brother. nypd officer rafael ramos, the 40-year-old father of two was gunned down in his patrol car one week ago today. he was along with his partner and officer wenjian liu. and today the family was given the flag that lay across his casket. the man suspected of killing ramos and his partner was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound right after the shootings. he's believed to be vowing revenge for the death of eric garner and michael brown. but today it was not about that. it was about all brotherhood and

the camaraderie between police officers not only in this city but from across this country, from canada. it was an incredible, remarkable sight. these pictures give you a sense of the spectacular turnout. more than 25,000 police officers were there, as i said, from across this country, obviously most of them couldn't even fit inside that church, so they filled the streets of queens. police commissioner bill bratton and vice president joe biden were among those that spoke this morning. listen. >> i'm sure i speak for the whole nation when i say to you that our hearts ache for you. i know from personal experience that there is little anyone can say or do at this moment to ease the pain, that sense of loss, that sense of loneliness. but i do hope you take some solace in the fact that as reported by the press, over 25,000, 25,000 members of the

same fraternity and sorority as your husband who stand and will stand with you the rest of your life -- and they will -- it's an uncommon fraternity. >> miguel marquez joins me now. he's been there throughout covering this story from the beginning. what was it like to be there today? >> well, to say it was moving is to say too little. it was incredible to see the show of force in the way this only nypd can do to see so many, this ocean of blue, to see the number of motorcycles, about 400 motorcycles that led the cortege to the cemetery. to see the helicopters come over, to rumble -- so close to you, to rumble your soul. to see this turnout because of all the strife that's happened here, one of the people at the center of that, patrick lynch,

the president of the patrol men's benevolent association, the union that represents beat cops here, he was in the crowd here and he was one of those police officers and he made a point to come over and talk to us, after the shooting of officer liu said that the mud w -- blood was on the hands of the administration, the mayor and of city hall. and today he had a slight ly different thing to see when asked whether the officers out here should have turned their back on mayor de blasio as he spoke. >> i have 31 years on the job, i've never seen such a show of support as we saw here today. we're eternally grateful. >> i know that your words earlier in the week kicked off quite a about it here. a lot of police officers, hundreds if not thousands of them, turned their back as the mayor spoke. do you think that's okay? >> the feeling is real. today is about mourning. tomorrow is about debate.

>> what would you tell those police officers? >> we have to understand the betrayal that they feel, but today we also come to bow our head in mourning and tomorrow we'll debate. >> there seems to be a slight change in tone here after his initial words kicked off this firestorm last week. and he is saying, let's everybody chill out, go through these two funerals, pay our respects and talking about debate now, not the incendiary discussion we had earlier, but perhaps this is the beginning of ta debate. poppy? >> and miguel, if you would, tell us a little bit about this remarkable man, this remarkable officer. i know he was known to those who were friends of him, who lived him as ralph. and people talked about how kind he was, that you could see it in his eye and every action of his. >> everybody talked about how much he would smile. his kids certainly looked up to him. everybody who spoke at the funeral talked about you can tell the measure of a man by his

family. and they spoke, the governor, the mayor, the police commissioner, the vice president, they spoke lovingly of this family and what great kids they are. and this is a guy who saw, who loved public service. he was a member of this church for 14 years, became a cop at 37 years of age and had been on the force three years when he was shot and killed. this is a guy who was about to become a chaplain. on that day he would have gotten his license to be a chaplain here at this church. so this was somebody who saw a public spiritedness as part of his life. for him to be struck down by this individual is probably as horrible a target as one could pick in conducting such a crime. poppy? >> no question about it. but an amazing sight this morning. i'm glad they were all there to honor him. and that you were there to bring it to us. miguel, thank you very much.

joining me now to talk about this tony herbert, community advocate and president of the associate advocates without borders network and michael daily, special correspondent for the daily beast. thank you for being here. michael, you were there this morning. >> i was. >> i can sense it talking to you that you you were on our air covering this when it happened last saturday. you called this officer the boy with the perfect nickname became the perfect cop. >> yeah. this is a young man in new york's toughest neighborhood, east new york, this guy was known as pote, which derived from a puerto rican term, a jar of goodness. and that jar of goodness in the midst of a lot of poverty and it

shone on him and directed him to become a police officer and a chaplain and remained through all of us to admire and to follow. >> you have, tony, spoken on behalf of the family through this. we saw his wife standing there holding that flag and the two young boys, beautiful young boys who have lost a father to a senseless, senseless crime. what good can be achieved in the days and weeks and months to come? what would he want? what does his family want? >> just the experience of being around the family the first day they were able to do a news conference with the help of john rodriguez, i felt a lot of sincerity with the fact that he was a community guy. to think that he would go to work that day and not come home, i know a lot of people, police officers and everybody in general, it's painful. to see this outpouring and hopefully that would change that method of dialogue between community and police, i think it

he would be proud of it. >> you wrote an article about him as a man, who he is in the daily beast. you talk about going to the school where he served as a safety officer before he was a police officer talking to the principal there. talk to us about what they said about him. because i know the kids just loved him. >> they did. first of all, police officer rocco lawrie school named after a police officer who was assassinated along with his partner in 1972. >> right. >> each day ralph ramos would sit at a desk with a huge portrait of lawrie's shield behind him. he never shouted at the kids. he walked through the hall and give respect and get respect. if the principal's trying to figure out what he said, there's a lot of he said, he said, in intermediary school and ralph was able to get the truth. they would tell ralph things they wouldn't tell anybody else.

