there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. [ applause ] good evening. i'm chris matthews out here in phoenix, arizona, with

special bowl "hardball." mitt romney is not running for president. he broke the news himself in a phone call to his money people. >> after putting considerable thought into making another run for president, i've decided it's best to give other leaders in the party the opportunity to become our next nominee. >> romney couldn't resist taking a hard jab at jeb bush. we'll get to that in a moment. we're joined by the moderator of "meet the press," chuck todd. a couple days ago it was all about how romney's going to run different, go back to utah, emphasize his mormon roots, his family's aboard, he's going to run a tough campaign, then gone. what happened? >> i feel like bain capital mitt romney made this decision. meaning this -- i think his heart was wanting to run for quite some time. he realized that the second jeb bush announced last december that he was serious about running and getting into this thing, suddenly romney realized, wait a minute, i still want this and he's about to close the

window here if i don't try to flirt and get into this race. so i think his heart was always in it, but i think he did a sober -- you can't help it, maybe him or somebody else, the next six months if he decided to run would have been torture for mitt romney. every story would be about somebody who was with romney before signing up with somebody else. his poll numbers looked good, but as voters started kicking the tires on other candidates, we would have talked about story after story and you know the way the media world works now. mitt romney's collapsing in the polls. was he willing to go through what would have been six months of torture before he bottomed out, then had to start rising up and fighting again? and he made the bain capital cold, hard businessman decision and looked at the analytics and said no. >> why didn't the dog like the dog food? nice label on it. he looks good. ran a close race. why don't the republican regulars, the backroom boys and girls, now women, why don't they like him? because it seems like they've rejected him.

>> it's funny. i talked to a few romney folks. a few loyalists said today they felt like they lost again. felt like a punch in the gut. it goes to -- look, you always felt that there was a big part of the republican party that never fell in love with mitt romney. they sort of liked him, they respected him. they certainly thought he was a good family man. but they never fell in love. there was always a missing passion, and i think many of these, you can categorize them as the wise men, the women of the party or also the base conservatives, he never knew how to win a room and win them over. he knew how to win over board rooms and he did well there on the financial front and the big donor, but sort of rank and file

republicans, they never fell in love with him. i think it was always just a lack of personal chemistry, yeah, i think the flip-flops hurt him a little bit. what was he today, the conservative mitt romney, the moderate mitt romney, that didn't help. but it was never something he personally connected with the rank and file republican. >> so even though he's the nominee last time, it was more they ended up with him, like you never go to denny's, the restaurant, but you end up there. they couldn't imagine -- they couldn't put rick santorum out there or newt romney out there, it was like mephistopheles. is this good for christie, good for jeb, good for scott walker? who is the big winner? >> the two big winners are jeb and scott walker. jeb on the donor front he was going head-to-head with romney on a lot of donors. there's people that wanted to be with jeb but were keeping their powder dry. jeb can become a fund-raising juggernaut. he may not be able to raise enough money to overcome

conservative issues, but he'll raise a lot of money. scott walker, this is a big moment for him. when you look around at the nonwashington, nonestablishment candidates, walker feels like the one guy that can bridge the gap between the base and the establishment. this is a moment for him. i think a lot of donors are going to want to basically take the test, they want to take the scott walker car for a test drive. it's an opportunity for him big time. for christie, it's a life line. he had no shot at all for raising decent money with both romney and bush in. with romney out it's a lifeline for some of the wall street money. i don't know if he can raise enough. >> especially if he ends up in a peeing match with bridget kelly and the law firm. we don't know what will happen in the polls. as of today the 2016 republican candidate ought to be if it's not him. catch this. >> i believe that one of our next generation of republican

leaders, one who may not be as as well known as i am today, one who has not yet taken their message across the country, one who is just getting started, may well emerge as being better able to defeat the democrat nominee. in fact, i expect and hope that to be the case. >> well, wisconsin governor scott walker, as you just suggested, took that as a forward pass to him. here's scott walker's street. had a great conversation with mitt romney. he's a good man. thanked him for his interest in opening the door for fresh leadership in america. that's the way they talked. now, i was looking at the ages, walker's 47, christie's 52 and jeb's 61. there's not a huge generational gap between those three guys, but the way mitt's trying to play it, he's creating a sort of an ascendancy down to scott, scott walker. >> i think that's right. this is maybe as much about jeb. there are some romney people have bitterness about jeb. it's a long-running feud between them. low-grade feud.

