Pregame fun and exclusive sneak peeks at some of the hottest ads. This is the best thing in the world. Im not sure i wanted that. Hey, good morning, everybody on this first day of february and the eve of super bowl xlviii. Do i have that number right, ron, 48 . 48, yes, correct. Check out this live shot of the Metlife Stadium in new jersey. I believe we have a live shot. There it is. Where the seahawks and the broncos will face off in the first open air super bowl in a city with a cold climate. The game time forecast coming up in just minutes. We can tell you that it will be cold, though, tomorrow. And who will win . Who knows. An espn sportscenter poll has 50. 4 saying the seahawks will be champs, but thats about as close as you can get. Meantime, the Empire State Building has been showing both teams some love as we like to do in new york city, lit up in Different Team colors at various times. That makes it look like we have two different Empire State Buildings there. Side by side. I was sort of leaning towards seattle, but i want to be the contrarian now and go for denver. Youre wrong but thats okay. Well see. Seattle, i guarantee seattle will win this thing. You guarantee it . Guarantee it. When bianna talks, bookies all over the world listen. Yeah, are listening. So the odds are shifting as we speak. Well be getting to that in just a moment. Well start, though, with some scary moments for passengers on board a jumbo jet. The united flight out of dulles heading for europe forced to make an Emergency Landing in newark, and thats where abcs Michelle Franzen is right now. Michelle, good morning. Reporter good morning. Certainly scary moments and trouble on board that flight bound for frankfurt, germany. Instead, making an Emergency Landing here at Newark Liberty international. Were told this morning that more than 200 passengers and crew members are safe. Some of those passengers, though, once they landed took to social media, describing an unidentifiable burning smell and fumes in the cabin. This Morning United Airlines tells abc news that the plane was diverted because of the reports of that smell in the cabin. Now, certainly that flight took off from Dulles Airport late last night. It was expected to move on to frankfurt, instead, diverted here and landing at Liberty International airport. Now, the boeing 777 is one of the smaller, more efficient jumbo jets in boeings fleet that Services International routes, and certainly investigators will be looking at this plane to see and pinpoint the origin of that burning smell in the cabin. Of course, boeing has had some other issues with some of its other jumbo jets including the dreamliner in the recent year. Meantime, back here at Newark Liberty international, passengers have been given vouchers. They are staying at hotels, and United Airlines tells us that they hope to get all those passengers back on track to frankfurt later today. Bianna. Probably very thankful to be alive this morning. All right, michelle, thank you. Well, were going to turn to the other big story, the super bowl. The game of the year will be one of the most tightly secured events in u. S. History, but the increased Police Presence in new york city is apparently not stopping robbers from pulling off some brazen heists in broad daylight. Abcs gio benitez is at Metlife Stadium in new jersey with details. Good morning, gio. Reporter bianna, good morning to you. 80,000 fans expected here tomorrow night. Tens of millions watching on live tv and now word of unprecedented security at the big game. A show of force like none other for super bowl sunday. F16s and helicopters patrolling the skies. State police boats in the waters near Metlife Stadium. S. W. A. T. Teams looking for weapons of mass destruction as the eyes of the nation turn to new york and new jersey, highprofile crimes here taking center stage. An armored truck robbery in one part of new york city. A major heist at a cartier store on ritzy fifth avenue, both brazen crimes in the middle of the day. Meanwhile, oval officials in n jersey announcing a strict crackdown on fans heading to the games. No big bags allowed on the train. Just ziplocs. Anything bigger than that is not going to be allowed on the train out to the stadium. Reporter and its no wonder why. Late friday a security scramble when seven suspicious packages with white powder had been delivered to hotels near the stadium. A false alarm, but police arent taking any chances as new yorks top cops told our pierre thomas. The issue of concern continues to be made not only in new york but in the country, the lone wolf, as we saw in boston, the two brothers that conspired. Reporter police are asking fans to do their part too. We want people to feel comfortable and just worry about whos going to win the game. Reporter just outside the stadium, bombsniffing dogs and hightech radiation and xray machines scanning every single delivery for explosives. In the end, they say, its all to protect the tens of thousands of fans and players at the big game. And back here at that beautiful Metlife Stadium, we can tell you there is no immediate threat right now, at least not that we know of, but this Morning Police are concerned about that lone wolf actor like we saw at the boston marathon, bianna. Yes, 4,000 Security Officers will be on hand. All right. Gio, thank you. And speaking of security, the opening of the Winter Olympics in russia is now less than a week away. Terrorists, as you know, have threatened to attack the games and now american Officials Say they found flaws in russias security plans. Abcs kirit radia has details from sochi. Good morning to you, kirit, and what kind of flaws are we talking about here . Reporter