he was a guy who was boat the poli -- both the police and the community. that's why he was such an example. he brought that together in himself and so i think it was pure magic and for us to lose him is just tough. >> pure magic. tony, when you see these images of the sea of blue, right. >> right. >> and the way that william bratton, the police commissioner described it, we are the thin string that ties this city together. were you surprised at the outpouring that we've seen? >> not at all. it's relevant with regard to the scene where the shooting took place. >> flowers. >> i've been involved with several shootings of civilians, quite frankly, and other police officers, i've never seen this kind of a massive turnout. there is definitely a need for us to be able to communicate but so that we can get this resolved. >> so we're going to talk about that more throughout the hour, but what does that look like?

we heard from mayor de blasio with a lot of the criticism is being pointed right now, some of the officers who turned their back on him. but we didn't hear mayor de blasio address any of that in his remarks at the funeral. do you think it's incumbent upon him to make a statement to lead this change? where do we go? >> it's classy for he and pat lynch to not make any comments until this funeral is over. the debate will take place. which i'm sure it will because politics will rear its ugly head again. in a way i support what pat says. everything that happens in this city falls at the doorsteps of our elect officials. they have the keys to make this community work. if they're not on the same page as the folks they've sworn to represent, then we have a problem. >> we have seen bill bratton, the police commissioner, pretty much standing in line with the mayor. interesting to see what they do going forward. we'll take a quick break here,

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remember what it means to take the job, those of us who are privileged to call ourselves cops. no other profession will give you as much or sometimes take as much. the job can reward you like no other, but one day it might demand from you everything in return. for the ramos family, today is that day. and here we are. >> new york city police commissioner bill bratton paying tribute to fallen officer rafael ramos. those words so simple, so point yant and hery are. as the brotherhood of police officers mourn and we all wonder how did we get here? how did it come to this? let's bring back in tony herbert and michael daly, let's welcome in cnn contributor and legal analyst mel robbins. thank you all for being here. a very somber day. i was watching it on television. michael, you were there at the funeral this morning.

very hard to watch, potential the two young boys and his wife holding that flag, as you said. you've described him as the perfect officer. i know not all officers are perfect but they're also not all bad. around the majority of them are great. how did we get here? >> we got here by people judged all cops by the actions of a small number, that just as there was kind of a reverse profiling. people were saying judging police officers not by who they were but what they were. and they were not looking at officer ramos and saying, what a guy. came out of east new york, always wanted to be a cop because all he wanted to do was help people. he gives people respect, he gets respect. he puts his life on the line. he helped transform the city of

new york from a war zone to the most safest big city in america. and nobody ever said thank you to him. >> i had the pleasure of moving to new york in september of 2001 right before 9/11. so when i moved to the city, i could walk around many places at night, doesn't matter the hour, feeling safe because the nypd and because of the transformation. i also know what it was like before that, and that's a very important point you make of what they have done to transform this city. to you we should also obviously honor officer ramos because of the funeral today but wenjian liu volunteered to go with him that die to bedford stuyvesant, volunteered to go there. it's remarkable. i wonder if you think perhaps community members need to learn the stories of those that police them a bit more, to know them? >> that's an interesting point.

because we've actually talked about that on several occasions where we're also invited, not only the media, but other community leaders to go in and try out the simulator they have, the firearm simulator so you can get a sense of what it's like to be out on patrol. we're encouraging a lot of our colleagues to join us in that aspect, so they would have a hands-on with regards to being out there and being involved in a police activity so they can see the quick judgments that have to be made. i think once we have that kind of a synergy, people would be a little more cognizant of how it work on the street. >> to you, mel, it's an interesting point. i work with the pois and girls club in brooklyn where i live. the police officers and the firefighters come once a week, i think it's wednesday night, and they play sports with the kids, right? so this is officers working with kids at a really young age. should that be more the norm just so people know who is serving them and protecting them and they know each other more? >> poppy, that's an excellent

observation. you said something about communities understanding the officers. i think it's also about the officers understanding the community and we need to go back to more of a community policing model. we have the same thing in the town i grew up in in michigan but the town that my husband and i are raising our three kids where the police are very much intertwined with the school in an advocacy role, in a there for the sports games role, they're at a very young age so they know who the kids are in the community. you asked this question earl about how did we get here. i take a look at the nypd and you've got one of the finest forces in terms of diversity, in terms of training, the number of complaints per police officer, when you look at the ratios of that, they lead the charge, but in many, many, many towns across the country, there hasn't been

that level of training and there hasn't been that level of focus on making sure that the force is diverse and also reflects the community that they're policing. and those are some things that would probably be very helpful to take a look at nationwide moving forward, poppy. >> that's a big part of the discussion in ferguson, missouri. exactly. i wish we had a lot more time. we don't. we'll continue to follow this through the hour with our guests. coming up next, it's been a year filled with absolutely fascinating stories. how those stories were covered, though, became a story in and of itself, from ferguson, those protests to the discredited rolling stone rape article. much more on all of it straight ahead.