but jeb didn't like mitt romney flipping on immigration in '08, romney didn't like the way jeb bush didn't help him out enough in the florida primary in '12. there's not a lot of love lost. so i think it's fair to say that was a jab at jeb. >> probably a response to his wife being from mexico and he's basically a hispanic family, then to have romney decide that's where the marbles are, go after the hispanics. everybody be watching "meet the press" this weekend. joining me nbc news correspondent the great kelly o'donnell and steve kornacki. i want to start with kelly because you're smiling and you're irish. i love politics because although you can predict some stuff, a lot of it's phenomenal, it's personal. all of a sudden a guy goes to bed at night and wakes up as a totally different person, hell with this, i'm getting out of here. what happened with romney? >> i think there was a disconnect in the world where romney has been living in where he lost in 2012 where you had major donors and major supporters and people he encountered who said, you would

have made a great president, we really believed in you. you were right on this issue or that issue. then you had the grass roots and the sort of people removed from romney enough to say been there, done that. i was in iowa over the past weekend. there was a real resistance to trying romney again. a disconnect for respect for what he had accomplished, the person he is and how he had served the party because he campaigned on behalf of many candidates. then that separation to do we want to play that movie again and not believing that he could be a different candidate even though romney and those close to him honestly said -- and i think genuinely felt -- that he had learned from his experiences having lost and would have been a better candidate. people weren't willing to take that chance. then looking at that reality, i think romney felt that sooner was better to make a decision and so he severed it today.

>> that's great. steve, seemed to me over the years looking out over 40, 50 years. the republicans are the ones that always have been kind to their losers and run them again and again, bob dole, jack kemp, they run them, mccain, when they're beaten down, they run them again and again, democrats shoot their wounded. this time around republicans have shot their wounded. what's going on here? >> yeah, a little bit. there's a difference between the guy who loses in the primary a the guy who makes it to the general election and loses it there. you have to good back to nixon to find someone who successfully pulled that off, you have to go to mcgovern to find someone who even tried it. the jeb bush versus mitt romney dynamic. jeb bush sped up mitt romney's timetable on this by making his move in december, then by following this move. this is really -- and chuck was telling me this -- a really aggressive behind the scenes push that is going on as we speak where jeb bush is

basically -- what he's trying to do, the game plan that jeb bush is try to execute here is the same game plan that his brother used back in 2000. george bush won the republican nomination in 2000 because of what he did in first six months of 1999, he raised an astronomical amount of money to the point where in the middle of 1999 six different republican candidates running against bush all dropped out of the race because of the money he was bringing in. that's what jeb bush is trying to do here. you can look at mitt romney and all the donors he was trying to get, all these defections, mitt romney is the first casualty of that jeb bush strategy. the question now going forward is jeb bush, can he have that effect on other candidates, on other people in the party going forward and, of course, the wild card here is the party, the republican party today is so different than it was when george w. bush was running in 2000 and there's a lot of bush resistance in the grass roots of this party. >> let's talk about that because that's the story we all look at.

if you're a moderate or centrist, you want to put the other guy away in the first couple contests. who on the right figures they can knock off jeb bush in first couple contests certainly through south carolina and win the whole damn thing, run the table. who would that be? ted cruz isn't going to be president? is it rand paul or scott walker? >> i've had people say to me in the end the field will be whoever the nominee is and ted cruz, meaning ted cruz would be perhaps the kind of figure who would say in and be that voice of the far right throughout. sort of unbowed by the normal conventions of when to get out of a race. i think it's also interesting to see what would happen with jeb bush in terms of the donor network. i spoke to a finance director who said while the bush network has been loyal and it is expansive, it has also been a long time since bush ran for a national office.

