Thats an alltime record. And pennsylvania, theyve been in the heart of the misery, a giant pile up on friday. Abcs linn swree janice was right there. Reporter the sun was shining, the roads mostly clear, but there was one problem, temperatures plummeted overnight and turned this pennsylvania turnpike into a sheet of ice. Reporter causing this fivemile long Chain Reaction pileup. More than a hundred cars, dozens injured. Almost all of this weather can be related to a single pattern locked in place. All winter, its been stuck. Every time in the weather center, we see the same thing, the jet stream cutting the nation in half. On the east, the coldest in decades to come as far south as the deep south, the gulf, really. And the jet stream in the right place, that moisture rides along it, snowstorm after snowstorm from the great lakes to the northeast. But thats also creating an extreme in the west. That big ridge gives record drought and heat. California last year, the driest year on record. President obama traveled west friday to see the drought up close. What happens here matters to every working american. Reporter Wayne Friedman from abc 7 in San Francisco visited a hay farm thats seen barely a sprout this year. What this drought is doing in california is unprecedented in five generations of living memory. Reporter he says the it will affect everything from food prices to hydro electric power. We could see brownouts from less water. For Small Agricultural towns, we are seeing the effects. Some of them have 50 unemployment. Bottom line, in california, a way of living could be ending. Reporter but are the extremes of one year related to Climate Change . Stanfords noah has been working through that very thorny link. He says manmade change does exacerbate the extreme weather events, meaning more intense storms, floods, tornados and droughts to come. Dr. Judith curry of georgia tech says climate models arent there yet. Just not up to the task of distinguishing what has caused an individual extreme weather event. For this week, ginger zee, abc news, new york. Lets go now to North Carolina governor, pat mccrory, los angeles mayor, eric garcetti, abcs chief important rebecca jarvis. And dr. Heidi cullen, author of the weather of the future. And week after week after week of these storms, the economy taking a hit. Absolutely, george. Were seeing it on multiple levels. Theres lost wages, theres the increasing costs of heating homes. Some estimates say as much as 4. 5 billion will go into heating bills this winter. Then you have businesses. The airlines have suffered massively under this, 75,000 flight cancellations. United saying its an 80 million cost. Cities are experiencing it. Theyre paying more to clear the snow. Chicago came out and said we expected to spend 20 million on snow removal this winter, now its 25 million and were not even finished with the winter. And a number of economists are looking at it as cutting into gdp growth. Its a. 3 hit on gdp growth. And just the lost spending that consumers arent doing because they are staying inside. 15 billion not going to restaurants, the movies, that is not going come back. The snow days add up and snow pictures out of your state this week. Its clearer this morning, but how much will this set you back . Its a big impact. The last two weeks has been extremely stunning and tough on the state. Not as tough as the First Episode of house of cards, but its been tough on all of us. Our budget is at the maximum regarding snow removal. And that doesnt include the cities and small towns. We had six major metropolitan areas hit with a major snowstorm twice in two weeks. Its a hit on the budget and a hit on the economy, because people havent been spending money for the last four or five days. Im sure kevin spacey appreciated that shout youtout. We will talk to him. And in california, this is affecting everything in the state of california, even changing the way of life. Absolutely. This was the driest year on record. But, you know, its coming at an immense cost, wildfires, changing how we get water, but governors and mayors, we dont have the luxury of debating the issue. I think its clear human beings have had an impact on creating the problem, but we have to solve it now. Were dealing with that in los angeles, we are conserving water, change out the landscaping, strengthen the building codes. But its not a question of this happening every so often, its the new status quo. And the question of why, heidi, one of the big points you make is all extreme weather is connected. The drought in the west connected to the blizzard in the east. Ginger did a great job setting it up. The cold were seeing here is very much connected to the broader pattern. And really in context, Climate Change, burning fossil fuels, means that were going to see more of these very expensive extreme weather events. Specifically the kinds of extremes we can expect. Heat waves, droughts, floods. Were seeing those. This winter certainly doesnt disprove Global Warming. Every time we have a really cold winter, we ask ourselves over again, is Global Warming real or not . Cold winter doesnt mean Global Warming is gone. And looking at the big picture, we have actually been globally incredibly warm. January is going to