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the deaths of michael brown and eric garner at the hands of police set you have protests across the country. some were pleading for a thoughtful conversation. others were not. and led to scenes of violence, sometimes looting and these protests the aftermath, the way they played out in realtime and online were one of the top ten media stories of the year. brian steltser looks back at the others. >> our top ten starts with number ten. the changing impression of

america's dad, bill cosby. loved as dr. huxtable on tv but not any more. allegations of sexual assault partly because of this joke. >> yeah, but you rape women, bill cosby. >> now his stand-up shows are in peril. but he's not admitting guilt and he's never been charged with any crime. now to number nine, the future is streaming. aereo died this year but the idea lives on. hbo is is launching online subscriptions next year joining the likes of hulu, amazon. fact checking failure most memorably at rolling stone. this bombshell story about an alleged gang rape of a college student blew up as discrepancies were discovered and the magazine had to apologize for not even trying to talk to any of the

attackers. a news culture that values clicks more than accuracy. ray rice's year would have gone very differently if there hadn't been that surveillance camera showing him knocking out his fiancee. it prompted a crisis for the nfl and the hiring of domestic experts. now, calls for body cameras on police officers. now to number six, media moves accelerating. joe abramson fired from "the new york times." new editors at the guard qulan and bloomberg, too. on tv josh elliott leaping from abc to nbc. and number five is a big one. the biggest aviation mystery in modern history. malaysia airlines flight 370. its disappearance shocked the world, a world that seems so connected where nothing can go missing for very long, but it still has not been found.

cnn went wall-to-wall with the story for a month. part of the strategy to own big breaking news stories that even had its critics. and number four, speaking of breaking news, ebola, it spread in africa, then arrived in the united states and caused short-lived hysteria partly due to social media, but the same outlet that spread fear also spread facts. number three, is the media consolidation comcast trying to buy cable was just the first domino to fall. and rupert murdoch went shopping with an $80 billion bid for cnn's parent company time warner but the company was out of reach and murdoch gave up, at least for now. in the next few months we'll see if the comcast time warner cable merger gets a thumbs up from the government. and number two is the sony cyber attack. there were titillating e-mails, embarrassing documents, private medical records all published online by anonymous hackers tied

to north korea. a preview maybe of future battles. this story is just starting. number one most importantly the digital revolution accelerated. content is still king but with every passing month more and more obvious how media companies live or die by the whim of tech giant. facebook to buzzfeed until it doesn't. amazon promotes a chef's books until it doesn't. the movie studios need netflix, gamemakers need apple, but some stars have been able to resist. the bottom line is that americans want all their media, everything, to be online and on their phones, so media companies have to follow. brian seltzer, cnn, new york. thanks so much for that. this coming up, the top ten of 2014. it's a special on cnn hosted by our very own brooke baldwin team night 6:30 p.m. eastern on cnn. we'll talk about all those

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before the break we talked about the top media stories of 2014. brian seltzer brought that piece and how it was perhapsed influenced by the media, by all of us. we're joined by michael daly and in atlanta terence moore, cnn.com contributor and journalism professional at miami university in ohio. michael, let me start with you. looking at what you think the top media story of the year is and how it led to major protests across this country. do you think the media fanned the flames? >> the top media story to me began when the daily news photographer was driving home and he heard on the police scanner level one mobilization, but they didn't say why. >> in staten island.

>> in staten island. he knew they don't say why probably a cop was involved. he drove right to staten island and arrived at the scene where eric garner just died and there was a kid standing there taking a video and he got the video and the next thing you knew the daily news put it up. that's all media smarts becomes new media testimony, i guess you call it. the result was the city got offended. >> do you think the media covering the protest in ferguson in the eric garner case fanned the flames or just told the story. >> i'm not sure they fanned the flames, but the one thing that i think was missing -- i'm a guilty party, too, is note iinge relative size of the protests. these weren't tens o or hundreds of thousands of people. you had a climate change administration in manhattan, as far as you could see.

>> and we didn't cover it as much. >> but if you looked at ferguson and new york, you would think that it was crowds like that, when it really wasn't. >> good point. terence, what do you think? you're a journalism professor, do you agree? >> i think there's been no perspective when it comes to the protests. i've been in the media for 40 years. we will oversensationalize anything. i'll give aw microcosm just happened the last couple of days. christmas day in oakland, california, there was a big deal made of the fact that you had a bunch of looters and making taking ornaments off christmas trees and damaging property. and then the next day, yesterday, across the bay in san francisco where i used to live for five years you had more violence that took place. well, guess what? you're talking about a hundred or so people. in contrast that with the demonstration, the protest that took place a couple weeks ago in new york, 25,000 people, and the only incident that anybody could

discover was on the brooklyn bridge and that just got played up over and over again. nrd, we have a tendency and the media does this because this is what public wants, to take the little things and just small groups and make them big if it's exciting. if you look at these protests in totality, they've actually been very, very peaceful, but you would never know it by watching and following the media. >> mel? >> well, kind of going off of what terence just said, i made a point that we tend to follow the things in the media and people have a gut or emotional reaction to, which means stories like ray rice or domestic violence in the nfl or donald sterling and racism and whether or not you can be taped privately and business ownership. these are things that everybody can have an opinion on. interestingly, though, do you know what the number one googled search was this year in 2014. >> what? >> according to "time" magazine?