and there's a new crop of faces even in the donor class of the republican party who don't necessarily have those ties to the bushes and are looking for other candidates, whether it's a chris christie or a walk other or a rand paul. and marco rubio. in some ways i thought i heard in the tones of romney about the new generation, maybe overreach to marco rubio who has the double edge of dissing jeb bush his one-time mentor and opening up a path to a itself did kind of republican. who knows what was in romney's mind, but whether you're looking at a walker being in his 40s or marco rubio at 43, there are so many candidates looking to find that space. i was told today that there are romney donors who have been on the fence who felt loyal to him who wanted to know which way to go and some have reached out to the chris christie camp and say they believe he can be the guy. christie's got political problems we talked about a lot over the last year in new jersey, but also a sense that the work he did on behalf of republican governors who had a

big, big year in 2014 created groundwork for christie to take on the romney donors. >> one last question this dinner tonight in new york with chris christie and mitt romney. i mean it's probably a competitive event knowing that christie will be there. what do you make of that? >> you put the quote up from mitt's conference call today. not even a veiled swipe at jeb bush. that's a direct swipe at jeb bush. hard to see looking at mitt romney going forward, if he decides he wants to play an active role in picking the republican nominee versus the idea of stepping back and trying to be a more unifying figure, if he wants to get involved and endorse somebody and line up money for somebody, very hard to see how that will be jeb bush. the two that i look at in this vast cluttered field, you could see it being chris christie. you have jeb bush -- excuse me, you have mitt romney --

>> steve, that's just spite on his part. he's not going to get through the legal mess! he's not going to get through all the legal mess? because if anybody gets indicted, they'll point the finger at him. it will be a courtroom flight with bridget kelly or somebody else pointing the finger at him. this is such a mess for him. i don't see how we can keep talking about chris christie being a candidate after the mess in new jersey. >> i covered this story as aggressively as anybody has. >> you were out front. >> look at how he handled the diane sawyer interview a few months ago. we don't have indictments right now, but a lot of the details of this thing are out there right now. a lot of the suspicions are out there right now.

no question it's had a chilling effect on christie and a lot of the donors on the republican side. but look how he handled that diane sawyer interview and how he's weathered this for more than a year now. there is a large group of republicans that are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on the story he's been telling, that these are rogue guy, they have nothing to do with him. he has room to maneuver. i can see how it is very problematic, but i wouldn't write him off right now. >> his problems seem like jersey. much more to come here from phoenix, arizona. up next the mayors of the two super bowl cities, boston, that's how you say it, and seattle. but a lot more on the big political story of the day. mitt romney's out. not running for president. morning joe's coming here, mika brzezinski will join us. this is "hardball" live from phoenix. [ applause ] nobody told us to expect it... intercourse that's painful due to menopausal changes it's not likely to go away on its own.

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welcome back to "hardball." we're going from hardball to football. we're two days away from the biggest sports event in the country ever. super bowl xlix will take place here in phoenix with the seahawks and the patriots battling to see who will be the super bowl champ. i'm joined by two men looking for bragging rights, marty walsh up in boston and mayor ed murray in seattle. this must have broken your hear today. mitt romney's dropped out of the presidential race. i know you have a warm spot in your heart for romney, such a regular guy from the neighborhoods. how do you feel about him pulling out of the -- you know, he's a harvard guy, business school, harvard law. you must feel really close though this character. your thoughts on the demise of the mitt romney -- >> we'll be all set here. i'll figure it out. i'll get over it. >> let me ask you about the brady thing. how are the brady fans reacting

up there? i remember how johnny most used to call the celts game was always the homer commentator there. anything on the processing of the football up there to blame them for the fact that there was a little less pressure than it was supposed to be, the football? >> all we're worried about is playing on sunday. the referees have the opportunities to fix the footballs. they touch them more than the players do. all we're focused on is sunday's game, sunday's kickoff and i'm looking forward to calling my friend, the mayor sunday night just to say you had a nice run and sorry it's over. >> oh, my god. ed murray, let me go to you. why are all mayors irish? is this 1955? murray and walsh? doesn't anything ever change? your thoughts about this thing up there, this football game.