be one of the top three warmest on record. And, you know, the ten warmest years have all happened since 1998. But your key point on these intense weather systems, they are made more intense by Climate Change. Thats right. When you warm up the planet, you have more moisture in the atmosphere. When it rains, its heavier. And you can also evaporate for. That means that the tendency for drought is going to get worse. So the kinds of droughts that we have been seeing in texas, out in california, right now, we know that Climate Change makes them worse. Its like cigarette smoking and lung cancer, increases the likelihood of that risk. And we have looked at the texas drought in 2011, we know that Climate Change made that drought 20 time mrs. Likely. In the past you have said you believe that the whole issue of Climate Change is in gods hands. I believe there is Climate Change. Im not sure you can call it climate warming, especially in the carolinas. The big debate is how much is manmade and how much will naturally happen as the earth evolves. And the question then is what do we do about it and how much will it cost the consumer . I concentrate on cleaning the environment. I think thats where our argument should be. Cleaning our air, cleaning our water and cleaning the ground. And were at a brown fields area in charlotte where we cleaned up the ground right here, and cleaned up old brown fields and now we have great new development. But the issue of cleaning the environment is what we should talk about more than getting the debate from the left and the right about Climate Change or Global Warming. Its about cleaning the environment and having a good quality of life for not only now, but future generation s. What to you make of that argument, mayor . I agree. The evidence is clear, we have had a role. People have recognized we lost the first few skirmishes with Climate Change. We are strengthening the defenses in los angeles. We consume the same amount of water as 30 years ago with a million more residents. Were americans. We adapt, we innovate, were good at doing those sorts of things. Whether its in indiana changing out intersections and making them roundabouts to take Global Warming co 3 emissions out of the air, or mayor becker in Salt Lake City making sure the buildings built in a green way. Mayors, tribal leaders, governors are taking action because we cant deal with the consequences. And mayor made the point, we have to get ahead of this because these patterns are not going to be reversed. We have to get ahead of it. When it comes to dealing with the environment, one of the things were seeing, burning fossil fuels puts Greenhouse Gases in the atmosphere. Cleaning up the atmosphere is part of cleaning up our environment. Its all interconnected. And what are businesses doing . Its innovate or die. And a lot of businesses are. Especially when you look at the Food Service Businesses and the clothing businesses which rely so heavily on that supply which is very much up in the air when you have these extreme weather patterns. Levi strauss worked with farmers to come up with new, lesswater sbernsive ways to get the cotton make their denim. Caring, which owns gucci theyre working on sustainable ways to bring the product to market and working with the suppliers to get the actual supplies in the clothing to make it more sustainable. Whether its going crazy or normal, they can deal with it and make the product and not be up in the air. Are doing the same thing. Ing the same whats the single most important thing business and government and all of us can do together . First of all, talk about it, and then really look at the opportunities presented to us to use energy smarter, to grow our food smarter, to treat our Water Resources with great care and converse. Across the board, come together and stop treating it like a partisan issue. It isnt. Work on. Thank you very much. Up next, the roundtable takes on the weeks politics, frothe strike to the papers and the collapse of the syrian peace talks. And kevin spacey is here live. Were back in just two minutes. [ male announcer ] we all think about life insurance. But when we start worrying about tomorrow, we miss out on the things that matter today. At axa, we offer advice and help you break down your insurance goals into small, manageable steps. Because when you plan for tomorrow, it helps you live for today. Can we help you take a small step . For advice, retirement, and life insurance, connect with axa. Like carpools. Polly wants to know if we can pick her up. Yeah, we can make room. Yeah. [ male announcer ]. Office space. Yes, were loving this communal seating. Oh, its great. Yeah. [ male announcer ] the best thing to share . A data plan. New at t mobile share value plans for business. Our best value plans ever. For example, you can get 10 gigs of data to share. And 5 lines would be 175 a month. Plus you can add a line anytime for 15 a month. Sharings never been better for business. Score team usa wins. T. J. Oshie dominates a thrilling shootout to give team usa a win over russia. More on that high point of the Winter Olympics coming up. But first, the big news out of the capital. A big reversal by House Speaker john boehner. We weigh in on that after a roundup from rick