robin williams and his death. and the reason we wouldn't cover that for weeks on end is people -- they have an interest in it, but they can't sustain their interest. which is why i'm shocked that the number one story, poppy, wasn't the missing airline. it's only the biggest mystery of the 21st century. the idea that we still don't know where that plane is is just mind boggling. >> it is incredible. as you know, we covered it a lot. all the media and especially on this network. mel, i do want to ask you about the rolling stone article on the alleged gang rape at the university of virginia. that article was shocking, it was abhorrent. it brought a lot of us to tears. we had the author of the article on the program. it unraveled, there's a lot of questions, a lot has been discredited now. do you think how "rolling stone" handled that, the fact checking process, the agreement not to go talk to the accused is going to hurt the case of encouraging

rape victims to report their attackers? >> i sure hope not. i don't think that the backlash of the rolling stone article is going to be the first thing that's on somebody's mind if they're the victim of sexual assault. i think it's going to be the first few people that they encounter, whether in an emergency room or a campus security or in a dean's office and whether or not they're encouraged to go forward and feel safe and protected or whether or not, as was alleged in this article, to be reported by survivors that in the campus setting oftentimes you're discouraged from reporting and you are asked to consider how this might impact the alleged rapist. i don't think it will have a long-term chilling effect but we do have a long way to go in training the first responders and training people in academic settings around how important it is to take these crimes

seriously, poppy. >> yeah, so terence, mel brought up the story of ray rice. ray rice knocking out cold his then-fiancee and now wife. we've all seen the video play over and over. interestingly the news got more information about that through the freedom of information act. what do you think about the media covering this a lot, talking about domestic abuse and roger goodell to change policy in the nfl, progress, moving forward? >> i'll give you the good news and the bad news. which do you want first? i'll give you the good news. >> i want the good news. >> the good news is that the nfl has tried sincerely to work with domestic violence groups to educate its teams and its players by trying to stay away from this type of thing. the nfl doing that is everybody, even beyond the nfl and even beyond sports. the bad news is this is not going to stop. having covered the national football league since the late

1970s, i'm telling you something that this is inherent in a lot of these players to be knuckleheads. i'm not saying everybody. i'm saying a lot of them. i'll give you the classic example. red mcdonald, a star player for the san francisco 49ers, right before the season began, he was accused of domestic abuse to his fiancee, and then the 49ers looked the other way because they want to try to get to the super bowl, let him play. now once all this other stuff started blowing up, lo and behold a couple weeks ago he's being arrested again and accused of sexual assault and this time they drop him from the club. my point is you would think after all this stuff has happened between adrian peterson and ray rice and these other people, that he would have learned his lesson. but he never learned. >> guys, a lot more to discuss but we're out of time. have to get a quick break in. mel stick around, more for you later in this hour.

we appreciate it. michael and terence, thanks for being with us. after more than a decade at guantanamo bay, some detainees being released and sent abroad. but could it make us less safe at home? can we trust these countries to keep these detainees from joining terror groups again? ♪ they are a glowing example of what it means to be the best. and at this special time of year, they shine even brighter. come to the winter event and get the mercedes-benz you've always wished for, now for an exceptional price. [ho, ho, ho, ho] lease the 2014 cla 250 for $329 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. is a really big deal.u with aches, fever and chills-

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any day now as many as five detainees could be moved out of guantanamo bay. the obama administration hopes to move six dozen in months. about half of the detainees are eligible for transfer either to their home country or to a third party country. most of the other half have been deemed to diniangerous to trans or are accused of involvement in the 9/11 attacks like khalid sheikh mohammed. many have been held for a decade most without being charged with a crime.

joining me is bob berent. this is way down from the height. a lot of people say why not hold some sort of special court and try them. >> well, poppy, i think the real problem is there's not a good evidence against a lot of these people. i mean, they've tried for all these years to collect it. they've interrogated them, questioned them, they've had counsel and the rest of it. the military has decided that a good number of them are -- there's no case to be made against them. so why not let them go if you can't take them to trial. and frankly, i think it's a good decision. when they round these people up at the beginning of the afghan war, they didn't know who they were. some were arrested by mistake and they were released quickly. the other ones just hadn't committed a crime against the

united states. so let them go. >> there is a court down there at guantanamo bay. lesley stahl of "60 minutes" did a fascinating report inside of that. but you say let them go. but let me ask you this, releasing them to two different countries like we've seen over the last few weeks, bob, what assurance does the u.s. have that they have the capacity, the ability to monitor them closely enough to make sure none of them join terror groups? >> well, poppy, there's no assurance at all. i mean, a lot of these guys are going to go back and return to normal lives and not join a jihadi movement. some of them will look like they're completely, you know, and not a threat at all and they'll get back and they will join. there's just nothing you can do about it. i spent a couple months interviewing jihadists in israeli prisons. they didn't know the israelis, this had been for years, and they still would let them go, a few they'd rearrest. it's just the proos of doing business when you're fighting a

movement like this. >> mel, i heard you chime in a little bit when bob said let them go. do you agree let them go, don't let them go, keep holding them with no charges. >> that's the question. forget about the facility. what you got are a bunch of people that were presumably either supposed to be tried as terrorists in civilian court or tried by a military tribunle a and be declared military combatants and become p.o.w.s and none of that has happened. these people have been held in limbo by us some for a freaking decade, which is crazy. the problem is we can't move them to civilian trials because congress has passed legislation blocking us. we can't move some to u.s. prison because congress has passed a law blocking us. we also under the law cannot release people to countries where they may be tortured. and on top of that, you've got countries like yemen that won't

