Live from studio 1a in Rockefeller Plaza. And good morning. Welcome to a split edition of today. Im matt lauer where the Opening Ceremony will be held tonight. A look back over 1,000 years of russian history. In honor of that on a friday morning, were starting 400 years ago with Meredith Vieira sitting next to me. All i can say is the stench of vodka. And were off and running. Yes. Do we miss that. Exactly. We are on air, guys. We knew the Opening Ceremony would have drama and tension. The gang is all here. What we want to know is russia ready to welcome the the world. They better be. 40,000 people getting in the stadium is going to be a little awkward. They are still doing little funny things. You see them planting palm trees. The wrappers are still on them. Still painting going on. But the opening ceremonies seems ready. Yeah. A few little kinks. But it is so ambitious. If they pull it off its going to be fantastic. Well tell you more in just a little bit. More on that in a little while. More on the main event. Competition has already begun, as you know. Good morning to you. Reporter hey, matt, good morning. Youre in there. Out here, details of the Opening Ceremony are leaking out. Were told there will be a map of the earth projected on the floor and athletes will walk out of their individual countries. To get things started it will be transferred to this giant cauldron out here in the park. Whoo usa the completion of an epic journey. Today the torch proudly carried by gold medal hockey player. Its so cool just to be a part of this. Reporter the longest torch run in olympic history, from the arctic to outer space, even under water. Tonight ushers in the biggest winter games ever. 3,000 athletes from 88 countries. And already an electric start to the competition with bode miller recording the fastest qualifying run in the mens downhill. Today he is truly looking like a strong contender for sundays race. Reporter while Hannah Carney ripped into the moguls course. And crashing during training ahead of the first qualification run thursday, she is now out of the olympics. Within slopestyle got under way with australian sensation tora bright. And the pride of russia took to the ice yesterday, pashenko dazzled the crowds. But it was a difficult start for the American Team. Jeremy abbott fell, hitting the boards. Its just a matter of continuing on and moving forward. Reporter pairs figure skaters flubbed their triple salchow. Team u. S. Currently in seventh place. And president putin shaking hands with hockeys finest. Dont they will all gather at the largest American Team in the history of the Winter Olympics. The 22nd winter games under way. And the tsa is saying it has banned liquids on flights to russia out of abundance of caution. We have seen some protests. Small protests over the antigay laws. And a protest by a snowboarder who had a design on his board as being interpreted as a protest. And there is some controversy with people saying not many foreign visitors will be there inside the stadium. But as you said, billions will be watching on television. If theres anything you ever wanted to do on television, tonights the night. This wouldnt be the time, but thank you for the thought. By the way, on the subject of liquids on flights, when we flew to russia last week, we werent loud to bring it on our carryon luggage but we were in checked bags. Apparently those are changing. We have something from the president you will see only on today. The special message he recorded for team usa as they begin to walk in the Opening Ceremony. Hello, team usa. I just want to say congratulations and good luck to everyone representing the red, white and blue at the Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games this year. We couldnt be prouder of you. We cant wait to see what you accomplish in the next few weeks. We are proud of everything you have done to get this far. You have worked tirelessly, practicing day after day for years to become some of the finest athletes in the world. You excelled at the very highest levels of competition. Bring out your a game when it matters most. Competing with bigger and winning with grace. And you have dedicated yourself to the olympic values of friendship, respect, and excellence in your sport and in your lives. So you inspire us. Were going to be watching and we are going to be rooting for you. So on behalf of all your fans around the country, including everybody in the obama family, good luck and go team usa. President s message to team usa. By the way, nbcs bob costas got the chance to speak to the president , and they talked about the president s relationship with russias Vladimir Putin. I think theres always going to be a balance where there are areas of mutual interests where we Work Together well, cooperate. It is a constructive relationship when i interact with mr. Putin. But going to be times when we have real differences. We tend to have pretty blunt conversations. I give credit for when we sit down and talk theres not a lot of beating around the bush or niceties. Its all business. I tell him where i strongly disagree with him and he does the same. Probably shouldnt make too much of the fact that the president isnt attending these games. Most president s do not. Jennas dad, george bush, did go to beijing in 2008 for a coming out party for the chinese. But its not all that unusual for a president not to travel to an Olympic