you got a pick, i guess you have a pick. do you have a number? >> i'm not going to pick a number. we're going to win and mayor walsh is going to be visiting seattle as part of the deal. we've got a great team and the whole pacific northwest is excited. mayor walsh and i are both irish and we're both superstitious, so i won't give you a number. >> there's a guy named mar shawn -- what's his last name? lynch. another irish name. marshawn lynch says he will give people expertise in how to conduct a press conference. watch the way he does and tell me if it would work for you two guys. here is the marshawn lynch press conference method. here he is. >> hey, i'm just here so i don't get fined. so you all can sit here and ask me all the questions you all want to. i'm going the answer with the same answer. so you all can shoot if you all please. i'm here so i won't get fined. i'm here so i won't get fined. i'm here so i won't get fined. i'm here so i won't get fined. i'm here so i won't get fined. i'm just here so i won't get fined.

i'm here so i won't get fined. >> so let's watch him. he did it again the other day. more expertise in how to run a press conference from marshawn lynch. >> i'm here preparing for a game and you all want to ask me all these questions. which is understandable. i could get down with that. but i told you all, i'm not about to say nothing. so for the remainder of my -- what's that, three minutes? because i'm here, i'm available for you all, i'm here, i'm available for you all. i done talked. all of my requirements are fulfilled. so now for this next three minutes, i'll just be looking at you all, the way that you're all looking at me. thank you. >> you know, mayor murray, that reminds me of candidate school where they tell you no matter what the question is from the character who is asking you the question, just stick to the party line. and you guys are both doing it. we're going to win on sunday no

matter what matthews asked, is that honest? >> chris, i'm doing this interview so i won't get fined. >> thank you. good luck in the game although i am predicting the northeastern team. by the way, boston, right, that's how you pronounce it, right, mayor? boston? >> boston, and i do feel the patriots will win on sunday but i do want to wish the mayor great -- he was a new mayor last year and i was cheering for him to win the super bowl because i lost my bet for the broncos. and i look forward to the patriots fourth on sunday night. >> did you guys make one of those corny bets like you were betting a bucket of cod against the other guy's salmon? they always seem to do one of those. mayor murray, did you cut one of those deals? >> we're both superstitious. and i have to bet. so we bet the mayor of providence. and i've never lost a bet, but i think mayor walsh has a different story.

>> i'm not betting the super bowl. i had a couple bets as the mayor and they didn't go my way, and i don't want to lose. i'm a huge patriots fan, a season ticket holder for over 20 plus years. i was at the afc championship game. i look forward to a good game on sunday. mayor murray and myself, we'll figure something out after the game is over. >> sounds good. >> pirrelli, gino capaletti, at holy cross, that's all we talked about. mayor marty walsh of boston and ed murray of seattle where they don't have an accent. i'm joined by willie geist and sally jenkins. >> how are you doing, chris? >> you know i got through the whole interview without talking sports. you write this great column you're almost every day in the paper in the "usa today" -- no! "washington post." >> yes. >> there was a long period of

time when there weren't any good super bowls, there weren't great games. >> the super bowl can be a letdown. the pressure gets to the guys in the week of preparing. you have to look outside to see how hard it is to keep your mind on your business. >> let's take a look at jimmy kimmel. speaking of pressure which is all we talked about for a whole week on the pressure of the ball. here's jimmy kimmel on the scandal. >> i deflated those balls myself. i'm the perpetrator. you don't want to believe me, there's nothing i can do to change your mind, i'm turning myself in. i'm ryan salty lanigan, if you don't believe me, go [ bleep ] yourself. >> it was me. >> it was me. >> it was all me. >> it was totally me. >> i am the locker room guy. >> i'm the locker room guy. >> i'm the locker room guy. >> i'm the locker room guy. >> take a good look, america, i'm the locker room guy. >> now leave tom brady alone. >> tom brady had nothing to do with this because he was too busy being awesome.

