wearing a bag over his head on the red carpet? this is "way too early." hope you had a great weekend. good morning. i'm thomas roberts. it is february 10 already. can you believe that? welcome to "way too early." this is the show that assumes you are gay until proven straight. welcome to 2014. so before sunday, michael sam was known as one of the top defensive prospects in college football. today, he is poised to become the first openly gay professional football player in the history of the game. in interviews with the new york times and espn, he opened up about what he and his teammates first discussed back in august. >> i want to own my truth. two weeks ago at the senior bowl, i didn't realize that -- how many people actually knew about my sexual orientation. i just want to own my truth before anyone breaks the story

about me. is this a huge deal? i understand that it is. but my purpose and focus right now is playing football. i don't think i should be defined as michael sam, the gay athlete, the gay football player. i want to be defined michael sam for being a great person and have great character. >> publicly, many are praising sam's bravery in discussing his sexuality so close to the draft, an announcement that could cost him draft position and with it millions of dollars. no one is questioning sam's resume. defensive player of the year for the southeastern conference and a first-team all-american. teammates voted him mvp and tweets of support from many of them came pouring in. others pointed at the challenges ahead. that took some courage but man his draft stock is going to plummet even though it should be based on production and how he can contribute. some league general managers said some players would be accepting but others said it

could turn into a distraction and media circus and one scout said many locker rooms are stuck in the '50s, one gm telling sports illustrated anonymously, first of all, we don't think he's a very good player. the reality is that he's an overrated football player in our estimation. the official went on to say the question you will ask yourself, knowing your team, is how will drafting him affect your locker room? and i'm sorry to say where we are at this point in time, i think it's going to affect most locker rooms. a lot of guys will be uncomfortable. ten years from now, fine. but today i think being openly gay say factor in the locker room. a big step forward in the fight for marriage equality. the justice department will give same-sex spouses the same rights as other couples in federal proceedings. attorney general eric holder announced the decision saturday night at the human rights campaign galla in new york city. same-sex couples will now be protect friday testifying against a spouse. they will also be able to visit a spouse in prison and file

jintjint jointly for bankruptcy. >> we basically have said that -- and the courts have led us in this conclusion, that at the federal level we are recognizing the legal rights of same-sex couples. and what the attorney general has said is that that is how we are going to administer justice, consistent with that supreme court decision. >> the changes will apply in all 50 states and it will force changes in state that is do not recognize same-sex marriages to do so now. marriage equality exists in 17 states as well as washington, d.c. as of right now, future of the democrat party has one of two fates, hillary clinton or an open field. according to the associated press, if voters decide to welcome the clintons back to the white house, it will be because hillary successfully rebranded herself in her decades long political career. clinton faces a much different democratic party than when she was first lady and u.s. senator.

less hawkish approach to foreign policy. her intentions are known only to those in her inner circle. others are openly preparing for another presidential campaign. the super pac ready for hillary is hosting a fund-raiser later this month. in the new book hrc, retired four-star swren david petraeus praised the former secretary of state saying she'd maek a tremendous president. like a lot of great leaders her most impressive qualities were most visible during tough times. the authors of hrc will join us ahead on ""morning joe"." stick around for that one. a case of buyer's remorse. new york star ledger endorsed governor chris christie in his bid for re-election but now the editors say, quote, we blew this one. some gop candidates are steering clear of him as well. governor christie heads to a

republican governors fund-raiser. politico tough rebuke of david wildstein was never actually approve bid the governor himself. this memo included those personal attacks dating back as far as high school and said he sued over a school board election when he was accused by one of his teachers of deceptive behavior and it cited articles claiming wildstein created a culture of fear within the port authority. wildstein has suggested that evidence does exist that christie knew about the lane closures at the time. a top priority for this year's congress, but since then top republicans have reversed course, saying they're uncertain that the president can be trusted to enforce laws that come with it, specifically having to do with border security. now democratic senator chuck schumer is floating an idea that would take the president out of the equation. >> there's a simple solution. let's enact the law this year, but simply not let it actually

start till 2017, after president obama's term is over. now i think the rap against him that he won't enforce the law is false. he has deported more people than any other president. you could have the law start in 2017 without doing much violence to it. >> speaker boehner's office has already rejected the idea. possible presidential candidate rand paul stressed the urgency of embracing immigration but didn't get the response what he was hoping for. >> i do believe texas will be a democrat state within ten years if you don't change. that means we evolve. it doesn't mean we give up on what we believe in. we have to be a more welcoming party. welcome people of all races. we need to welcome people of all classes, business class, working class. we need to have people with ties and without ties, with tattoos and without tattoos. with earrings, without earrings. we need a more diverse culture. we need a more diverse party.