even take their own people back. and then you add to it, the fact that one in six and some reports say one in four of these detainees return to terrorism. what should they do with the 86, the roughly half that we cannot prove a case against or whom we believe is no threat, they should be released immediately. what do we do with the others? well, we should probably try them. but i don't know how we're going to clear the legal hurdles on this one, poppy, it remains to be seen. >> is guantanamo bay going to be closed under this president? but we'll be watching closely. five could be released soon, possibly dozens in the next six months. bob, mel, thank you, appreciate it. all right. coming up next, 2014. a huge year of sports stories beyond the trophies and the titles, there were moments and scandals that left us all grappling with some really tough questions. we'll look back at those next.

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the 2014 sports are year will be remembered not only for highlights on the field but also low moments off of the field. we count down the top ten sports

stories of the year. >> this year sports seemed to touch nearly every corner of american society dealing wish issues way beyond the playing field, domestic violence, racism, feminism, gay rights. everywhere you turned sports was part of the national conversation. of course, the games were pretty good, too. ♪ >> reporter: a 13-year-old little leaguer who completely changed what it means to throw like a girl. monae davis became a sensation in august. she's the first girl to ever pitch a shutout in the little league world series and the first little league of any stripe to make the cover of "sports illustrated." seattle seahawks corner richard sherman unleashed legendary trash talk after the nfc championship game but a backlash strongly tinged by racism soon followed. >> for the people that did react that way and throw the racial slurs and things like that out

there. it's really sad. i'm not out beating on people and committing crimes and getting arrested, i'm playing football at a high level. >> reporter: but sherman got the last laugh. the attention earned him millions in endorsements and a couple weeks later in the first cold weather outdoor super bowl he and the seahawks thrashed peyton manning and the broncos. there have been plenty of gay athletes in the four major american sports but none who has been out while still playing. that changed this year. s.e.c. defensive player of the year michael sam came out before the nfl draft. sam was taken by the rams and openly gay basketball player jason collins signed with the brooklyn nets. the nets made it to the second round of the play-offs, then collins retired. florida state quarterback jameis winston started his year off on a high note leading his team to a comeback victory over auburn in the national championship game but off the field winston was a lightning rod for controversy. he was cited for shoplifting

crab legs from a grocery store and suspended one game for publicly shouting vulgar language. in december winston was the subject of a student conduct hearing investigating allegations he'd sexually assaulted a fellow student two years ago but the investigation did not find enough evidence to punish winston. olympics are not usually known by a hash tag but even before this year's opening ceremonies sochi problems became shorthand for everything from shoddy construction to housing shortages for security concerns for russia's first-ever winter games. in the end the event went off without major issues highlighted with a big hockey win of team usa over russia. it had been 29 years since the kansas city royals even made the play-offs but this fall's scrappy postseason run took them all the way to game seven for the world series. unfortunately for kansas city fans, the only thing hotter than their team was madison

baumgardner. his legendary performance clin. the championship. the tapes released by tmz were shocking. clippers owner donald sterling making racist remarks about his own players as well as nba legend magic johnson. it was a baptism by fire for new commissioner adam silver but his response was swift and significant. banning sterling from the league for life and announcing his intention to force sterling to sell. sterling fired back. >> i think you have more of a plantation mentality than i do. do you know what, i think you're more of a racist than i am. >> how so? >> i'm not a racist. and i've never been a racist. i've never be a racist. >> reporter: but the final move belonged to his estranged wife who sold the team for a record $2 billion. the world cup stormed into brazil and while the event was peppered with criticism over construction costs and dismay over the host country's on field collapse it was also ripe with thrills. germany was mechanical in its

title-winning domination and team usa made a rarely seen level of soccer fever in the states advancing out of the group of death and making a star out of goaltender tim howard. this was the year of the return of the king, lebron james came home to cleveland. the place where just four years earlier fans had been burning his jersey. this time james was greeted as a hero. >> lbj's back, baby. >> i had dreams about going back home. it's where i bled and cried and laughed and even it's not was, it's right now. i love you, i'm back. >> reporter: the nfl spent much of this year fighting to regain its credibility after a series of scandals. after commissioner roger goodell only suspended ravens running back ray rice two games for knocking his wife unconscious. a backlash started to build. exploding after tmz released an elevator tape of rice's punch.

goodell's handling of the incident put the commissioner under fire. >> i got it wrong in the handling of the ray rice matter. and i'm sorry for that. >> reporter: and then there was the case of vikings running back adrian peterson. again, the league was slow to act after a texas grand jury indicted peterson on child abuse charges for his heavy discipline of his 4-year-old son. of course, as the calendar turns to 2015 and the nfl kicks off its play-offs, despite all that's happened, fans will likely still follow each pass and each scramble with their usual gusto. after all, that's the promise of sports. even after a difficult stretch or an exciting stretch, after the highs, the lows, the moments we'll never forget, there's always still a next game. a next quarter. a next year. and we'll all be watching. >> and rachel nichols will be right here to bring it all to us in 2015. rachel, great piece. thank you for that. quick break. on the other side we'll stalk

about all those stories and how they affected not just the athletes, everyone, the leagues, that's next. and tomorrow night you can catch all of our top ten lists right here on cnn 6:30 p.m. eastern. hey guys...guys! pillsbury cinnamon rolls, with cinnabon cinnamon, are an irresistable sunday morning idea. nothing calls them to the table faster. make breakfast pop!

