Transcripts For WBAL Today 20100212 : vimarsana.com

good morning. let the games begin. they ve trained years for a few precious moments, a chance to make history. to dazzle the world with athletic perfection and daring. a chance to burst on to the world stage. you never know what s going to happen. or to redeem a dream delayed. i can guarantee you that i m going to do everything i can. from all over the world, the athletes have come to vancouver and we ve got a front-row seat to all the excitement, all the drama, all the fun, as the olympic winter games get under way today, friday, february 12th, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good morning, everyone. welcome to today on a friday morning, 12th day of february. you re looking down at the city of vancouver, now up to our location here on grouse mountain, a beautiful spot. we re happy you ve joined us. i m matt lauer. i m meredith vieira. ann curry. al roker. you made it! congratulations! good to have you here. hail, hail, the gang s all here. you got out yesterday? got out and now we re here and ready to go. this is exciting! it s beautiful up here, isn t it? it really is. it really is. you know what s nice is when the wind shifts and the smoke comes in your face. i ve got a pork shoulder in my pocket. that s a whole other story. this mountain, grouse mountain, is open 24 hours a day now throughout the duration of the olympics, and it s 4:00 a.m. here, and take a look at the crowd. how wonderful they are to come out. give us a cheer, folks. it s nice. we re just hours away from the opening ceremony for the 21st olympic games. that s right. in a short period of time, all attention will be on the building we re going to show you right now. this is bc place, downtown vancouver. and for the first time ever, the opening ceremony for a winter olympic games will be held indoors. so, what do the canadians have in store for the rest of the world, especially considering that they are following that incredible opening ceremony in beijing two years ago? we re going to speak to the premier of british columbia in just a couple of minutes, see if we can get some sneak peeks. well, you re covering it. can you tell us anything? i have the information. you couldn t beat it out of me. let s try! put him in the fire! and this is all about the athletes, ultimately. 216 americans here representing usa, including lindsey vonn, still dealing with that serious shin injury. she took to the snow yesterday for a short period of time. she s going to let us know how she did. okay. and then of course, carrying the olympic torch it is quite an honor, and you got to do that yesterday. breathtaking experience. it really was. you re going to share that with us later on. i like that outfit. really nice. i didn t drop it i know that was the next question. i did not. doing a good job down there. also, we ll have a very special guest this morning. michael buble, the crooner we all love, is actually from vancouver. he s going to be giving us a special concert. all right. we have a lot to get to. we want to start, though, with news that s broken the last 24 hours back home, a health scare for former president bill clinton. he spent the night in the hospital, though he has just checked out after having two stents inserted in a blocked artery in his heart. right now we ll get the latest from rehema ellis at new york presbyterian hospital. what can you tell us? reporter: we can tell you that the former president and his daughter, chelsea, left the hospital just a few moments ago, matt, and we also should tell you that the doctors said shortly after the procedure they did on the former president, he was back on his feet and the prognosis is excellent for a full recovery. thursday night, secretary of state hillary clinton arrived in new york from washington to be with her husband. doctors say the former president had been experiencing chest discomfort for a few days before seeing his cardiologist thursday. that cardiologist inserted two metal stints to open a blocked artery in president clinton s heart. the procedure went very smoothly. president clinton has since been up and walking around and visiting with his family. he s in good spirits. reporter: president clinton has a history of heart disease. in 2004, he had quadruple by pass surgery to open four blocked arteries. clinton, known for his grueling schedule and love of junk food, has not slowed down, but doctors say he did change his lifestyle after that major surgery nearly six years ago. his cholesterol numbers and other risk factors that we follow have all been excellent. reporter: this latest scare comes just as former presidents clinton and george w. bush are focusing on relief efforts in haiti. last month, clinton spoke with matt on today. as we get into the recovery and the rebuilding phase of this, that s what former president bush and i are supposed to do. we want to keep america involved over the long run. reporter: a spokesman for clinton pointed out the 42nd president has a fondness for this hospital. not so long ago, he attended a groundbreaking ceremony here. he d hoped to come back as a visitor and not as a patient, but nevertheless, he s in great spirits and on his way to a speedy recovery. reporter: we want to show you some tape now, matt, of the president and his daughter, chelsea clinton, leaving