unguarded." we're going to pick up with our panel. guys, it's been a crazy week in the alex rodriguez case. first, an arbitrator rules that a-rod will be suspended next season and postseason. then the biogenesis founder tony bosh goes on "60 minutes" and details brazenly how alex was cheating. >> he would put one of these in his mouth, 10, 15 minutes before game time. by the time they get back into a locker room, after the game, and there was any possibility of testing, they would test negative. >> after that interview, alex files a federal lawsuit, a

lawsuit nobody thinks he can win, but which he says, baseball bade bosh off to say those things and he, alex, was railroaded by the league and the union. >> i work here on wfan in new york. we had his defense attorney on, and if i had to hire a defense attorney, he would be it, because he screws everything up and confuses everything. >> alex and his lawyer say this is a power grab by bud selig. is this a kangaroo court? >> it is not a regular court. in fairness to a-rod, there were procedures used here that seemed to have been invented for alex rodriguez. however, the way the legal system tends to work is that if you agree to an arbitration clause, the federal courts are just not going to get involved. so this lawsuit has very little chance of success. >> the process that really makes

me angry is that some how, some way, this is all about a-rod because of bud selig's legacy. bud selig is the commissioner of a major sport and he's trying to clean the sport up. >> where was bud selig in 1998 -- >> if there's no agreement with the union, you can't drug test. he was trying to get them to agree to it. >> i'm a little more cynical about what went on. in the late '90s, you had everybody loving sosa and maguire and the ballparks battling it out. a lot of people knew some fishy business was going on. >> is steroids worse? >> i think it's changed now. i think it's more hgh, things like a-rod was taking. hopefully this will deter other players from going down this road. >> i want to move on to another topic. boomer, i know this is in your

wheel house. selection of the women's u.s. skating. america gets three spots in the sochi olympics. but instead of taking the top three skaters, they're giving one spot to the fourth place finisher, ashley wagner. that bumps the third place finisher out of the olympics. the rules are set up to do this, and the idea is that wagner, a former champion, just had a bad night. they're judging her more on the body of work. is this fair? >> a lot of teams are picked by coaches. the basketball team is picked by coach k. and the dream team. >> why have the u.s. nationals at all? why not have the committee just pick? >> the way that mariah is her name? the way she responded to it, she knew that this was a potential possibility. she knew it. and then you combine that with the fact that wagner fell twice in the nationals. now all of a sudden you're

fueling the fire for the fans and the people that support this sport to claim that somehow mariah is being shortchanged here. >> life is tough and coaches make difficult decisions all the time. >> you are hard. >> this is figure skating. where they call that the kiss and cry area. >> it's one of the most popular events in the winter olympics. i feel bad because i feel like somebody's heart is broken, and she thought after she left the ice, especially watching wagner fall twice, this was going to be her entree to the olympics. >> if the patriots beat the broncos, should we look at peyton manning's body of work? >> all i can tell you is you have experts making a choice on who they think has the best chance of winning, which is probably the hardest thing to accept for mariah in this case. that's what i feel most emotional about. >> take it easy, boomer.

>> kiss and cry. i want to thank you guys for coming. we have to send boomer off. he's getting roasted by the friars club coming up. i don't know if this is good preparation. but you guys, do not go anywhere. we have wayne gretzky coming up. stay tuned. i take prilosec otc each morning for my frequent heartburn.

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welcome back. i'm rachel nichols. next week, the nhl will stage an outdoor hockey game in los angeles. yep, this is the city where temperatures have been in the 80s the past few days, and sometimes it's hard to keep ice cold in a cocktail. so to find out how they're going to pull this off, i spoke earlier to wayne gretzky, who helped launch l.a.'s hockey craze when he was traded from the oilers 25 years ago. i've got to ask, when you first came to l.a. in 1988, would you ever have thought in a million years they would be able to fill dodger stadium for an outdoor hockey game? >> yeah, i've got to be really honest, i didn't see this coming in 1988. as a matter of fact, we were more of a sense of survival in

'88. we wanted to build a good hockey club. over the years, the organizations between the kings and the ducks and the sharks have really done a tremendous job of promoting and expanding the sport of hockey in the state of california. here we are on this day, january 25, going to play an outdoor game at dodger stadium with two of the best teams in the national hockey league, and two stanley cup champions over the last five or six years. so this is going to be exciting night for every sports fan in california. >> they're setting up a rink in the middle of the stadium right now, but right next to it, they're building a beach volleyball court. i'm assuming that was not the setup to go outside and play when you were a kid in canada. >> no, that wasn't part of our makeup. i didn't know we were building a volleyball court here, but you're going to turn the tv on, you're going to see people in shorts and t-shirts and the weather is going to be 60 and sunny and you'll see a wonderful hockey game in the middle of

california. >> you now have three boys of your own. how high is their interest in hockey? >> they watch it with me. i don't go to a lot of games. i probably go to nine or ten games a year. but i watch the games every day and every night. so we talk a lot about it. >> and you have a son who is playing minor league baseball with the cubs organization. i'm always interested when i talk to the kids of pro athletes what it is like to be in the shadow of their dad who reached the highest level, and nobody reached a higher level than you. what do you think it is like for your son and what do you tell him? >> i tell him a couple of things. one, that he's going to be looked at a little bit differently because of the name. the name is going to open some doors here and there, but ultimately, it's going to come down to his work ethic and commitment and passion for what he's doing. if you're committed and have a passion for your sport, the end result is limitless. >> lastly, i just have to ask you about a recent visit you took to the hockey hall of fame

with your kids. i would expect wayne gretzky shows up at the hockey hall of fame, there's trumpets and people are laying roses at your feet. can you tell me what happened? >> one of the things i got to do as a child was visit the hockey hall of fame. and i could stand in there for hours. my dad would take me and i would walk through and i would just stair at every sort of trophy that was in there. the memorabilia that was in there. so i was in toronto this off-season, and i had a chance and my 12-year-old son was with me. i said let's sneak into the hockey hall of fame. i put a hat on, a pair of sunglasses. i told him to keep his head down and don't call me by my name. we got to sew all the different rooms and the trophies and it was one of the great days i had in my life and i truly enjoyed it. >> you know that everybody who visited the hall of fame recently is now trying to remember if they saw a guy in a

hat and sunglasses wandering around. that sit for us this week. you can follow me on twitter, facebook or on the web on cnn.com/unguarded. we'll see you back here on friday night for "unguarded," where the end of the game is just the start of the story. good night. detroit's the city of champions. the whole world knows that detroit is the american city whose products have revolutionized our way of living. and only in michigan will you find the men and women whose talent made us the arsenal of democracy in wartime and the economic pacesetter in peacetime.