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all right. well, we just counted down the top ten sports stories of the year so let's talk about it all with terence moore a national sports columnist and our sports contributor. let's start with this, the ray rice and adrian peterson domestic abuse cases brought the issue front and center. the nfl was blamed harshly for gr dragging its feet. do you believe under the leadership of roger goodell the nfl is changing for the better in a material way? >> not really. because i'll tell you something, poppy, those things believe it or not had pretty much zero effect on the nfl. and i say that because, you know, trying to affect the image of the nfl in a negative way totally -- is like trying to get rid of one of those plastic bags you get at a grocery store. you can't destroy it, okay?

and this is all you need to know, despite all these discoveries this year, if you look at the tv ratings from the beginning of the nfl season to the end of november, 28 of the top 30 tv shows were nfl games. >> yeah. >> here's the other thing. "forbes" magazine reported that the average worth of an nfl franchise now is $1.4 billion which is up 23% over last year in spite of everything. >> wow. well, i hope it changes things on the domestic violence front at least that people take more action. quickly, 30 seconds. lebron james bringing a title to cleveland in 2015? >> there is a reason why cleveland has not won a championship in any sport professional sport in exactly 50 years. cleveland would have a better chance to win a world championship, the cavaliers, if lebron james was a witch doctor. >> what? >> because cleveland is cursed

forever! whatever it is, something's wrong with that city when it comes to professional sports. >> come on. come on, my friend, what could be wrong. terence moore, thank you. happy new year. >> same to you. hi, everyone, you're in the "cnn newsroom," i'm poppy harlow joining you live this afternoon from new york city. our top story is this, tears and solidarity as some 25,000 police officers from across this nation and from canada say good-bye to one of their own. one week ago today rafael ramos and his partner were assassinated and gunned down while sitting in their patrol. today the brothers in blue mourn at a funeral service for officer ramos. ♪ oh come let us adore

♪ oh come let us adore him ♪ oh come let us adore him ♪ christ the lord >> i'm sure i speak for the whole nation, when i say to you that -- that our hearts ache for you. but i do hope you take some solace in the fact that over 25,000 -- 25,000 -- members of the same fraternity and sorority as your husband who stand and will stand with you the rest of your life. your husband and his partner

they were a part of new york's finest. and that's not an idle phrase. this is probably the finest police department in the world. the finest police department in the world. >> nothing will ever defeat or divide our new york family. 9/11 couldn't do it. the lives of officer ramos and liu prove the dedication to it. and with the name of police officer ramos uttered, from now forth let us bow our heads and wish him and his family peace and remember the principles he died for. for the ramos family, i say we thank you, and we honor you. >> our hearts are aching today, feel it physically, feel it deeply. new york city has lost a hero.

i extend my condolences to another family, the family of the nypd that is hurting so deeply right now. >> we'll heal as a city. we'll heal as a country. and wouldn't that be the ultimate -- the ultimate -- honor for officers ramos and liu. ♪ amazing grace how sweet the sound ♪ ♪ that saved a wretch like me

>> pretty unbelievable. joining me now to talk about it all tony herbert an nypd advocate. someone who has been an advocate -- >> a community advocate. >> and someone who is speaking on behalf of officer ramos, and also michael daly, special correspondent for the daily beast who was there this morning for the entire funeral. michael, you wrote a very touching article about this man, officer ramos, about who he is. tell us what stands out to you most about him? >> what stands out to me he grew

up on essex street in east new york which is a tough street in the toughest neighborhood in the city of new york at a time when it was essentially a war zone. and he was -- his nickname was potae which means you are a jar of goodness. this man was a jar of goodness. he was potae and he was -- and that goodness shone on the people around him. the goodness led him to become a school safety officer. that goodness led him into the police department and he stayed with it, and he was even going to become a chaplain. >> he was supposed to graduate from that chaplain -- >> the day of his murder. >> -- program the day he was murdered. >> i think he is a chaplain now. he's a spiritual guide for everybody, you know, that is -- you look at those neighborhoods and you say look at that. there's potae in those neighborhoods. there's goodness in those nablds. and i think that the chaplain stays with us. >> and named by bill bratton the commissioner of the nypd today as not only a detective first

class but also an honorary chaplain of his precinct 84th precinct in brooklyn. to you, tony, you have friends who are police officers. is wearing that badge today different? is it -- is it to some people making these officers a target? >> you know, not only do i have friends, i have family members who are in law enforcement for the most part particularly in the nypd and, and it is a target because there are individuals who made it that way. the whole police department are not bad. just like we don't have a whole bunch of bad teachers and whole -- >> the majority of great. >> they are good officers. they want to do their job but go home. the unfortunate part of it is there are people in our neighborhoods that commit crime. the other part of the coin is all black people are not gangbangers or thugs. and we have to look it at it in

