this morning on "early today" -- pre-emptive strike. former penn state head coach joe paterno prepares for the worst. after the oops, texas governor rick perry tries to recover from his monumental debate gaffe. and hanging hooves. meet a goat with a gnarly and hanging hooves. meet a goat with a gnarly pastime. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello, good morning. welcome to our viewer as across the nation including the pacific time zone. i'm veronica de la cruz.

nbc news has learned joe paterno, college football's all-time winningest coach, has reached out to a high-powered washington, d.c. criminal defense attorney this as speculation swirls about the potential for civil suits from the families of alleged victims. meanwhile, officials are digging deeper into the allegations of abuse and a cover-up that have rocked the campus to its core. nbc's jay gray reports. >> reporter: later today the penn state board of trustees will meet again as multiple investigations into alleged child sexual abuse continue. >> the specific aspects of these terrible activities that occurred and terrible damage that was done really remains to be established by whatever law enforcement investigations are yet under way. as well as the investigation by our own board of trustees, special committee. >> reporter: pennsylvania governor tom corbett shifted it to the victims of the alleged

attacks during a visit to the campus last night. >> we need to identify these victims of sexual abuse. we need to find them, we need to help them. they are our children. >> reporter: while the nittany lions' interim football coach begins to search for a way to bring his splintered team and college back together. >> i'm going to find a way to restore the confidence and start a healing process. >> reporter: it is an overwhelming task. >> it's going to be tough for this campus to move forward. >> reporter: a long and difficult journey that will include a candlelight vigil for the victims of the alleged abuse on friday night. jay gray, nbc news, state college, pennsylvania. turning now to the campaign trail, texas governor rick perry isn't letting his debate fumble sideline his white house aspirations. instead, the gop contender went into full-on damage control facing critics and comics head on. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with more on that and

a strategic move by the obama administration. good morning to you. >> reporter: veronica, good morning. not remembering which federal agency to cut, it's actually gotten a lot of attention for texas governor rick perry who was languishing in the polls but now he's been all over tv in the last 24 hours or so, including late night talk shows. they had quite a bit of fodder to work with. making light of the situation on letterman last night, giving the top ten excuses for for getting the federal agencies he would get rid of. >> number six -- >> hey, listen, you try concentrating with mitt romney smiling at you, that's one handsome dude. >> i know. i know exactly what you're talking about. >> reporter: on a serious note you have got to imagine there is a lot of prep work going into tomorrow night's debate. in the meantime, back here on capitol hill, the obama administration has decided to review at the urging of nebraska officials and environmentalists

the keystone pipeline route. >> tracie potts in washington, thank you. elsewhere on this veterans day, a rare display of bipartisanship to help put those who sacrificed for the nation back to work. on capitol hill yesterday every senator on the floor voted in favor of a measure to award tax credits of up to $9600 to companies that hire disabled veterans who have been looking for a job for at least six months. the plan also calls for more job counseling and training for vets and troops about to be discharged. the measure now moves to the house where it is expected to pass. now here's a look at some other stories making news "early today" in america. the u.s. navy soared to new heights in new york yesterday. the mz-38 airship was the first blimp to be launched by the naval branch of america's armed services in half a century.

the test flights were conducted for communication exercises. who says the youth don't care about politics? high school senior was elected mayor of aredale, iowa. the 18-year-old didn't campaign, wasn't on the ballot and didn't even have to kiss any babies to become mayor of the town with a population of 74. he secured the win with write-in votes. well, las vegas is inundated with couples from around the world wanting to start their new life together on 11-11-11. yesterday couples lined up at the county wedding bureau to complete the final paperwork needed to walk down the aisle on this magical date. finally, a california surfer turned his pet goat's first trip to grove beach into a totally awesome sight for beach goers. he put the animal on his surfboard. from the looks of it, she is a natural. new for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather center forecast. just when you thought you saw it all -- >> he didn't have a choice. it was either fall in the ocean, which it's probably never been in -- >> but it's on a surfboard. how does that happen? >> do you think 11-11-11 is is

anything special? >> it's just kind of cool. >> okay. that's fine. that makes sense. 12-12-12 will be cool next year, too. here is what we are dealing with. west coast, is not a huge storm like in alaska. but it is an upper level, sitting there spinning off of the west coast. the moisture is moving parallel to the coast but it is not on shore. the majority of the moisture is right along the coast. the question in the last couple days is how much of this is going to move on shower and how much rainfall will we end up with. a lot of high clouds coming to southern california. on the radar with renot picking up echoes there. there is another one moving into british columbia. we will have high wind gusts and dealing with rain and snow with that one. we have this storm here and the storm in california. the green on the map shows the

