n't believe i'm eating bacon and rich creamy cheese before my sister's wedding well it's only 100 calories, so you'll be ready for that dress uh-huh... you don't love the dress? i love my sister... 40 flavors. 100 calories or less. super saturday one day before the big game and already a huge security undertaking. meanwhile, a new health concern is raising questions today as well. the fate of the keystone pipeline. the senate passed a bill okaying the project. i'll talk to one senator who voted for it and whether he expects the president to veto it. round two, another big storm headed for the northeast. but this one could be more widespread. details on where it's going to hit and when. who's next? mitt romney says he's not running for president again and it leaves a wide-open field. who's the new front-runner?

hey, there, everyone. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." super bowl xlix now just hours away. this year's event expected to be bigger than last year's. between 171 million and 184 million people expected to watch the game. and for the lucky people able to watch the game in person, on average, they shelled out nearly $6,500 for a ticket up more than 114% from last year. of course security also a huge part of this annual event thousands of officers will protect the super bowl site. a team of local, state and federal agencies in uniform as well as undercover will screen virtually every inch. >> i think the key is vigilance. and we've devoted a lot of resources and a lot of effort to making sure this event is safe and secure. >> and the skies around the stadium will also be a no-fly zone on sunday.

craig melvin joins us from glendale, arizona, the site of the super bowl. let's talk about security first. how big a situation. how present is it that you're able to see? >> reporter: you know you're going to see it at events like this. obviously the law enforcement presence is going to be visible. but it's also important to note that a lot of the security measures that are in place are invisible. let's talk about some of the visible stuff first of all. bomb-sniffing dogs also officers wearing radiation detection gear as well. there's going to be -- there are going to be scanners here on site that are going to scan literally everything that goes inside the stadium behind me. and by everything, i mean even katy perry's stage. they brought that in for the halftime show yesterday. they're checking that. we're also told that katy perry's outfit is going to be approved before she goes on stage so there's absolutely no chance of a wardrobe malfunction once again. so those are some of the

security measures in place. you mentioned the no-fly zone. blackhawk helicopters flying above the university of phoenix stadium enforcing that. and a sign of the times here also a no-drone zone either. no no drones are going to be allowed to be flied around the stadium, near the stadium. in addition to the police they also truck in roughly 400 private security officers. we're told those folks are not folks who are typically wearing uniforms. so this is going to be the safest, most secure place in all of america tomorrow. we should note though homeland security secretary jeh johnson saying yesterday at this point there is no credible threat no credible threat here at the super bowl. >> that's good to hear. can we talk about the measles outbreak because we know that it has affected the state of arizona there. and i'm curious, do you feel a concern there and if so are there precautions that officials are taking?

>> reporter: second question yes, precautions. first questions, no the folks we've talked to -- this is not something that's top of mind for a lot of people. you mentioned the measles outbreak obviously right now in this country, it's a legitimate outbreak. just in california neighbors to arizona, obviously, some 12 cases in just the past few days. in arizona, seven confirmed cases. where i am right now, maricopa county, two of those cases. and there are roughly 1,000 people that health officials are monitoring closely. these are people that they believe come in contact with the measles. they're watching those people very closely. at the stadium behind me keep in mind, you'll have roughly 100,000 people in this area tomorrow. they're doing three things. first of all the first aid stations that are set up inside the university of phoenix stadium, tlail be at those first aid stations. so if someone presents those symptoms, they'll communicate that information instantly.

and they're in close communication with area drugstores, drugstores in and around the phoenix area. health officials want to know if people are going into these drugstores and buying things that might give the impression that they may have some symptoms. and the third thing, staying in touch with hospitals and hotels. that's the third thing that health officials, we're told, are doing. they're taking it up a notch. but they've also been careful to say that it's not crisis mode or anything. but they are telling people who think that they may have the measles, if you have any sort of systems, they don't want you to show up. stay home. >> that totally makes sense considering it's so easily communicated and there's also a two-week gestation period. any symptoms, don't go to the game. just watch it on nbc. thank you, craig melvin. besides the game millions tuning in watch the halftime

show, katy perry is this year's performer. ahead of tomorrow she sat down with nbc's willie geist and talked about what it was like when she got that call. >> i was weeping and i was weeping all day actually. >> what is it about the super bowl? >> it just -- it feels like for an entertainer, it's the biggest. it's the top. it's the ceiling. >> we'll bring you more of willie's interview with katy perry in our 1:30 eastern half hour. and she's also promised a surprise female guest for her performance. see katy perry's halftime show and all the super bowl coverage tomorrow morning at 6:30 on nbc. this developing story right now, automakers today are recalling more than 2 million cars for faulty airbags. there are concerns those airbags could inflate while the cars are running. this recall of vehicles from six major automakers involve cars that had already been recalled once. the national highway traffic safety administration says original attempts to fix those

defects didn't work on some of those vehicles. kristen welker is at the white house for us. kristen, how serious is this and do you have a rundown of the cars being recalled? >> reporter: we do have a rundown. this is very serious. officials are urging the public to take this very seriously announcing the recall of more than 2 million vehicles that could potentially cause airbags to deploy inadvertently, as you said. here's a look at those vehicles. the new recalls include acura mdx, dodge vipers jeep grand cherokee, honda odyssey, pontiac vibe, toyota corolla, toyota matrix and toyota avalon models made in the early 2000s. there's a defective chip. the national highway traffic safety administration said that some of the vehicles initially fixed, about 40 of them continued to show those

inadvertent airbag deployments. now, while these recalls are not related to that issue involving vehicles recalled over the takata corp. airbags, about 1 million of the vehicles were a part of a separate takata recall. the regulators stress that there are no known fatalities related to this inadvertent airbag deployment. still, this latest recall underscores the ongoing problems that are associated with some vehicles which have complex electronic systems. regulators estimated it could take several months for these vehicles to be fixed. they are urging consumers to take their vehicles to their local dealer immediately. alex? >> very good advice. thank you so much. nbc's kristen welker. let's go to the weather now. another storm headed for the northeast, the weather channel's dr. greg postel has more on what could be round two of a winter wallop. hi, greg. what's up now? >> thanks, alex. big snow is coming to the midwest. and really coming soon, likely tonight and tomorrow. let's go to the maps and show

you how much we expect. there could be as much as 12 to 18 in that zone. it's a lot and it's going to be essentially along i-80. a little bit north and a little bit south of there. in earnest coming in tonight and coming quickly, coming down fast. possibility of thunder snow near that region across chicago, des moines and every small town in between of course. across the heartland of america, snow will be racing eastward during the day tomorrow. super bowl time going to be snowing hard along that zone. and then late on sunday, watch out in the northeast. a burst of snow will be moving through overnight. the question is how much warm air is ultimately going to get in there early on monday morning. i'll we'll go from snow to leet and freezing rain in new york city. stay tuned for all the latest. there's going to be a lot of updates to this model. but exactly where that rain/snow line sets up it's too early to call. but when you add up the snowfall totals we expect there could be