>> let me ask you a question, all right? who are you going to believe? tom brady, the greatest man in all of humanity, or a bunch of [ bleep ] on twitter? scales of justice have spoken. >> amazing to watch brady the movie star -- basically a movie star -- who is married to a model and he comes out with that stupid watch cap on. he stilt everhe still looked great. did you feel sorry for him at all? >> it's hard to feel sorry for tom brady in any way, shape or form. but i do think this has been completely blown out of proportion. gisele, the most beautiful woman in the world i'm told. but if this weren't the super bowl, if it weren't the new england patriots who are like the new york yankees and everyone loves to hate them because of their success, this wouldn't be the story it was today. if the jaguars had deflated balls before a game with the houston texans no one would be talking about it. i'm not saying it's nothing. and if you cheated, you ought to be suspended. but people saying they would suspend belichick.

pull him out of the super bowl. come on. >> it's air. it's less air than is in the cheesewiz can. the whole thing is completely ridiculous. >> if you were a quarterback, wouldn't you like to have a little more of a soft feel, more grabable ball? >> you and me couldn't tell the difference. it's all princess and the pea, mostly in their heads. >> it depends. aaron rodgers likes the ball overinflated. he likes a big ball. >> i would think the receiver would like it a little soft. >> you don't want to catch a rock. >> don't want to catch a missile. katy perry performing at the halftime sunday. let's take a look right now. >> what was the nfl's super bowl phone call like? were you stunned? >> oh, i was weeping and i was weeping all day, actually. i can kind of well up right now. >> 115 million people last year watched the half time super bowl show. does that make you nervous that number.

>> can i be honest and say yes? can i be human and say yes! i'm going be nervous. but i'm going to recycle those nerves and make them adrenaline. >> you know, that's great. we don't get to do those kind of interviews. what's your favorite half time ever, ever, ever? >> i would have to say was 2002 u2. this was just after 9/11. bono opens his jacket and he has the american flag. and then they drop the sheet behind him with the names of the deceased. that was as good as it gets. >> paul mccartney. >> i liked the stones because they don't need the super bowl. >> that's right. >> every stones concert is unbelievable. and the guys are older than i am and i love it. anyway, thank you. willie geist, sally jenkins. much more from phoenix. and the big story of the day. mitt romney's gone. he's forever gone. morning joe's joe scarborough and mika brzezinski join us.

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he made his announcement earlier today at a conference call with friends and contributors. a new fox poll showed him leading his closest republican rival by ten points. "the new york times" also reports that romney's scheduled to have dinner tonight with new jersey governor chris christie, which will be a competitive eating event. joining me right now is "morning joe's "joe scarborough. >> competitive eating event? >> whenever you sit down with that guy, you have to eat fast. dangerous territory. joe? no, ladies first. you were following politics since before you were born. i've never seen a front-runner drop out of a race. >> i know. >> a guy that looks right, talks right, all the money on god's earth, a family behind him, going to play up his religion, then woo, gone. >> out of nowhere. we had discussions with sources behind the scenes. it looked like he was going to run. personally i thought the third

time would have been the charm. the timing would have been right for him. he would have come off in this campaign as the guy who had confidence and the guy who was right. >> i think he could have beaten hillary clinton, presumably she run. two things she runs a good race, not a great race. and the international economy goes to hell and he's the only guy around who seems to understand big money. >> mitt romney walking away from the race is nothing i've seen before. he's ahead in every single poll against all his competition. in this latest poll he's up by ten points. and just as 2012 wasn't his time, 2016 really did seem to be his time because the chaos across the globe -- i called it an eisenhower moment. we needed an eisenhower, someone that can go in there that knew how to run things and had run thing, that was level headed, that was rational, that wasn't ideological.

and i was thinking he wasn't going to run an ideological race this time. >> he had to be smart. what was the torpedo he saw coming at him? was it one person like jeb whose numbers haven't gone up or the resistance of party regulars? what was it? >> i think the biggest problem for mitt romney was the fact that he thought that, according to everybody that i've talked to today very close to him, he thought it was going to be a very ugly race with jeb, that jeb would do whatever it took to win. >> so would he. >> he thought he could beat jeb but he'd be limping into a general election against hillary clinton and that it would hurt the party. >> who is happy tonight -- i guess chris christie is a little happy, one less opponent. >> jeb bush is not happy. that statement was a punch in the nose and it was basically saying don't go with a name you know. it was a jab at hillary, a jab at jeb and anybody who has been around.