klein. Reporter its another battle in the gop civil war. I am disappointed to say the least. Reporter Speaker John Boehner letting democrats provide the vast majority of votes to raise the debt ceiling, no strings attached. The same formula would have worked in the senate, until senator ted cruz spoke up. I insist a 60vote threshold instead. I think its an irresponsible course of conduct to keep giving president obama a blank check. Reporter that set up an extraordinary scene, a roll call open an hour, forcing the republicans to vote politically tough on the debt ceiling increase. The vote will resonate throughout 2014. Starting with republican primaries where Tea Party Groups view it as surrender. And 2016 is top of mind too. Chris christie, once the republican frontrunner, back on offense this week. Our partys priority should be on winning. Not winning the argument. Winning the election. Reporter a taste of the old christie, and for Hillary Clinton, a reminder from her past. The diaries of an old friend, diane blair, revealing her unvarnished thoughts about the affair with monica lewinsky. It was a lapse, blair writes, but she says to his credit, he tries to break it off, pull away. Tried to manage someone who was clearly a narcissistic alony toon. Rand paul trying to do keep them from fading. Democrats say were the great defenders of womens rights, when the leading fundraiser was bill clinton, a perpetrator of that kind of harassment. Thanks for that. And the roundtable. Jonathan karl, and alicia menendez, and katrina vanden heuvel, and peggy noonan. Katri katrina, let me begin with you. And what happened in the house this week. John boehner allowing a clean debt limit to go through. Exactly what the president wanted. But probably shrewd for boehner too. Clears the decks in a year where he thinks they can pick up a lot of seats in november. The failure of the shutdown concentrated the mind, and the hostage takers left the scene. We have seen manufactured crisis by a party which has eroded business confidence, hurt the economy, hurt families, and i think as 2014 approaches, the Republican Party decided they needed to pull up their bootstraps and get in place to pose any real challenge. With ted cruz, you have to he is an antiestablishment figure. But when we talk antiestablishment, that the tea party is a corporatehugging, wellfunded lobby. And you saw in ted cruz the possibility for our country moving forward, is that the delusional is no longer marginal when you look at cruz. For the moment hes marginalized. We need to refocus. The real conversation should be creating jobs and investing in this country, not manufactured crisis. Youre taking notes. Wrote down the word bait. Look, i think the Republican Leadership on the hill didnt take the bait and have a big fight. And and cause a bit of a disturbance over the debt ceiling and the closing of government. I think it was wise. But i think as usual, mr. Cruz, the senator from texas, decided he was going to go his own way and cause some trouble. I think it is a reflection of what we all know. Either a basic split or maybe basic splits in the Republican Party, part of which one split of which has to do with those who are on the ground, have a lot of numbers, are impatient, dont want business as usual, dont understand why things cant be moved forward in washington. Its a big this was a pivotal moment. The white house might say the fever has broken. The use of the debt ceiling for hostage, as the white house put it, is over. You had the entire Republican Leadership vote for this in the house, pretty much, boehner, kantor, mccarthy, in the senate, mcconnell, cornyn, all top leaders voted for it and all the rank and file against it. So the question, the fever broke, will the patient survive. I thought the New York Times had an excellent analysis of this whole dynamic when they talked about the vote no, hope yes caucus. John karls right, the leadership voted for this, but only 28 republicans voted for this. When they know it must and believe it should pass. Its a sign of dysfunction. Which makes it the fewest members of a majority to vote for a piece of legislation since 1991 when we have the first record filing. This is huge. How does it play out in the midterm elections . Right . Can boehner prove that taking a moderate chance, showing they can get things done, is what they need to secure the votes they need to take back the senate . And ted cruz does this thing. The republicans in the senate have this set. This was going to pass with only democratic votes. He says im going to filibuster, need 60 votes. Ted cruz is so hated among the republicans. More so than the shutdown, the tuesday lunch they have, hes going to need a food taster. He had tough votes he does have a high tolerance for personal pain. To step back for a moment, these are games inside the beltway. They are important, but this is a manufactured crisis. I come back to it. Look at the top Republican Leadership. They voted 19 times, collectively, to pass the debt limit when george w. Was president. And they passed an increased pro forma, with the tax cuts, 350 billion for the richest. Its a game that americans look at and wonder whats going on inside of a city which is supposed to represent what