the same way. we have to call people out when they're not doing their jobs. >> the protests we've seen and we've seen appalling on the streets of new york city some protesters, not the majority, but chanting what do we want, dead cops. what do we want now. it was a very small number and not emblematic of the majority of these protesters. let me show you the poll numbers and get your reaction a recent cnn poll showed this how many officers are prejudiced against blacks. if you look at the nonwhite responsibilities 42% said most. so, there is a feeling shown through those numbers that some people feel, nonwhites, the number there feel like they're being targeted. what can we learn from those numbers? what can we do with those numbers? >> i think commissioner bratton spoke today about the response of being able to really see each other as individuals. >> yeah, yeah. >> and that i think should be

what we learn from this. officer ramos was someone who could see the people of the community because he was of the community and people could see him. the other question is we have to have other officers see the other ramoses in the community and for the community to say other ramoses in the police department. and that i think is, you know, that requires a lot of work and a lot of attention. but it all comes down i think to whether you're the protesters against the police, whether you're a police officer who has feelings about people of color. it all comes down to you have to judge people by who they are and not what they are on all sides. that's -- >> tony, i want you to listen to some sound yesterday morning on our program. i interviewed the sheriff of milwaukee. he's been in law enforcement for three decades. i want you to listen to something that he told you and get your reaction on the other side. >> when i hear these things that black lives matter, the only

people that really believe that statement are american police officers who go into american ghettos every day to keep people from killing each other. if they really mattered that's where the outrage would be. that's what we'd see protests about. but when we see the black on black homicide that happens on a very frequent basis, we don't see protests. we don't see marches. we don't see demands for change. so this has been a one-way conversation that i'm just trying to present a counternarrative to balance this thing and so that we can have that discussion. >> then i asked him after, you know, can't we have both discussions. what do you think? >> wehat he said i've been sayig all along as an advocate out against gun and gang violence in our community every day. at the same time there has to be a collaborative of dialogue because i think that there's a disconnect in communicating what the issues are in our community. keep in mind the police department is a tool of the city of new york.

and they're out there sent to do a job per se to protect. but at the same time they're tax clerkt i collecting. they are assigning fines and things of that ilk, the cops are put in that position. it's our reality. the bottom line the cops are put in the position to do the job the city tells them to do it. they do it. but they are the front liners that will get the aggravation. >> and important to remember, though, these two officers, liu and ramos, gunned down by a deranged person. >> latin and asian. >> a deranged person whose own mother said was mentally ill. >> a lot of these guys are fueled by the agitation that takes place in our community. >> understood. but i don't -- right. but we don't want to relate that person to the rest of the -- >> true, true. >> guys, i wish we had a lot more time. i want to leave you with a powerful image from the funeral if we have it of the flag being

carried there to the wife of officer ramos. his two beautiful young sons who have lost their father standing by. we'll never forget you. thank you for your service. get ready for some german engineered holiday excitement.

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oversea s the north korean government is fewurious at someone, which allowed "the interview" to be viewed. here's a statement from pyongyang it reads ussery president obama is the chief culprit who forced the sony pictures entertainment to indiscriminately distribute the movie and took the lead in apiece i appeasing cinema houses in the

us mainland to distribute the movie. michelle, north korea calling the president arrogant using the words a gangster. is the white house saying anything? >> reporter: they compared him to a monkey in a jungle. it's hard to believe that this statement is coming from a state even though that state is north korea. we've seen bizarre statements put out by the government. but it seems to go beyond the pale. it's this rambling, scathing, verbal attack on the u.s. blaming president obama to push sony to distribute the movie, the movie they call agitating terrorism, but also now blaming the u.s. for the outages in its internet that it's been experiencing. big ones over the last five days. they feel that the u.s. is responsible for that. the u.s. hasn't confirmed or

denied any responsibility there. so it's hard to believe some of the language that they're using in attacking the u.s., even saying -- you mentioned they used the word gangsters. saying the u.s. government is like children playing in relation to what they call the cyberattack on north korea. but saying that the u.s. police cal affairs will suffers inescapable deadly blows. what is that supposed to mean? outright threatening the u.s., before the national security team did put out a statement about north korea saying north korea is offering its help. if north korea wants to help, it will apologize and so on. north korea then put out its own statement in response saying, no, it's the u.s. that needs to apologize. in the last couple of days there's been sort of this ugly back-and-forth. now the u.s. has said we're not going to respond to everything north korea says. so, we're not expecting any response to this latest statement from north korea,

poppy. >> yeah, especially things like this in the words that they used. let me ask you this, michelle, some tech experts say maybe north korea was not responsible for this hack on sony pictures, some experts that know a lot about hacking. any indication the administration is going to take another look at the evidence, maybe put more out there? >> reporter: well, it doesn nn' look like they're going to put the evidence out there. north korea is calling for that. the fbi specifically said that the evidence points to north korea. so, it's hard to imagine if there is something now that's going to take away from that or point in a different direction that they're going to come back and say, no, we were wrong. it's really hard to say. and it's difficult to pinpoint where these things come from, we know that already. even some of the analysts looking at the outages that have been going on within north korea over the last week, it's tough to even know where that's coming

from. i mean, a lot of north korea's internet is routed through china. there's also speculation that china may be working with the u.s. or china may be on its own retaliating against north korea's behavior. these things are difficult to pinpoint. it's curious. it's one of the things you want to, you know, wait and see what evidence, if any, develops and where that evidence is going to come from. >> michelle is with the president in honolulu who is on holiday. appreciate it. coming up next a quick break and we'll talk about this, big story this year. michael sam emerging as a pioneer, the first openly gay player drafted into the nfl, but despite support from people all over the world no one else in the league has followed. will that change?

