on why the u.s. is a world leader in reducing co2 emissions. take the energy quiz. energy lives here. ♪ this morning, my question. is richard sherman in the tradition of mohamm mohammeuham. the marijuana push creating a haze around the super bowl. but, first, as rod said to jerry, show me the money! good morning, i'm melissa harris-perry. today is not just any given sunday. today is going to be all about football because it is super bowl sunday. in less than nine hours super

bowl xlviii is about to begin at metlife stadium in new jersey. according to the latest reports in the last 72 hours, fans from washington state have purchased 17% of tickets. while fans from colorado have purchased only 8%. oh, yes, y'all, the super bowl is all about proud fans, bright lights, big stars and as cuba gooding jr. told us in the movie "jerry mcguire" it's all about showing the money. for the owners, the league, the fans? we know the nfl is getting theirs. the revenue of $9 billion and a commissioner who hopes to reach an annual revenue of $25 billion by 2027. and the 32 nfl teams on average each team is worth $1.17 billion. now, while there is salary

inequality across the nfl and i'll get back to that in just a bit. whether you're a winner or loser in the super bowl tonight, you're going to be making bank. if you're player on the winning team tonight, you get an extra $92,000, not to mention those blinged out super bowl rings that each cost about $5,000. the losers get $46,000 apiece. later tonight, the den ver broncos and seattle seahawks will play the most expensive stadium in the world that came with a price tag of $1.6 billion. now, the stadium, which is home to both the new york giants and the new york jets was built using no public money. but it's not the fans who benefitted necessarily from that deal. according to "new york times" metlife stadium was built on 750 acres of state-owned land in new jersey. both teams received 20 acres for training facilities and 75 acres to develop. while the team's each pay approximately $6.3 million in rent and other payments, it's the taxpayers who are still paying off the $100 million in

bonds on the old stadium that was demolished. neither team has to share revenue from parking or suites or concerts with the state. but for the team owners, metlife stadium is a means to an end without it they say it's doubtful that new york and new jersey will be hosting this year's super bowl and the super bowl invigorates a local economy, right? well, the estimates for the economic impact of this super bowl are that it will inject between $500 million and $600 million into the economy, but, hey, not so fast. because sports economists put the impact at more like a quarter of that total with most of the money benefiting new york and not new jersey, the state where the game is actually being played. so, why a discrepancy over economic impact? so the nfl could drive up future bids by cities wanting to obtain the rights to having the super bowl on their turf. if you are a true fan of the game and you thought you were going to score some tickets, well, the prices for tickets have dropped in the last few days the average person would

still be difficult at best to afford one. according to ticket website raz razorgate the tickets dropped from $1,500 to a more affordable price of just under $1,300. even if you're able to afford a ticket, good luck getting one. only 1% are reserved for the public. for 30 straight years football has been the favorite sport in the u.s. but are the fans who made it that way getting left on the sidelines? at the table, roman oban a former nfl player who won the super bowl in 2002 with the tampa bay buccaneers. dave for "the nation" magazine and wade davis, a former nfl player who played for the tennessee titans, washington redskins and seattle seahawks. wade is also the executive director of you can play project. happy super bowl sunday. >> yes. >> let me begin with you. if i just asked the question, who gets paid off the nfl or who gets paid as a result of major

football, professional football, what's your answer? >> i mean, there are plenty of people who get paid and, guess what, melissa? the top 1 percenters. i love that you dropped that 1% line. because the super bowl is home to 1 percenters. if you don't have average fans who are obviously able to afford the game. we're talking about a league that is laughably tax exempt. a league that has built the majority of public stadiums off taxpayers money. we're talking about in a league new orleans given inducement payments for years. millions of dollars just to stay in new orleans. >> after the storm there was this possibility that benson was going to leave and here the city was sort of desperately saying, no, we need our good news stories and we need our team. instead of that sense of, oh, of course, the team and the city is one. pay me to stay. >> i hate saying this out loud the rich get richer but it is so apt and so fitting. it is a business.

there's no incentive for them whatsoever to really include g regular fans because it's a business and happens only once a year. >> nothing more likely to get me in trouble this afternoon or this morning but i want to say this anyway. there is actual wage inequality within the context of the nfl. i just know from reading your pieces and others. you read in the comment section and folks are cry me a river for all the poor, professional football players. there is, in fact, a huge gap between the folks who are at the top and sort of the working joes who are at the bottom of this game. >> no, absolutely. we can start with raoger goodel who makes under $30 million a year as nfl commissioner. >> what is his head injury risk? >> although given his recent comments about the washington football's team name, i think he has had a few head injuries. let's be clear about something, super bowl is woodstock for the

1%. where they gather to celebrate their wealth and their excess. there's no site in the given year that has more private plane traffict to it than the super bowl. it causes traffic jams at local airports. nfl owners, let's be clear how they make their money. the welfare kings of the united states. we're talking $18.5 billion, $900 million a year over the last 20 years for nfl ownership. what you end up having is what i call it a neoliberal horse because you have projected on cities through stadium construction under the guise of sports, which people are more likely to support than if you said, hey, let's give $900 million, let's give a billion dollar gift to a billionaire. when you cloak it in the guise of sports, when you cloak it in the guise of sports we'll take this team and leave then they say it's good economics. that is every single study from the brookings institute to the cato institute says that stadium funding is not good economics.

if you flew a plane over new york city and dropped $1 billion on the street and people could pick up the money and spend it in local stores that would do better for the local economy than building a stadium. >> so, there are so many levels of this, right? one is the question of stadiums and the infrastructure and the ways that may actually maybe suck more than it gives back. the question of the inequality from the commissioners at the top to league minimum for risking all kind of injury. but also a great privilege to play this game. a game that people love and to make a better salary than most ordinary folks make in the context of their lives. how do we balance those things and wanting to talk about the unfairness and inequality. hey, this is a game and a sport and a job that i love that is pretty well paid. >> as a player, you're so oblivious to all these other numbers and stats and the economy of the game and who benefits. one thing that was compelling to me is that these nielson ratings of these fans that can't afford to go to the game, that's what

they use to measure to sell the spots at $4 million every 30 seconds. and then with the local businesses, you know, hotels can triple their price for the weekend, but you can't triple your costs of a burger at the restaurant for a weekend because over the course of a year, you won't really benefit as a local business as much from the super bowl coming one weekend. >> and a hotel, if a lot of folks are staying in chain hotels, that money isn't necessarily benefiting local economy. it's benefiting mareiariott or whatever the chain may be. it is estimated that nfl revenue, $5 billion in media and television writes, 1 to $2 billion in sponsorship and another $1 billion in merchandise and licensing. this is big money. does money inherently corrupt or is there a way to have big money as part of something, but also have it operate in a way that is more fair and more just? >> i think the one thing about the nfl is that its socialism

with the owners and capitalism with the players, right? you know that there is this revenue sharing aspect amongst the owners where they exist in this really beautiful space. but if you were to talk to owners outside of the football realm, they would be really against the idea of socialism. where players are in this capitalistic free market entity. where as long as there is value to you, we actually want you. but as soon as you get owed we discard of you. >> i want to talk more about that when you get older. a lot of folks don't realize you can be on your own dealing with health consequences for a long time after your days of playing in the league are over. up next, what happens when the nfl commissioner gets ambushed by one of his own players. kind of amazing. >> yes, it was. my mother and my grandmother are very old fashioned. i think we both are clean freaks. i used to scrub the floor on my knees. [ daughter ] i've mastered the art of foot cleaning. oh, boy. oh, boy. oh, boy. [ carmel ] that drives me nuts.