over a foot of snow in eastern new england. this is the area that's uncertain in the northeast. >> look out, boston. thank you so much. other news now, a spokesperson for "charlie hebdo" magazine says it has delayed its next two issues because the staff is emotionally fatigued and just needs some time. only where you know issue has been published. that happened a week after that deadly attack in paris. that was nearly three weeks ago. the state of ohio has postponed executions of seven death row inmates. the decision was made in order to give the state time to comply with new execution protocols and obtain a new supply of lethal injection drugs. the move comes amid controversy over how states execute death row inmates. a professional ice climber made history as the first person to ever ascend niagara falls. parts of the falls are frozen solid and it took him just under an hour to scale the 170-foot

wall of ice. mitt romney may be out of the 2016 picture. but his exit now raises another concern. who has the advantage to become the party's new front-runner? in a conference call to supporters yesterday, romney made it clear that it's time for some fresh faces to emerge. >> i believe that one of our next generation of republican leaders, one who may not be 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. >> msnbc political correspondent kasey hunt joins me. kasey, with a good day to you, what we just heard from mitt romney on that conference call a lot of people took that comment as a slight to jeb bush. was it? >> hey, alex.

look i'm not sure we should read too much into this. it's a gracious way for him to bow out and set himself up as a party elder, if you will. but i don't think that we can overestimate the influence that jeb bush had in the last three weeks of this romney speculation. he was sort of told behind the scenes, romney was that if he was going to make a move he needed to do it now because bush was so aggressive in pushing forward. i also think there was some resentment coming out of romney's camp, at least, if not necessarily romney himself definitely the people around him, over jeb bush's sort of armchair quarterbacking of the job that romney did running as the nominee in 2012. he's sort of taken a few jabs at how romney went about that whether it was handling attacks on his business experience or whether it was his hardline positions on immigration. and you also have some issue with the timing of when bush endorsed romney in the 2012 campaign and ann romney in particular took issue with that.

i think that while we're going to have to see how it plays out as far as the relationship between these two men and whether or not romney is willing to go all in for jeb bush but he played a role in the arc of the story of romney's 2016 campaign that wasn't. >> absolutely makes sense there. what do you think gains the most from mitt romney stepping aside? >> well, immediately obviously jeb bush, right? if anything he's the closest that the gop field now has to a front-runner. that can be a double-edged sword. it's good in that you're the benefit of the money and buzz and press coverage and all that. but it also makes you the target of everybody else behind you. i think that it also opens up a little more space on the establishment side for candidates like chris christie of new jersey maybe scott walker of wisconsin. and walker in particular i think is one to watch over the course of the next couple of weeks. he's somebody that appeals a lot to the base of the party, to maybe conservatives in ohio. he's a hero for the way he fought democratic policies and

busted unions in wisconsin. but he also has been working to appeal to sort of the establishment side. he's hired some staff that indicates that he's pretty serious about trying to court that side of the party as well. >> there's lots more to come on this. means we'll be seeing a lot of you. thank you so much. safe travels. >> thanks alex. ahead, it was once public. now it's classified. the decision to keep information about the war in afghanistan, like how much money it's costing, away from the american public. why the change? i'll speak to a u.s. senator about this next. ♪ welcome to the most social car we've ever designed. the all-new nissan murano. nissan. innovation that excites.

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turning to tables on isis. today, jordan is reportedly threatening to execute death row inmates tied to the terror group if it does not follow through on the deal to exchange a would-be suicide bomber for two hostages. but are they even alive? joining me now from amman, jordan, is bill neely.

hello, bill. >> reporter: hello, alex. from a country that is still holding its breath there has been no word first of all, from the terror group isis that's holding these hostages. here at the japanese embassy in amman, no word although japan's deputy foreign minister said efforts to free their hostage, kenji goto were in a state of deadlock. from jordan's government, no word either. the family the brother of the captured jordanian pilot said last night, we've heard nothing either from the government or from other sources. and it is more than 48 hours now since that deadline for a deal expired. jordan's government however, seems to have got some kind of message through its negotiators to isis that it would be prepared to execute those prisoners on its death row who have links to isis and to al qaeda. that includes sajida al rishawi,

the iraqi woman that isis wanted freed. it seems like a very risky, dangerous tactic for a nation to be, if you like stooping to the level of a terror group and threatening immediate executions. but jordan does feel a little bit powerless in all of this. and that isis not only holds the hostages but also holds all the cards. sajida al rishawi is regarded in this country really as a pawn a woman who took part in those deadly bombings ten years ago. but she was seen as a minor accomplice. there is some sympathy for her and certainly there was a willingness to swap her for the captured jordanian pilot. but as i say there's been no word of him or of kenji goto. and the chances of this complex three-way deal somehow actually happening now, those chances seem to be diminishing. back to you. >> bill neely, thank you so much for that. joining me now with the reaction from capitol hill is democratic senator bob casey.

senator, always good to see you. thanks for joining me. >> good to be with you. >> should the jordanians and japanese be negotiating with isis? >> well the jordanian government has to make its own decision. that's a determination they have to make. but this is so difficult when you have a pilot, someone who serves the people of jordan in the military, who's captured. this is a very difficult situation to deal with. and we should also put on the record that the contribution that the jordanians have made to the fight against isis they're part of the coalition, they're a great american ally. but they share such a longer border with syria that they're obviously drawn into this in a very significant way. so we hope for the best. but i can't second-guess or give advice on what they should do. they have to make the determination based upon their

intelligence and their own security interests. >> do you see any parallels with the situation -- the u.s.'s bowe bergdahl, the swap with the taliban? >> no i think they're different cases obviously. and i think it's always difficult to make comparisons. and, look that was an exchange that was criticized in this country from the very beginning. i think a lot of folks jumped to conclusions about it. but there are concerns raised just in the last couple of days that one of the individuals released might be engaged in actions against us or plotting against the united states or our allies. so those kinds of determinations are difficult to make when you're trying to free one of your own citizens. and in the case of the jordanians and in the case of mr. bergdahl they were actual soldiers for the military.

>> absolutely. it was revealed as you know this week that the u.s. is now classifying previously publicly held information about the war in afghanistan, things like the afghan troop levels the amount of money being spent there and where it's being spent. can this be read as anything other than trying to hide the scale of a war that the white house claims is over? >> well, alex, i don't know that for sure. it does raise questions. i think before i had reached the conclusion that you were pointing to, i'd want to see the intelligence justification for it. in other words, if they're saying they have to classify information to keep it out of public view for security or operational reasons on the ground, that's one thing. so i can't make that judgment without seeing the intelligence, which i haven't seen yet. but there's no question here that when you're spending, as we have tens and tens of billions of dollars on a more than

decade-long military engagement we have to make sure as the inspector general has done a lot of good reporting on this the inspector general for afghanistan, we have to make sure that that information is available to the public so we can perform the oversight responsibility that i and others are obligated to do. but in this case we'll have to look at the intelligence. but we have to make sure the taxpayers get their money's worth when we spend those kinds of dollars. >> but if the argument is that they're doing this for security as you suggest may be among the reasons, and trying to protect lives, if that's the case has the government been risking lives up until now by publishing the information? >> well, every time there's an inspector general's report -- and there have been numerous such reports relating to the engagement in iraq and then in afghanistan -- areny

