making news in america this morning -- coming out. a star athlete on his way to becoming the first openly gay nfl athlete. new reaction overnight from his fellow players. weekend winners. team usa brings home the gold in sochi. we have your complete breakdown of the olympic games. a tense moment on the basketball court spills over into the stands. the player is talking about what happened as he learns his punishment. wild race. forget sochi, there's another competition in the snow you've just gotta see. good morning. we begin with a bombshell in the sports world. a top nfl prospect has declared he's gay. >> missouri defensive lineman michael sam was an all-american

pick and wants to play in the national football league. no major sport in the u.s. has had an active player who is openly gay. tahman bradley has more. >> reporter: this 24-year-old, 6'2", 260-pound college football star is set to make history. michael sam is expected to become the nfl's first openly gay player. the defensive end talked about his sexuality with espn's "outside the lines." >> i came to tell the world i'm an openly proud gay man. >> how does it feel to say those words to the world? >> it's a load off my chest. >> reporter: his decision to come out is bold. he's expected to be chosen in the early rounds of the nfl draft this may, entering a league with an extremely macho culture and a history of homophobic controversies. analysts say the team that drafts sam will face unusual challenges. >> he's bringing baggage into your locker room. so, when you think about michael sam, all of a sudden, can the

players handle the media attention that they're going to get? >> reporter: current and former nfl players applauded sam's courage. hall of famer deion sanders tweeting michael sam is not the first gay player in the nfl. he's the first to come out. let's show him love like a family member. truth. and from carolina panthers deangelo williams, i could care less about a man's sexual preference. i care about winning games and being respectful in the locker room. last year, sam came out to his university of missouri teammates, who sam says responded by rallying around him. >> if i work hard, make plays, that's all that should matter. can he help us win games? is he a team player? that's all that should matter. >> reporter: some nfl insiders think sam's announcement was a bad idea. one person told "sports illustrated" his sexuality will be a big distraction. another said the nfl is not ready for an openly gay player. tahman bradley, abc news, washington. >> we'll hear more from michael sam on "good morning america." now to the olympics. it's the third full day of competition in sochi, russia.

there's a live look there at sochi's olympic park. >> five events in which medals are being awarded today. over the weekend, american athletes suffered some disappointment. while others won big. 23-year-old american jamie anderson is bringing home the gold. she dominated the slopestyle snowboarding course with no less than three gravity-defying jumps. >> i was so excited and nervous. i had to visualize and trust and believe i could land the run i wanted to. >> reporter: the u.s. was 2 for 2 in the slopestyle's debut. sage kotsenburg won the men's event on saturday. americans took the bronzin another olympic newcomer, team figure skating. world champions meryl davis and charlie white won the short and free dance. and national champion gracie gold of california took second place if the free skate. >> our whole team was phenomenal. i'm glad we got to do this. i feel really good. >> reporter: u.s. skier bode miller's hopes of medaling in the men's downhill were dashed when he finished eighth.

a disappointment, but miller still has two more chances to bring home a medal. all right, let's take a look at what's happening today in sochi. american skier julia mancuso in first place halfway through women's supercombine downhill. she is seeking her fourth ever olympic medal. >> u.s. short track speed skater j.r. celski takes to the ice in today's men's 1500 meters. >> shani davis is america's best hope in the men's speed skating. he's looking for his fifth ever medal at the olympics. >> the u.s. women's ice hockey team tries to go 2-0 with a game against switzerland. on saturday, they beat finland. as we said earlier, five medals events today. >> here's the current medals count. norway in the lead with 7 overall. then the netherlands, u.s., canada, and russia all with four. to the weather, parts of the mid-atlantic and northeast got a fresh coat of snow overnight. up to an inch in the baltimore

area and more may be on tap midweek. >> atlanta and the deep south may be hit again. officials promise they'll be better prepared this time. crews will begin treating the roads, giving it priority, and the bridges as well, tonight, ahead of the storm, which is expected to arrive tomorrow. it promises to be a messy commute for thousands of drivers in portland, oregon. after snow and ice over the weekend, temperatures have not warmed enough to start the big thaw. we get the forecast from accuweather's jim dickey. >> good morning, john and marci. snow departing the northeast in the early morning hours. the storm system tracking out to sea. really was just a nuisance storm. a couple of inches in most locations. we're also tracking an area of snow moving into the plains. behind that, a storm system bringing rain across portions of california. beneficial rainfall. the combined efforts of all this with a frontal boundary still hanging out, will lead to an icy start to the week. snowfall across portions of the south, from dallas, all the way to atlanta. watch out for slick roadways here headed through the day. john and marci, back to you.

