Transcripts For KNTV Today 20140216 : vimarsana.com

And red, white and blue bayou, a huge day for team usa on the ski slopes, with american bode miller attempting to become the oldest alpine skier ever to win an olympic medal. While the u. S. Mens hockey team is back in action, a day after that huge win over russia. Score thanks to a breakout hero, who has quickly become a household name. Ochie, ochie, ochie today sunday, february 16th, 2014. Good morning, welcome to today in sochi on a sunday morning. Im lester holt alongside Natalie Morales. Erica is in new york and dylan is keeping an eye on the horrible weather in massachuset massachusetts. Hey, ladies. I was at the hockey game last night, it of incredible, i am feeling the team spirit from head to toe. Too much . Even my fingernails. She will be regifting a lot of this. Even my fingernails have the stars and stripes on them. So there you go. Its a good look and you might notice we are wearing jackets today. The balmy warm spell is slowly coming to an end, a little cooler today. Ten degrees but were not going to rub it in, dylan, dont worry. We do ahahave a lot to get to t morning. High hopes meryl davis and Charlie White will bring home the ice dancing gold as they kick off their competition tonight. Well meet their biggest supporters their moms who have been the driving support from mind their childrens success. Tonights ice dancing event will feature another pair who keep it in the family brother and sister duo, alex and maya sh shibutani, i had the chance to meet them at Rockefeller Center not too long ago so well introduce you to them. Matt antwan mingling with our crowd. Well talk to him what it feels like to bring home such a big prize. The wrap wrup of a controversial trial in florida. Erica . This is capturing headlines across the country this morning. Florida man facing the real likelihood of spending life in prison after being convicted on four of five counts in whats come to be known as the loud music murder trial but its the jurys inability to reach a decision on that fifth and most serious charge that is really fueling the controversy. Kerry sanders was there when the verdict was read and joins us from jacksonville this morning. Kerry, good morning. Reporter good morning, erica. None of the jurors of the 12member jury has commented on why they were deadlocked on that top charge of firstdegree murder. They had the options to come back with a guilty charge of firstdegree murder, seconddegree murder, of manslaughter or not guilty. After four days of deliberation on that charge of firstdegree murder they couldnt reach consensus so the judge declared a mistrial. No peace, no justice reporter with protesters gathered outside the court, the 12member jury couldnt agree if michael dunn was guilty of murder. As to count one i would declare that mistried. We sore very happy to have just a little bit of closure. Reporter while deliberating the jury repeatedly asked the Court Questions and closely reviewed 20 minutes of security videos from where the shooting took place a year and a half ago. Hes shooting, somebodys shooting out the car. Reporter dunn said he felt threatened by 17yearold jordan davis, who he said pointed a gun at him from inside a car, after dunn says he told him to turn down the loud music. Deputies never found a weapon. In all, dunn fired ten shots, nine hit the car. To expel one bullet youve got to pull the trigger one time. That should give you an idea how much of a panic i was in that i was able to pull it ten times. Reporter inside that vehicle three of davis friends which is why prosecutors also charged dunn with attempted murder. We the jury find the defendant guilty of attempted seconddegree murder reporter the jury agreed dunn was guilty of those charges and of firing a missile into their car. Do i like their verdict, absolutely not. Do i agree with it . Absolutely not. Hes looking at 60 plus years on the attempted murder charges and 15 years on the shooting into a car charge. Hes 47 years old, so he will be locked up for the rest of his life. Reporter but michael dunn has yet to actually be sentenced, that will happen at least a month from now when the judge has him back in the courtroom for that. Prosecutor angela corey says that she will retry dunn on the firstdegree murder charge by impaneling another jury. Erica . Kerry sanders live for us, thank you. Well send it back to sochi to natalie for a look at todays olympic highlights. All right, thanks, erica. Team usa is rising up in the ranks in the medal count thanks to some big wins this morning and keir simmons has been following all the action for us. Natalie, good morning. This is getting emotional now, after last nights tension, bode miller started crying after a medal win. He later tweeted i miss my brother. He lost his brother last year. It all seems to be going team usas way but not without controversy. Breaking the slump in the alpine events andrew weibrick took siller and bode bronze. Terrific morning after an incredible night. The tension. Oshie gliding on in. No bobrovsky extends the time for his team. Reporter the triumptriumph. Oshie and bobrovsky duel again. Score team usa wins reporter the elation. Usa such a satisfying win. Unbelievable best game ever. Reporter but now the russians questioning the outcome, due to this no goal. The americans catch an absolute huge break, the net had been dislodged. Reporter a senior russian lawmaker tweeted the puck was in the goal, cheating in front of the whole word, disgusting saying one referee was american, this was a stolen victory, the u. S. Bam for Michael Mcfaul tweeted come on ing for the if the skeleton what a debut. Its a bronze medal at least to team usas matt antwan. Incredible. Reporter not so for julia mancuso. Shes making up time, 0. 