administration, but certainly both the bush and obama administrations have to make determinations as to whether or not the public disclosure of that report would put operations at risk. this is unusual because it seems like they have allowed information to be public and then they're pulling it back. so it bears a lot of scrutiny in terms of getting that balance right between security and protecting our soldiers our troops and making sure the taxpayers have the information that they have a right to expect. >> senator, let's switch to the home front. on thursday you voted in favor of the keystone xl pipeline which passed in the senate. you were one of only nine democrats to do so. why do you support it? >> i think from the beginning of this debate the question has come down to what side do we err on? there's no perfect position on an issue like this. i think the job issue, the job

creation issue, even those who say that some more than 40,000 maybe 42,000 jobs temporary though they may be are significant jobs. i also think the energy benefit has some potential. and others have raised environmental concerns. that's why we had a long debate and a lot of amendments that spoke to ensuring the best possible environmental protections. in the end, though, i think we've spent all the time we should on this issue. it's clear now that the senate has spoken, the house will speak. the president's likely to veto this. and i don't think there's votes in the house or the senate to override that. so i think we should move on. we have much more important issues than this pipeline. we've got -- we should be debating how to better protect the middle class and help grow incomes and grow wages. we should be talking about the policy against isis. we should be talking about infrastructure, tax reform. a whole range of issues that are being pushed aside because we're

still debating one pipeline. >> yeah. and given that the eagles and the steelers neither are in the super bowl, what is it, patriots or seahawks for you? >> well, i don't have a preference. but i'm looking towards the 2016 super bowl as you just outlined. steelers versus eagles. >> what are you, a politician? senator, thank you so much. >> thanks alex. tomorrow's super bowl will be played in phoenix on grass that was grown in alabama. why is that? the answer and more interesting factoids about the biggest game of the year coming up. how much money do you have in your pocket right now? i have $40 $21. could something that small make an impact on something as big as your retirement? i don't think so. well if you start putting that towards your retirement every week and let it grow over time, for twenty to thirty years that retirement

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now to a quick look at today's number ones. we begin with history-making high-flying adventurers. the american and russian pilots of a helium-filled balloon safely landed today off the coast of baja mexico. it ends a journey of about 7,000 miles that started last sunday in japan. they broke the records for distance and duration. let's hear it for sear na williams. she became the oldest woman to win the australian open. it's her ninth grand slam victory. you have some sort of savior complex? >> just want to get the bad guys. >> at the box office "american sniper" continues its dominance. it's projected to win the weekend and boost its six-week earnings to about $250 million. and those are your number ones.

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." now to the super bowl and the preparations taking place for tomorrow's big game. grounds crews are literally rolling out the field of grass at the university of phoenix stadium. all 19 million pounds of turf. it's on a retractable slide with the turf actually coming from a farm in alabama. >> we've been blessed. this will be the fourth outdoor super bowl with natural grass in a row that we've done from this farm. the field that's in glendale at the super bowl was harvested off of this piece of dirt here. >> joining me now with more on the super bowl turf is nbc's sarah dallof who's there in glendale for the big game. explain to me these millions of pounds, how does this retractable field work? >> reporter: it's very interesting. first of all retractable roofs, they're just not that special anymore. so they really raised the bar with this retractable field.

it's pretty simple. when the grounds crew wants to roll it out to give it its daily dose of sun, they pull a single lever that gets a system of 500-plus wheels turning which then slides the field outside on what are basically railroad tracks. it takes about one hour to move it in and move it back out. >> that's just cool video that wif sped up for people. but can you give me a perspective here, the size of this turf? >> reporter: yeah, it is just huge. about 92,000 square feet. that's just massive. all in all weighing about 19 millions pounds. they keep the grass about two inches long. occasionally it needs a touch-up. they played the pro bowl there on sunday. and they needed to replace the grass in the end zone with the super bowl logo. they did that. got it all back up to speed, watered and sunned. it will be in pristine condition

for the super bowl sunday. >> you mentioned there's a retractable roof there which means it's also arizona, it's going to be get plenty of sunshine. why not just grow the grass there at the stadium? >> reporter: that's an excellent question. that has to do with the design of the stadium. it was designed to look like a snake rapped around a cactus. cool design but it doesn't get the full sun, even with that retractable roof. so they came up with this other system to keep the cool design and yet get the field the sunshine it needs. >> pretty cool to see. thank you very much for bringing it to us nbc's sarah dallof. the federal aviation administration has declared the area over and around the super bowl stadium a no-drone zone. >> going to the big game? have fun, cheer an your team and keep it a no-drone zone. don't spoil the game. leave your drone at home. >> the faa's temporary flight

restrictions cover a 30-mile radius from the stadium. aircraft can't fly below 18,000 feet. let's bring in patrick tucker. let's talk about aviation officials and what they're doing here. they've issued advisories like this one. the faa bars unauthorized aircraft including drones from flying over or near nfl regular and postseason football games. anyone violating the rules may be intercepted, detained and interviewed by law enforcement or security personnel. so the faa's the one to enforce these rules and particularly relative to drones how tough is that? >> well, it's pretty incredible. and it's going to be really tough to enforce. they're working with law enforcement in the area. but if you're talking about the technical ability to find and spot and then go and capture a sometimes 10 15-pound drone using technology, your options are pretty much sorcery and esp.

these things are far too small to be picked up by conventional radar, air traffic control radar. the way the faa mostly catches people using drones illegally right now is because those individuals have uploaded footage that they've obtained to youtube or some other social networking site. so you're basically relying on people to self-report the rules they're infracturing to the faa. >> to your point about how difficult this is this comes a week after a civilian drone crashed on the white house grounds. you wrote, the white house may have employed the same anti-drone technology the military is trying to perfect to protect ships and planes from future drone swarms. what kind of technology might they have used? >> well enforcing a no-drone perimeter for little tiny drones within a 30 nautical mile radius is going to be really hard. but when talking about an area closer to the size of your house or the white house, there are a few things you can use. a couple of services you can go

to will sell you a mesh network that can detect a radio or a cellular or wi-fi signal which is how we use to steer drones. and different services can actually interrupt that. that's called jamming. that's what the military does when it wants to intercept flying objects, primarily, if it doesn't want to shoot them down. now, the white house hasn't said what they used to bring this down or even if it was them. current evidence seems to suggest the drone just crashed on its own. the operator admits to being intoxicated at the time of use. but using a simple drone jamming technology that we know exists it is possible to interrupt the signal after detecting it and the drone crashes that way. so if the white house doesn't have that technology, the question is, why not? >> well on the manufacturers' end, these private drone makers they can build safeguards into their products that might prevent them from flying into sensitive areas, right? how would that work how effective would those be?