rain. it doesn't look like a lot moves on shower. the green is the rain and the blue is the snow. so we're going to be looking at snow in the northern rockies. our computer estimated totals doesn't have a lot. everything less than an inch. forecast for the veterans' day, san francisco, bring the umbrella just in case it does move on shore. eventually los angeles has the best chance of getting moisture. very unsettled in the northwest. your forecast improves over the weekend. speaking of the weekend forecast, we will have the details coming up. >> looks like better weather

here than on the west coast. >> most of the country is. >> that never happens. progress in europe. hopeful day here at home. a staggering sum paid for a not so staggering photo. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, fans of the gladiator genre drive this film to the top this weekend at the box office? coming up, the raiders shut down the chargers and an epic meltdown from golfer john daly. you're watching "early today."

very good morning and welcome back to "early today." here are some of your top headlines this morning. a u.s. army sergeant has been convicted by court-martial of the gruesome murders of unarmed afghan villagers and cutting their fingers off as war trophies. the guilty verdict normally carries a life sentence but the

jury panel decided 26-year-old calvin gibbs would be eligible for parole in 8 1/2 years. activists say 30 civilians and 26 soldiers were killed in syria yesterday ahead of friday prayers. it is one of the highest daley death tolls in the country's seven-month crackdown on pro-democracy protests. a miami civil jury has returned a record $100 million judgment against a former catholic priest accused of sexually abusing dozens of boys. 68-year-old neil dougherty is currently awaiting trial on multiple child sex abuse charges. a prominent conservation group has officially declared africa's western black rhino extinct. the international union for conservation says poaching has driven other rhino subspecies to the brink of extinction as well. officials in spain are closely monitoring the eruption of an underwater volcano because of potentially toxic gases. so far, one person has been sickened. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off

the day. the dow opens at 11,893 after rising 112 points yesterday. the s&p gained 10. the nasdaq was up 3. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei added 13 points while in hong kong the hang seng climbed 173. signs of progress in europe and recovery at home led wall street to a moderate recovery on thursday. italy secured a low interest near $7 billion loans sending yield on italian bonds to 7%. the crisis level they spiked to wednesday. relief also came from italy's president pledging prime minister silvia berlusconi will step down soon. he's expected to be replaced by a respected economist. in greece a day after talks broke down over a new government a senior banker was named prime minister. also u.s. unemployment applications fell to the lowest level since april. exports hit an all-time high in september with the u.s. trade deficit at it's lowest of the year.

in earnings, cisco rose on results that beat estimates. green mountain coffee plunged 39% on short revenue. viacom expanded its stock buy back to $10 billion and topped expectations thanks to paramount's transformers. nordstrom profits rose because affluent shoppers are still buying. after the bell, disney rose. on higher theme park spending and pay tv growth. starbucks, which bought juice company evolution fresh, plans a new juice bar chain next year. and in another round of questioning from english mps news corp. exec james murdoch insisted he was kept in the dark about phone-hacking and other tawdry conduct at a now defunct tabloid, blaming senior aides. believe it or not, this 1999 photograph of the rhine river by artist andreas gursky sold for $4.3 million this week. a record for any photograph ever sold at auction. a battle of the techs on the gridiron, a hat trick on the ice and a pro golfer plays an

amateur round. plus, the raiders and their new quarterback are making people take notice. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. after a pretty nice veterans day, the weekend forecast is shaping up nicely. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

and a very good morning to you. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports long pro football afterthought for all of their faithful fans, suddenly the oakland raiders are threatening to become relevant again. here's nbc's fred roggin with a look at all your sports headlines. good morning. many believe the raiders pay too much for carson palmer but last night he was worth every penny. here we go. palmer came to play against the charges. up 7-3 in the second. he dropped back, surveyed the field and threw a strike to moore. raiders led 14-3. however the chargers didn't back down. philip rivers to vincent brown, a tremendous catch with two defenders all over him. san diego closed the gap. they were down 17-10. that's as close as they would get. palmer wanted more and he got it. another touchdown to moore. the rookie quickly becoming his favorite target. raiders took over first place in

the afc west with a 24-17 win. chargers have dropped four straight. now to college ranks, number ten virginia tech secured top spot in the acc. pulled away from georgia tech in the fourth quarter. logan thomas to chris drager. hokies win it 37-26. number 11 houston gets no respect. perhaps this will help. charlie sims had a field day against tulane. listen to these numbers. two touchdowns, 207 yards on just ten carries. sims played only three quarters. that's impressive. houston a perfect 10-0 after a ridiculous 73-17 win. finally, they say a bad day playing golf is better than a good day at work. try telling that to john daly. he had a forgettable day at australian open. accidentally hit the wrong ball out of the sand trap. apparently he hit a range ball and i don't think that's the brand he uses. then on the next hole, he hit seven balls in the water. yep, seven. it would have been more but he ran out of balls and there were no range balls around. he decided enough was enough, gave his score card to his partner and walked off.