3 back. Reporter ended up eighth in the superg and hopes dashed for team usa in the speed skating even after changing a suit that seemed to be slowing them down. Needs to move. Reporter still couldnt do it. Today dramatic scenes in the womens snowboard cross, two riders taken off on stretchers, helen olavsen with a knee injury and american jackie mer nan dez knocked unconscious but appeared to be okay after a 23yearold skier broke her back during training, got a visit from president putin after successful surgery. Weve been saying all week the conditions are difficult, were not saying these things are connected but its tough out there. Absolutely, keir, thank you. And hooer as where we stand with the medal count, sorry about that. The u. S. And russia are tied with 16 medals apiece, four golds, a threeway tie for second between canada, the netherlands and norway. In the moment after the u. S. Versus russia hockey game social media erupted with hundreds of thousand us of tweets celebrating americas win and the man who helped make it happen, t. J. Oshie. In a sudden death shootout it was this shot from the United States t. J. Oshie that is today the talk of the hockey world. Score team usa wins reporter his fourth goal in a thrilling climax that sent fans across the country yeah reporter going wild and bringing back memories of the miracle at lake placid. Five seconds left in the game. Do you believe in miracles, yes unbelievable reporter the u. S. s stunning victory over the then soviet union in 1980, an iconic sports moment immortalized in film. 34 years ago was a real special time and this team has a lot of work to be able to capture what that team did, but its certainly a good start after beating the russians on their home ice. Fortunate enough to put a couple in the net there. Reporter since his clutch performance, the 27yearold oshie who plays in the nhl for st. Louis has become the darling of social media, scoring more than 100,000 twitter fans in just the past 24 hours, including a shout out from president obama himself, even u. S. Troops watching in afghanistan posting their pics. Oshie spoke with a man who called miracle on ice 34 years ago, nbcs al michaels. It was intense. It felt a lot like a rivalry game, having them have their whole crowd behind them and them being loud and you can barely hear your buddy next to you. Reporter a thrilling victory that brought back memory answer made a young hockey player from minnesota one of the biggest heroes of the games so far. I was sitting in my hotel last night watching the russian evening news, of course i dont speak russian but you didnt have to. You could see the coverage, you could see a lot of video of the controversial goal that was taken away from russia and interviews from fans you could tell, were coming back. Being there i didnt understand what it was about and i guess apparently the net moved off the mooring. It was confusing. International rules theres no goal. If it of nhl it would have been. Thats how it came down. Only a preliminary match. I know lets see where this goes. That will be one big grudge match. Want to send it back to new york, erica there with more bad weather hitting the northeast. Erica . Thanks, lester. Starting to feel like a broken record here. Parts of new england waking up to as much as a foot of new snow. The winter that feels like it may never end delivered another pounding storm to millions. Dylan dreyer is in the middle of it, joins us from chatham, massachusetts. Dylan, good morning. Reporter good morning, erica. Dont let the sunshine out here fool you. It is absolutely freezing out here with windchills well down into the single digits. It was a nasty day yesterday, parts of the western cape ended up with about 15 inches of snow in areas like sandwich. Here in chatham we didnt pick up as much snow because we had a lot of ice and it was a windswept ice. Look at these poles. You can see one side of the pole is totally coated in snow and ice, and that is now just the latest danger in what has been an epic winter. Its crazy. Weve had so much this year already. And were getting another blizzard. Reporter blizzard conditions pounding the northeast coast overnight with heavy snow driven by winds gusting up to 45 miles per hour. Its the second major snowstorm to hit new england in 48 hours. Before its over a fresh, heavy wet blanket on top of layers of packed snow from an endless winter. I feel like its siberia. Reporter know fall at three inches per hour challenged even the veteran new england road crews. Under these conditions, it really isnt possible for us to keep the roads clear and safe, given the rate of snowfall. Reporter the Massachusetts Governor asked drivers to stay off the roads for 12 hours starting last night. Several thousand customers have lost electricity in massachusetts. The powerless will suffer through subfreezing temperatures as they dig out once more today. And this storm system is long gone now, its actually moving up into new foundland, wind gusts up to near 100 miles per hour. The biggest concern is salt. Some areas will have to pay double to triple what