we care about . We need a different conversation. The debt ceiling has held up conversations about rebuilding the middle class, rebuilding and the recovery. And theres a conversation about health care. We saw a bunch of headlines on this, somewhat contradictory headlines. Number one on tuesday, we saw that the president putting off the health law mandate again on businesses between 50 and 100 workers, yet at the same time, later in the week, news that showed that the enrollments are picking up. Just a little bit over a million added to the rolls in the past month. Peggy noonan, is sets up what this is going to mean come november. As well it does seem that the enrollments are taking hold. Not going to reach the goal of 7 million by the deadline. Might get within a million. Hard to take that away once people have it. Yeah, i think theres so much doubt at this point and so much questioning about the hhs numbers as put forward semiregularly. Im not sure theyre compelling. What i think is compelling is the amount of difficulty people are having with the aca, trying make it work in their lives. I think thats what 2014 is going to be about. Obamacare, but i think 2016 is going to be the about the split in the Republican Party and which way are they going to go as they choose their president. First of all, this has been an important week or month for obamacare. Rough patches, but working. 1. 1 million enrolled, higher proportion of young people, premiums are down, Insurance Companies cant deny preexisting coverage. What were going to see in 2014 and what were seeing now are republicans lying. Scaring people, actually keeping people from health care coverage. The governors, scott, jindal, perry, thats cruel. I think what we need to focus on is to say the broad mass of americans, not interested in repeal. Fix it, embrace it. And whats the republican plan . Vote for me, i wont give you health care. Now thats compelling. The plan a few months ago, look, this isnt going to work. Delay this part, work with us, mr. President. He said we cant change this, ill veto anything. And he changed new through executive fiat is making the changes. Hes not changing his own program because its a great success. Hes changing it because he knows it is surrounded by failure. Hikes in costs were deductibles. Hes working to fix it. Theres a slight uptick in the millennials, the key to the future. But not the levels they need it to be. They need it at 35 . Now amended those numbers, 30 , were happy. But you know if you look theyre short of that. But getting closer, especially in the last month. Look at romneycare in massachusetts. Young people sign up as close to the deadline as possible. Youre going to continue to see these numbers push up. The idea with the young invincibles is we must sign up because we are young and healthy, we make it work. You saw yesterday, a National Youth enrollment day. The Administration Knows they have a lot of work to do. Heres why it matters, october 1st, the premiums for next year. If you dont have the high proportion of young people, premiums are going up right before the election. Theres a conventional wisdom in 2014, that its going to hurt the president. I take issue with the conventional wisdom. I think a day politics is a lifetime. The numbers are going to get better. And a lot of people will come out in a midterm. And the gop implosion over immigration is going seal their fate with latinos heading into 2016 as well. Maybe in 2016, but maybe not in 2014. Having that come up in this election. I want to move to syria. It was a horrific week in syria. We see the images from the region right now. U. N. Ambassador Samantha Power called it the worst humanitarian crisis in a generation. James clapper says its an apocalyptic disaster. And john mccain saying these i believes haunt me. What haunts me more is we will continue to do nothing. We saw the peace talks collapse yesterday. The u. N. Had to apologize to the people of syria for the collapse. Putting pressure on president obama to come up with a change in approach. No question. And the white house made it clear, the president s not initiating a review now. If there were to be a new review. The options are incredibly limited. One is you could have air strikes to hit the kind of the assets that are doing the killing for assad. For instance, these barrel bombs is what were seeing now. Dropped out of helicopters. Some are asking why dont we go with air strikes and take out his helicopters . The military is against it. Military saying then what . Whats the next step . Arming the opposition is almost a time whos gone. We sus spepended aid to the reb because some of it was getting into the hands of alqaeda. The opposition is a mess. Its limited. One person who is haunted is Samantha Power, whos ambassador to the u. N. , whos whole career was about making an argument to protect when you have a crisis like this. And shes saying the biggest in a generation, and the United States is effectively doing nothing. The humanitarian crisis is horrific. But dont forget the diplomatic success enforcing syria to dismantle its chemical weapons. I think we have to push we have to push for humanitarian roots to be open. Im sure there are back channel discussions, russia, tougher