good morning from sochi. In just a few days, well have tens of thousands of fans and athletes pouring into the olympic park behind me here, but questions about security continue to hound these games. President obama has said that he thinks the games will be safe, but u. S. Officials tell abc news that they ran a simulation a few months ago that found major problems with russias Emergency Response plan. They say that they think the russians are so focused on trying to stop a terror attack, they havent thought enough about how to respond to one. And, kirit, as the american athletes and their families begin to arrive, we were talking about 70,000 Russian Security at hand there, will that get in the way of the games, all that security presence is there . Reporter well, president putin himself has said that he wants the security to be tight but not in your face and i think when ive been Walking Around thats what ive seen, as well. You do see police on the street and at the checkpoints but the big guns, the military, the missile batteries, all of that is hidden in the hills. We know these two navy vessels will be arriving any day now. Tell us a little more about what theyre going to be doing there. Reporter right, well, overnight the pentagon said that they have sent the first of those two vehicles to the black sea just off the coast here. Theyre not here specifically for the olympics, but the navy says that they will be available in case of an emergency. Two things to remember here, these are not big ships, and if the pentagon wants to go and evacuate americans, they will have to get permission from the russians. Dan and bianna. Lets hope that doesnt happen. But nice to know that security is in force. All right. Kirit, thank you. Thank you, kirit. Back here at home this super bowl weekend, the first one ever in new jersey should have been a triumph for governor Chris Christie, but instead hes facing a fresh and potentially devastating really new twist in that bridgegate scandal. A top lieutenant says the governor knows more than hes letting on, and he has evidence to prove it. Abcs reena ninan is on the story. Reena, good morning. Reporter hi, good morning, youre right, dan. This should have been the weekend of a super bowl for Chris Christie, a moment for the host new jersey governor to shine. Instead this morning its unclear if the september lane closure of the George Washington bridge will force Chris Christie to the exit ramp on to the boulevard of broken president ial dreams. Governor Chris Christies former righthand man at the Port Authority now says the governor lied about what he knew about the closing of the gw bridge and when he knew it. David wildstein is christies High School Friend and former aide who oversaw the lane closings. He says christie was well aware of the snarled traffic on the nations busiest bridge. Wildsteins attorney previously offered to spill the beans in exchange for immunity. In a letter acquired by abc news, the lawyer writes, evidence exists tying mr. Christie to having knowledge of the lane closures during the period when the lanes were closed. An allegation christie staunchly denied during a twohour press conference three weeks ago. I had no knowledge of this, of the planning, the execution or anything about it and that i first found out about it after it was over. Thank you for being here tonight. All praise for new jersey. Reporter christie seen here friday night on stage at radio shock jock Howard SternsBirthday Party in manhattan. His office continued the denials stating the governor has absolutely no prior knowledge of the lane closure. But will there be others who come forward . Noticeably silent, christies deputy chief of staff, bridget anne kelly, fired when her emails alluded to closing down the bridge in political retaliation. And christies former Campaign Manager is pleading the fifth. This is really a story about people being vested with Certain Authority and abusing it and coming up with a cover story and spending quite a bit of time and resources to do that. Meanwhile, republican fundraisers for christie are planned in six major states in the coming months. At the Birthday Party last night, Chris Christie introduced bon jovi. It doesnt get more new jersey than that. But new jerseys largest newspaper the starledger is calling for him to resign as governor if these are true. That editorial was really tough. I read it. Scathing. Thank you, reena. Lets pick up on that with matt dowd. Matt, good morning. Good morning. So weve talked about Chris Christie for many years now as a possible president ial contender. Is he possibly in danger of losing had is president ial hopes and his current job . Well, im no rocket scientist, as you know, but thats not good pr when you look at those headlines. I think his chances now of being president of the United States are about the same as amanda knox taking a vacation in italy. Theyre about the same thing. Oh, my. Wow. And so i think the question now becomes, can he survive his office . I think theres still you still have to argue over the tenses of his words, which is never a good situation to be in, but heres a guy, tells you, was the preseason pick to be the republican nominee for president and now its a question whether or not he can even retain his office through the course of this. Thats quite a shift, theres no question. But in his defense, we havent seen the evidence, the purported evidence from his former top lieutenant. Isnt that really what we need to look for here . No, obviously this is all going to keep unfolding. Ever since his press conference all of us have said basically, if all of the evidence backs up what he said in his press conference, hell