the hospital just a few moments ago. the doctors had said yesterday that they wanted to be clear that the president did not, he did not have a heart attack and there has been no damage to his heart. the doctors also said that, again, the prognosis was excellent for recovery and said that the former president could be back at his desk working on monday. matt? all right, rehema ellis in new york for us this morning. thank you very much. dr. nancy snyderman is nbc s chief medical editor, and she joins us now. nancy, good morning to you. hi, matt. i was surprised to see him walking out of the hospital. i ve known people who have gone in for minor surgery and they wheel them out in a wheelchair. but this is bill clinton, and this is the standard. you go in, have that blood vessel opened, the stent put in and there s no reason to walk out. rest over the weekend, but then back to his life. what does this tell us about his overall health, nancy? he had a quadruple bypass two years ago, now two stents placed in a blocked artery. what does it tell us about the condition of his heart and heart disease? one, that the heart disease is extensive. that s why he had the coronary arteries bypassed and the stents not put in several years ago. and we know that in about 20% of patients who have undergone regular bypass surgery, the arteries would block up again. and the idea that stents being put in not all that unusual, but it underscores the most basic thing once you re diagnosed with heart disease, you can talk about reversing it or dialing it back a little bit, but it s a chronic condition. it s a little bit like damaclesord. you can go on to have a real life, but this is a real problem. i was interested in what cardiologists said, the blockage was not because of the president s diet or lifestyle. then what is it because of? well, probably genes and his eating habits when he was a youngster. we know that in toddlers, in teenagers who have not had healthy lifestyles, you can start to see that plaque build-up. and he is a product of his generation. now, can you make the case for the fact that stress, never being on the same time zone, may be additional factors? probably, but he lost weight, he s been good about his medicines, he s never been a smoker. he s going to go back to the big lifestyle. quickly, he had symptoms on wednesday, didn t get in to see a doctor on thursday because of the snow, mostly. but let s just make sure we give some news you can use here. if you have the kind of symptoms, the chest pains that he had, get to a doctor quickly. this is the president, a former president of the united states. a snowplow would have gone and picked him up. if you have underlying heart disease and you suddenly have overwhelming exhaustion, shortness of breath, that foreboding feeling of just not feeling well, you have to assume that maybe it s cardiac in origin, and that s when you speed dial your cardiologist and you get to where your doctor is. 48-hour wait does not make me happy and i m sure it didn t make his doctors happy. nancy snyderman here with us in vancouver. thanks very much. you bet, matt. now with more, here s meredith. matt, thank you very much. the countdown is finally over. tonight the eyes of the world will be on vancouver s bc place for the opening ceremony of the 21st olympic winter games. ann is here with a look at what we can expect over the next 2 1/2 weeks. hey, ann. that s right, meredith, just hours to go now before vancouver officially welcomes the world. over the next 17 days, the city will play host to politicians and tourists and athletes, in all, more than 500,000 people. as athletes put final touches on routines, today the pressure is on organizers who say the awe-inspiring pageantry two years ago in beijing is not the right comparison. we did not pay any attention to what anyone did other than what we wanted to do and how creatively we could do it. reporter: the ceremony tonight is expected to balance the natural beauty of the country s culture, rooted in traditions with the modern style of a metropolitan city. we believe we have a great show. we think it s going to be magical and fun, and it will tell a great story. reporter: speculation over who will light the flame is in full swing. a long list of possible names includes actors, musicians and athletes, including the great one. if you were going to las vegas and you had a betting inclination and you picked the name wayne gretzky out of a hat, that would be a pretty good bet. reporter: canadian stars nelly furtado, brian adams and sarah mclaughlin are all expected to be part of the festivities. reporter: at bc stadium, five-time olympic luger mark grimmette will carry the american flag, and with it, high hopes for team usa. it is very possible, very possible the americans could win the medals count. reporter: but on thursday, questions swirled about the u.s. ski team and what has been called the most famous shin in all the world. nothing is ever perfect, and you know, you just have to do the best that you can every day, and you know, that s just all i m trying to do. reporter: american skier lindsey vonn later wrote on her facebook page, my xinhua still very painful, but i feel like the injury is finally progressing a bit. the pain level has gone down from a sharp, debilitating pain to something that i feel i may