>> the maker of the drone that crashed over the white house lawn last week the company's called dgi. and they have gone out and issued a mandatory firmware update which will keep their drones from operating over areas that are restricted. there's a big bunch of restricted space in washington, d.c. so it basically crashes your drone for you if you're using it in a way that's illegal. so that's one method going directly to the manufacturer and asking them to put geo-fencing software on the products that they're selling. the problem is you can 3-d print drone parts from your house. you don't have to go for the upgrade. you can use your drone without the upgrade. or go to a different manufacturer that has yet to crash a drone over the white house lawn. just going to the manufacturer and asking them to install firmware updates for geofencing is a patchy solution. >> thank you so much, patrick. you can all watch the big game

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>> lori joins me now. that's the one we were talking about. it is fantastic. it's the budweiser puppy ad. you say there's a winning formula here. does this ad have it? >> yes, this ad definitely has it. anheuser-busch past ads had the formula down as well. this ad has emotion and great music and really cute animals. another formula that tends to work is using humor and the humor with celebrities. all these different techniques people can use to have their ads stand out. and when they pair them together it's often a winning commercial.

>> and there's a theme this year fatherhood dove has put out a particularly sweet one. here's a clip from that. >> daddy? >> dad? >> daddy! >> dad. >> daddy! >> that totally pulls at the heartstrings, too. >> exactly. >> what's behind this trend? >> dad as hero is going to stand out at this year's super bowl. people tend to remember the ads that really tug at their heartstrings. those are the ones they often pass around on social media. so tidzersadvertisers are paying up to $40 million for 30 seconds of airtime. that's a big reason behind these emotional ads. >> and you mentioned celebrities, there's an ad with kim kardashian who's going to

basically poke fun at herself and all the selfies she does. but what else should we expect to see? >> a lot of them are poking fun at themselves just like the kim kardashian ad. pierce brosnan, bryant gumbel and katie couric. bryant gumbel and katie couric poking fun at themselves about not knowing what the internet was 30 years ago. >> what is that ad -- it's hysterical. let's go into the way back machine for a moment and look at the commercial classic mcdonald's. let's take a look at this one from 1993. >> off the floor, off the scoreboard, off the board, no rim. >> second rafter off the floor, nothing but yet. through the window off the wall, nothing but net.

>> awesome. "usa today's" ad meter has this as one of the top ten commercials of all time. why was it such a success? >> first of all, mcdonald's used two really well-known basketball players. but they put them in a setting that people can relate to. people understand the game of h-o-r-s-e. but then they added the humor aspect. it was more and more extreme shots. >> and what is the ad meter? >> it's interesting. since 1989 "usa today" has asked consumers to give us feedback on the super bowl ads. back in the day, we had focus groups and had them rate the ads on handheld meters. but people now can weigh in on their iphone or laptop. you just have to register and tomorrow can vote on the gameday

ads. >> these kinds of social media polls that you're taking and the fact that they're spending $4 million plus on these ads, how much does it translate into sales? >> that's the big question. some marketers have come out after the super bowl and said we have seen a bump in sales. but the biggest thing for most marketers is raising brand awareness. you have a lot of them advertising on the super bowl that want you to know about their company and their products. you're now in their consideration set. if you're going to buy a new car, maybe you'll consider their car because you see the ad. >> i know you'll be watching tomorrow. thank you. why are some of sarah palin's most ardent defenders now abandoning her even when she says she may run for president in 2016? that's next.

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can you believe it? 6 bucks for the cheapest ticket. sarah palin may be seriously interested in running for president next week. but some of her most devoted fans on the right could be on the verge of leaving her side. "the washington post" writes this -- sarah palin's odd, rambling speech last weekend before an audience of committed conservative activists in des moines has many influential voices on the right saying that the time has come to acknowledge that the marriage is dead. here's some of what she said last week. >> another latin word status quo, and it stands for, man, the

middle class, everyday americans are really getting taken for a ride. that's status quo. and gop leaders, by the way, you know, the man, can only ride you when your back is bent. so strengthen it. then the man can't ride you and american won't be taken for a ride because so much is at stake. >> matt k. lewis is a contributor to "the daily collar." matt, i welcome you. you were where you know of the conservatives who have championed sarah palin over the years. why are you and others leaving her side now? >> i was definitely somebody who early on thought she was incredibly talented. and i still think she was. and i think part of the reason people are now no longer sort of sticking with her is she didn't take advantage of the talent. she didn't go back to alaska and bone up on the issues. she seems to have made the decision to go into reality tv and give these extemporaneous

improv speeches instead of taking that god-given talent and using it to advance the movement. the other thing that's happened when sarah palin burst onto the scene in 2008 it was a breath of fresh air. but back then ted cruz wasn't around marco rubio wasn't around, rand paul wasn't around joni ernst wasn't around. there's a whole crop of young, exciting, fresh conservative leaders that have come since sarah palin. she helped actually get some of them elected. and thing they're overshadowing her opening up a lot of conservatives to say, why is she pretending she's going to run for president? she should get out of the way and let the next generation take over? >> you're saying that basically she did not go back and study the issues. >> i think that's right. i think there was a real hope that after 2008 she could go back to alaska maybe continue her job as governor and become more of an expert on foreign policy, on economics. she had the god-given talent the charisma but she lacked

some experience and some knowledge. instead of doing that i think she kind of took the easy way out. >> and that speech that we played part of at the iowa freedom summit what about that speech turned some people off? >> i think that was the straw that broke the camel's back. for years, she's given speeches that were rambling and pointless. so i think that what you're seeing is a combination of a few things. one, i think conservatives are tired of her sort of pretending -- taking all this attention and pretending she's going to run. possibly causing trouble or overshadowing legitimate candidates who might be running. i also think the fear of reprisal is gone. for a long time if you were a conservative who dared to criticize sarah palin, you were in trouble. you were going to get beat up, at least on twitter if nothing else. i think that's sort of subsided. she's entered into a new territory now. >> she says she's, quote, seriously interested in running for president.

do you believe her? or do you think she's just trying to stay relevant right now? she may feel her waning influence? >> i think that's what it is. i don't think anybody believes she's seriously going to run. and that's part of the problem that we have reached this sort of palin fatigue. she's flirted with running for different offices. i don't know if you remember a few years ago, she pretended she was going to run for president. the media were chasing her bus caravan around the country. and it never happened. i think people have decided she is now interested in fame interested in attention. and let's maybe focus on scott walker or marco rubio instead. >> matt lewis, thank you so much. good to talk with you. >> thank you. for a week they showed "american sniper" at a theater in baghdad. did iraqis love or hate it? the answer ahead. push your enterprise and you can move the world. ♪ ♪ but to get from the old way to the new you'll need the right it infrastructure. from a partner who knows how