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on friday nfl commissioner roger goodell gave his presuper bowl news conference. while he addressed questions ranging from exmrapanding the playoffs and adding a centralized instant replay office it was this question by vernon davis who was there for sports illustrated monday morning quarterback that may have caught the commish a little off guard. >> roger, we played one of america's most dangerous and lucrative games, but still we have to fight for health benefits. we have to jump through hoops for it. why doesn't the nfl offer free health care for life especially those suffering from brain? jury. >> he said the health care benefits provided for the nfl players are the best in the world but the commissioner acknowledged that the league has

fallen short when it comes to providing health care for veteran players. >> we all still have a lot of work to do for former players. the cost of trying to provide health care for every player that's ever played in the league was discussed with the unit. it was determined that these changes were the best changes and that's what we negotiated. we will continue to make more efforts and do a better job, particularly with our former players in providing them opportunities and to give them the proper health care. >> in comparison to other sports such as nb a&m lb players eligible for lifetime packages if they have played at least three seasons, received a whopping five whopping years of health care after retirement and then for the most part they are cut off. is that fair? >> when commissioner goodell talked about we did all the research, i was on the benefit's committee that did all the research and it would cost $1.4 million per player to insure them for the course of a

lifetime. if you play 3 1/2 to 4 years, you get five years of insurance, continued insurance and then you have a $25,000 a year that caps at like $300,000, which is 12 years. i played 12 years, i was lucky to be in that first class of people that get lifetime, not lifetime but whenever that 3 $00,000 caps out. the league should do more, the league should do more with this collective bargaining negotiation, it comes down to one side saying what we're willing to accept and the other side what we're willing to give up and somewhere along the way they meet up in the middle and it's not a perfect system at all. >> davis does make a key point about how lucrative the game is and how dangerous it is. i think about the fact that we're in these fights right now about pensions and employees, for example, all over the midwest and other places where this fight was about whether or not once you have put in your time, you deserve to have that support for a lifetime. i just keep thinking, i mean, really, particularly in this

context, the physical toll of having done the work for the nfl and enriched so many people. >> typical career runs 3 1/2 years and then you find yourself 25, 26 years old and sometimes with health problems that last you the rest of your life. i did that book with john carlos from the '68 olympics. he walks with a terrible hip and hundreds of thousands of doll s dollars. that happened after he tried out for the eagles. one harsh hit and the rest of his life he's paying these bills. what the nfl says, there is no way we can do this. in the last bargaining agreement fought hurowly there would be revenue for retired players. at one time they were out on their own. onset diminiementidementia, dep players that are missing their medical appointments because of early on-set dementia and saying this is proof that it's fraud.

all kinds of aspersions put on the players. at the bottom of all of this which no one wants to talk about is wholesale hard-core greed. they get as much back from their investment as much as humanly possible. when that equipment runs out, well, it's on to the next one. becomes a meat grinder. >> comes to your point about the capitalism that operates for the players. we'll revenue share at the top. i won't call it socialism but for the very, for the tiny minority. but then for other folks, if you're on an extension of the equipment, i like this language. once you're no longer valuable, we no longer have a responsibility to you. >> you have players who are trying to get as much money as they can out of the gate. you know, and then they're like, well, okay, how can i get money now to protect myself knowing that there is no money for when

i'm done and retired. they haven't taken into account the fact that they may get hurt. so. >> so, it drives up that initial asking price because you know you're going to have to put aside this portion to pay for these bills coming up. >> it's a double-edge sword. can i get all the money i can now and am i forward thinking enough to think my career may last only three or four years. how do i have something in the reserve in case i get hurt? >> how is it other major league sports are doing better than the nfl? is it just because the cost of caring for former nfl players versus caring for former baseball players. >> you have to look back at the structure of the system. if you look back at the major being baseball union, a long storeied history not only on the strength of the union but the strength of the union to fight for the players' rights. they have the best rights for players in all four professional sports. one thing good for vernon davis for, "a," asking goodell this

and as much as we have this awareness of concussions and as much as the nfl, in my opinion, make player safety first and all these initiatives to try to make the game healthier and better and sort of extend the life quality for its players after they are done playing, you know, we still come down to the fact that they aren't providing for their players. and we just did a segment on the economics of this game and how much money for a tax exempt organization the nfl and its executives and all the other sort of trickle down people who benefit. yet, goodell the other day was saying costs. we looked at the costs. if you also look at the cost, look at the rest of the economics of your game. i think it's entirely possible to be able to afford to pay for lifetime health insurance for your players. >> we were looking at a concussion timeline starting back in the 2013/'14 season and then coming forward and you can see that there are these new rules for hitting with the crown of the helmet and the concussion case going to court and the nfl

agreeing in a settlement and then decline in pop warner population of almost 10%. then you have players exiting because of concussion. funding of research. you have the intensity over the questions over the past year but not, maybe we can't afford the commissioner's salary versus not being able to afford this. >> this is going to lead the gladatorialization of the sport. where the people that can afford to go to the games trickles and the people on the game trickles down. what do all four quarterbacks have in comemon? they came from stable, middle-class homes and they played other sports. that is the type of player that is not going to play in the nfl in the next generation. >> 1,000 times i've been listening and we'll talk more about richard sherman. part of the question we'll ask, the extent of which he's

reminiscent from mohammuhammad but the other piece for me, i want to run up and put my hands around his head. don't let anybody hit it. a young man of that level of intelligence and capacity, not that i'm surprised to find that in the nfl, i'm not. but rather that because we know what we know about head injuries, it makes me nervous for his brain in the same way that the battle of muhammad ali's life has been what happened in terms of his head injuries. up next, not just pro football players asking tough questions. we'll tell you how some college players are trying to change their game completely. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. i just served my mother-in-law your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much... i told her it was homemade. everyone tells a little white lie now and then. but now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] she's right behind me isn't she? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