be able to grit my teeth through. yet, while she was ready for her training run, the weather was not. earlier in the day, teammate stacey cook fell in low visibility and had to be airlifted from the scene. cook was treated and released. a reminder of the fragile olympic dreams that all athletes are chasing in vancouver. we have some good news to report to you, as well, and that is that stacey cook, who we just told you about, doctors say she s expected to make a full recovery in time for the competition. and also, though it s rained on cypress yesterday, it s expected to snow today and tomorrow, and that will be really good news, if it happens, for the snowboarders and the freestyle skiers. meredith? a lot of fingers crossed. ann, thank you very much. gordon campbell is the premier of british columbia. premier campbell, good morning to you. thanks for joining us. great to see you, meredith. you ve waited a long time for today, over six years. what are you feeling right now? anticipation, mostly. i m very excited about the opening. i think that we have a great team that s put together the opening. and you know, it s a pretty exciting time for british columbia and for canada. this is going to be the first time ever we win gold medals here at the olympics in canada i can t believe that on your home soil you have never won a gold medal. we promised you in new york we re going to win a gold medal. i m sure we re going to win a gold medal. unfortunately, they wouldn t let me on the team this year. you were in beijing with us. that s a tough act to follow, that opening ceremony. i m sure you watched that. and you ve got to have a little gulp in your throat because you re next up. tell us what you can about your ceremony. our ceremony i think will introduce the world to canada, which is what we always wanted to do. i think in some ways it will remind canadians of who we are. but it really is about the olympic spirit. it s about bringing the human family together on this common quest to be the best you possibly can. the olympics is such an incredible, incredibly long driver, you know. it s a strong driver by people s passions, and i know matt carried the torch yesterday, and he probably felt it, but you know, that torch is a lot more than fire on a stick, and it s brought together our whole country. so, i think everyone s getting very excited about the opening coming, and then, of course, the 16 days of incredible athletic and cultural activities, which will, i think, be something we ll always remember. yeah, it s also a very expensive endeavor. you said back in 2001 the games will pay for themselves. right. there s been some controversy recently. you re no stranger to that. you know what i m talking about. right now the price tag is hovering around $8 billion, some say. is it still your position that the games will pay for themselves? the games are paying for themselves. they ve paid for themselves. i think what people have missed in a lot of the discussion is that this vanoc team has been truly exceptional. a time when we ve had some of the best economies in our lifetime. and vanoc is the vancouver organizing committee. vancouver organizing committee. all the venues were brought in on time, almost a year before they were required. that s unheard of in olympic history. and we ll have dollars left over as a legacy to other athletic activity and endeavor, and i think the real legacy of any olympics is the sparkle and the way it touches young people s eyes. as i have gone around the torch relay, you know, every young person i met, you can just see that drive in their eyes, and it s going to touch them forever. and there are going to be three people watching around the world. what do you hope they take away from this olympics? what do you want them to know about canada that they may not know already? i think most people don t know what a diverse population we have i m sorry, 3 billion. yeah, 3 billion people. it s going to be incredible. but to know we re a pacific country, we re the doorstep to the pacific rim, that we re multicultural. we ve got great and vital cultural drive and sort of a fusion that takes place here. we re really the doorstep to north america for a lot of communities in asia and, in some ways, in europe. so, i hope they get to know the country a little better and i hope they know we want them to come back. welcome to vancouver, welcome to british columbia, welcome to canada. and you ve got your mittens. thank you very much. meredith, where are your mittens? i ve got my mittens. i m putting them on. now here s matt. here they are, okay? and meredith, we have an update. the three people are going to join friends. we re now going to have 3 billion people watching around the world. thank you. obviously, anticipation is high for tonight s opening ceremonies, being held in downtown vancouver at the bc place. it s the first time that a host nation is holding the event inside. bob costas and i will bring you nbc s coverage, and we sat down on thursday and i started to talk to bob about it and i started by asking him about tonight s ceremony and how it can possibly compete with beijing s jaw-dropping start to the 2008 summer games. we said it at the time, retire the trophy. the combination of artistry and imagination and the resources that they had to pull it off, nothing could ever