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notably notably, coming to us from the roswell, georgia, police department. we're on their facebook page. here's what they have said. police are on the scene of a rescue call at the home of bobbi kristina brown, the daughter of whitney houston and bobby brown. cpr was started. life-saving measures were started. she's been transported to the hospital. this comes to us from the roswell, georgia, police department. their facebook page. we're also getting word of the report from our affiliate wxia there in atlanta. it is important to note, of course, she is the daughter of whitney houston. whitney houston whose tragic death happened back in 2012 was a very trying time, understandably, for her only child, bobbi kristina brown. it was discovered that just a few hours after her mother's funeral back in 2012 she was 18

years old and she disappeared for a short while and was found using drugs. and that was according to two sources close to the family. we'll get as much information on this as we can and keep following this for you. so, again, that report that she has been taken to a hospital, unresponsive at that point. and we are awaiting word an official update from the hospital and/or family members or the police department there in roswell, georgia. we'll bring you up to date on that when we get the information. meantime, our top story today as well, the biggest football game of the year is almost here. of course we're talking about super bowl xlix. you're looking at live pictures of the home of the super bowl in glendale, arizona. between 171 million and 184 million people are expected to watch the game this year. that's up from 111.5 million last year. and for the lucky people able to watch the game in person on average, you have shelled out nearly $6,500 for a ticket up more than 114% from last year. of course, security is also a big part of this annual event. thousands of officers will be on hand to protect the super bowl site.

a team of local, state and federal agencies in uniform as well as undercover will screen virtually every inch. >> i think key is vigilance. and we've devoted a lot of resources and a lot of effort to making sure this event is safe and secure. >> the skies around the stadium will also be a no-fly zone all day on sunday. nbc's craig melvin is live for us from glaenendale, arizona. you said a lot of security measures are going on that we wouldn't even be able to detect were we on site. >> reporter: right. every year this is the largest gathering of people -- one of the largest gatherings of people annually in america. this year, not an exception. they expect more than 100,000 people to be in and around this stadium. hundreds of uniformed officers are going to be on hand here.

600 officers on patrol. those are the folks in uniform that you see. that does not include the plainclothes officers. we're told some of the folks who are going to be patrolling will be wearing radiation detection gear. also 500 high-tech cameras will be placed in and around the stadium. those cameras feeding back live video to a command center where you've got folks who are poring over that video making sure there is nothing askew. and blackhawk helicopters have been enforcing the no-fly zone for a day or so now. we can also tell you every piece of equipment, every item that's been taken into the stadium has been scanned. the stage for the halftime show all those little things that you wouldn't think about, everything's been scanned. so security here top notch as you might imagine. the bomb-sniffing dogs as well. we see those at events like this all the time now.

so that's the latest on the secure measure, alex. i can tell you that the game itself has become a bit of a sideshow for a lot of folks. a lot of folks who come to the super bowl every year have no intention of going into the game. most folks can't afford the tickets. but a lot of folks can go to the parties. they can afford tickets to some of these parties. i spent some time last night at a few of the parties. the bud light party in particular, nicky minaj was the performer. i sat down with her a little bit before she went on stage. who do you have in the game sunday? >> depends on what side of the bed i wake up on. >> reporter: so you might wake up on the seattle side or the new england side? >> yeah, depends. >> reporter: after some prodding, she finally revealed that she's pulling for the seahawks tomorrow. she's apparently a fan of russell wilson.

but, again, a dozen parties tonight. folks who make it to the game tomorrow, a lot of them, despite the fact that it's at 6:30 in the evening, a lot of them will probably still be a bit groggy. >> look at you doing the hardcore reporting for us craig melvin, at all the parties. good assignment. >> reporter: sometimes you have to take one for the team, alex. thank you. >> good job, thank you. on a much more somber note, more of the breaking news out of georgia. whitney houston's daughter bobbi kristina brown, is in the hospital after being found unresponsive in her bathtub. her husband and a friend started cpr after they found her. police are still on the scene investigating. we have chris witherspoon joining me on the phone right now. a little nerve-racking. you and i were together two years ago around this time when we were discussing and covering the funeral of her mother tragically, whitney houston, who died drowning in a bathtub. what kind of information are you hearing about bobbi kristina and

is she okay? >> right now, we just have a few reporting teams saying that she is stable right now. she's breathing and they said earlier she was found in her bathtub unconscious in her home. we covered this two years ago -- it will be three years february 11th that whitney houston was found in the bathtub. it was deja vu. i was on the same phone call. it's so sad to think that she might be going through some of the same problems that whitney houston had gone through. she filmed a lifetime reality show two years ago and we saw that she's not all that stable. she's still battling the loss of her mother a few addictions she's battling. so we don't know if this was a drug-induced situation that made her unconscious, was it alcohol or was it just a health issue that she's battling? but regardless, it's scary and it feels so eerie, the bathtub, the same situation that her mother unfortunately died in.

>> i know that she's married. what do we know about her husband, nick gordon? i believe he's had dui arrests, has he not? >> yeah they've been involved in a car accident. he's had dui arrests, had some run-ins with the law as well. he moved into the houston home about a decade ago and he was her adopted brother, no relation by blood. and she married him. that played out on their reality show as well. and whitney houston's mother has been very adamant against them getting married. initially she was kind of reluctant because they were raised as siblings but also she felt he wasn't really pristine and someone that she should be marrying into the houston family. so the family's been against it. the person who oversees the houston estate has also come out and said she doesn't approve of the marriage. so bobbi kristina is living her life on her terms. she's been isolated from her family for the past couple of years.

she was in contact with her father at one point, bobby brown, but we don't see them having a public relationship. so i don't know the status of that either. >> but it's important, reiterate what you're hearing, that she is responding to treatment? >> yeah that is the good news. she was found unconscious. but right now, we're told by numerous sources that she responded to treatment, she's in stable condition and she is breathing in a hospital in atlanta. >> chris witherspoon, as soon as you get more information, please phone back in and we'll get the update. >> will do. >> thank you so much. another winter storm could be headed to the northeast. the weather channel's dr. greg postel has more on the storm's path. hi, greg. >> thanks, alex. we're staring down the barrel of a pretty big snowstorm for the upper midwest. let's go to the maps. this is how much snow we expect through monday across the region. there is going to be a swath of 12 to 18 in here. i'm thinking closer to 12 rather than 18. but that's still a lot.

really along the i-80 corridor and more north of that than south. pretty rapid cut-off as you go southward out of iowa and illinois. then you go from the snow to the rain pretty quickly. but if you time it out overnight tonight, there could be heavy snow across that zone maybe with some even lightning and thunder. so this is a pretty potent system drawing up a lot of warm air from the south. and it's going to continue through late tomorrow. and look what happens in the northeast. burst of snow moves through. but the question is i'm thinking there's going to be some warm air getting in there, maybe making this an icing issue as well. and then over to rain later on monday. watch out, monday morning's rush could be very difficult from about new york city on southward. north of there looks like mostly snow. and if you want to add up the snowfall totals here we are going perhaps over a foot out in here. but the trend is to go a little bit less as you go south of new york city with more warm air getting in. stay tuned for all the latest. very complicated forecast setting up. back to you. >> thank you so much. he's a former super bowl

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i'm doing the math. we are just about 29 hours away from super bowl xlix.