they would normally pay for salt because were just starting to run out. Erica . Dylan, thanks. Well check in with you in a few minutes for a closer look at the national forecast. Meantime breaking news out of south africa this morning, rescue crews are scrambling to reach more than 00 miners reported to be trapped underground happening mere johannesburg. Duncan has the details to are this us, good morning. Good morning, erica. This rescue is happening right now at an abandoned gold mine in a suburb near pretoria in south africa. Emergency services there say theyve been able to make contact with about 30 men who are trapped below ground, reportedly those men werent meant to be down there. The men say they became trapped by falling boulders and they say that 200 more men are trapped even further below ground. Heavy lifting equipment and cranes are there trying to clear away. So far no reports of casualties, but sadly, people being hurt and people dying is nothing new in south africas abandoned mines, where men go down into the shafts, the incredible risks apparently outweighed by the potential rewards. Erica . All right, dun tcan golestan thank you. In central colorado rescuers will scour the mountains looking for two people missing after an avalanche, with a group of skiers in lake county when the avalanche struck saturday evening. So far this winter 12 people across the country have died in avalanches including six just this past week. The stormsoaked uk is now bracing for ice. Forecasters issuing a nationwide ice warning as floodwaters continue to rise across much of england and wales. At least three people have been killed in weatherrelated incidents. If youve ever used the Popular Crowd funding website kickstarter, its time for a new passboard. The site was hacked last week. Its ceo said no credit card kdaa was stolen but user names, passwords, email and mailing addresses and phone numbers were compromised. Lets end on a high note shall we . Turns out youve got another shot at powerball. No one won the 330 million jackpot saturday night so the pot now grows to an estimated 400 million. You have until the drawing on wednesday to get your ticket. Lets go back to dylan with a closer look at some of the rest of the weather across the country. Dylan, maybe its time to buy a lotto ticket for you. Thank you. I would love that. We are looking at some snow and rain, a lot of it in the pacific northwest. Its a very big storm hitting that area where we could end up with several inches of rain and the snow in the mountains could result in some avalanches as it accumulates up to two to four feet in some of the caps kad areas, and we are going to see that whole storm system linger in that area for quite some time before it spreads east and we are looking at the chance of more snow in the midwest, and maybe some snow around here by the time we get into tuesday. Were now seeing clearing skies around the bay area. Still a few light showers south of san jose down 101 approaching hollister and salinas to the south. In the sierra, still flying around interstate 80 and 50. That too will wind dout midday today. Highs with more sunshine with numbers in the 60s around san jose, low 60s around San Francisco and mid60s around the friday travalley. Dry weather for most of the new week. And that is your latest forecast. Lester . All right, dylan, thanks very much. Up next on today, olympic athletes and their day jobs. You wont believe what some of them do to pay the bills. Thats come up after this. Abe get in punch it [ male announcer ] let quicken loans help you save your money with a mortgage thats engineered to amaze. Thanks, g. Welcome back to sochi. If you ever wondered what the olympic athletes do when her not competing we have the answer. Its hard to maam them doing anything but their sport but believe it or not many of them have regular day jobs to pay the bills. Well let them tell you what they do when theyre not on the slopes or the ice. When im not competing at the olympics, my day job is a junior high science teacher. Im teaching sixth, seventh and eighth grade science now. I always liked helping people so i thought education would be a great field to go into. When im not training for the olympics my day job is a physician assistant. I see patients of all ages and take care of their primary care needs. Patrick meek is one of the hardest workers out there. When im back home in park city, utah, my day job is a valet and kons yermg at the waldorf astria. As a valet youre trying to get them there and concierge you make reservations. Some people recognized me because of the olympics and speed skate so long thats been kind of cool. A smile there from schultz. When im not training for the olympics my day job is a physical therapist assistant. I get to work with post surgical and sports med patients. Its a fun job and it kind of transfers over to what i do on the ice. When im not bobsledding im in the 1156 Engineering Company out of kingston, new york. I belong to the new york headquarters in latham. Im part of the Kentucky National guard. Its a way for me to have something outside of athletics and way for me to compete for my country and serve my country at the same time. The wcap program is a special unit for soldier athletes, the mission in that unit is to go to the Olympic Games and represent your country and ultimately bring home a medal. I love that. We learned a lot about some of the athletes and how they get along