Games. Exactly. Matt, ive got to tell you, you have set off a firestorm on this desk. Because you said it might be changing that they cannot bring any liquids, moisturizers, makeup in check said bags. What . We have it all here. Oh, no. We have it for you. I have seen matts cosmetic bag. It is quite large. Odell on delta, no liquids in passenger cabins. So you can check it. You have no idea. You freaked us out. Lets talk about the Opening Ceremony tonight. This is when matt and meredith are incredibly evasive. Can you give us just in a word what we can expect tonight . Spectacle. For sure. Thanks for that. Summer olympics Opening Ceremony, not winter. Thats the scale that they were looking at. They looked at beijing rather than vancouver. This is the Biggest Country in the world. They think it needs to be big coming out of the box. Are there any jawdropping, i cant believe they pulled that off moments . No. Yes. Yes. There are. Theyve got a piece of equipment. I dont know whether i would call it a mechanical device or piece of technology thats built into the stadium. And if it is operating properly it is going to put on one heck of a show. If its not operating properly, you will hear a lot about our summer vacations and things like that. Matt, you have been studying 1,000 years of russian here. Maybe you could regal everybody with that. Were lucky to have dave remnick. Written extensively on russia. Lived here for a while. So he is the goto guy if that thing doesnt work. Seriously, though, we have seen a few rehearsals. They have been doing a great job. This stated yum was custom built for this Opening Ceremony. That was never done before. Well hear a lot more about it coming up, right, matt . Absolutely. We will have throughout the show. And meredith is going to take you to meet one of the creativity forces behind the show. Of course we want you to watch the Opening Ceremony tonight at 7 30, 6 30 central time right here on nbc. Savannah, i want to say one more thing. There is a piece that starts the show at 7 30 that sets up the Olympic Games in russia. Watch it. Its fantastic. Oh, i will. Chill bumps kind of thing. Three words, putin jet pack. Meantime, guys, we have a big story here at home. Hundreds of thousands of people still in the dark from the winter storm earlier this week. Natalie has been following that. This has been a grueling week. Utility crews still busy trying to turn the powerback on for half a million customers after this weeks ice storm here in the east. But theyre not getting much help from Mother Nature. Freezing cold weather is hanging on in the mid atlantic states. Some areas may get hit with more snow this weekend. Hundreds of thousands of customers are still without power. Mostly in pennsylvania. Al will detail your forecast in just a little bit. Call it bad timing, just as the Olympic GamesOpening Ceremony getting under way. A brew that that between the United States and russia. The u. S. Is suggesting that russia is responsible for eavesdropping on a top u. S. Diplomat official conversations. Nbcs Andrea Mitchell has more. Reporter the target of the electronic snooping is victoria nuland, handing out bread to antigovernment protesters in the ukraine. They may have gotten even. The audio of her private conversation with the u. S. Ambassador to ukraine was posted on youtube. And quickly tweeted by russias government. In the call, nuland used the f word to dismiss inaction on the ukraine crisis by the european union, the eu. [ bleep ] the eu. So who bugged nulands call . The video was first noted and tweeted by the russian government i think it says something about russias role. Reporter russian tv news suggests nuland was meddling in their affairs. One report referred to her as hillary clinton. Nuland was clinton spokeswoman at the state department before john kerry promoted her to top u. S. Diplomat in europe. We cant stop working to find areas where we can bring russia to the table. Now it could be a lot harder for her to do her job. This is a new low in russian trade craft. Reporter and more tension with russia in time for the opening ceremonies. Andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington unemployment in january, added 113,000 jobs in january. Still, more people did begin looking for work. And the january Unemployment Rate fell 0. 1 to 6. 6 , the lowest since october 2008. Hiring was strong in construction, manufacturing and mining. And if you think youre tired of all the cold and snow, wait until you see this. This is surveillance from outside a brooklyn auto dealership. Walking on the sidewalk when bam the snowplow driving from the opposite direction blasts him with snow and ice, knocks him to the ground, as you saw there. They found their glass door smashed in and snow inside the showroom the next morning. Having been splashed on. You could get hurt with that. Theres a lot of debris getting thrown up. That was snow and ice and snow and ice on top. Hes going to have snow he didnt know snow had places. With that note, ill be moving on now. Hey, we are finally, finally seeing some help for our friends out west with the drought. Winter storm watchings, Winter Weather advisories. You can see all this moisture making its way into the Pacific Northwest, northern california. We basically call this a pineapple express. A lot of moisture that emanates from the hawaiian islands. A tropical moisture plume makes its way into california