be fine. If theres any divergence from it, he has a huge problem. What weve seen yesterday and today there is beginning to seem some divergence from what he said at his press conference and what is actually coming out and were going to have all these hearings in new jersey over the course of the next weeks and months. Theres investigations. Were going to keep learning more and more, but if it keeps diverging, its becoming more and more problematic for him to continue to be governor. So many more shoes to drop on this. Matt dowd, really happy to have you here. Great to be here. A lot of other news overnight, and for that lets get it over to ron. Good morning to you, dan, bianna. Good morning, everyone. We begin with breaking news, police in michigan are trying to hunt down a gunman accused of shooting and wounding two Michigan State university students. The shooting happened friday night at a privately owned apartment complex in east lansing, michigan, near the Michigan State campus. Officials say there does not appear this does not appear to be a random act. One student is in critical condition. The other was treated at an area hospital and released. And two former boy scout leaders are facing felony charges this morning for allegedly knocking over a prehistoric rock last fall. Video of the incident at goblin state park in utah was posted on youtube back in october. The two suspects, glen taylor and david hall, have been charged with criminal mischief. If convicted, both could face up to five years in prison. And the controversial Keystone Pipeline has cleared a major hurdle. A report by the state Department Released on friday said the extraction of canadian oil that would go through that pipeline would not significantly increase Greenhouse Gas emissions. The pipeline from canada to the u. S. , the gulf states of the u. S. Would carry more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day but has been blocked by the obama administration. Environmentalists say that emissions extracted from the socalled santar oil in canada would contribute to global warming. And the 16yearold girl who survived a horrifying skydiving accident in oklahoma, she is out of the hospital now. While skydiving with her father, Makenzie Wethington fell 3,000 feet and suffered numerous injuries when her parachute became entangled sending her into a downward spiral with a partially open chute. She is now headed to a rehabilitation center. And check this one out. A reporter in florida investigating a possible rental scam got, well, more than he bargained more. His news van was driven off by the woman he went to interview. Josh taylor from our sarasota, florida, affiliate caught it on camera. As a landlord he was investigating grabbed his equipment allegedly, well, more than allegedly, it looks there, and tossed it. Why did he roll the camera and not her from stopping the car . You know what, theres a lot of Unanswered Questions here, but he captured it on video. She drove away in the vehicle. He found that vehicle a few blocks away. Very interesting story. And finally, a spectacular sight that you will not see here on earth, a partial eclipse of the sun from outer space. This timelapsed video of a 2 1 2hour event is the longest of its kind ever seen by nasas observatory during its four years in space. Shortly afterward, however, or in addition, the observatory picked up a solar flare, and its heading this way. [ laughter ] its going to get you. No, its okay. Relax, yeah. Speaking of sun, it looks like you got some over the past week. Yeah, i was out playing a little bit of golf in the sun, not in the snow or the rain. Thanks, ron. Thanks, ron. Well, now back to our super bowl coverage, and whether the game is a nailbiter or a blowout, you can always count on those incredible commercials, and this years crop is some of the best weve seen. Abcs nick watt is just out of the screening room. He joins us this morning. Came all the way from los angeles to bring us this story. Hey, nick. Reporter good morning, bianna. Well, listen, if like me you dont really understand whats going on on the field, all that pushing and shoving, then your super bowl is about to come early because some say the commercials are even more important than the game. I hope i dont get in trouble for saying that, but some say they are, and theyve been leaking out all week, and here are the best of them. If i give this to you, are you up for whatever happens tonight . Reporter im no expert, but this might be my favorite. I think i could do that. Reporter ians surprised with one crazy night. How are you . Meeting kelly tonight. It was the highlight, i think of my life. Hey, don, how are you . The llama was amazing. Prepare to be crushed in tiny tennis. Theres mickey kelly and theres don cheadle and theres Arnold Schwarzenegger and theres reggie watts and one republic and me and were all on stage, and im living the dream right now. This is the best thing in the world. Reporter most disgusting . One of the five finalists in the doritos make your own commercial contest. Its like a weird dorito finger cleaning machine. You ask too many questions, billy. Do you know that i already have 27 million views on our ads . Ive already had a super bowl before the super bowl. Reporter most heartwarming. Lieutenant chuck mann came home from afghanistan, first surpr e surprise, not just his girlfriend but the whole town came out to give him a heros welcome. Second surprise, bud shot it all and 100 million super bowl viewers will now see it. Im coming home wash away reporter most intricate. A bunch of geniuses gave up months of their lives to create the doberman chihuahua cross, the doberhuahua for audi. Bes