when theyre not doing what they do here. Anyway, still to come the most important job of all, being a mom. Thats right well talk to some of the moms of two of the olympic announcer from the company that invented litter, comes litter reinvented. woman hey toss me that litter announcer introducing tidy cats lightweight. All the strength, half the weight. Of looking for a good deal and sheesh, i shouldve looked some more. Thats why walgreens makes it easy to save even more on your Medicare Part d prescriptions. Just stop on by and leave all the legwork to us. Switch to walgreens today where you could save with copays as low as zero dollars on select Medicare Part d plans. At the corner of happy and healthy. Coming up, mark antoine still celebrating his victory with a bronze medal win after an incredible run on the skeleton. Did i tell you about my night out tasting vodka . Well see it. I dont remember a lot of it. [ cellphones beeping ] [ cellphone rings ] hello . [ male announcer ] over 12,000 financial advisors. Good, good. Good. Over 700 billion dollars in assets under care. Let me just put this away. [ male announcer ] how did edward jones get so big . Could you teach our kids that trick . [ male announcer ] by not acting that way. Ok, last quarter. [ male announcer ] its how edward jones makes sense of investing. [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] if you have yet to master the quiet sneeze. [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] you may be an allergy muddler. Try zyrtec®. It gives you powerful allergy relief. And zyrtec® is different than claritin® because zyrtec® starts working at hour 1 on the first day you take it. Claritin® doesnt start working until hour 3. [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] zyrtec®. Love the air. [ female announcer ] this week only, save up to 15 on zyrtec® products. See sundays newspaper. 6 26 on your saturday morning. We have seen some wet weather conditions develop over the course of the last 24 hours. I am sam brock. The question is will that trend continue. Lets check in with meteorologist rob mayeda who has a look at your forecast. This morning were starting to see clear skies around the p bay area. Our rain totals just enough to wet the ground in spots overnight. You did see just under 0. 1 of an inch of rain from the north bay to the south bay and most of the action has moved off to the east. Speaking of the east, if you head to the sierra, still some snow showers at times, at least for the next couple of hours before the moisture heads off into southern nevada. Temperatures today around the south bay should be in the low 60s in san jose, upper 50s to low 60s in San Francisco. Mid60s in the friday valley and the sevenday forecast shows temperatures climbing approaching next weekend. A developing store you now out of the east bay where police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the discovery of a burn victim at Redwood Regional Park in the oakland hills. Park police found the person in the parking lot on skyline boulevard. That is the skyline gate entrance to the park. The area where the victim is discovered is above montaclairm. Park police are working with oakland pd on the investigation. The celebration of the Lunar New Year continues in San Franciscos chinatown today with a street fair. Last night an estimated 1 Million People gathered in San Francisco for the annual chinese new cheer parade. That is considered to be the largest celebration of the Chinese New Year outside of asia. This is the year of the horse, naturally, which is the seventh animal in the chinese zodiac. The parade was rainfree until the end when secelebrators saw little drizzling. About 500,000 people are expected to attend this twoday fair. Hundreds of people rallied in oakland this weekend calling for an increase in that citys minimum wage. The group calls itself lift up oakland and it organized the events. Now, they want to see the minimum wage increased to 12. 25 an hour in oakland as you see from that gentlemans sign right there. Currently it sits at 8 an hour. They also would like employers required to provide sick days to all workers. Members of the group are trying to get enough signatures to put the initiative on the november ballot. Workers we spoke with say the raise would help them become independent. That group needs some 35,000 signatures to actually get the initiative on the ballot. Opponents say that higher wages will mean fewer jobs and higher prices. Coming up at 7 00 on today in the bay well take you to sochi where our very own janelle wang is perfecting her own specialty. The selfy photo bomb. That plus all your top stories coming up at 7 00. Right now we send you back to the today show. Well see you in 30 minutes. When you get your shine on were rocking on this sunday morning, february 16th, 2014. It is a somewhat cooler day here in sochi, overcast skies, even a little drizzle. We constitutional have we still have a great crowd of team usa supporters out here with us. We appreciate them stopping by between events. Im lester holt along with Natalie Morales in sochi. Erica hill is back in new york and dylan keeping an eye on the awful weather that continues to grip a lot of the northeast and new england, specifically. Weve got a lot to get to this morning. But first, erica has got some of the news headlines. Lester, thanks. A mistrial was declared on the murder charge in the socalled loud music trial in