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starting quarterback kain colter for the first time in the history of players sports. they can be recognized as employees in addition to college athletes. one of their main goals is to obtain better medical protections and coverage for college athletes. on tuesday, hula, president of the ncaa of the national college players association filed a petition on northwestern football players with the national labor relations board. told the media why this action is necessary. >> a period of 60 years where they knowingly established a system while using terms like student athlete and amateurism to try to skirt labor laws. >> kain colter spoke about why student voices need to be heard. >> student athletes don't have a voice, they don't have a seat at the table. the current model resembles a dictatorship where the ncaa

places rules and regulations on the students without the input and negotiation. >> ncaa responded to allegations in a statement from the chief legal officer, donald remy who wrote this union backed attempt to turn student athletes into employees undermines the purpose of college and education. student athletes are not employees and their participation in college sports is voluntary. we stand for all student athletes, not just those the unions want to professionalize." dave is going to pop off the edge of my table. i'm going to go to you first on this. >> that statement reminds me about joe biden's statement, a noun, a verb and student athletes. donald remy does not work for me. he's not an amateur in terms of the ncaa. this is amazing. this is historic. this is the first crack in the ncaa cartel. an act of daring on these players and what's so

disheartening is the approach. for student athletes, here are young people thinking critically. where do they get this idea? in a class about ralabor laws. they're going to class and they're talking to each other. >> you're about to get a whole bunch of people fired these professors teaching you about organizing. >> how dare they make you think critically. they're basically saying we're not going to be part of the meat grinder and not happy with the system where coaches make millions of dollars a year and players don't even get basic medical care if they get hurt. they don't even get four-year scholarships. renewed on an annual basis. they're talking about basing rights. >> i have a dear friend in high school who was highly recruited as a college football player and i'm thinking all the things they trot out for you, come here, look at our nice rooms and here are all the great things and our graduation rate. but i'm wondering if i was a d-1

school, could i distinguish myself from my competitors by allowing unionization on my campus and, thereby, actually sort of creating a circumstance to be more likely to get some of the top players. if it is going to be a competitive environment in that way, would that be one way to do it? >> it could. but it opens up a huge potential for enormous issues. i mean the one thing about trying to solve the ncaa is that everyone's been trying to solve college at lettics. the issues of whether or not we pay these players and profiting off of them. no one has really ever come up to my knowledge with a really effective, smart, logical way to fix this. i think it's amazing what these players are trying to do. especially at a time when labor unions are being assaulted against. two years ago at the super bowl, protests for indiana's right to work law. i think, i know dave you are 100% on that train and i think it's great, but when you try and

look at, also, private institutions are covered by the national labor relations board, but public ones aren't. are you going to have a two-tiered system here when you're trying to implement salaries. it's a massive, massive sort of look at trying to change a system that has been corrupt fundamentally for year. >> kain called them a dictatorship. i mean, if i don't know ncaa and i'm normally show up for the economic conversations on this show. explain why. why is it being described as a cartel or a dictatorship? >> i think the biggest reason is you have these athlete who are bringing in a lot of money to schools and you have coaches, as dave said, making millions of dollars and players are risking their lives. you know, for this game. and some of them may get hurt in their first year. their scholarship is done. their school isn't paid for. if i'm a student athlete, right, should my student part be paid for because even though i may

not be an athlete any more, i was. the reason i came to your school in the first place, you showed me all these bells and whistles and let that continue. >> i'm compelled that if i'm oklahoma, ucs, so, i'm saying, look, these kids at northwestern are caring about us. they're balancing even budget or even a little less. their stadium doesn't have multi-corporate sponsors and the fact these northwestern kids that are scholar athletes care about the upper echelon of the student athletes bringing in all the money. i think it's excellent. >> the phrase student athlete was created by the ncaa as a legal term in the 1950s after a man named ray denson died on the football field and his wife attempted to sue for workers compensation. that's where the phrase was created. this is corrupt from jump street from ground zero. what the players are doing, i totally agree with what amy

said. this thing is huge and complicated. northwestern is doing something that has never happened before. they're demanding a seat at the table to figure out these problems. that's what's missing. the ncaa and the presidents all want to figure out how to do it. a lot of them in good faith and the student athlete are not part of the discussion. >> at least not in any kind of organized fashion. there may be former players and that sort of thing. but the idea of an organized active student in that moment. amy nelson, thank you so much for joining us. i hope you will come back often. up next, i'll sit down with a couple of my fellow msnbc weekenders and some fellow football fans to talk super bowl. >> if people are looking for appointment television on the weekends in the dead of winter, all three of us have weekend shows. you can always have nerdline disrupt party. no need to wait for the super bowl. then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last.

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the two teams facing each uth other on the football field have two of the loudest and proudest fans in the nfl. bronco fans got so loud last year that peyton manning asked them to pipe down during plays. seattle fans broke the record that a nearby seismometer picked up the same as monitoring a minor earthquake. yet this afternoon at metlife stadium in new jersey that atmosphere will be largely missing. super bowls are relatively quiet events but with 35% of the tickets going to the actual teams on the field and the price averaging $2,500 just ahead of the game and that new jersey is not only cold, but also 1,600 miles away from denver and 2,400 miles away from seattle. today's game could be one of the quietest. most of us never get to go to a

super bowl in person. we watch it with friends and families at home and in bars throughout america. we watch it even if our team, like the saints, just didn't make it this year. recently i had a chance to sit down and ground in some of our woe for our team sorries with karen finney and steve kornacki to talk football and, what else? politics. >> so, steve, i feel like there was a dream we had at the beginning of the season, a dream of a pregame show with our teams and that dream is dead. >> it lasted later into the year i thought. if you looked at where the patriots were supposed to finish this year on paper, they shouldn't have won the division, shouldn't have made the playoffs. i kind of took it as, unfortunately, we ran into this peyton manning buzz saw a couple weeks ago. but i was hopeful until the end. we'll always have that, i'll always have that wonderful

october new orleans/new england game. >> my prediction. i did call it. >> the game that made me come on to the set and choke you. >> yes, you did. it was the first on-air choking in msnbc history. i a choking comparable to the one your team put up the week before. >> ouch. >> sorry. >> i'm interested. all of us are political folks and we cover elections and we report on politics. is there anything about politics and football that have a connection? what are those things that are like each other? >> blood sport. >> i'm just saying, it's a competition. you got a team. you know, working in politics, working on campaigns. it's a competition. you're trying to win. a light at the end of the tunnel and there's an end game and the election day and same thing with sports. there's team, there's good, there's bad. >> especially football. it feels like there's an intensity to it and for me,

there's also a partisanship. i love the saints, it's my team. >> it actually illustrates i always think about with politics where i tend to think that most peep of politics is divided by tribalism. somebody in my tribe who is in trouble and now i want to work backwards and rationalize what they did was okay. >> here's the reality. all three of us drown in our sorrows and chicken wings and gingerale, we're in the position that most folks are in when they go to watch a super bowl, that their team has long been out. why do you think people watch anyway? >> something about it, still, just the two teams, it comes down to two teams. which one you like the least or hate the least or maybe you like one or don't like one. i think there's a fascination of what is going to happen and kind of one of the few collective moments in our culture where like everybody, pretty much, is

watching. you're going to talk about it the next day and did you see that play? we don't have many of those any more. >> my thanks to steve and karen for taking the time to share a few laughs and drown a few sorrows in ginger ale. as we all wish a better season for our teams next year. up next, what had new jersey governor chris christie concerned about the big game this week? adding thousands of products online every day. from hard hats and goggles. to tools and cleaning products... to state of the art computers, to coffee to keep you fueled. from the sign over the door to the boxes to get it out the door. yes, staples has everything you need to launch your big idea. except your big idea. so when you get an idea, we're ready with everything else. staples. make more happen.