most of us will watch this game on tv. in fact, a new study found that 75% of americans say they plan to watch the game. and 47% say they're most interested in the game while 41% say they're more interested in watching the commercials and being with family and friends. and you can all see the game on nbc tomorrow night at 6:30 eastern. let's go now to the economic impact it could have on the phoenix area. to do that we bring in jared bernstein, former chief economist for vice president biden and a senior fellow at the center for budget policies. jared, we hear about how much money is thrown about at the super bowl. projected spending at game time is more than $14 billion. nbc has said the super bowl ads and the publicity surrounding them could be worth about $10 million to advertisers. everybody seems to be making money out of this. how about the city of glendale? what does it get out of this? >> well the city of glendale's mayor is complaining this is

going to cost them money. it's not a huge city about 250,000 people. and, remember somebody has to pay for all that security. and you just did a segment with the very hardworking craig melvin out there going to bud light parties and interviewing music stars. that said the mayor's arguing that this ultimately will cost them a few million bucks and he's actually asking the rest of the state to reimburse him. that's not a crazy ask. on the other hand there's absolutely no question should be in anyone's mind that this is a big, hairy revenue raiser for a lot of different people. we're talking about one little corner of a cost here. >> but, the mayor has also said the super bowl could bring in about $500 million to the area. do you see a net gain or net loss overall? >> unquestionably a net gain to the area. the mayor is saying imagine you're hiring all these security

forces, many are from out of state but some local. those folks are going to make extra money. that's great for them. but if you look at it from the perspective of the mayor's actual public coffers, the expenditures that that city of glendale has to make they don't necessarily get any of that back the came way. some of their tax receipts will increase. no question for the town the city, for a larger area like that, a huge net plus. >> and market watch says the average nfl stadium costs about $250 million in public funding. purely from a financial perspective here, is this a good use of public money? >> well i actually think that on average it's often not. there are places -- for example, you can find neighborhoods in cities urban areas, where they've actually renovated a whole neighborhood around a new stadium. but when you plunk those expensive stadiums down in the

middle of a relatively affluent place, i don't think it's a big net gain for the community. so i do think that's one of the ways we can kind of waste tax dollars. >> jared, don't go too far. we'll talk with you a little bit later about the president's budget and the record high for 401(k) balances. we'll come back to you in about 15 minutes or so. thanks. president obama's new budget blueprint for the country. what's in it that will convince congress to approve it? and they're off the field and out of bounds. the illegal super bowl bets that could yield some big bucks. and she's always full of surprises. what can we expect from katy perry's super bowl halftime show? we'll talk to her. told us to expect it... intercourse that's painful due to menopausal changes it's not likely to go away on its own. so let's do something about it. premarin vaginal cream can help it provides estrogens to help rebuild vaginal tissue and make intercourse more comfortable. premarin vaginal cream treats vaginal changes due to menopause and moderate-to-severe painful intercourse caused by these changes.

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inside of her home. she's in the ellard subdivision in roswell, georgia. the police department facebook page confirmed they had taken her after performing cpr, unresponsive in that bathtub, they've taken her to the hospital. we're getting from "associated press" confirmation that she was taken alive to the hospital. and we've also heard from chris witherspoon who reports that he's getting word that she is responding to treatment there in the hospital. so once again, bobbi kristina brown, 20 years old, she has been found unresponsive earlier today inside of her home in the bathtub. but she is being treated right now at the hospital. her mother tragically died three years ago in 2012 right about this time. we were all mourning the loss of the wonderful whitney houston and that magnificent voice that she had. bobbi kristina brown a few hours after her mother's funeral was known to have disappeared for a short while and she was

discovered by two sources using drugs at the time. it's been a very difficult time for that young lady. we wish her well and hope she recovers fully and completed. we'll keep you updated. president obama will unveil his latest budget proposal on monday. he outlined some of his goals today in his weekly address. >> treating things like paid leave and child care like the economic priorities that they are. we'll offer americans of every age the chance to upgrade their skills so they can earn higher wages with plans like making two years of community college free for every responsible student. and we'll keep building the world's most attractive economy for high-wage jobs. >> welcoming back jared bernstein, it wasn't 15 minutes. we couldn't wait. it was just like five. >> i'm glad to be back. >> i'm glad you are, too. the question is is this a good budget? >> i think it is a good budget. what the president just

described is important set of policies -- the way i look at it -- we've talked about this before. the economy is growing now, growing fairly reliably. but it certainly isn't reaching a lot of people in the middle class and lower end of the income spectrum. what the president was talking about there is a set of policy measures, call them policy glue that will help reconnect the economic prosperity of the middle class to the growing economy. community college, child care targeted at the middle class, there's a second earner deduction, all these measures geared to help stimulate some of that growth to places it hasn't reached yet. >> can it get through congress? >> no it cannot get through congress. so there is a bit of this strange kabuki dance we do this time of year. can any of it get through congress? there's been some bipartisan interest in some of the measures you just heard about.

things like preschool for kids who can't afford that. it's a very important investment in the long term. there are lots of conservatives who recognize that that kind of a thing has net positive benefits. there are some conservatives who have suggested that perhaps increasing the earned income credit, a wage subsidy for low income earners is a good idea like the child care credits. maybe you can pull some of these items of it think of it as a chinese menu you might get some appetizers off of it. >> how about the economic glitch in the last quarter of this last year in 2014 economic growth just over 2.5% slightly lower than expected. anything to be concerned about there? >> not so much. one of the things that i like to do is instead of looking at these quarterly numbers that can be very jumpy, you look at the annual numbers. you measure the growth in gdp, year over year. and when i did that i found the economy's been growing pretty steadily at around a 2.5% rate. you'll get up to 5% one quarter

and then go down below that the next quarter. if you average out those bips and bops you find out that we're growing somewhere between 2.5%, maybe north of that. that's a decent growth rate. that's around trend. and we can certainly see that leading to better job creation and the job market. as i mentioned, we still have some issues. wages, incomes reaching the middle class. but the economy from a macro sense is on track. >> let's talking about retirement plans. 2014 if you have a retirement plan, it was a great year for you. here are the numbers. it sounds good for the generation about to retire. what about the outlook for the next generation? >> well it's going to be tough in the following sense. i just mentioned -- we can actually tie a lot of this together. i just mentioned some of the difficulties that middle class families are having particularly acute for younger people particularly those coming into the job market in what was the great recession or the number of years it took to get going. if it's difficult for you to

start saving at a significant amount early in your career, that has long-term reverberations. and it's also the case because of this inequality problem we discussed. while that 91,000 is a very nice-looking average if you look at the extent of savings in the bottom half of the income scale, both the amount which they're saving and which they're participating in these plans is considerably smaller. so there are distributional issues there as well. >> jared, thank you so much. >> thank you, alex. let's get more on the breaking news from georgia. whitney houston's daughter bobbi kristina brown is in the hospital right now. she was found unresponsive in her baath tub earlier this morning inside of her home. her husband and a friend started cpr after finding her. police took over until the rescue workers came to this atlanta area home. police remain on the scene investigating. joining me on the phone is reporter nikki novak from young hollywood. what are you hearing there? >> i'm hearing about the same as you're hearing.