>> stick with that thought because nobody likes to lose to somebody their age. because that means you won't get your chance. you only get the chance of your generation, mr. america, whatever it is. nancy pelosi doesn't want to turn over the speakership or the leadership of the democratic party of the house, it's steny hoyer. she'll find someone down like chris van hollen who have a different generation. the same thing is going on now. romney does not want to sit there and watch jeb bush be the nominee. he'd much rather it be a youngster who he can then become papa bear. >> a lot of sharps were thrown the last couple of weeks. the last straw was jeb getting mitt's iowa guy, his strategist in iowa. all the leaking, all the nasty things being said behind closed door, all the things that were being leaked to "the new york times," that romney was reading every day from jeb's camp, really at the end of the day bothered him a great deal. i'll tell you, i've been talking to his top people today. i don't see a kumbaya moment. i think you're going to find a lot of romney people that are going to have a hard time getting on jeb's bandwagon.

>> really? where did he go, scott walker? >> a lot of talk about scott walker, but the field is wide open. you asked who the losers were today, the losers were scott walker, rand paul, ted cruz, everybody on the right who was hoping to see this establishment group of moderates, mitt romney, jeb bush split up the vote but scott walker could move to the front quickly. >> talk about personal, this is always interesting in politics. jeb bush, you know him better than i know him, he's married to a woman from mexico. his kids are basically hispanic. they're a hispanic catholic family, he changed religions. to have mitt romney run a campaign which is pretty darn anti-illegal immigrant, it was very tough, is that part of the reason there's personal bad blood here? i heard that he didn't like being treated that way, jeb. >> 41 loves mitt. the bush family has always been close to the romney family. and 41 can't say enough good

things about mitt behind closed doors. it's also, though, very personal. we have had the last two presidents who have had issues with their father. and in this case, everybody close to the bush camp says that jeb felt -- >> what was the issue between barack obama and his father? >> he didn't have one. >> okay, right, just like bill clinton. >> always the ghost of his father hanging over him. it had a huge issue. here i've heard time and time again from people close to jeb that he's doing this for a lot of reasons but a big reason is his father, his father -- i was talking to his father in kennebunkport in 2011, we were talking about the 2012 race at his house, he was really -- you know, his heart hurt that his son jeb was not running in '12. he wanted jeb to run. >> what about the relation between bill clinton and 41? he found a new father.

>> the clintons and the bushes, it's like skull and bones. they've got their legacies, they're sort of set apart. the rest of us play if their world. >> really? you see the clintons as the old money crowd. >> i see the clintons and the bushes as control the white house and everything. oh, my god, the clintons, the old money crowd. >> i think you saw somebody over here for a second. the ghost of the clintons. anyway -- >> they're everywhere. >> anyway, thank you. i thought that romney could win if two things happen, the international economy tanked and he's the only guy around who seems to understand it and hillary clinton doesn't run a first rate campaign. if she runs a first rate campaign, i think she probably wins by definition. joe scarborough. mika brzezinski we'll see you at the top of the hour. a two-hour edition of "morning joe" at night. we've got the results of a new poll showing a deep ideological divide on football. liberals don't want their kids to play football, conservatives

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welcome back to "hardball." live from phoenix. according to the poll there's a sharp ideological divide when it comes to football. talking like charlie rose. it shows that self-identified conservatives are more likely to let their kids play football despite safety concerns. i'm joined by nfl sports columnist mike barnacle, jarrett bell of "usa today" and robert klemko from "sports illustrated." why do you think libs are not for football? >> i don't think that they are for it or against it. i think they're indecisive. what the poll really points out is there's a geographical difference, i think the nfl in five, six, seven years will be strictly an s.e.c.

it will be like the southeastern conference tore big ten conference, ohio state, michigan, now that harbaugh is there. far more geographical than ideological. >> those kids come from the south or they're recruited to the south? >> both, both. but they go to big football schools. a lot like hockey used to be in the northeast, when you get young kids with spectacular hockey skills that would gravitate and be pulled into the prestigious prep schools. if you have a dream of playing professional football, you don't go to the university of rhode island. >> it's like going to the roman coliseum. the people are fanatical. i'm not sure the geographic thing explains it all. why are liberals against football for their kids? >> i don't know if this is

something to draw political lines over. i think the thing that was most significant to me, chris when you look at the overall number, 40% of the respondents did not want their kids to play football, which is consistent with numbers from last year. the nfl has gone to great lengths to promote its game as being safe. in the face of all the information that's come out over recent years with the dangers of concussions, so people are paying attention to it. they are aware of it. >> what do you make of this sport when you see these older guys who have these problems, mental problems? >> well -- >> it's not like boxing, not that bad. >> a lot of people suffer in silence because we, as the media contingent, go to roger goodell's press conference and talk about deflated balls and marshawn lynch not answering questions and we're not talking about traumatic brain injury. >> here we are talking about it. >> but that's not a priority in super bowl week. >> here are the concerns of roger goodell today assured the public that the game is safer than ever before.