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for just $29.99 a month. with limited availability in select markets. ♪ with limited availability in select markets. ♪ clovers and blue moons shoes ♪ hourglasses, rainbows ♪ and tasty red balloons let's go! ♪ lucky charms ♪ frosted lucky charms ♪ they're magically delicious if you have been following news coverage in the weeks leading up to the super bowl you will have by now caught wind of the second big story of the event, other than the game. if you follow the news around any of the super bowls in recent years, you already know how the story goes because it makes the same headlines every year. the game attracts an influx of men forcing unknown number of women into sex for money.

political leaders have been making the case for the explosion in super bowl sex trafficking since at least 2011 when the event rolled into town in dallas. now, that year texas attorney general greg abbott said that "the super bowl is the greatest show on earth, but also has an ugly underbelly." commonly known as the single largest trafficking incident in the united states. he's right the super bowl/sex trafficking link has become common knowledge, but knowledge that stands disputed as unsubstantiated by reliable facts. in 2011 the golden alliance against traffic in women produced a report about sex trafficking and major sporting events including the super bowl and found that there is a wide discrepancy between claims made prior to large sporting events and the actual number of trafficking cases found. no evidence that large sporting events cause an increase in trafficking for prostitution. those seem to be the facts and, yet, the claim about supporting

events and about sporting events and trafficking doesn't come without consequences for the very women that law enforcement is looking to protect. that's next. [ coughs, sneezes ] i have a big meeting when we land, but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest. [ male announcer ] nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. they don't? alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a decongestant. [ inhales deeply ] oh. what a relief it is. and five simple whole grains, new multigrain cheerios dark chocolate crunch is breakfast... with benefits. start your day with a delicious new crunch. healthy never tasted so good. mom? come in here. come in where? welcome to my mom cave.

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new jersey governor chris christie is likely excited for his state to play to this year's super bowl. earlier this week one issue that had them concerned. in a series of tweets sent out governor christie wrote, "we are only a few days away from the super bowl. a day when sex trafficking is at high risk. to anyone out there even thinking about it, do not even try it. eyes and ears on the gound and on the web. if you do try it, expect to get caught. when you are caught, expect to be prosecuted." with me here dion haywood who works to protect women and msnbc

host joy reid and national reporter for "usa" today reporting on sex trafficking in the last two years. so nice to have you at the table. you and i had these conversations before, but help people to understand because i think folks are really legitimately concerned about sex trafficking. what is the difference between sex trafficking and sex work? >> so, i'll start with sex work. sex work is anyone who makes a decision to involve themselves and sex work is a way to make income. and sex work varies. it can be dancers, strippers, however you want to say it. phone, porn, whatever. but it's normally used to describe the issue instead of saying prostitution, which people like me and others feel is very demeaning and shaming use in the word. but it is work. it's a way to generate income for women. that's sex work. >> and a key aspect of that.

i just want to point out, consent. so, it may be technically illegal as a result of the laws on the books, right? >> right. >> but it's consensual and it means we're talking about adult people and talking about adults making consensual choices around their economic realities. distinguish that from the language about sex trafficking that, you know, sort of prompts the kind of tweets that we saw, for example, from governor christie and events like the super bowl. >> a lot of times when you're talking about sex trafficking, minors, people that are being forced or coerced and this could be adults. if we're talking about someone who has someone under their control, it's either a pimp or they call them traffickers sometimes. people actually forcing you to engage in this and forcing you to sell your body and also comes with violence. that's kind of the concern and that's what the definition is of trafficking and the federal law. >> so, deon, a real challenge

here, right? because if we're talking about the main thing distinguishing it consent versus force and coercion, these are tough things to figure out, especially maybe for a local police force that doesn't have a lot of training in this, but tell me how the concern about trafficking then ends up being practices against sex workers during moments like this. >> it don't make the distinction. if anyone that they see, especially when the law is local. any local law normally prostitution is illegal. everywhere in the country. and, so, if law enforcement knows they're supposed to arrest people involved in prostitution, that's all they know. majority of the the women we work with are women who consent and make a decision to be involved, but those are the women who we see arrested more than that, women and transgender women are arrested for sex work. >> so you, end up with a public concern about sex trafficking that leads into consenting sex workers. so, the very folks that we think

are out there to protect, we end up criminalizing. >> exactly. people should go to # and there is a thing called the save your industrial complex, which i would argue that cindy mccain has been a big part of. she has been pushing this as her issue of stopping sex trafficking and she first did so at a 2012 halo anti-terrorism conference and she raised the issue as one of national security. and all of this does is criminalize and raise the temperature on something that i would argue should be decriminalized and should be unionized. because once you start stigmatizing and attacking sex workers all you're really doing and all the people who do the work say this and all you're doing is making their lives that much more difficult. >> exactly. >> weigh in for me. you have greg abbott saying probably putting this on the agenda for us that the super bowl is the single largest sex trafficking problem. when we look back at these

events, six months later, a year later, what do the arrest records tell us? >> i wrote a story about two weeks about this and i called every host city and said what did you actually see? the dallas pd, maybe other police forces involved but that year in 2011 made no arrests for trafficking or for prostitution, actually. so, in indianapolis i had a pretty telling conversation with the head of the human trafficking unit there. first he said they changed their name as the super bowl was coming to not just the sex unit, but the sex trafficking unit. he said that he hot dal, as well as miami, may have been exaggerating their numbers because when he called them he said i heard tens of thousands of women that would come to my city and we didn't see it. they made really two arrests in indianapolis. they did find a girl who came there from cleveland and anecdotal. >> so, joy, what do you think is going on? i like this idea that there is a save your industrial complex,

but i'm wondering what the industrial complex is like. what is the political incentive around this? >> it's really interesting that you say that because it starts to appear that maybe the incentive is around the prison industry. i know when miami hosted two super bowls in a row, all we, not all, but a lot of what we were hearing anecdotally in advance, we'll have this wave of minor girls being trafficked into miami who are going to be brought here and basically traded around during the event. it's not just the super bowl, by the way. this happens a lot around the political conventions. when we went to tampa, the stripper capital of the world hosted the republican national convention, you heard a lot of the same sort of rumors. that you never really saw these sort of post-game or po post-convention numbers. you just had a few sensational stories, including one of a former nfl player that was arrest would a young girl in a hotel room. we know it does happen. there are minor girls that are

being exploided during the big events whether it's super bowl or conventions. there isn't typically follow up. so much promotion of it to but at the end of the day i have not seen the data. >> so important because nobody wants to sit here and say, that doesn't happen. we want, i mean, we care a lot about survivors and about victims, sexual assault of trafficking. but the notion that there is an incentive to criminalize particular kinds of bodies which become the ones that go and get picked up in this moment. >> well, for me, it has a lot to do, i tell people, we're not telling people it doesn't happen. but what we are saying the people arrestred normally arrested in areas that are overly policed. urban areas, poor areas. so, these are the area wheres the police are, which is why they can pick up women, or target women in new orleans and new york and we have seen where women are being arrested for having condoms in their purse.

not that they're seeing with a date, they were actually stopped because police found condoms in their purse and assumed that they must be prostituting themselves. so, then they were arrested. >> and so you end up with this criminalization of the very people, again, who presumably there's this sort of public concern to help. >> right. >> and the data that we have seen and there have been some articles on this recently that are quite good. we're talking four arrests at the last three super bowls for trafficking. think about the amount of money that goes in. we would be so naive if we don't think lobbying groups around law enforcement that are going in there full force. and i'll tell you this, this is why it's so important to go #notyourrescueproject. cindy mccain is a traveling a year in advance to travel to arizona. their attitude is not, thank you, cindy. our savior. rea reachinging up as if it's a prohibition film.