to make matters worse, on his way out, his girlfriend shoved a photographer. just another day in the life of john daly. that's your early look at sports on "early today." have a great weekend. i'm fred roggin. calming the storm, oscar officials pick a tried and true host. your early morning entertainment headlines straight ahead. speaking of tried and true, we've played hide and seek but never on the scale we'll show you.

welcome back on this

veterans day. thank you to all the vets out there. on the west coast, not so bad. we got a cold front going through the northwest with rain and showers. i think la, you're going to get your wet weather later tonight, early saturday morning. it's not a lot of rain for you. there is a chance of showers. the system kicks to the south. phoenix will have a chance for wet weather. looks damp in the pacific northwest into sunday. if you are watching us on ktuu in alaska, see the museum craft museum that sees artists working with natural mediums. >> earth, fire, and fiber. >> no wind. >> now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. at the box office this weekend defending champ "puss & boots" may scratch and claw.

"immortals" should end up edging out "puss & boots". the longshot for top spot is adam sandler's holiday themed come day "jack and jill" featuring sandler playing identical twins. >> i hope it's funny. >> experts see it earning in the low to mid $20 million. despite star power and oscar buzz, the biopic "j. edgar" can't compete because it's not in enough theater this is weekend. still, it should take in close to $15 million. finally, 63-year-old comedian billy crystal will host the academy awards for his ninth go-round and first in this decade. after a week of turmoil surrounding next year's telecast, including eddie murphy dropping out.

the academy went with the familiar and the reassuring, i guess you could say -- what do you think? >> i'll watch for the opening. he does the great musical numbers off the top. you know, that's what i'll be interested in. >> i really wanted to see eddie murphy. we're asking you to tweet at us because bill is finally on twitter. this comes to us from walb news 10 in albany, georgia, where in nearby tifton a child's game was anything but child's play for hundreds of college student. ready or not, here they come. student at abraham baldwin agricultural college made a play for guinness world record of hide and seek 37 just over 400 hid out from the player that they called it but that wasn't enough as they fell short of the record. still, not quite a record-breaking night, it was certainly memorable. can you imagine being it for 400 players? >> hopefully they'll tag someone else and they can be it. >> it was probably easier, 400 people. i'm veronica de la cruz, "early today" just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

one street corner in argentina's capital became the site for an unlikely practice session. competitors preparing for today's miss pole dancing competition showed off their skills a day early using traffic signs and railings as props. fitness clubs have helped bring pole dancing into the mainstream and efforts are even under way to make it a competition in the 2016 olympics, believe it or not. this certainly is not your grandmother's form of bingo. to raise money for charity people in canada gathered to

play cow paddy bingo. it involves leading a cow onto a field with numbered spaces. and wherever it leaves a deposit, well, you know, you can figure out the rest. one problem with this event, though, the cow wasn't cooperating, which at least made clean-up a breeze, i guess you could say. well, in london, one ice rink decided to get in touch with nature for its grand opening. rather than open its doors to humans, penguins were the first to grace the ice this season. after making their grand entrance, they waddled around, testing the frozen waters. penguins had a snack and then gathered to watch a fellow ice lover enjoy the space. oh, too cute! after the show, downstairs, got to get on the ice. >> ice rink. >> you know something, we've been here for a decade and i've never been on the ice at the rock. >> all right. well, it all changes this morning. >> i need to go down to the rink. >> absolutely. time for an early look at stories we'll follow throughout the day on nbc. it is the 11th day of the 11th

month in 2011. there's an array of quirky events to celebrate the numerical oddity. it occurs once every century. some atlantic city casinos are charging $11.11 for meals and attractions. disney world will host 11 weddings with another 11 planned in times square. over 3,000 couples have registered to marry in las vegas. three times the usual number one chapel has reservations from as far as hungary and singapore. fans of the film "this is spinal tap" have christened the date nigel day whose guitar amp went up to, you guessed it, 11. all day long you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those and others as they break on msnbc. tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." and finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. more of savannah guthrie's exclusive interview with michael jackson's doctor as he explains why he didn't call 911 after finding the pop star in trouble. and find out where in the world is matt lauer as he wraps up his week-long adventure. now keep it on this channel

for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm veronica de la cruz, thank you for watching "early today." just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a terrific weekend.