and the Pacific Northwest. This is really needed stuff. Its going to continue right along through the weekend, bringing heavy rain. And the good news, mountain snow to the snowpack. It is in a sense the reservoir for the west. Its going to keep coming in. Its been over a year since San Francisco saw more than san inch of rain for the month. So look at this. This is great news for them. It wont end the drought but it will help. Six inches between San Francisco and eureka. Look in the sierra. We are talking up to four feet of snow. That is terrific news. And were going to get your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. [ phone dings ] [ nephew ] hi, heath. I cant wait to see you win gold bye. [ male announcer ] there when you need it. At t. The nations most reliable 4g lte network. The heavy raes rainfall for today andties pated throughout this evening and right in the heart of your evening commute. 51 degrees in San Francisco right now. Later on today were going to hit the mid to upper 50s and then we get into the wet pattern that sticks with us all weekend long, you can see on the futurecast into tomorrow, heavy rain at 9 30 a. M. Thats your latest weather. Been a sweet night last night. It was. After two decades, jay leno took his final vow. A farewell filled with plenty of laughs and tears too. And now, jay leno. Reporter the final curtain call, a 22year run as host of the tonight show now over. I dont like goodbyes. Nbc does. I dont. He left off where he started. Number one in the ratings. His first guest in 1992, also his last. Billy crystal youre moving to 9 00 . Yes. I just have to get it straight. Yeah. Thursday night, there were surprises. A string of stars belting a melodic tribute. Carol burnett and Oprah Winfrey said goodbye. Jay leno leaves a late night legend. I bid you a heartfelt good night. He took over in 1992, for more than two decades, he made america laugh. What country was the vietnam war for . Korea. I cant do this anymore. What the hell were you thinking . Now at age 63, leno steps aside for 39yearold jimmy fallon. The show may be over, but leno says he wont stop performing. Hell continue to do standup. And hes had offers from other networks. But he says hes done with late night. But first, his goodbye. This has been the greatest 22 years of my life. And i got to work with and just all kinds of talented people who make me look a lot smarter than i really am. And in closing, i want to quote Johnny Carson who was the greatest guy to ever do this job. And he said, i bid you all a heartfelt goodbye. Reporter a final ovation, but not his last act. Such a class act. I think every time weve been on his show, hes treated all of us when he comes in, he talks to you and treats you so well. Well miss him. Incredibly kind. And hes a humble guy. Yeah. And boy, ill tell you, he is certainly going to be missed. And we all know jimmy fallon is going to do a terrific job. But this is the end of an era. It is. And that moment where he got joked up, it was unexpected and driving a conversation online this morning, right, jenna . Sure is. After 22 years, he has people talking online, and big people. Were talking oprah who was there last night. She instagrammed this picture of the two of them backstage saying so long, farewell. We also oh, no, not again. We also have j. T. , justin timberlake, the one and only j. T. Saying thank you for all the laughs and great times. Also, can i have a car . No . Okay. Cool. And we have jimmy kimmel, his competitor. Issues aside, 20 years at number one is a remarkable achievement, congratulations and best wishes to jay leno on an incredible run. And finally, the first lady of the United States, thanks for all the memories and the laughs. Wishing you good health and a great journey ahead. Hell be truly, truly missed. That jimmy kimmel one it was nice. This is genuine, hes slammed this guy. Well, there was focus on the positive. He got so many amazing tweets not only from celebrities, but all of you. We have tweets from our fans watching. So send in your love to jay leno. Cool. Thanks, guys. Lets see what matt and meredith are up to in sochi. Im crying a little bit. Im going to miss him a lot. Great host and good friend, too. Jay, we wish you the best. Thanks very much. By the way, we know you guys are packing up there, but guess what, we brought the orange room here to sochi with us. We call it is the orangka room. Is there any vodka . Well check in with the folks in the orange room all next week when you guys get here. Looking forward to that. Wow. Id like to buy a vowel. All right. Meanwhile, the biggest show ever, meredith will catch up with the man behind tonights Opening Ceremony. And a consumer alert ahead of valentines day. When you order those flowers online, are you getting what you pay for . Jeff rossen is putting the leading companies in this country to the test. Pretty shot of rosa khutor. And coming up, team usas dynamic ice dancing duo on their quest for historic gold in sochi. And the u. S. Snowboarders flying high after advancing to the slopestyle event and rea honestly . My kids were always on my laptop. I didnt think i could buy them their own, let alone for under 300. But this asus with windows is lightweight and has everything they need not like chromebooks that cant install office or have to be connected to the internet to get much done. 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