than we are seeing. The u. N. Security council. A tough diplomacy, a negotiated settlement is going to be key to a true humanitarian resolution. Militarization of this is a disaster. And dont forget something which was controversial but true, many of the killings of civilians are being done by the militant insurgents, some with links to alqaeda. Bring aid, but dont forget diplomacy. She brings up one of the scariest parts of this. Its a breeding ground for a whole new generation of alqaeda terrorists. It has. Assad is not going to be negotiated out. Assad feels he is fighting for his life. I think the biggest thing america could do is help with the refugee situation. Thatll take financial aid, that will take people too. But sometimes thats what you can do. Right. And i think it is the refugee thing that is something that at least quickly we could be helpful on. And that is also strategically a wise move. But you cant have these political negotiations until they change the game on the ground. Even if we all believe in diplomacy and humanitarian aid, theres the reality he has no reason to leave. He does not. He has a backer in russia. What you want to change on the ground is double down on the assist tans to refugees, hum humanitarian assistance. This is a civil war. This is going to play out in the end at a bargaining diplomatic table. But in the three weeks we but again he table of the entire conflict. The last three weeks have been as bad as its been. The options are limited. But people like john mccain are shockingly delusional if you can pump in weapons and not hurt more civilians. Thats not a reasonable outcome. One more thing. You had a column about the papers we saw from Hillary Clinton from her friend, diane blair, university of arkansas professor. They are notes and diaries of the conversations are hillary through the 1990s. It wasnt a lot of new news to close watchers of hillary i think so. Revealing. It reminded me of the intensity of the personal drama going on in the white house. Some white houses are relatively free of profound personal drama. That one was not. I had a little ptsd. You did. So that was all pretty interesting. I also thought there was a similarity between the clintons and the obamas. The clintons, according to the blair papers, clearly experienced themselves to be faces an unprecedented personal, vicious onslaught from the washington establishment when they started. The obamas too. Not this is the way it is. Youre the youngest person on the panel by a long shot, so this is all ancient history to you and a whole generation of voters. Do you think theyll care if she runs . No, especially because its been litigated. Right . Theres nothing new in the papers. Theres a real debate to have over whether or not Hillary Clinton should be the democratic nominee. I think theres a real debate to be had over whether or not she should be president of the United States. I dont think thats in relitigating the past. Youre right. Amen. I agree. News that Hillary Clinton is tough, disciplined and smart . No. What this country deserves is to learn about what she stands for. Does she stand for elizabeth warrens idea of expanding Social Security security . Where does she stand on surveillance or trade . Thats what people to want know. Thats where were going to be looking for. Out of time on this one right now. Up next, michael sam comes out. Is the nfl ready for him . Is he ready for the nfl. And before the break, test the roundtable with the powerhouse puzzler. This is from alex. Are you ready . Which president s inauguration had to be held inside the Senate Chambers thanks to a blizzard . Quite timely there. Back with the answers in two minutes. E answers in two minutes. Tall the building is, or how ornate the halls are. It doesnt matter if there are granite statues, or big mahogany desks. When working with an investment firm, whats really important is whether the people behind the desks actually stand behind what they say. Introducing the schwab accountability guarantee. If youre not happy with one of our participating Investment Advisory services, well refund your program fee from the previous quarter. Its no guarantee against loss and other fees and expenses may still apply. Chuck vo standing by your word, thats what matters the most. Minutes. [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, we ow in the cyber world, threats are always evolving. At first, we were protecting netetwork. Then, we were protecting the transfer of data. And today its evolved to infrastructure. Finance. And military missions. Were constantly innovating to advance the front line in the cyber battle, wherever it takes us. Thats the value of performance. Northrop grumman. Okay, so how did you do with the puzzler . How did everyone here do . Which president s inauguration was held in the Senate Chambers because of a blizzard . Peggy noonan. Ronald reagan. Calling my father to get answers. Thats the smart thing to do. Reagan . Im so debilitated i believe henry harrison. He died several days later. Reagan was cold, but that wasnt the one. William howard taft. That was going to be my second guess reagans second inaugural was moved inside the capital. It was. Because of the snowstorm. Not the senate chamber. That part. Well, we have to do a little more work on that. Thank you, guys. Kevin spacey coming up. 