save us from the sin of our bodies. instead it's like, oh, no, this will make our lives more difficult. >> it's a complex topic, a lot on it. i appreciate you starting to work to correct it. particularly appreciate your journalistic efforts that say, okay, if this is happening, there ought to be some evidence and let's look at what that evidence is. thank you. coming up, a closer look at the big issues around the big game. race, gender and even marijuana. super sized show on this super bowl sunday. there's more at the top of the hour. [ buzzer ] ooh! i love that just washed freshness, but then it goes to your closet...to die. so do what i do -- try glow unstopables in-wash scent boosters. toss them in before the wash, then pour in downy infusions for softness. mmm! and they fill your closet with scents so fresh

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today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. we're gonna be late. ♪ ♪ ♪ oh, are we early? [ male announcer ] commute your way with the bold, all-new nissan rogue. ♪ welcome back. i'm melissa harris-perry. in super bowl xlviii russell wilson will try to become the

wilson's chance to join williams is just one of the few reasons why our guest dave in his piece for "the nation" on friday to ask those of us not denver bronco fans to root for wilson to make history. big reason why those of us who watch football and the nfl enjoy it as much as we do is because of history, not just the epic plays, but also the players who change the game and how we see it. today about 70% of nfl layers are african-americans and hard for fans to think of a league that isn't dominated by black men, particularly at positions like runningback, defensive end, wide receiver and cornerback. and, now, finally thanks to players like wilson, quarterback. but it's worth remembering. the shoulders on which those players stand. modern day pro football was desegregated in 1946. a full year before jackie robinson became baseball's first black player.

woody strobe, number 34 signeden with the los angeles rams and bill willis, number 60 on the left and marion motley joined the cleveland browns. the head coaching ranks weren't desegregated until then los angeles rangers hired shell the second black coach in nfl history after pollard who coached the akron pros in 1921. a black coach didn't win a super bowl until tony dungy colts defeated chicago bears in super bowl xli. but as we celebrate the progress of black men and profootball, we're mindful that issues around race and manhood are still a factor in the sport even today. those made clear recently by the controversy which erupted two sundays ago after seahawks all-pro corner back made the key play to help win the championship. during a passionate post-game interview he proclaimed himself the best cornerback in the game

and a sorry receiver. after the interview, sherman received racist taunts online. one of the things sherman said he learns from all this is "it's not all black and white. race played a major part in how my behavior was received." "but i think it went beyond that. would the reaction would have been the same if i was clean cut without the dred locs. maybe if i looked more acceptable conservative circles, my rant would have been understood as passion. former offensive tackle number 72 champion lxxii champion of s xxxvii. and also here is joy reed and soon to be host of a new weekday

msnbc show and also with us is wade davis, former nfl player and executive director of the you can play project. so, i'm going to actually start with ask you, joy, soon to be host of your own show because, you know, it was fascinating to watch, you know, marshawn lynch for being too quiet and sherman for being too loud and i just felt like, can a brother live? >> it's interesting. because we're just bonding over the fact that we turned out, wade and i went to the same high school. i grew up in denver. i practically had orange crush in my sippy cup. i am torn in this super bowl for one reason that is richard sherman. when i watched that game, you know, i saw the ending and i thought to myself, that was a little much and then i thought that will blow over. i did not think it was a big deal. that wasn't too cool. and then you move on from it. but then to see the reaction to him.

to see the way he was treated and the way he was called the n-word and then have it reach the point of politics. for john mccain to have to add his voice to it. for people to say he is now the reason you should root for the broncos. i feel like my heart is going to the other team. i want to have seattle win so that richard sherman can come out there and do another victory lap because a man in sports is supposed to be strong and we celebrate those qualities, but if you look like richard sherman adding to the fact that he is a dark complected black man and he has the dreads and all those players of disincentive in our society to by be that way when he's an intelligent stanford graduate. so enraging that it makes me want to root for -- >> the phrasing you just used, joy, to be a man in this sport. i want to listen for a moment my

colleague chris hayes had an opportunity to interview mr. sherman. i want to listen for just a moment to that. >> people talking about you, one side of it is people calling you a thug and then people run in and say, oh, he has a stanford degree. sometimes the subtext, he's one of the good ones. don't worry, he has the stanford degree. >> i think that's showing some of the close mindedness of society and how they want to label people. they want to feel like there's black and white. that it's either this category or this category. no middle ground. and i think i incompass just about every part of both. >> so, you certainly have had that. i mean, you are the tall, broad shouldered football playing man who also sits at the table at nerdland and encompassing both of those and, again, let a brother live on that. >> i came from an area where you had to appreciate what jim brown

and what they went through in the '60s and there was still just this notion of you don't deserve to be loud and obnoxious on your success. you better appreciate all this happened to you because of what happened before you. we had the black mount rushmore but i think this generation's black mount rushmore is russell simmons and diddy -- >> they have president obama, too. >> but i think, i mean, richard sherman, it's calculated in what he's done. he's very smart and just a lot of people. i mean, these tweets, they weren't 70 year olds tweeting. these were 20, 35-year-old. tell us how you really feel. >> some african-americans who were performing the the respectability stuff. saying he set us back some period of time. >> saying he set us back 500 years. >> it's so funny. 500 years. >> yeah.

it's terrible. but america is a country devoted to the death of the paradox. and that specifically, too, with people who are not supposed to step out of their box. so, and gerald early the great used that baldwin quote to describe muhammad ali. if you box you aren't supposed to say how pretty you aare. you're stepping out of your box. you are a paradox. richard sherman is in so many ways a paradox. that's why people came at him so fur oerociously like how dare ye so loud. the stanford thing, why there was so much pushback. just because you go to stanford does not make you a good person, or just because you're president of stanford doesn't make you a good person. but the idea that people can push back on the races and say you're calling him a thug, straight a student compton.

i think it gave a confidence to sort of champion sherman in the last week. >> dave said to put him back in his box. if you look at most of the tweets said about sherman, it was like peyton manning is going to put you back in your box. this all-american white man is now going to exercise all of your bad demons by now punishing you because you stood up and did something that we don't deem acceptable. i also hate how stanford has now used show his humanity. imagine if he didn't go to stanford. what would be said about him. almost like he should have gone through this car wash and come out clean and respectful because he went to stanford. i never heard a school mention around an athlete as much as i have richard sherman. >> i want to challenge you, joe, this notion. for those of us looking for a team to root for. not for seattle because of what they did to our saints, twice.