basically she is not hospital she is breathing. not much has been said about mental capacity or anything beyond that. >> okay, you bring up a very good point there. but she's breathing. so she is alive. that's been confirmed by the "associated press" as well. what do we know about how she's been spending her time of late? i know she's not been particularly in the public eye. >> no. i know she was upset about the lifetime movie. she blasted angela bassett for not casting her in the movie and angela responded by saying, i didn't even consider her. i looked on her twitter. on january 29th she tweeted the words, on my own. i don't know what that meant. i know it's the anniversary of her mother's death coming up. and it's just the circumstances are just bizarre. >> yeah. we know that she is married. nick gordon is her husband's name. and there's been a history of certainly dui.

we know that for a fact, right? >> yes, yes. in 2014 he had a dui, he crashed his car. this girl has had -- she's had it rough from the get-go. >> she certainly has. nikki, thank you very much for phoning in with the latest on what you know as well. and we'll continue to follow this as soon as we get more information or confirmation on the status of her health there in that atlanta area hospital. we'll bring it to you. meantime it's a view that commands a pretty penny. the high cost of super bowl tickets, the staggering price tags coming up. and she was stunned when she was asked. halftime show performer katy perry talked to us about what she's cooking up. and super bowl winning quarterback joe theismann joins me on a mission to save children from the game that made him a star. push your enterprise and you can move the world. ♪ ♪ but to get from the old way to the new you'll need the right it infrastructure.

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spentd on super bowl commercials. ♪ snoelt ♪ >> i'm going to correct myself there. although i love the commercial they're not paying $4.5 billion for it. $4.5 million. such a steal, right? but it's not just corporate america spending the big money. nbc's sarah dallof joins me from arizona with more on super bowl money. this game is going to be costing so much money. what is the cheapest seat out there? >> reporter: it's pretty unbelievable, alex. the cheapest seat in the stadium is going for $9,100. the most expensive seat is $68,000.

you could get one of the new corvettes or drive away with three new camrys for that kind of money. no last-minute deals will happen probably. there's about 200, 300 tickets left. and people are lined up at the stubhub pop-up store at the stadium. so people willing to go for those tickets at those historically high prices. this is the most expensive super bowl in history. >> we put up a factoid earlier that the cheapest ticket back in 1967 at the inaugural super bowl game, $6. i kept saying that's not possible. but let's talk about the money being spent on betting. take us inside the numbers. >> reporter: yeah, these are just also unreal. about 200 million people worldwide expected to place some kind of bet or some kind of wager on the super bowl. all in all worldwide, they'll bet about $8 billion.

some will be legal bets but much of it will be illegal betting including here in the united states where they're expecting about $4 billion in illegal bets. that is significantly more money than will be bet in las vegas, nevada, where it is legal. >> sarah dallof thank you very much for the very latest from glendale. in other news the devil of ramadi is the blockbuster of baghdad in the brief days that "american sniper" played in the iraqi capital, throngs came out to sold-out showings. it comes from a fascinating new article that looks at what happened when the most controversial film in america played in the very battlefield that it depicts. joining us now is susannah george. we've been having a hard time getting that signal up. we have her? it's been touch and go. we got you right now, susannah.

one of the most amazing things in the modern world, a war movie can play in an upscale mall in a battlefield just a few years after americans patrolling the treats there. how did iraqis react to it? >> reporter: well, you know i was really surprised by the reactions that i heard from iraqis who saw the movie in baghdad. i heard a lot of different opinions. but overall, it seemed the people i spoke to really enjoyed the film. they liked it as a well-produced, kind of slick, fun action movie. and a lot of people said that they really identified with the main character. navy s.e.a.l. sniper chris kyle and really saw him as a hero in the film who they championed and cheered on throughout the course of the movie. >> they did. and i understand in the very opening scene, it's part of the trailer where he has to decide whether or not he's going to shoot a young child and/or his mother and they appear to be

carrying an rpg, the people were shouting out, kill them, kill them! these were the iraqi people making these shouts, right? >> yeah that was one of the most surprising things. almost everyone that i spoke to mentioned this particular scene, which is at the beginning of the film and as you mentioned also in the trailer. a lot of people said that when they were in the movie theater watching this in baghdad, people were yelling, don't wait for permission, just shoot them they have an ied, they're terrorists. but other people told me that that was also a really difficult scene to watch. you have to remember that the events that this movie was portraying did not take place that long ago. so everyone who i spoke to lived through the events that this movie was portraying and said that that scene -- some of the people said that that scene in particular was very difficult to watch because it brought up a lot of real raw memories for them. >> absolutely. and to further that point as you wrote, dozens have been killed in bombings there in baghdad

just this last week. was there any sort of sense that the movie might have been a bit too real and too soon? >> yeah there were -- there was definitely a mix of opinions. one of the things that was really interesting is there's these kind of conflicting feelings that people had about the film. one of the people who i spoke to said that he didn't like the movie, that he considered the main character a coward and that he felt that the movie just proved that all u.s. troops are bloodthirsty. yet he also admitted that he's seen it three times. he went to the theater twice to see it and he also watched it at home once. and i then spoke to some iraqi filmmakers about it. and they agreed that they see this kind of conflicting feelings in their iraqi audiences, even towards iraqi films that have to do with war and violence that at one point, people are captivated and interested in it because it does really identify with them and

something that they kind of deal with on a day-to-day basis in baghdad. but at the same time, it's difficult to watch because it's part of their daily lives. >> i'm curious about -- you may have just been describing this. but the quintessential american story of the iraq war seems to be the returning soldier who's haunted by what he saw and what he did. from all those people you've spoken with what is the quintessential iraqi story of the war? >> well it depends who you speak to. when you talk to iraqi filmmakers, what they would like to see to be the quintessential story of the iraq war is a story that focuses on the iraqi people and iraq as a country, its history and the iraqi people's hopes for the future. and what they see coming out of hollywood which doesn't surprise them and they don't fault hollywood for this are stories that are very american-centric. that focus on the american perspective and the american experience of the iraq war.

and that's why a lot of the iraqi filmmakers i spoke to said it's really important that they foster a new generation of filmmakers from iraq to try to tell this other side of the story that has already had so many versions of it told from the american perspective. >> interesting article, susannah. thank you so much for joining us. glad we were able to make the connection. back here at home a big question in washington protocol faux pas or international insult? in a new interview, it's said prime minister netanyahu's agreement to speak to the congress was a misunderstanding. joining me now is steven clemens, washington editor at large for "the atlantic." steven, do you accept the ambassador's claim that the israelis were waiting for

speaker boehner to tell the white house and no offense was intended? >> no, i don't because this relationship -- the ambassador in particular has been party to every single meeting between this white house and that prime minister for years. and there is a lot of serious work that goes into each of these meetings. they are sculpted. and there's been tension in this relationship for a long time. and both sides have gone to extraordinary lengths to hide that tension and to try to demonstrate that the relationship is strong solid and unshakable. but what has happened is both the ambassador and the prime minister of israel knew what they were doing in this case. so it's nice to apologize. i think we should accept that apology. but i don't think we should be duped into thinking that this wasn't actually purposeful. >> so if you're saying this was intended, what is to be gained by this? how would they expect it to be played out? what's the goal?