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Because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. And go. And only national is ranked highest in car rental Customer Satisfaction by j. D. Power. natalie ooooh, i like your style. vo so do we, business pro. So do we. Go national. Go like a pro. There is michael sam getting a standing in ing ovation at au basketball game last night. The allamerican from missouri looking to become the nfls first openly gay player. His announcement on outside the lines months before he was going to be drafted. We have a panel of experts to discuss what it means for his career and the league. First the back story. I came to tell the world im an openly proud gay man. Reporter with that announcement, michael sam made history. I understand how big this is, its a big deal. I know what i want to be. And i want to be in the snapping in the nfl. Reporter sams decision to put his sexuality front and center faces a test, the nfl draft. The missouri defensive end is considered a top contender. Michael sam is doing the right thing. And i hope the National Football league does the right thing and gets this kid a chance to play. Reporter david has some idea what sam is going through. He played for the 49ers and the packers in the 60s and 70s, and then rights after he retired, made an announcement of his own. December 9th, 1975. Reporter you remember the exact date . Absolutely. Reporter he was the first retired nfl player to come out as gay 40 years ago. The lot has changed, and plenty of other professional athletes followed suit. Last year, basketballs Jason Collins and soccers robby rogerss declared theyre gay. But football is another order of magnitude altogether. In the american psyche, football is where our gladiators play, okay . Its the roughest, macho sport. And jon stewart had this funny thing. Who is this gay Football Player . Oh, probably a kicker, huh . Am i right . You know, a kicker, a gay kicker. Reporter at 62, 260 pounds, university of missouri defensive lineman, michael sam, used skill and strength to lead the s. E. C. In sacks last year. Hes a hell of a Football Player. Thats what im trying to get people to focus on. Reporter pr guru, an abc news consultant worked with michael sam ahead of the announcement. The reaction, including the cover of sports illustrates, overwhelmingly positive. One dallas sports anchors commentary went viral. You beat a woman and drag her down a flight of stairs pulling her hair out by the roots, youre the fourth guy taken in the nfl draft. You lie to police trying to cover up a murder, were okay with that. Love another man, thats too far. Reporter and the president of the Golden State Warriors is the highestranking executive in pro sports who is openly gay. Hes put it back in the teams of the nfl to make a decision. And make it decision that becomes a very public one. Reporter the nfl is grappling with what can be an abusive locker room culture. Bullying one another. Jurist th just this week, the nfl released a scathing report. Confirming a pattern of abuse and he know phobia in the miami dolphins. Some of michael sams potential teammates did not exactly welcome the idea of an openly gay player sharing the locker room. Some of them calling the whole thing a distraction. But robby rogers says its been no big deal. In our locker room, the guys are very respectful. We make jokes. Reporter what kind of jokes . Guys are like, im the first person they come to for fashion advice. Im like, come on, are you serious . At some point in time, not a big deal. Today, a very big deal. Reporter hell be playing not just for his team what advice for michael sams . Bring it. Play football. Yeah, play football, be yourself. Reporter a lot of people will be rooting for him. For this week, david wright, abc news, los angeles. Thanks to david for that. Pete thamel, cyd zeigler, and nfl punter, chris kluwe. Welcome to you all. Lets begin with you. You wrote a story in sports illustrated. It stirred up controversy. Even though nfl officials like Roger Goodell have been supportive, you quoted several off the record that he has a daunting path. The nfls not ready for him. One said its a mansman game. Do you stand by the reporting . Do you think the private comments are more reflective or the public support . Acceptable this is a seminal moment in culture and sports. But michael sam has a barrier to break. And the nfl looks at him skeptively. And theres the dreaded word, distraction, that keeps coming up. Thats the next step. A strong owner, general manager, a strong coach to draft michael sam. Hes not a slam dunk prospect. His prospects to get in. But on this other question of how welcoming the league is going to be if he gets in. But this Richie Incognito report out of miami does reinforce the views of those who say this is going to be a hard fight. Jim and i on outsports, we have written about 200 athletes who came out publicly in every sport, including football, at every level in every state of the country. Every one says the same thing, before they came out, they heard a lot of homophobia on the team. When they came out, they were embraced by the team. This includes