i have that same feeling. they're being mean to him and i'm going to stand up for the black man and then i'm realizing, okay, meanwhile, as i said in the beginning, we're talking about potentially the first african-american quarterback since doug williams to be able to win and whose connection isn't went to stanford, actually his family connection back to norfolk state. historically black college. it's interesting to me that we also had almost, within some african-american communities more of a response to the kind of ali figure. the bombastic aspect then to russell who has this deep connection back to historic black institutions rather than to a stanford. >> meanwhile, i mean, to that point, the city where i rooted most of my football loving life, denver, try to re-create john elway over and over and over and over again. i honestly can't imagine the denver broncos having a

quarterback like seattle does because, unfortunately, they built this myth around the idealic quarterback and somebody like a peyton manning. >> not just denver, right? it's worth noting that the last positions desegregated were free safety, midal line backer. >> the brains of the team. >> the brains of the team. >> russell wilson breaks tons of ta t taboo. they're not a black quarterback, they're just a quarterback. we're not there with head coaches and certainly not with front office but we're there with quarterback. russell wilson has the chance to be the first mobile, scrambling quarterback. >> not the step back -- >> the first under six foot quarterback. >> little quarterback. >> he's he's 5'10" wade was tal about the pressure and so 19th century and russell wilson did

not meet the measurables and here he is in his second year, two-time pro bowler leading his team to the super bowl and i love the fact that he is going to cost a lot of backward looking scouts their job if he wins this game. stay on some of the issues around race and manhood and the nfl. when we come back, miami dolphins player jonathan martin gave his first televised interview since abruptly leaving his team in october and i want to show you what he said, next. dear future olympian, one day you'll be standing on a podium. and here's exactly how you'll get there. you'll work hard, and you'll fall hard. you'll lose sometimes when you really should have won. you'll win sometimes when no one thought you had a shot. and you'll never, ever stop. we know this. because you're one of us. at citi, we believe in everyone's potential, which is why citi and evan are giving back to community sports programs to help future athletes every step of the way.

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the word bullying, pro and football weren't often used together in the public sphere until this nfl season which concludes today. jonathan martin left the team on october 28th in the middle of

his second pro season and second with the team. alleging that offensive guard richie incognito and other teammates harassed him. how far did it go? last week on nbc's "today" show he gave his first interview since leaving the team to former nfl coach tony dungy who is also an informal adviser to the do dollphins. >> tell me the first thing that made you feel uncomfortable? >> comments of a racial nature. aggressive sexual comments related to my sister and my mother. i've spoken to my former teammates in other locker rooms across the nfl and i asked them, does this stuff go on? the consensus was, this is not normal. >> we should note that richie incognito denied the bullying accusations and also a stop

snitching culture in the locker room. >> i did mention, members of the organization knew i was struggling. >> who did you talk to? >> i had conversations with my coaches immediately above me. i didn't get into specifics. you are not supposed to "snitch" on your teammates. >> martin told dungy he's ready to play again, presumably with another nfl team. so, roman, you and i talked about this earlier back when it first happened. i had some thoughts about it overtime. do you have any different perspective on it. what are you feeling about it? >> i want to see all the texts and the bottom line gave richie incognito a self-imposed pass to say what he wants because he thought he needed to toughen this guy up. i have been on the team where you have guys like richie incognito and they'll find anything in your personal life and your family to see if you can take that. because if you can't take that, caw can't take going on third down. it's wrong and it had to take

this coming out to the public light for us to see what the locker room culture is really like. >> at this point about, we said this before, a man's game in which we have expectations of what manhood is. part of those expectations around manhood tend to do with toughness that is physical and also this notion of kind of a mental or emotional toughness not allowing anything to get to you because the game itself is emotional. so, i wonder, because now that we heard some of the texts that have gone back and forth. a little bit of martin giving back some of what he's giving. why is this something that crosses the line? >> well, because i think there is a real issue from richie incognito's camp of what i would call racial blindness and not understanding how certain insali insults can be perceived. this was richie incognito's lawyer that released these texts. they're meant to defend him as somebody who was just playing around with jonathan martin. he released a text from jonathan martin say i'm going to go to

the bathroom in front of your house and then richie incognito's response was, lol, we're in the state of florida, i can legally shoot you, lol. inerance to zimmerman and trayvon martin. i have no doubt in my mind thought he was giving it back but not realizing when you give it back like that, that is not going to be funny. and i think jonathan martin found himself in a position of being like, who am i dealing with here that is making a joke like this and how am i going to survive in this locker room? >> always this notion in the locker room, we all wear the same color and the same jersey. ium we can go back and forth you get a stick and i get a bat and you get a bat and i get a bulldozer. guys like that on every team and those other guys had to look at the situation and say, maybe, i shouldn't. we can't do this. >> let me ask them. one thing to say, okay, a guy

like richie and to sreally see this as richie's individual problem. is there a broader cultural problem? when i see the texts in relationship to each other going back and forth with tough things being said by martin to incognito. well, you know, maybe there is something going on in the culture of this place that even if i find it disturbing from the outside, you know, it's not congress. i don't have a right to know, right? right from the public. so, maybe this is just kind of how it is. >> i think it's part of a competitive environment. i don't think it's particular to just the nfl. if you look at britney greiner. and when she would play games there would be fans who would yell explicit, awful things to her because it was a competitive environment. we have to be mindful it's not just about the nfl but sports and competitive culture. when i'm playing dominos i may say something stupid or inappropriate.

i think we as a culture are used to having this language that is just very violent that we're not conscious of the impacts it can have on a person. >> once martin says it, once he says, all right, for me, this oversteps the line and this is too much. does that then put his, i think this is the part for me i find most distressing. does that put his manhood at stake? beyond whether or not there is a culture and whether anyone was right or wrong. if he draws a line, right there, that's too much. so much of a response was, toughen up, man. buck up, man's game. here we go. >> i've been amazed at how universal when i asked people about this particular issue that they are 100% against martin. i have met very few people who have taken aside the reaction is generally is, he just couldn't take it. basically questioning his manhood. questioning his mental toughness because as a society we say we don't like bullying and we have programs that stop bullying in school and we continually take

the side of bullies. part of the reason to go back to our political, part of the reason chris christie became so popular was precisely the in your face attitudes and towards women and teachers. we do sort of root for the bully universally. you know, my kids played soccer and forget the kids, the sidelines. the moms, the people who are pushing the kids to be tougher and meaner and to go after kids and to almost hurt their opponents. it's universal. >> and it empowers. we talked about, for example, on this show, some of the cyberbullying that occurs, not only the young people but to women who write in the public space and what can happen on twitter. but that idea that if you are not tough enough to take it. if you apologize. if you're humble, if you are soft, right? then in some way it just, it's like there is blood in the water that just empowers the bully. >> going to be confusing because at the same time we also expect

black athletes to have a certain dignity. this quiet masculine dignity. you can't be richard sherman, you have to be jackie robinson and hold it in and at the same time you also have to be super. >> but the other thing, too, there were nfl players who defended jonathan martin. that did happen. and specifically brandon marshall and the entire chicago bears organization and i interviewed a lot of players about this. and what they all said is that it really varies locker room to locker room. what is the culture in that particular locker room? is it supportive or a bullying culture? it does vary. the thing jonathan martin did which was so brilliant, he forced a lot of nfl players to confront what we mean by manhood. is it more humanhood. we should rephrase it and get rid of the language about manhood and stand up to bullying than to side with bullies. >> in fact, as we go out, one of the things i want to do is listen to jonathan martin talking to dungy about his

feelings about i was trying to do everything i could to be part of this culture before i had to finally just exit. then when we come back, we'll talk about a former nfl player who claims he was booted from his team because he spoke up to what he believed in. i do want to listen to martin as we go out. >> as an outsider i see the stories of the text messages going back and forth and they seemed friendly and seem like you're sending him a text and he's sending you a text. is that not a sign of friendship? >> i was trying with all my being to do whatever i could to be a member of this culture and of our unit as offensive line. increases at the age of 80. helps reduce the risk of heart disease. it seems that 80 is the new 18. grannies, bless your heart, you are bringing sexy back! eat up.