>> all right, jim, thank you. now for a look at the rest of the nation's weather. a wide swath of the gulf coast, nearly 1,000 miles long will see rain showers. with snow farther north and in the midwest. mountain snow over the rockies and seattle with rain for the rest of the pacific northwest. >> temperatures typical for february for most of the nation. high 20s in the northeast. bitter cold for the upper midwest. mild for much of the south and warm in the southwest. a brigham young university student has been killed in a utah avalanche. 21-year-old ashley cox died after being taken off life support yesterday. she had been caught in a slide while snow-shoeing on saturday. officials say an avalanche fell 50 feet and carried cox into a creek, burying her for at least 40 minutes. six people now under arrest in connection with the disappearance and death of a police reserve officer in virginia. 45-year-old kevin quick. reported missing february 1st. his body was found last thursday. police arrested a sixth person in the case late last night. three other suspects are scheduled for court appearances

today. a show of unity by the u.s. and france ahead of the state dinner tomorrow at the white house. president obama and french president francois hollande have written a joint op ed. the piece, published in "the washington post" and a french paper touts both countries' progress iniran's nuclear program. it also points out their leadership in combatting terrorism, aids, and climate change. as hillary clinton mulls whether she'll run for president, a top military man praising her tenure as secretary of state. general david petraeus cites her handling of the benghazi attack aftermath as proof of her leadership. he describes her as resolute, determined, and controlled. many republicans see it differently. all right, flew the coop, why a video game developer is pulling the plug on his hugely popular app. highway horror. two crashes thousands of miles apart. the one thing in common? these two tragedies were going the wrong way. sideline scuffle. a college basketball player shoves a fan. what led to the fight?

what is the player saying about what happened this morning?

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military crisis line. during times of crisis, reach out and call. dial 1-800-273-8255 and press 1. welcome back. a major food recall this morning involving 9 million pounds of beef. for the past year, a california company reportedly processed diseased animals without full federal inspection. federal food safety officials say the beef is unfit for human consumption. it was shipped to four states. california, texas, florida, and illinois. so far no reported cases of illness. gasoline prices are down

again, but this may be it. the lundberg survey reports a two-cent drop in the past two weeks, to an average of $3.29 a gallon. 30 cents below what it was this time last year. wholesale prices are heading back up. which means retail prices are likely to rise, too. a popular mobile video game is gone. the vietnamese creator of flappy bird stopped its sales this weekend, just days after saying he was making $50,000 a day from it. it's unclear why the game was pulled. may have been too successful. the creator tweeted it has quote ruined his simple life. $50,000 day doesn't sound so ruinous. >> i know. i agree. movie audiences snapped up tickets to "the lego movie" this weekend. it opened with $69 million, way more than expected. the biggest debut of this year so far. >> that's also about how much it cost to make "the lego movie." a studio executive says

the strong performance all but guarantees a sequel. facebook founder mark zuckerberg and his wife were the most generous american philanthropists last year. they donated $18 million facebook shares, worth almost $1 billion to a silicon valley charity in december. his facebook page says his net worth is $28 billion. a drop in the bucket for him. >> a drop in the bucket, yeah. when we come back, there's a need for speed. new details about how fast justin bieber was drive tong night of that arrest. and frosty versus fido. the dog who apparently really hates snowmen. ♪ led to the one jobhing you always wanted.