approach it and no one should try to. and i think the approach taken here has been, a, it s a winter olympics, so it s always on a somewhat smaller scale roughly 80 countries as opposed to 200. and also, their intention is to make this a bit more intimate, to speak to the heart and soul of canada and to capture people emotionally rather than something that makes them shake their heads in awe, something that makes them nod in appreciation. this is the first time i m hosting with you a winter olympic games. i picked a good one because we re inside. yeah. we re not going to complain. we ll be in shirt sleeves, but how s it going to impact the mood? you ve got to convince people here and at home that these are the winter olympics. it s going to be 70 degrees in here. well, we ve seen a couple rehearsals, and i don t think it takes long for people to suspend this belief. you get into the feeling that s created, and we might note that the reason it s indoors isn t because of any fear of cold temperatures. it s the threat of rain, which is likely tonight. i did a little research. in the 70 preceding february 12st on record, it s only snowed eight or nine times, but it has rained 47 times. so, that was really their concern. what amazes me is how much free time you have on your hands. yeah, yeah. clearly too much. you re doing the today show and i m in the hotel flipping through the almanac. let s get past the opening ceremony. let s talk about the events and athletes we want to watch. prior to these games, probably the most talked about athlete for the u.s. is lindsey vonn, on the cover of sports illustrated, and we know now she has an injury, and it s not a minor injury. it s a fairly severe injury. how will that affect, in your opinion, what she attempts to do here in vancouver? we ll know more by sunday night. technically, she s entered in five events, the first on sunday. we ll know if, a, she s ready at all, b, if she competes at her usual level. the one where she s the overwhelming favorite in the downhill is on wednesday. so, we ll know a lot, i think, on sunday. if there s one thing to maybe look positively at this, it s that she s gone through something like this before. this is not a young lady who is a stranger to adversity. yeah, but she herself said earlier this week, this is the most excruciating injury i have ever had. and probably, were it not the olympics, she d take some time off, but it is the olympics and this is her springboard, not just to winning medals, but she has been positioned as someone who will emerge from this as a transcendent star. and so, she s got to do something on the slopes for that to happen. normally, for winter olympics i d say stay warm, my friend. i don t have to say in anymore. no, we re already overdressed. we could do it in t-shirts. thank you, bob. see you tonight. it s going to be fun. don t do it in t-shirts. why does it matter? it will be a usa t-shirt. it s going to be great. i ve seen the show and i have to say, i think people are going to be wonderfully entertained. i m sure they will be. i m sure they will be. a reminder, you can watch our coverage of the opening ceremony of the vancouver games starting tonight at 7:30/6:30 right here on nbc. and now let s toss it over to hoda kotb, who s in new york with the news of the day. good morning, hoda. good morning. we re looking forward to opening ceremonies tonight. good morning, everybody. we begin with a new development in the case of 7-year-old somer thompson, the florida girl murdered last year. a person of interest is in custody. nbc s mark potter reports. reporter: after searching a house in somer thompson s orange park neighborhood, just doors down from where she was last seen alive nearly four months ago walking home from school, investigators named 24-year-old jared herrell as their first person of interest in the murder case. police say herrell used to live in the house now being searched, which is just a few blocks from where 7-year-old somer thompson lived. herrell was arrested on child pornography charges by federal agents in meridian, mississippi. he was arrested without incident and is being held on a $1 million bond on those charges. reporter: police say their search of the home stems from the child pornography investigation in which gerald herrell is now charged with 29 counts of illegal possession. according to an arrest affidavit, he downloaded erotic images of girls as young as 6 to 8 years old on his computer, which were discovered by roommates. i cannot comment further about how harrell may be connected with the somer thompson case. reporter: while harrell has not been charged in the thompson murder case, police say he clearly is being investigated now. mark potter, nbc news, miami. this is a national day of mourning in haiti, marking one month since the devastating earthquake struck. on thursday, a judge recommended that ten u.s. missionaries indicted for trying to take children out of haiti be released while they await trial. the prosecutors say they will respond to the judge next week. nbc s kelly o donnell confirms that rhode island congressman patrick kennedy will not run for re-election this fall. the son of the late senator ted kennedy recorded a message that will air sunday in which he says his life is taking a new direction. his departure will mean no kennedy in congress