florida. Defendant michael dunn was found guilty on four other counts. New england residents as lester mentioned digging out today from yet another winter storm. That snow came down so fast that at one point people were told to simply stay off the roads. And team usa picking up two medals this morning in the mens super g, Andrew Weibrecht got the silver, bode miller tying for bronze. Still to come in this half hour, there is no sibling rivalry for two of the newest athletes for part of team usa in 2014. Theyre a team on and off the ice and have been their entire lives. Ill introduce to us the shib sibs. Coming up, and i know you have a lot more from sochi as well. We do. I love the shib sibs. We talked to this earlier this week. Such great personalities. Well catch up with one of team usas newest bronze medalists, matt antoine. He brought home a big win saturday on the skeleton winning the bronze. Ill take you on a tour of the local spirits. Okay. Thats team spirits. I sampled the local spirit. Vodkas here in sochi, tried six of them. I remember the first two and after that, it all gets a little foggy. Actually im not a big vodka drinker. I was surprised, there is quite a range of tastes and quality. I love how you were patting your head. That goes to tell you, it had to be pretty powerful stuff. It was kind of a burn that went down to my toes over a series of hours. Anyway, weve got that coming up. What else have we got coming up . We begin with a big night ahead for the dynamic figure skating duo of meryl davis and Charlie White who have a lot of support along the way from two very special people, meryl and charlie say they wouldnt be where they are today if it wasnt for their moms who have been behind them every step of the way. Reporter affectionately known as the moms, cheryl davis and jackie white are as much a team as their kids, gold medal favorites, meryl davis and Charlie White. Were with each other 24 7 and sometimes its eight to ten days out of every month. We complement each other. She can read up close and i can see far away. So when im nervous i take the scores down. Shell help me out. I can read them off the board and she can write them. Its one of the many routines theyve developed over the 17 years their kids have skated together. What about superstitions, do you wear the same jewelry . Same earrings on for years. Another thing if its working i dont want to change it. Reporter beyond the superstitions and routines cheryl and jackie say its their childrens dedication to the sport and to each other that truly sets them apart. We really are always impressed with how theyre able to get along so well day in and day out. They have a very special bond. Do they fight . No. Reporter no . Never fight. Reporter have you two learned something just from watching your kids . I think theyve made us better people. Weve watched their positivity, their dedication and focus and when you sea when you see them so young being able to do that, it i spinspireu to have a better attitude about life. Reporter but competing at this level has taken over much of their own lives, too. Its so meanful. They havent missed a single competition in our lifetime. Reporter the ice dancing duo who won silver in vancouver are still at the top of their game in sochi, helping team usa win bronze in the new team category. Its impossible for us to think of anything we may have accomplished without the help of our moms. Theyre just amazing. Reporter and if the moms have their way, their next short dance performance will be as good as gold. It would just thrill me to see that look on his face when he holds up that gold medal, it would just thrill me. Because i know the happiness that they will feel and thats what its really all about. Our kids are lucky enough to at this point in their career to be where they are is its pretty special. Aww. And they are the ones to beat for sure. Meryl and charlie compete today in the short dance followed by the free dance on monday, and of course their moms you can always count on their support, theyll be in the stands in their usual positions watching and cheering them on and you can see meryl and charlie compete in prime time tonight on nbc starting at 7 00 6 00 central. Right now we want to get a final check of the weather, dylan is in chatham, massachusetts. Dylan . Hey, good morning, guys. You know as we are stuck in the eye icebox in new england, lets talk about a warmup. We are going to see one move in this week as the jet stream finally moves north, thats always a good thing when you want to talk about a warmup. We are going to see this dip in the jet stream finally start to recede further to the north, allowing some of that warmer air, some of the recordbreaking temperatures youre seeing in the southwest move eastward. Were obviously not going to break any records, but any warmup will feel pretty good and we should get into that by the time we get into especially the end of the week. One thing i want to point out, look at the snow cover across the country, and as it melts, flooding is going to be a huge possibility with ice jams in a lot of the rivers and potholes are going to be absolutely treacherous on the roadways. So just keep that in mind. The warmups a good thing, but that snow cover is all going to melt and we are going to see the effects of that as we go through the week. Thats a look at the weather across the our skies are clearing, showers moving off to the east and still enough