>> well my sense is that everything that benjamin netanyahu is thinking right now is about his election. when we saw him appear in paris at the "charlie hebdo" unity march, he was noted to be there because two of his election rivals had gone to paris and were there and going to be in the march. and i think that netanyahu thinks that this kind of tension and, again, painting the picture that obama is not a true friend of israel or trying to paint that is something that sells in the israeli political base right now. and so i think we're seeing an election ploy as opposed to sort of a smart management of a strategically vital relationship. >> does president obama have incentive to patch up this relationship with beebe netanyahu? >> over the past six years, i've talked to a number of people in the white house. it's been a rocky relationship for a long time. but they've gone to great lengths to hide that and to cloak it in a veneer that this

is a mature relationship of partners that are more friends than have problems. i think right now, obama is basically acting like he's got two years, he doesn't have the election and it's time for netanyahu to grow up and begin to behave. >> okay, steven clemens, thank you so much. >> thank you, alex. you know him as a super bowl winning quarterback but he's now trying to save the lives of children that play the game that he loves. that's next. ♪ welcome to the most social car we've ever designed. the all-new nissan murano. nissan. innovation that excites.

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and that's why this road warrior rents from national. i can bypass the counter and go straight to my car. and i don't have to talk to any humans, unless i want to. and i don't. and national lets me choose any car in the aisle. control. it's so, what's the word?... sexy. go national. go like a pro. as the pros get ready for super bowl xlix new research shows a childhood start to football can have major consequences on a player's health. joining me now is joe theismann, a super bowl winning quarterback who's in arizona, of course, the site of the super bowl. joe, with a big welcome to you, thanks for joining me. >> thanks for having me. >> we want to get your thoughts on the super bowl. but before that you're part of a project aiming to make football safer for all the kids

under 12. tell me about what you want to see happen in the next five years with pop warner football. >> i'd like to see pop warner football as they have started to do over the last year and a half, we've been involved with them in a study they've been doing to try to make the game safer for kids. that's what we're trying to do. i know parents are concerned out there. a lot of parents say, i don't want my kids playing football because i'm afraid of the injury. we understand the concussion issues. you look at the publicity around concussions today. i'm a product. i have a concussion. i have post-concussion syndrome. for me i understand the importance of it at the youth level. what i've done is i've gotten involved with a company called unequal. we mike a gyro. this goes inside the helmets. it's a composite that's a military grade that's been put together and it's only about an igt eighth of an inch thick. we did a study with pop warner football. we took 500 players.

and the study we did, we noticed the concussions were reduced 75% below the national average for youth football. it's very very important for parents to understand that. >> you're preaching to the congregation here. i didn't let my son play football for exactly those concerns. he played baseball but he missed a certain something with football. the timing of what you guys are doing, you may be aware of the new study by boston university that shows a dramatic effect on the kids ex-pros who started playing before age 12 they perform 20% worst on some tests, displayed poorer memories less mental flexibility than peers who joined tackle football teams in their teens. do you think the kind of thing you're promoting or in general, change can happen? >> i do. not only through teaching and coaching, we hear a lot now about we have to coach the kids how to hit people and how to take hits. along with the coaching technology has to advance itself to a point because ultimately

it's a contact game. when you get to the level that we played at as professionals, it's a violent contact game. so you're not going to be able to legislate hitting out of the game unless you turn it into flag football. but what you can do is improve the technology. >> how about the underinflation controversy with the new england patriots? that's dominated the headlines this week. you're a longtime quarterback. you won a super bowl. would you have known if the footballs you were using were underinflated? >> different balls would come into games. you would notice if it was too a large degree underinflated. but i said when all this went down, i went to our equipment guys and said inflate one to 13 psi and then they took it down to 11 psi. i couldn't tell the difference that much. compound it with the weather in the indianapolis game and it became difficult. and remember this you had officials that handled the indianapolis footballs and the new england footballs. they didn't notice a difference.

so it's negligible. it's nothing to do about nothing. game but it brings into question the integrity of the game. was it a simple mistake? >> do you think it was possible tom brady had no knowledge that someone was taking air out of the footballs? >> yes, i do i think in tom case, i believe tom brady, i believe bill belichick, i believe robert kraft. i believe that anybody would not do anything to jeopardize the game. why would you? think about it? bill belichick will be one of the greatest ever. tom brady will go down as the greatest, why would you do that? >> joe thisman is one of them. the kickoff is tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. eastern time. we're going to update you on the other side of the break the daughter of whitney houston, he is being treated in atlanta area hospital after being understand responsive this morning in a

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millions tune in to watch the halftime show. katy panther have i this year's performer. she's promised a show for the history books ahead of tomorrow night, sat down and talked about what it was like when she got the call. >> i was weeping all day. actually i can kind of well up right now. >> what is it about the super bowl? >> it feels like for an entertainer, it's the biggest. it's the top. it's the ceiling. >> and we're going to bring you more of the interview with katy perry tomorrow on weekends with alex witt. let's go back to politics now, mitt romney has taken himself out of the race in a conference call to his supporters yesterday, romney made clear that it's time for some fresh faces to emerge. leanne caldwell is joining you with more on that. so with a good day to you, who do you think benefits most from romney's departure? >> the people that benefit most

are definitely jeb bush and chris christie. they were -- romney was splitting the donor pool splitting the staff pool between the two. and between the three of them and now romney is out. now it's between the two of them to go after the same type of donors and supporters. >> yeah, we're hearing a lot being echoed. scott walker about whom you wrote this weekend in washington, what was his trip about this there? >> his trip is about, he's also he's going to jump in the race is all indications are pointing to that. his trip is to meet with donors to meet with people who can help to formulate his campaign but in addition to that he's also going to a very exclusive dinner tonight called the alfalfa dinner, and he's going to be on a sunday political talk show tomorrow morning.

he's doing washington things this weekend. it's the irony. >> do you think he's trying to do that? positioned as an outsider trying to go gop mainstream? >> he's exactly trying to position himself as an outsider. it was definitely a preview into how he's going to run his race. he's a governor of wisconsin, and he's going to run as someone outside of d.c. >> all right. leanne caldwell, sorry this was short. we had breaking news to update thank you so much. everyone in terms of the breaking news we're going to update you from the news from georgia. whitney houston's daughter bobbi christina brown is in the hospital. her husband and a friend started cpr after they found her. police took over until the rescue workers arrived to the atlanta area home.

police are on the scene investigating, we're getting updates that she is breathing at the hospital. we'll bring you more information when we get it here in our news updates on msnbc afternoon. i'll see you back here tomorrow. chocolate is my other favorite... but apple cinnamon is my favorite too... and fruity... oh yeah, and frosted! okay, but...what's you're most favorite of all? hmm... the kind i have with you. me too. [ male announcer ] take zzzquil and sleep like... the kids went to nana's house... for the whole weekend! [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] zzzquil, the non habit forming sleep aid that helps you sleep easily and wake refreshed. because sleep is a beautiful thing.

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