for the first time in more than 60 years. today, winter storm warnings from texas to the carolinas. slippery highways were blamed for dozens of accidents on thursday. dallas broke a record with more than a foot of snow. it is now 20 minutes past 7:00. back to matt, meredith and al. i just want to push that snow over to you guys so you can have a little out by you. it looks like in the storm is going to stay south of us in maryland. we will wind up with quite weather as we head into valentine s weekend. mostly sunny in the protest day. and that s your latest weather. meredith? al, thank you very much. much more ahead on this special friday morning, including the u.s. athletes to watch here in vancouver and my spin on the ice with apolo anton ohno. less a spin than just standing still, but first, this is today on nbc. there he goes. just ahead, we ll catch up with the producer of tonight s opening ceremony and we ll take a tour of our home here at grouse mountain. plus, matt s big moment carrying the olympic torch. sweet, delivery pizza! actually it s not delivery no, i know, it s my turn to pay. well, there was a bit of a rush charge. premium topping tax and a doorbell ringing fee. doorbell ringing fee? awesome toppings and a fresh-baked crust. taste. believe. it s not delivery. it s digiorno. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am stan stovall. time to get check on the morning commute. lots of cars out there this morning. a lot of people looking for to getting out there but unfortunately, they are going a little too fast and we are seeing signs of problems around the major roadways. jammed conditions due to accident taking up two left lanes here. possibly icy spots in the area. in other at the become a dealing with an accident. we will let you knew once we find out more. southbound route 1 at dewey road, watch for icy conditions due to water main break. as we go to aberdeen, still blocking route 462 at chapel road. as to check the j.f.x. at the beltway, this portion of the beltway is unaffected by the problems of the j.f.x., but pretty soon, those delays could stretch back. we will switch to a live view of the beltway at the bw parkway. so far so good in this area. things are pretty quiet in the weather department. that is a good thing. we could all use a break and we could get all the way through the weekend. today, skies are clear to called quiet. 21 in randallstown. 21 in roll call. in rock hall. a bit of a chance to melt the snow could 35 this afternoon. 20% chance for snow flurries on saturday. that is mostly south of baltimore. try on valentine s day but there is a chance for snow coming up monday afternoon into tuesday morning with president stay with high to buttress and the low 30 s. high temperatures in the low 30 s. our next live update at 7:55. 7:30 now on this friday morning, february 12th, 2010, the day vancouver has been waiting for for 6 1/2 years. tonight the wait is over as this country welcomes the world with the opening ceremony of the 21st olympic winter games. and these folks who have gathered here with us here on grouse mountain seem more than excited about that, right? way to perform on cue. exactly! that s what we re talking about! we have to remind people, it s like 4:30 in the morning here. i know, it is. they haven t had their coffee yet, but we ll provide that. and we re starting to get little bit of a spit here. i mean, it s not quite snow, but in between a hail and a snow. sleet. a snain. meredith, matt, al, ann. we re envious of you, matt, because you got to carry the torch. how was that? one of the most unbelievable experiences of my life it was a real honor. also ahead what we re going to do, you look at the sports played at winter olympics and you say, i d like to try that. then some you think those people are just plain crazy! the aerialists would fit into that latter category and we ll catch up with jarreeret speedy peterson and emily cook have made their way up the mountain and we ll talk to them in a couple minutes. also, apolo anton ohno, one of the most popular athletes in vancouv vancouver, and in the coming days, he could become our country s most decorated olympian ever. we ll hit the ice with him coming up. and i literally hit the ice. you hit the ice. all right, but we want to start with the olympic torch relay, and on thursday, i did, as meredith just said, have the honor of taking part in that relay and carrying the olympic flame on one of its final legs before the opening ceremony. it s been the longest relay of any torch in olympic history. a 106-day, 28,000-mile journey that s touched even the furthest corners of this country and captured its spirit along the way. that s the olympic torch! reporter: it has inspired all sorts of people in all kinds of ways. woo! reporter: in the end, the torch will pass through the hands of 12,000 runners. i was lucky enough to be one of them. this is your hat. great. you have beautiful mitts. do i get to keep these mittens? these are coveted. yes, they are, and they re specific to the torchbearer because you have a grip on that. and your pants and your jacket. you re all set now. we ll see you a little bit later. i ll be back in a second. a little change, and now i m officially a member of the olympic move. after suiting up, we gather for a briefing. rule number one, please don t