mioisture to give you winterlike driving conditions along highway 50 but you can see the showers shutting down as skies continue to clear out and dry out both in the bay area and up toward the sierra. We should see highs around the south bay in the low 60s around san jose, upper 50s, close to 60 in San Francisco with sunshine and low to mid60s around the trivalley. Numbers climbing into the upper 60s we think as we approach next weekend. And that is your latest forecast. Natalie and lester, i am so sorry its a little bit cooler out there today. Oh, im sure you are. Really feeling the sympathy there. Thanks, dylan. Team usa added another medal to its count saturday thanks to this man, matt antoine who picked up the bronze medal in the skeleton. He and his Teammate John daley were neck and neck for third until daley slipped off the track on the final run clearing the way for matt to slide down the course and land the bronze. Matt, congratulations. Thank you. I know its tough you see john daley slip off the tracks. How does that impact your mindset . We have to keep a clear mind when we head out there. I actually did not see what had happened to him. When i walked out to the line i heard the groans. I knew what happened without having to see it and its really unfortunate. Weve trained together the last ten years, pushed each other to be where we are and it was fitting we were fighting it out till the end. Its upsetting it ended that way for him. During your race was there a point that you thought, ive got this . This is mine . Nothing is every secure in our sport. It can go from great to horrible in an instant. Going into the final run, though, i knew i was in a great position. I had a great run going. The last couple of curves i thought i had it but you never know until you see the clock. When i saw the clock and saw i was in first, i was ecstatic. Your story is a lesson for any kid whos told you cant do it. You were told you didnt have what it takes to be in skeleton. You almost made the team in vancouver and things fell apart and here you are walking out of sochi with a bronze medal. Talk about how that feels. Its amazing. Yeah, my first tryout in skeleton did not go so well. I was sent home. I didnt believe it. I came back a year later, it went much better. I got on to the Development Team and its been a progress or process getting up to this point. Definitely a huge disappointment in vancouver, but its what made me so much better over the last four years, pushed me to improve, find my faults and how i can fix them and everything really came together for me this season and its been a phenomenal season and capped off yesterday. Its very clear where you come from, seeing you during your race, all the cheeseheads, but also seeing some cheeseheads from wisconsin, a lot of football love in wisconsin. Oh, yeah. But whats it like having this great family here supporting you and all your friends . Its amazing. I couldnt be here without the support ive had with everyone. This is as much theirs as it is mine. They pushed me over the years and kept me going and it meant so much to cross the line and see them all down at the bottom and the emotion that they had and just to be able to share that with them is unbelievable. Matt antoine congratulations and thanks so much for being here and bringing the crowd. Thank you for having me. Coming up next, erica meets the shib sibs, the brother and sister duo hoping to take the ice dancing world by storm, well have that after these messages. Sister du hoping to take the ice dancing world by storm, well have that after these messages. What can your fidelity green line do for you . Just take a closer look. It works how you want to work on your own. Or with a Fidelity Investment professional, helping you find new ways to plan for retirement and save on taxes where you can so you can invest in the life that you want today. Tap into the full power of your fidelity green line. Call or come in today for a free oneonone review. From the big screen to Small Screens near and far twizzlerize your entertainment every day with twizzlers. The twist you cant resist. You you made anotherear, human being. Or you found that one person out of like, seven billion, who youre meant to be with. One. Or you bought a house. Or you got a new job. Or you went on a really important business trip to des moines. You had a big year. And you should be able to answer some questions about it. Thats what taxes are, a recap. The story of your year. And we think youre the best person to tell that story. Intuit turbotax, its amazing what youre capable of. Were back on a sunday morning in new york with todays athletes to watch. Pair of skaters representing team usa in the ice dancing competition. Brother sister duo who may be two of the sweetest people ive ever had the chance to interview to say that they are excited and enthusiastic about their first olympics would be a gross understatement. But it turns out they didnt always share the exact same quest for gold. Reporter every olympian starts their journey with a dream. For ice dancer Maya Shibutani it began at age 4. I fell in love with it right away, so i wanted to go to the olympics pretty much from the beginning. Reporter her brother, alex, however, had different plans. I wanted to play in the nba, that was my little kid dream. Reporter despite his hoop dreams, maya managed to get alex out on the ice. I saw how much fun maya was having. It only made