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about being cut by the vikings in 2013, saying he was "pretty confident that his advocacy for same-sex marriage rights led to his release. the vikings dispute that. alleged in a special teams meeting in november of 2012, he said, we should round up all the gays and send them to an island and nuke it until it glows. he has denied the allegations. the story raises questions about the risks athletes may face when they speak out about causes in which they believe. joining me now former chris cluey. good morning. >> how's it going? >> i want to get your reaction to the statement i'm sure you heard before, but this is the response to your piece issued by the vikings. they say any notion that chris was released from our football team due to his stance on marriage equality is inaccurate

and inconsistent with team policy. chris was released strictly based on his football performance. >> they claim it was based on my performance when my stats were exactly the same as my career stats had been over the past seven years and those stats had been good enough to get me a very lucrative contract. the only thing that changed is that i started speaking out on same-sex rights and human rights. >> so, when you, when you wrote this piece released in may of 2013, excuse me, you were released in may of 2013. the piece doesn't come out until early january. why did you wait? was it the same sense as we heard from martin we were just talking about a culture that could potentially be problematic if you come out and speak your mind. >> i knew what the reaction would be whenever i came out with the piece. and one of the reasons i waited was because i didn't want to drop that on my friends and teammates during the season because that would be a huge

side show that, you know, pretty much destroyed any chance you have at having a normal season. so, for me, this was something that i wanted to have it in this dead time, right now. it should be me and members within the vikings organization. the other thing i wanted to try to do was prove that i could still physically play in the nfl. but for whatever reason i go to tryouts and i kick the ball the same as i've always kicked it and just not able to get on a team. >> chris, we share an identity in a way. both of us think of ourselves as allies to lgbt communities and efforts. there is a challenge in being an ally whether it's around racism and that is part of what you're meant to take as an athlie, you're meant to take a hit that people who don't have the identities don't have privileges have to take. you're going to get racial

comments if you're an lgbt, you're going to catch some of the -- i know there's ankest about this. how are you thinking about your role as an ally saying i'm being injured here professionally as a result of my stance as an ally. >> this is something that happens to me and something that happens to millions of people that happens on a daily basis. still a large amount of states that you can be fired as your sexuality. we have to ask ourselves as a society, is that how we want to live? is that, are those the values that we want to teach our children? despite who you are, it doesn't matter to someone else. they can fire you for being gay. >> i want to come out to you, wade, former player. your work getting young men and women engaged in sports and

doing this work. tell me both what you think about chris' claims here and sort of what this means and also what effect this might have on some of the young people you work with. >> i think this story is an interesting story because as someone who does this work, i see it from the gay perspective and from an nfl perspective. the one thing that i think we have to be mindful of is that the nfl is a business. if chris was a distraction, regardless of what he was advocating for, the nfl will say, does your productivity match the level of distraction? look at terrell owens. he was a distraction for every year he was playing, but he was a top receiver. teams said, i'll put up with your distraction. as soon as his productivity left -- >> it's a cost benefit distraction. >> it's a business that people need to parse out the idea what chris was being an advocate for. like his owner was fine with it. chris said that his players were fine with it, as well. we have to be mindful that a distraction in itself can, if

you're productivity isn't at a certain level, cause you to get cut. now, the advocacy piece is very different. >> the whole distraction thing is an absolute sham perpetuated as a way to get rid of them. look at the most successful athletes of all time are also some of the most political athletes of all time. bill russell. 11 championships in 13 years. mohammed ally. jim brown, last championship cleveland ever had, billie jean king and all the tournaments she won. steve nash for goodness sakes. these were not people who were seen as distractions. they were people who were winners. i think it's a reflection of 21st century corporate culture when we say sports and politics don't mix, what it really means is sports and the politics of ownership don't mix. or sports and commerce don't mix. that is a distraction when you're talking about political issues, a distraction from what i think the nfl wants.

which is as bland and flattened a product as possible that can appeal to as wide an audience as possible. >> chris, the last word on telling me about your hat. what does principle 6. >> draw awareness of what is going on in sochi right now. you shouldn't discriminate against people in sport for any reason. >> chris, i appreciate your stance and your roles and appreciate you letting us talk about you and to you at the same time, which could be tough. your story stands in for a bunch of important things that we care about here. chris kluwe, thank you so much. up next, denver versus seattle. the two teams from the two states that legalized conventional. [ grunts softly ] [ ding ] i sense you've overpacked, your stomach. try pepto to-go.

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we are going to talk about the marijuana aspect of this game but just so that joy reid can some day go home and visit her family in denver, joy was talking about a post-elway moment around quarterback for denver but it is true also in the history of the nfl that denver had the first african-american starting quarterback in 1968. i don't want to miss that that is also part of that is also part of denver's legacy. joy can go home and visit her family at some point. outside metlife stadium are billboards from the marijuana, nfl bans the use of marijuana for their players. weed is a lot less dangerous

than alcohol and for that matter, less dangerous than football. one study found that football players are three times more likely than the general population to have neurological diseases later in life. former surgeon general joyce elders point out marijuana is less toxic than many of the drugs that doctors prescribe every day. football players are often prescribed pain killers to manage the pain caused by spending a lot of time running full speed into 300-pound men. abuse of and dependence on pain killers can and has sky rocketed in recent years. according to the centers for disease control and prevention, pain medication overdoses kill more americans each year than cocaine and heroin combined. according to the national institute on drug abuse, a fatal marijuana overdose is extremely unlikely because it slows hand-eye coordination and reaction time. marijuana is not a performance enhancer, but illegal under federal law, even if the two states teams this year.

joining us now from denver, colorado is mason who is communications director for the marijuana policy project. nice to have you, mason. >> thank you for having me. >> all right, so, how is it that this super bowl actually ends up providing an opportunity for you to tackle, pun intended, the issue of marijuana wash? >> well, the super bowl is one of the biggest events of the entire year. we thought it was a great opportunity to raise awareness of the nfl's marijuana policy and really about marijuana policy in general. because the nfl's policy that punishes players simply for making the safer choice to maas marijuana instead of alcohol how a large segment of our society still treats marijuana. we need to start seeing that change so it catches up with public attitudes and public policy, at that point. >> so, yeah, we were looking at a recent gallup poll showing that 58% of americans believe

that marijuana should be made legal with only 39% saying, no, as of october 2013. so, you do actually have a majority of americans saying it should be made legal, but it does feel a little different to say that than to say, players ought to be using it. i mean, i get your point about it's safer than alcohol, but i also don't think it's a good idea for players to be drinking during the season either. >> well, what it comes down to is this. the nfl allows players to use alcohol and if it's going to do that and it's going to even go so far to promote the use of alcohol, not only among the fans, but among players. >> there is that. >> has a deal with uber to get players rides to and from the bars to keep them out of trouble. why can't it simply allow players to use marijuana. the nhl and the national hockey league, they don't have a marijuana policy and no one seems to mind. it doesn't seem to affect the game at all. so, this is really just a foolish policy that needs to end. >> that's interesting. i haven't thought about that.