forget to smile. if you re tired, don t be shy, you can switch arms whenever you want. olympic torch! whoo-hoo! reporter: then it s off to our starting points, as the excitement among my fellow runners and i builds, so, too, does the energy on the streets . i was mr. nonchalant until a few moments ago. we were talking about how we got here and now i m one massive butterfly. i couldn t be happier. finally, the moment i had been waiting for. congratulations. thank you. you don t even notice the rain. it s too fantastic. it s too fantastic. woo! good luck. that s the longest 300 meters i ve ever run in my life, but it s just because it s so exhilarating. it really is. and i hold in my hand a piece of olympic history. slide this down. look at that. there it is. oh, matt. wow. you actually you get to you can actually purchase the torch. they take the canister, the gas canister out of it and you cut it because you can never light this again. because it s the olympic flame. grab it. take it. this would get heavy after a while. you re lucky it s only 300 meters that you re running. if it were longer than that, you d need a longer arm. it says vancouver 2010. it does, so you ll never forget. and our nbc president steve capus ran with it, and the flame went out. no, no. maybe it went out on nbc, but no, only kidding. hey! that is so cool. by the way, they tell you never clean it. really? never clean the soot off because then it becomes a fake, but if you have the soot on it congratulations. that was very nice. a lot of fun. mr. roker, you have a check of the weather. let s see what s happening. again, we are talking a little snow here in vancouver. that s the good news. pacific northwest, another big storm coming in, and that s going to be affecting the pacific northwest and vancouver. we ve got rain, mountain snows, about one to two feet of snow in the mountains in the pacific northwest. the vancouver forecast, here s what we re looking for. downtown today, showers becoming steady rain, temperature 48. more clouds and showers tonight. and then for tomorrow, whistler mountain, we re looking at some snow accumulations, one to three inches tomorrow. tonight they re going to be seeing things are pretty quiet in the weather department today and will stay that way through most the weekend. mostly sunny is the forecast for it a couple of clubs, especially in the northern and western suburbs. and that s your latest weather. matt? all right, al, thank you very much. freestyle skiers emily cook and jeret speedy peterson have been friends since emily was 12 and speedy was just 10. they re competing in the aerials competition tonight. they will march together in the olympic opening ceremony. emily and speedy, good to see you here. great seeing you. thanks for being here. thanks for having us. talk us through it. tonight, opening ceremony. we ve got second and third olympics, but what s it going to be like to enter that stadium here in vancouver? it s one of my favorite parts of the olympics is getting to walk into the opening ceremonies it was my favorite part in salt lake. unfortunately, emily wasn t able to be there. and it was the same in torino when they were driving that race car and i m excited to see what they have tonight. how much can you be aware of your surroundings in the opening ceremony? are you aware of the crowd? are you aware of the effects and the show that s going on around you? yeah, absolutely. it s so much fun. you know, walking in with my teammates in torino 2006 was one of the best moments of my life, and just looking up and looking around and seeing everybody, you know, cheering us on, and you know, just feeling all that support is really the most exciting thing ever. speedy has already alluded to the story of what happened in 2002, and you were going to go to the olympics and then couldn t go at the last minute. he took your spot on the team and there was that wonderful moment where you had that little signal for emily with the sign on your hand and then the moment where you were on the side and you had the sign for speedy. yeah. this friendship really seems to kind of fuel the two of you in terms of your competitive juices. yeah, it definitely does, you know. we ve been through a lot together, and it s pretty exciting to be up here in vancouver competing together, for sure. what are your goals here, speedy? i want to win. we re actually fortunate enough to see the olympic medals just earlier today, and it was amazing how much it just got me. yeah. it s a motivator, for sure. and your goals, emily? absolutely, i m out here to perform my best. you know, i was excited just to go and participate in torino, but i m here to jump my best and definitely hoping to take home one of those medals. can i just mention, so nice of you to get up so early when the competition is just on the horizon. we really appreciate it. jeret speedy peterson and emily cook, good luck, you guys. thanks, matt. pleasure. when we come back, meredith will skate with apolo anton ohno. but first, these messages. to kn to love, to hope, to the world. those words changed my life and inspired my open hearts collection at kay jewelers. as the number one jewelry store in america, kay was the perfect choice to help me turn my mom s inspiration into something beautiful and eternal. you were right, mom. keep your heart open, and love will always find its way in. vegetables are naturally low in calories. v8 juice gives you 3 of your 5 daily servings. it s a tasty, nutritious way to make this number go up. and help this one go down. v8. what s your number? 