sense for me to give it a try. Reporter 22yearold alex and maya, age 19, have been skating together for ten years now. Theyre affectionately known as the shib sibs. So let me tell you, theres something cool about saying i was skating with two olympians today. Do you like being called olympians . It hasnt really sunk in yet. Its so cool. Reporter news they were sochi bound came via text. Its very modern. Very modern. Were always on our phones anyway so it just seems right that we would find out that we were going to sochi that way. Reporter their interaction with fans and fellow skaters is also thoroughly modern. Active on twitter, facebook, instagram and youtube where they launched a shib sibs channel in 2012. Its always a good time were inspired by comedy, and before we go to a competition to skate, the best thing for us to do is to watch something funny. Nothing really gets the nerves or the jitters out of the way than watching something that kind of eases the mood. Whoa, whoa, whoa reporter their strong brother sister bond is a big advantage at the rink. Before we even skated together we were dancing around in the living room. We just have a really close relationship. At the same time when youre siblings, were normal siblings, we fight occasionally, sometimes more than occasionally but were both so driven that as people and as athletes that its so easy for us to overcome those moments. Reporter when youre doing something with the teams, too, it can be a very emotional sport, these routines can be incredibly involved. Umhum. Reporter is it ever awkward youre doing this with your sister or your brother . I think that its definitely being a brother and sister team means we take a different approach but in a lot of ways being forced to have that creativity has made our programs even more special and stronger. Reporter the shib sibs are also remarkably grounded and determined to enjoy every movement of their hardwon journey. Have you let yourselves think about the possibility of coming home with a medal . I think its a dream. Yeah. Every aspiring olympian has. Its what pushes you on those difficult challenging days, those rainy practice days where things arent going quite as well. I mean, you know, the aim is to be at our best at the Olympic Games and if we can put out performances were really proud of, that will be the biggest takeaway for us and something well remember for a long time. Two of the nicest people you will ever meet. We are rooting for them. The shib sibs will be on the ice later today. Just ahead this morning lester is tasting some of rush whys finest vodkas. He doesnt remember all of it but hes still going to share some of that that he can recall with us. But first these messages. That h. Honestly . This deal was way too good to believe. Instead of paying too much for an ipad, i got the surface 2. First of all, it comes with office and outlook. Then, with free skype calls to phones in over 60 countries, i can talk to my cousins any time. And then, i got 200 gigs of Cloud Storage free so i can get my photos and stuff almost anywhere. Others charge for that. Surface is such a great deal. I feel like i should tell somebody. Hey honestly i want to see you be brave [ female announcer ] neutrogena® pore refining cleanser. Alphahydroxy and exfoliating beads work to clean and tighten pores so they can look half their size. Pores. Shrink em down to size [ female announcer ] pore refining cleanser. Neutrogena®. Because im happy clap along if you know what happiness is to you were back on a sunday morning here in sochi with russias favorite drink and that of course would be vodka and lester, yesterday you said eating is always your favorite thing to do, but i think this assignment probably tops it. Well, not sure. I havent had vodka probably since i was in my 20s. Sure. But it is very russian and i wanted to try, so i tried six different vodkas from the really expensive premium stuff to the cheaper cuts. Take a look. Reporter vodka, its the National Spirit of russia, named after the russian word for water, voda. But the people here certainly dont guzzle it down like water. People think that we drink vodka for the lunch, for the dinner, for the breakfast. Actually, its not because its a strong drink. Reporter a really, really strong drink. As im about to find out over the next hour. At this restaurant in the village of rosa khutor, elena is about to introduce me to a range of russian vodkas starting with the pricey stuff. This is beluga, imported all over the world so it was actually made for russian czars. Reporter a good vodka is supposed to have soft herbal spicy bread notes. Whats a Traditional Russian toast . [ speaking in russian ] reporter thats what i was going to say. Its very smooth. Vodka is usually consumed with food. Elena had a series of appetizer pairings prepared including pickled vegetables, cabbage, even bacon. Ill try this again . You can. But we have five more, five more bottles. Reporter youre telling me to pace myself. Next came russian standard, one of the oldest dating back to prerevolution russia. A little more kick. A little burn. Vodkas are usually made from grain or potatoes, but this one, white birch, is made from birch juice. This almost goes down it feels like honey, something thick. Yes, yes. Reporter the Cocktail Culture is creeping into russian society, so flavored vodkas and vodka juice mixes are not uncommon but that, says elena is not how a real russian man enjoys his vodka, which brings us to siberian husky vodka. [ speaking in russian ] reporter which means . For a man. Reporter for a man. Yes, its very manly. Vodka is not for the weak of heart or weak of palate. Economy russian vodka. Reporter is that another word for cheap russian vodka . Its not cheap. Its economic class. Reporter and thankfully for me, a oneway trip. Try to drink in russian way like whole shot is the last one. [ speaking in russian ] reporter here we go. [ laughter ] look at that face. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my goodness. Tough assignment. Are you a vodka drinker . I am not. Ive tried it since ive been here because i feel like you have to. I thought all of it was like that. There are ranges. The favorite was this white birch and made from the sap of a birch and that gives it that smooth flavor. Ive had that one. That ones good. Would you like to try it again . Okay. Heres the deal. Youll notice most of those i sipped which is not the way they drink it. What you saw in the end, they pound it down. Youre going to pound it . Im asking you. Apparently it was the manly thing to do was to pound it but i dont think its the feminine thing to do. Im going to make a toast for friendship, and its [ speaking russian ] go ahead, pound it down. Go, lester, go. Very nice. You can do it nat, you got this one. Erica, you do one. I have a shot glass but its bad luck to toast with an empty glass. I didnt think you would do it. She did it. Dont day her, lester. Come on im going to bring some back for you, erica. Somebody locked up the drinks for hoda and kathie lee so i couldnt get any vodka. Oh. Well bring this back for you, erica. My glass is ready. Well be back after this. That torch, you could light the place on fire right after this. announcer from the company that invented litter, comes litter reinvented. woman hey toss me that litter announcer introducing tidy cats lightweight. All the strength, half the weight. [ female announcer ] we eased your back pain, you turned up the fun. Tylenol® provides strong pain relief while being gentle on your stomach. But for everything we do, we know you do so much more. Tylenol®. Good sunday morning here in new york. Earlier this week mitt romney criticized the high price of the sochi games, an estimated 50 billion in an oped. David gregory is moderator of meet the press. Good morning. Good morning. Hell be with you later this morning. Theres talk about the oped, and also hes been making himself much more available lately and inviting questions as to whether or not this new push for more Public Access could in fact be the precursor to something else, could he think about another run in 2016 . Whats really behind the push . There are people making that suggestion and he is downplaying it. It is certainly something ill ask him about this morning and the Olympic Movement is an interesting topic, certainly for him and hes been critical as you mentioned about these cost overruns in russia, paying 50 billion for the games. How do you sustain that kind of investment for a country or for a city and its top of mind for a lot of citizens in the United States who are vying for future games. Is it worth it and what do you do after the games leave . Its one of the questions well pose this morning. Well look forward to that. And i know hes not your only guest. What else is coming up this morning . Well talk about the urgency around climate change. You heard the president in his extreme weather moment pushing hard for action about climate change. Will it change the politics at all . Well have the debate coming up. We looked forward to. Well be checking in in just a bit. Thanks again. Thanks. Meantime, lester and natalie are in sochi where its getting chilly. The sun is going down, head someplace warm, grab the vodka, dont forget natalies hand warmers. We dont want you to get sick. Thank you, erica. Well check back with you in new york later throughout the week. Tune in tomorrow on today for our own anchor olympics, when team today takes on nbcs team nbc sports. We have, of course, a lot of former olympians working with us. We decided to play a few games out here. Things got ugly. Challenges. Things got a little competitive, we had a little fun and we wont tell you who won. No, i think actually were going to see all of this tomorrow how it unfolds but there was definitely an advantage, i would say, on the sports side. We can tell you there was no vodka drinking, maybe after. We kept it clean. Maybe after. Tomorrow on today. Whats that . The bedazzling on the uniform. Thats going to take you far. We looked like we were about to do some motorcycle act. Team uniform, i guess. Yeah, i dont know who came up with that one. We were inspired. Anyway, well have that for you tomorrow on today. Meanwhile we leave you with some of the highlights from sochi and some of the olympics here today. Good morning. Im sam brock. Coming up next on today in the bay a speed skating letdown in sochi. Americans looking for gold end up with nothing. Team usa tried to revamp its strategy. Well take a look. Plus shes declared herself ready to go. San joses pleolina edmonds arrives in sochi. Well hear directly from the figure skater. Well let you know how long this muchneeded sprinkling will last. This is today in the day. 7 00 on your saturday morning. We start with this live image from San Francisco, a very inviting image. Good saturday morning, thanks for joining us. Im sam brock