we need a party that looks like america. if you want to work and you want a job and you want to be part of america, we'll find a place for you. that was kind of tepid. >> there's a brand new report saying nsa leaker edward snowden used basic technology that just about anybody could get their hands on to steal highly classified documents. according to the "new york times," snowden used an unidentified web crawler software program to scrape the nsa system. it's used to search, index and back up website pages. intelligence official claims the nsa noticed the unusual activity and actually questioned snowden about it. however he was able to convince them it was just part of typical job duties for him. he stole about 1.7 million files from the nsa. moving ahead to business on this monday, wall street turns its attention to wall street

this week as janet yellen makes her first appearance on capitol hill as the fed chairwoman. capping the week on a high-note, best two-week gain in months. steve here to fill us in on what we're watching today. >> very good day to you, thomas. janet yellen will be explaining what her policy is going forward. her first testimony before the politicians on capitol hill. of course, since taking the job since ben bernanke. she will be speaking first to the house finance service committee on tuesday and then on thursday the senate banking committee. up 1.8% on the s&p. tim armstrong is trying to reverse the damage he created over at aol. he is the ceo. they were cutting some of the 401(k) benefit retirements for employees. he said it was down to obamacare and the cost associated with the distressed babies of two employees. there's been a big backlash and said i've listened to what

you've got to say and they're reversing those controversial changes. so the guy stood up and said we were wrong, having made initially quite a mistake on this issue. >> fill us in on flappy bird. i'm familiar with angry bird but not flappy bird. >> yeah. you and i should know more about this apparently. i don't either. 50 million downloads already, raking in $50,000 in ad revenue on a daily basis. now the creator is a little-known vietnamese gaming designer, has basically this site and this app. everybody is up in arms saying it is not dodown to legal press just the fame of this game is ruining his simple life as well. he will be developing other games but to give up $50,000 in ad revenues every day is some game. it's a lot of willpower. >> it really is. flappy bird fans will have to look elsewhere. steve, great to see you.

still ahead on "way too early," jamie anderson fly high as the new event's favorite. let's get to our twitter question for you. great photo for our captioning contest today. tweet us your best and most creative answers using the #waytooearly. we'll put up your answers later on in the show. that was one of the american figure skaters who didn't like her score. opening ceremony that you may have missed. those are beautiful busts right there, aren't they? >> yes. >> isn't that a good-looking bust? >> very fetching. >> that's a good-looking man right there. that story and a check of weather when we come back. nelson mandela will be released on sunday, the 11th of february at about 3:00 pm. >> historic day in south africa.

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live look at sochi. anybody heard from jen? no? i thought she was going to be our correspondent, going to face time us, tweet us, text us. >> she might be working hard. >> she might be working hard. might is the operative word there. in sports, the winter olympics is in full swing there. the american squad is holding its own. scoring two gold medals so far, including jamie anderson's impressive performance the the slopestyle boarding event. she was set to handle the pressure and nail all the acrobatic moves and take first place. another american favorite didn't do so well. 36-year-old bode miller had a chance to become the oldest alpine gold medalist. it wasn't meant to be. he was way off the pace, finishing in eighth place. bode has four more events left

to win a medal. we send him nothing but the best. to the medal count. norway off to a great start. seven total. the netherlands and the u.s. have two gold medals and four in total. russia has one gold medal and four in total. women's alpine events, men have their freestyle, men's short track speed skating and for all you curling fans, chess on ice is what we call it around here. that competition will finally get under way as well. speaking of curling, one might think that the competition was actually for loudest pants. look at those. last week we showed you norway's uniform, featuring a festive, floral print. now the russians are getting in on the action. check out the pattern they have going on there. yeah. may be hard to keep your eyes on the stone with all those prints on the ice. vibrant. very vibrant.

to the bathroom now, where we like to hang out. this is where american bobsledder johnny quinn was forced to bust through his door after it was sealed shut. then he tweeted out this photo using the #sochijailbreak. now he has taken to the web for a teaching moment. >> once you've exhausted both options and you know the door is locked or jammed, you have one option left. check from the outside. still not there. time to get open and get out. >> there are good people in sochi that don't have doors, you know. >> i've heard. >> he should have left it at the picture. >> he just killed a good door there. >> we didn't need the video. >> got good use of that hole. shifting gears to college basketball, oklahoma state marcus smart is facing a three-game suspension for pushing a texas tech fan over the weekend. did you see this? he stumbled into the fans and

exchanged word with his that fan and said the fan used a racial slur and then shoved him. he apologized at a news conference yesterday. >> i let my emotions get the best of me. i can't let that happen again. that's something i'll have to learn from. i truly apologize. this is not me. i really do apologize for it. i take responsibility and the consequences that come with it. >> now the fan jeff orr express ed regret for his alcohols and said he did not use a racial slur. orr also apologized for embarrassing other texas tech fans out there. one of pitino's son's is the minnesota coach. the guy next to him got all the attention. the man in the chicken suit, that's his other son, ryan. he apparently lost a bet and pitino looked thrilled about it. >> what? >> yeah, he lost a bet.