but clearly your point that it is not just about the use by players but a lot of alcohol commercials and sort of promotion associated with sports games. wade, you want to jump in here. >> i think the idea of black men smoking pot is a problem. >> 70% of the league is african-american. >> but, you know, ycontin is a lesser form but if medical marijuana is something that players could use, that's a positive thing. i think that, you know, similar to how magic johnson, his advocacy has helped to kind of shift that. if the nfl got behind like players using marijuana, it could really shift the discourse around, you know, how young people are being stopped and frisked and police for that. >> to me, it's cruel and unusual that in a sport with so much pain players, in particular in states where medical marijuana are being denied that.

there wasn't a marijuana policy in the nba until the 1999 collective bargaining agreement precisely because, you remember 1999 around allen iverson and all these new generation of players that aren't clean cut like jordan. that dove tailed together very smoothly. why the nfl doesn't want a policy on this, using that as a recruiting advantage for free agents. >> but you have to remember, too, the nfl still is a part of sort of the whole overall sports marketing that does at the end of the day have children at the end of that. there is a reluctance to promote any behavior because kids do look up to athletes. i think part of the renaissance, too. it is interesting so much promotion of alcohol because these are sports at the little league level. there is a fine line for a lot of parents and that is considered the wholesome sport. >> stick with me because the notion of children at the end of the line and the issue also dave brought up about pain i want to come back to you, mason, as soon

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with data plans starting as low as $45 monthly access including unlimited talk and text. plus free world messaging unlimited for three months. that's powerful. verizon. act now and get the samsung galaxy s4-- now just $99.99. we're back and talking about how this super bowl is bringing up issues around the legalization of marijuana and, mason, i want to come to you because i want to show this image. this is the smart approaches to marijuana ad that is placed really large near the super bowl stadium that suggests that motivation, perseverance and determination are aspects of playing the game, but that marijuana provides none of the above and it says marijuana kills your drive. don't lose in the game of life. and then a response to it that shows, you know, alcohol saying overdose deaths, violent crime and serious injury and then showing cannabis saying none of the above and saying,

prohibiting adults from making the safer choice is not a smart approach. so, on the one hand sort of comparison between alcohol and marijuana. the other is that the other institute for cannabis medical, medical cannabis research that marijuana may be particularly useful as a treatment in pain that we know many nfl players experience significantly. so, are these the arguments then that your organization and others are making? >> yeah, you know, the nfl has no policing marijuana use by players. if it's legal under state law, the federal government is willing to recognize state law that make medical marijuana for legal and state use. they don't punish players who fail to pay child support or get speeding tickets. no need for them to be doing this. they are but steering players away from using marijuana and using more harmful substance whether it's alcohol to have fun or pain killers and other nar

c cotics to alleviate their pain. >> joy said at the end of any narrative are kids. do you want to jump in on that? >> they're right now is sending a message that sexism is okay and that over the top milterism is a prerequisite and that is a huge message today when we watch the super bowl. if the nfl wants to go down the moral road about the lessens they're teaching children and attack players who smoke recreational marijuana, then let's have that discussion, but let's have it honestly about the moral lessons that seep out of the game. >> wade, you want to jump in on that? >> sometimes dave just dropping the mike. >> i totally agree with dave. i think that there is a larger conversation to be had. and i just think that if a

medical doctor is saying that it's safer for players to smoke marijuana than it is to take prescription drugs, who is the nfl to say otherwise. >> ownership policies are conservative, and for years, marijuana has been put in the category of street drugs. you have story tests and drugs with abuse tests. it's all in the same category. there was an article in i think "usa today" that said players who took all the pain pills, and they developed the pain issues. the guys who smoked or used marijuana didn't have those pain problems, didn't have pain addiction when football was over. so maybe from a pain standpoint, it does make sense, but it has to be in a liquid form. we're not to that argument yet because there's still this perception of a guy spoking a blunt not for pain just because he wants to smoke it. i think they don't want to give that perception. you do have to have the conversation. >> there is that point that actually at least some survey research suggests that a lot of folks are. there's an unscientific survey

suggesting that 48 current and former players, front office executives, head and assistant coaches actually do, in fact, sort of half of them are making use of it, and so maybe it's already there and it's just a question of changing our attitudes towards it. thank you all so much but up next, we already know what one of our favorite super bowl highlights is going to be. how much money do you think you'll need when you retire? then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. i was trying to, like, pull it a little further. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going to have to rethink this thing. it's hard to imagine how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. so maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. ♪

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millions of football fans across the country will tune in tonight to watch the seattle seahawks and the denver broncos compete to take home the lombardi trophy. and plenty of non-football fans will tune in as well to watch, some of them exclusively to watch the commercials. as one of the most-watched and highest rated television events, super bowl is a coveted spot for advertisers who pay around $4

million for a 30-second ad. advertisers make commercials that target their audience, and for the championship of a sport known for its hypermasculinithy those commercials often draw on gendered stereotypes to promote their products. but one commercial during this year's game is going to do something very different. it will aim to inspire girls to become interested in engineers and problem-solving. debbie sterling was our foot soldier back in july, created a toy to encourage kids to follow along with the main character, goldie, by building simple machines and learning simple new jerseying concepts. goldieblocks was one of 15,000 small businesses that have been competing since last summer in the big game contest. for a 30-second advertisement spot at the super bowl. debbie says the commercial will focus on the message that is behind her company, empowering girls. tonight, to one of the

television's biggest audiences, goldieblocks will show girls that they can shatter stereotypes and define their own playbooks. that's our show for you today. thanks for watching. i'll see you next saturday at 10:00 a.m. eastern. right now it's time for a preview of "weekends with alex witt." the christie camp is firing back, arguing david wildstein is only trying to save himself. in a new memo, the governor goes on the offensive. you'll hear some of the accusations in that memo. the huge effort to fight what could be one of the biggest menaces to come with the super bowl, sex trafficking. california's crippling drought forces an unprecedented move in water cutbacks. tomorrow, the list of the top 100 making history today. so who made the cut and why? we'll get to that. don't go anywhere. i'll be right back. and a choice. take up to 4 advil in a day or 2 aleve for all day relief. [ male announcer ] that's handy. ♪

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the olympics are four days away, and it's not just security that's concerning russian officials. how might it affect the games? the big game just hours away. one critical part of super bowl weekend is not meeting up to expectations. we've got a live report ahead. new concerns in west virginia. is the drinking water in parts of that state still unsafe? a new report ahead. hello, everyone. it's high noon here in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." embattled new jersey governor chris christie is fighting back today. the governor's office has released a memo slamming former port authority official and ally david wildstein. wildstein is would have been the key figures in the george washington bridge scandal. on friday, his lawyer claimed that evidence exists which shows that governor christie has not been honest in his version of the events. joining me now with this story, nbc's kelly o'donnell who's b