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[ male announcer ] need a little more wow in your life? just book a royal caribbean cruise by february 28th and receive a free upgrade or up to $300 to spend on anything you want. call 1-800-royalcaribbean today. welcome back. time for a look at the road conditions this morning. ice and snow will make driving treacherous from dallas to raleigh. a wide band of rain in cities

along the gulf coast. snow-covered roads across the rocky mountains. slick conditions for much of the west coast. airport delays possible in houston, dallas, new orleans. back to the news. a pair of devastating car crashes caused by drivers going to wrong way. >> a california woman charged with dui and manslaughter in one of those accidents. abc's bazi kanani has the grim details. >> what is he doing? >> reporter: a driver in such disbelief -- >> am i being -- right now? >> reporter: she pulls out her cell phone to record an suv swerving through oncoming traffic on interstate 275 in tampa, florida. in a few more seconds, it ends horrifically. the wrong-way driver dying after slamming head on into a car of college kids. four fraternity brothers also killed instantly. here in california, less than three hours later, a driver went past these warning signs on to

the pomona freeway. three vehicles mangled. six dead. a wreck so bad, investigators still don't know which vehicles most of the victims were riding in. >> my heart goes out to the families. >> reporter: wrong-way crashes are 3% of highway accidents. but they are deadly. up to 27 more times to be fatal. killing an average of 360 people each year. the wrong-way signs missed when drivers are too impaired to even notice them. across the nation, 60% of wrong-way crashes are caused by drunk driving. investigators are looking into whether that's what caused these accidents. bazi kanani, abc news, diamond bar, california. a manhunt under way outside of washington, d.c., for what could be a serial killer. 59-year-old music teacher ruth anne lodano was shot point blank after saanswering a knock at th door in virginia. her elderly mother's care taker

was also shot and killed. police have released this sketch of a suspect. this sketch comes three months after a local official was also gunned down inside his home. it appears justin bieber hit speeds of 136 miles an hour in his rented lamborghini just hours before his arrest. tmz got the full gps speed readout, not just the period immediately surrounding the arrest. he was clocked at 108. within a minute, he accelerated to 136 miles an hour. cops claim bieber was drag racing. but the read shows otherwise. in the middle of the so-called drag race he was cruising at 27 miles an hour. oklahoma state point guard marcus smart will sit out the next three games. he was suspended for shoving a fan in the closing seconds of saturday's loss to texas tech. he had stumbled out of bounds. after trying to block a shot. >> as he got up, the two exchanged words and then smart shoved the guy. he apologized to the fans, his teammates, his family.

>> this is is not how i condone myself. this is now how the program is ran. this is not how i was raised. i let my emotions get the best of me. >> smart's first game when he returns is at home, also, against texas tech. all right, the nhl is on its olympic break. its games don't start again until the 25th of the month. >> as for the nba, yesterday's highlights from espn. >> good morning, america. i'm steve levy, here's your espn "sportscenter" update. wondering where chris paul has been lately? well, he's back on the court. he returned to action. chris paul and blake griffin picked up right where they left off. take a look. the big windmill dunk. he does that, you know. clippers up by 39. next clippers possession. behind the back. another huge slam. the clips are fun to watch, especially when they win.

123-78. largest margin of victory in franchise history for the clips. checking in on the knicks and the thunder. we know they have kevin durant and carmelo anthony. the two top scorers in the nba. carmelo fakes out durant but durant blocks anthony from behind. durant going the other way in transition. draws contact and gets to it go. that gave the thunder a critical 4-3 lead. fourth quarter, thunder up six. here's durant, leading the thunder to victory. drive, defense crashes on him. gets the tough layin. thunder up eight. and then durant was much more than carmelo. anthony had just 15. kevin durant had 41 points, in fact he was one assist shy of a triple-double. here's your big monday on rivalry week on espn. miami and florida state. number eight kansas takes on kansas state. in the night cap. next live "sportscenter," 9:00 a.m. eastern time on espn. now it's true that this is something of an unfair fight. but that hasn't stopped us from

making it our "play of the day." >> dog might be man's best friend. but one clearly isn't the snowman's best friend. in fact, he's no friend at all. >> this dog's name is charlie. he and his owner live in vancouver, washington. seems like charlie is really loving ripping into this snowman. basically destroying him. when it comes to the snow, we feel the same way. we understand the rage. >> go for it, charlie. though i'm convinced there's a treat buried in there somewhere. you gotta think so, right? bacon. it's bacon. isn't that how the commercial goes? up next, "the pulse." more reaction on college football star michael sam coming out. what his fellow football players are saying. and guess who? the movie star who wore this paper bag on the red carpet. star who wore this paper bag on the red carpet. is going to the dog park together. sometimes my copd makes it hard to breathe. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function starting within five minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler

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just stop on by and leave all the legwork to us. switch to walgreens today where you could save with copays as low as zero dollars on select medicare part d plans. at the corner of happy and healthy. time to check "the pulse" stories you'll be talking about today. we begin more on our top story. the nfl may soon have its first openly gay player. missouri defensive lineman michael sam tells espn he's an openly proud gay man. >> the story dominated social media overnight. missouri's official school twitter page sent this message -- we support tigers of all stripes at mizzou. proud of you. @mikesamfootball.

>> tiki barber tweeted it's time for the nfl to show its colors. and next, the olympian who is becoming known for her faces. >> this picture quickly going viral. it shows u.s. figure skater there, ashley wagner, reacting to her score during the team's short program competition. she's obviously not so pleased with the judges' scores. >> other pictures popping up online showing her animated expressions from the past. this one was taken during the u.s. figure skating championships in nebraska. a big finish with a fist pump. >> this one showing ashley reacting to her score during the u.s. figure skating championships back in 2010. >> and just to be fair, we want to show you what she really looks like. obviously, very pretty. very talented. we want to wish her luck in the rest of the games. i say on behalf of all very expressive, overly animated women, cut her a break. >> there you go. good for you, marci. meantime, making headlines for not showing his face. actor shia labeouf.

>> it is apparently his latest attention-grabbing antic at the berlin film festival, wearing a paper bag over his head wearing the words i am not famous anymore. a phrase he's been repeating on twitter. >> whatever. the bag incident follows his bizarre reaction to a question earlier during the day in a press conference. he lifted a random quote from a french soccer player from 19 years ago about fish and sardines and he walked away. >> very bizarre. walking away from a snow shovel competition is man from new mexico. >> check this out. hundreds of spectators and thrillseekers jammed resorts. this is in angel fire resort outside of santa fe for this year's annual snow shovel race championships. men, women, and children waxing up their shovels and taking a dive. >> this year's winner, justin gonzalez, no relation, of angel fire. >> no relation? >> no. he clocked in at over 70 miles an hour. >> 70 miles an hour? >> it's better than shoveling, i guess. using the shovel for this purpose. >> yeah, looks a little more fun than shoveling. as long as you don't die on the

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live from the kgo-tv broadcast center this is abc7 news. >> good monday morning. thanks for joining us. i am christian. >> i am eric toll. we still have drizzle but nothing like the weekend. how will it be driving to work today? as wet? [ inaudible ] >> good morning, everyone, so far the wet roads are not affecting traffic. it is the high wind. we will look at the map and see what is happening at the golden gate bridge we have a high wind advisory and one for the

cartinez bridge. if you are driving high profile be careful. slow down. the roads still wet. this is through walnut creek southbound 680. it is quick drive from highway four to the 24 junction. not too many cars. the traffic is relatively light. it is wet, though. be careful. another wet and challenging week after a series of storms caused flooding and damage in the bay area. amy hollyfield is in mill valley. what do you see? >> how bizarre we went from drought warnings to flood warnings. no majored ins to report from the weekend but there is evidence we had a wet weekend. this is the park and ride in mill valley but this puddle we can >> live with, something we have

been hoping to see for a year: a good soaking. we got one. we had close calls. in mill valley, hillside gave way and crumbled and sent earth tumbling to a large home. it missed the house. the creep in downtown mill valley running strong with lots of water at once and residents were looking for the higher ground. i came in around 11:30 or 12:00 and i saw the water raging. scary. you think of how much computer equipment you could lose in the flood. the preparations are in play. people were nervous. it was heavy, heavy rain at times, the heaviest falling in the north bay but the flash flood warning was called off last night and not raining right now. we