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all right. one of the biggest sports stories of the year is the decision by college football star michael sam to reveal that he is gay. his announcement sparked huge media coverage. a lot of support from all around the world. and a lot of people talking about tolerance in professional sports. he was drafted by the st. louis rams. didn't end up making the team. he also spent part of the nfl season on the dallas cowboys practice squad. cnn.com sports contributor terence moore joins us again.

terrence, michael sam spoke with oprah, a fascinating interview. let me play part and get your reaction on the other side. >> have other gay players in the nfl called you or contacted you? >> very few reached out to me. >> very few meaning one, two, three, four, five? >> very few -- >> okay. >> -- reached out to me and pretty much just showed me the gratitude and how they were thankful that i had the courage to, you know -- they wished that they had the courage to come out. >> gay men in the nfl. >> gay men in the nfl. >> reached out to you and called you. >> reached out to me, yes. and just showed their respect and admired my courage. it was very -- it was very good. >> and you are using the plural, men, not man. >> men. >> men. >> there's a lot of us out there. i'm not the only one. i'm just the only one who is open. >> so, i mean, no question here

that he has broken ground, paved a path. by the way, there are other straight nfl players who have really come out, many of them, in support of other gay athletes in professional sports and, you know, tried to make it easier for them. what do you think? do you think that this is going to lead to more of those gay players that michael sam talked about in the nfl coming forward? >> well, a couple things going on here. and first of all, although michael sam has been treated very fairly by the media and even the public, he has gotten a lot of attention. and let me tell you something, when it comes to the nfl player, professional players, believe it or not, they don't like a lot of attention, gay on otherwise, away from the playing field. and along those same lines, the second thing is the nfl, professional sports, still very much operates under that old bill clinton model for the media. don't ask, don't tell. one of the dirty little secrets from covering professional sports always have been a lot of gay players and the players will

tell you that, coaches will tell you that. a good friend of mine who played in the national football league was talking the other day about several gay players on a very prominent nfl team and the attitude was, just as long as they help us win, we don't really care. again, what he was saying is keep the attention down. it's all about attention and i do believe that's the big thing going on here. a lot of the gay players don't want the attention even though it may be positive. >> so, there's that line, right, that you have to walk that you -- michael sam had to walk and made a decision one way. do you come out and talk about it to try to make life easier for others, young kids growing up, right, who want to play professional sports and are gay and say but there's not many other people like me out there, right? or do you say this is just about the game? what do you think, terence moore, going into the new year? is it important? should we expect gay players to come forward, or is that their private business and it doesn't need to be talked about if they

don't want to? >> i think that is the wrong question. and i think that the better way to look at this is that whether you are talking about gay players or any kind of player or anything you want to assign to anybody, all these people, everybody is different. people got different mindsets. people got different ways that they can tolerate criticism or success or what have you, so you really can't put some kind of label on it and say that this person should do this and that person should do that. michael sam was uniquely built for this moment. just like -- you know, a lot of people don't like this comparison and i don't really like to compare this to maybe a racial thing, but look at jackie robinson. jackie robinson was uniquely prepared for that moment. and you can't say that everybody has the tolerance to deal with these things. so, i just don't think that that's a relevant thing to look at. >> do you know what, it's a great point, and everyone has very different circumstances. and that all affects what they choose to come forward or not. >> and not everybody can be a

journalist. >> terence moore, good to have you on the program. thank you, sir. coming up next, a new year means new gadgets. phones, smart watches, tablets. all of them.

all right. time for another chapter in cnnmoney's 2015 playbook and it's the toughest league out there gadgets from smartphones to tablets, smart watches, fitness trackers.

christine romans has her new york draft picks. >> 2015 the year of the apple watch, the mobile wallet, and the connected home. here's what we're expecting in tech. cheaper pcs. it's a race to the bottom with slumping pc sales and tablets they're out. that's okay because you have your phone. giant smartphones are firmly in power. smart watches, step-on wearables. the apple watch makes its debut and puts devices like fitbit and jawbone on the back burner. expect more universal access to your gadgets. and here's one that's a little less exciting and more frightening, more cyberattacks. we saw huge breaches this year, and 2015 could be even worse. but, hey, maybe the rise of mobile payments will offer more security. apple pay will grow in popularity and look for more places that accept bitcoin as

2015 brings your wallet to the future. all right. i'm poppy harlow in new york. "cnn newsroom" continues right here at the top of the hour. but right now cnn's dr. sanjay gupta travels to the happiest nation in the world. see what we can all learn from them for the new year. that's next. ♪ today we're taking a closer look at something we arguably all want in our lives, happiness. over the past decade doctors and researchers from all over the world have conducted dozens of studies specifically looking at how happiness impacts you and me. what this remarkable new science tells us is that not only is happiness feeling good, but it's also leading to a healthier and longer life. >> lift up. hold it for a few seconds. breathe out. >> there's a lot to get to today, including how faking laughter for just a few minutes