>> going on at the pitino household? >> bill did not lose a bet. gets to show up looking like himself. >> the chicken suit? after i give you the forecast people may want to tar and feather me, though. thursday looks like a full-blown east coast storm. more snow and barnicle is giving me the death eyes. let's set the stage here. cold air is on its way back in. it's not like it's ever been that warm. zero in chicago this morning, minus 9 in minneapolis. another arctic blast and then we're going to get more moisture out of the gulf. we're setting the stage. we'll be 11 in kansas city, 80 in miami today. setting the stage for a big temperature contrast. notice how warm -- we're 36 in atlanta with sleet on tuesday and, of course, we saw that happen in atlanta last time they had the snow and the sleet. this time they're doing a lot of prep and getting ready for this. the storm will come up the east coast. the cold air is in place. this is what it will look like. the storm takes a typical track along the east coast, keeping a lot of the cold air in place.

most likely a snow storm, i-95. there's a possibility this will be a plowable snow storm, possibility of widespread six to 12 inches on top of -- we don't have room at the end of our driveways anymore. >> spring can't come soon enough, barnicle. >> this winter has been brutal. >> it has. thank you very much. coming up on "morning joe," it's a question of what did chris christie know and when? now the governor says he never approved a statement blasting the man behind the bridge closure. is this another bad sign for the governor? we'll huddle around the water cooler. and lewis' best friend trying to spin this for his buddy. i don't know how you spin it under that bag. imagining,

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he's going to ram us. gv me that piece. the ramp. what the heck? >> rest in pieces. >> who would have thunk it, right? the lego movie pulling in $69 million. had the biggest opening of the year and second biggest february opening ever. if you want to sunday smart

today tell your friends in 2013 lego topped mattel worth $14.6 billion since 1958, lego has manufactured 560 billion bricks. let's turn to the cooler. and lewis has a lot to get to today. >> i do. >> shia labeouf. >> winter weather, proved to be a bit of a burden but one couple took the opportunity to enjoy a little extra exercise in the snow. >> it's the perfect texture for running, very low impact on the dry snow so your feet don't get wet. >> sorry to have kept you. appreciate you guys talking to us. >> stay warm. >> we've seen a lot of people out here, like he said, running, sledding, just enjoying it. one thing -- oops. that can happen. >> take another look at that spill. the jogger was okay. she was able to walk away from the scene. no word if she'll continue her habit of jogging in the snow.

>> too much pressure. >> too much pressure on camera there. >> people in los angeles spent hours waiting online for a cup of coffee. this wasn't just any cup of coffee. it was dumb starbucks coffee. mock store opened friday and the word quickly spread on social media. looks like a regular starbucks, has the logo, menu, tumblers for sale. all the details are pretty accurate except they all say dumb starbucks. list of frequently asked questions for the store is although they are a fully functioning coffee shop for legal reasons dumb starbucks needs to be categorized as a work of parody art. so in the eyes of the law, our coffee shop is actually an art gallery and the coffee you're buy something considered art. but that's for our lawyers to worry b all you need to do is enjoy our delicious coffee. a spokesperson for starbucks says they are aware of the store and are looking into it. it's not sure what their

motivation is, but it seems to be popular. >> art is art. >> art is art. let's move on to my close friend, shia labeouf, promoting a new film "nimphomaniac" when this happened. >> they think sardines will be thrown into the sea. thank you very much. >> turns out that he's totally sane. that rant was borrowed from a french soccer player nearly 20 years ago. that's not all. >> this whole schtick was borrowed. >> walked the red carpet with a bag over his head reading "i am not famous anymore," facing criticism for plagerism that had dialogue identical to a novel. whoever is managing him, he should probably stay out of the

spotlight for a while. >> he is not studying for the unknown comic part. you don't know who the unknown comic is, do you? >> reporter: no, i do not. >> our older fans will. thomas roberts made quite a big impression last year when he was in russia to host the miss universe pageant. one of our "way too early" followers, this picture from the olympic opening ceremonies, two busts floated by, huge hammer and sickle. get a close-up of that profile, an uncanny resemblance to our own thomas, masculine jawline, beautiful coiffed hair. i don't know if that's spooky or you should try to sue for some sort of plagerism. >> they sole my face. >> we reached out to the russians. >> there's nothing gay about these olympics either, louis, just a big american gay guy

floating by. >> don't know what to say to that, thomas. but you look great there. >> thank you. >> you look great and i think they -- >> my mother thinks it's me and that's the definitive -- >> that's all we need right there. still ahead on "way too early" your best and most creative tweet captions to ashley wagner's reaction to her score is moments away. dance. dance! [announcer] word is getting out. purina dog chow light & healthy is a deliciously tender and crunchy kibble blend.

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. so earlier on the shareholdshow we asked you the following. >> oh, my god, baek becky. look at my score. it is so low. >> do it again? >> oh, my god, becky. >> thanks, gang. happy monday. that is the end of "way too early" "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ monday morning you sure look fine ♪ ♪ friday i got traveling. on my mind ♪ >> good morning. it is