>> we are doing more to protect our players from unnecessary risk. hits to defenseless players this season were down 68%. and there were similar decreases in other areas pertaining to the safety of the game. we reported yesterday that concussions were down 25% this past regular season. >> i think one of the things on the field is the sound of the crack. >> look -- >> it's head injuries, michael. >> if any parent of a high school football player were ever privileged or allowed to watch a professional football game at field level, they would never let their child play football again. it's the sounds of the collisions are frightening. and to your point, which is very

well taken about what the media chooses to focus on, deflate-gate, one of the great obscenities that the national football league was involved in was the reparation, if you can call it that, to players who were injured by traumatic injury and they low balled them in the settlement. >> your kids were athletically able. you have parental discussions with them about i prefer you play baseball or lacrosse or something else? did you have those conversations? >> i never did. seven children, one of them three concussions. and it takes a toll. he stopped playing football. >> when you start talking about concussions, even in the context of that lawsuit, you have to really try to ascertain when these occur. when they began. and you're talking about youth football and really how susceptible you are as you go later on in life. that's one of the things that it's very difficult to get a handle on except to say, hey, maybe it's not safe with kids. >> we're coming back with robert who will make the pick of the game. our roundtable is staying with us.

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we're back from phoenix. patriots one point favorites over the patriots in super bowl xlix. history suggests it will be close. since 2002 new england has not had a super bowl game decided by four points. win or lose it's always been a tight game. the patriots point out quarterback tom brady will tie joe ht montana and terry bradshaw. mike jerry, robert. robert, pick winner and points. >> i think it's 14-10 game in favor of new england. the most important thing for seattle is to get that running game started. i don't think they're going to be able to do it.

>> i think the patriots will win 23-17. same thing, robert. i think the key for patriots defense is to try to bottle up marshawn lynch and russell wilson, who is a phenomenal multidimensional quarterback. >> i have the same score, 22-17 patriots. i think their offensive line will have to step up and keep the defensive ends off of brady. >> michael bennett, they are amazing. >> you know all of you guys predicted a good game, a close game. >> yeah. it could come down to a field goal. 14-10. 23-17. 23-17. i'm 31-27. what do i know? i want a wide open game. >> i think you have too many points happening there. >> that's why you picked the lower number and i piked a higher number. remember the woman in that case, you're supposed to say what you're supposed to say. i love supports, columnists, i think you're the best righters,

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where are you from? >> i'm from phoenix, arizona. who will win? >> i am predicted new england. >> who do you think? >> seattle. seattle, i'm from st. louis, but i'm going for seattle. >> are you mad because the arizona team got your team? >> i am. >> i want seattle to win. >> you're out west. it's a national. >> where are you from? >> denver. >> and therefore you are for -- >> the broncos. what do you think of this game, the super bowl. >> i'm going with the patriots. >> me too. are you selfieing? >> i think the super bowl will be great, i'm going to win it so

i'm sorry seahawks and patriots, no -- good luck patriots. >> what do you think? >> i have no presence. >> it's a tom brady all the way. >> interests? is he good looking? >> yes. >> seahawks 24-21 seahawks. >> with i'm with her, seahawks -- >> what's that on your dress? >> oh, great. look at that. super saturday. one day before the big game and already a shaoupblg security undertaking. a new health concern is

raising questions today as well. >> who's next? mitt romney says he's not running for president again. which potential gop candidate does that help the most and does that change the equation for democrats round two. another big storm headed for the northeast. this one could be more widespread. details where it's going to hit and when? super food super ads, super gambles. a guide to unique aspects of the spectacle in big money headlines.