a Football Player at middle tennessee state, he was out the entire four years. After they are coming out, and they are embraced by their teammates, and the people who are the most homophobic are the first guys to come up and shake their hand and apologize. All the stuff about the horrors of the nfl locker room is overblown. You spent eight years in nfl locker rooms. I agree with cyd. Its very much if you havent been inside an nfl locker room, you dont understand the camaraderie, the teamwork that goes on in there. When youre in the locker room, you spend more time with your teammates than your family. Youre there for 10, 11, 12 hours a day. You get to know them well. Ive always said i think the main problems is going to come from the executives and front office. They are stuck in the older mind set and mentality. They need to figure out, do they want to be ricky or chaplain. You believe you were cut because you were outspoken on gay rights. You spent time with michael sam last saturday before the announce. Is he ready for all this . He is as much as he can be. I dont know that anyones ever ready for a moment like that. But hes wellprepared. Hes an intelligent, articulate young man. And has the tools to deal with those isolated incidents where people are going to have issues with him because of his sexuality. I think hell be okay. Those are the psychological issues. You were pointing out the physical barriers ahead facing michael sam. Some people say hes not fast or big enough. Do you think, bottom line, that the act of coming out increases or decreases his chances . I think, george, on the bottom line, it would decrease it. I had a former general manager tell me, in an nfl draft room, when you are sitting there, okay, we pick in five spots. Pick between these three players, the general manager said that could break a tie. If wear in the sixth round, do we want to bring in the dreaded dword, the distraction . The general manager said wouldnt be good for a firstyear head coach. There are a lot of sort of builtin excuses. Nfl people are risk averse at the end of the day. Im optimistic for michael sam. Its a wonderful story. I hope he gets a true chance and show what he can do on the field. Could be different than Jason Collins who was at the end of his career in the nba. But this could be a struggle. Why is it that we in the media brought the struggle to the story . Theres no evidence that this is going to be a struggle getting into the league . Why a struggle . Why anymore so than for anybody else . The nfl teams, their whole goal is to get to the biggest media circus and the most distracting game of the entire season, the super bowl. And we are putting out there that some general managers going worry about a couple cameras showing up at practice and asking a few questions . If a general manager and a coach cannot handle a gay player in the locker room, they should resign. Not because of social justice issues, but if that can torpedo your season, youre not doing your job. Do you think it will make a difference . Image it will. And i think its unfortunate. There are general managers who believe this way. And we need to hold them accountable. Not let them get away with excuses of hes not the right fit or maybe he doesnt quite work well with the locker room chemistry. Its our job to say that michael sam deserves a fair chance, not because hes gay, but because hes a Football Player and he wants to go out and play football. We hope he gets a fair chance. You can read an excerpt of chris kluwes book, beautifully unique sparkle ponies on this week. And when we come back, kevin spacey from house of cards is here live. There he is. Ck, kevin spacey from house of cards is here. There he is. [ male announcer ] these days, a Small Business can save by sharing. Like carpools. Polly wants to know if we can pick her up. Yeah, we can make room. Yeah. [ male announcer ]. Office space. Yes, were loving this communal seating. Oh, its great. Yeah. [ male announcer ] the best thing to share . A data plan. New at t mobile share value plans for business. Our best value plans ever. For example, you can get 10 gigs of data to share. And 5 lines would be 175 a month. Plus you can add a line anytime for 15 a month. Sharings never been better for business. Im just wondering if we th washington, d. C. Reporter you think washington is more exciting than hollywood . Absolutely. Reporter why . Its real. Reporter you think washington is real . Oh, its real. Let me say this, its as real as it gets. Reporter and as if on cue, we are interrupted by a president ial helicopter, breaking in on the conversation. It would have ruined shot in the tv show, but not in Frank Underwoods world, where nothing happens unless the puppet master politician wants it to. For this week, jon donovan, abc news, washington. And here he is live, kevin spacey. Playing Frank Underwood. Thanks for coming in. Thanks for having me. Washington more exciting than hollywood . For me, its like performance art. You know, i sometimes watch it, what we can get done shooting on a day. Ill come home and turn on the news and think our storylines are not that crazy. Theyre not. Im not going to give away the second season. President obama has a little bit of Frank Underwood envy