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it feels like you re in a very fast sports car and you just put it in automatic, and it just feels almost easy. and being in that zone is there s no better feeling in the world. reporter: apolo ohno struck goal at the salt lake city games in 2002, but his victory was shrouded in controversy. the win came after south korea s kim dung sun was disqualified for illegally cutting apolo off. kim s disqualified! in other words, oh, my god, it s an unbelievable feeling. just, oh, man, that s great. reporter: still, apolo s two medal wins in salt lake, gold and silver, and his brazen good lungs earned him a rock star following. people who remember you in salt lake city remember the bandanna and the patch, the look. i haven t seen my chin in years. i don t know what s under there, maybe a smiley face, maybe a tattoo, i have no idea. who cares? reporter: four years later, torino. apolo ripped across the ice to three more medals, including a gold in what he calls the perfect race. american boy reporter: but after the 2006 winter games, he took a slight detour. who would have thunk it, you end up on dancing with the stars ? i know. my initial reaction was there is no way i m dancing in front of millions of people, and i had no idea what i was in for. and after the finale, i felt like i had more confidence in myself. more than you had prior to this, having won the gold and the silver? much more. it s different, because when i step out there, i know what i m doing. and all of a sudden, i m getting scores and it s like, it s over. hope i don t fall down. they tried to make you spandex, but you said no. no spandex. i wear spandex on the ice. that s about it. reporter: all this talk about spandex got me thinking, if he could dance, i could skate. lane number two. lane number two, two, two. representing the united states of america, the today show s meredith vieira! ready. and then go. reporter: what was i thinking? instead, i challenged the dancing champ to a tango. reporter: but these days, apolo s focus is squarely set on the games in vancouver. it s where he first launched his way to olympic glory. you say it s like coming home, it s full circle? i learned to speed skate in vancouver. my father was drove me back and forth between seattle and vancouver. you called him big papa your twitter feed. he s been so influential in your life on and off the ice. he s played a vital role in all decisions in my life. reporter: apolo was just 1 when his parents divorced. his father, yuki, a hairstylist, raised him. growing up in seattle, he says he was always a step away from trouble. i heard one of the reasons your dad got you involved in this is because you were kind of a rebellious kid and this was a way to keep you on track. my dad had seen the path i could potentially be leaning towards. which would have been? maybe i d be in jail, maybe dead. i have no idea. reporter: now with his bad boy days long gone and five olympic medals to his name, the 27-year-old says competing in his third winter games was no easy decision. do i truly want to do this again? and i came to the conclusion that, you know what, i love the sport, i love the olympic games, my body s healthy, i m still one of the best in the world. others want to go to the olympic games because they want to win a gold medal. that s their destination. i m living my destination every single day. you know, like the journey is what i truly enjoy. very cool guy. and apolo s record-breaking quest begins tomorrow with a 1500-meter race. up next, matt, ann, al and i will make our predictions as to who we think will light the olympic cauldron. much more coming up from grouse mountain right after this! you heard them. want to make this a valentine s day they ll remember? 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[ female announcer ] and save up to $15 off your refills. go to nasonex.com for details, terms and conditions. looks disgusting. mine is good on this side. so, there s a burning question still looming. not the marshmallows. but who, guys, do you think is going to light the olympic cauldron tonight at the opening ceremony? well, i know one of the favorites in british columbia is betty fox, whose son suffered from cancer, started that marathon for hope and had to stop because it had spread to his lungs. since then, people have continued to contribute to cancer research. so you think betty fox. i think that s a very good pick. i think sometimes harkening back to australia, i wonder if the aboriginal history of this nation may play a part in tonight. i think michael j. fox. another famous canadian. yes. okay. which means i can t have a pick because you know. i know who s are you trying to create so, we re reporters, so, do you want to give us any information here? that marshmallow s not hot enough to get that information out of me, but it s going to be an amazing ceremony. by the way this is cooked. that s great. we welcome the man behind the ceremony, the producer. - it shines like glass. - so soft. - smooth. i would definitely recommend this to my clients. then we revealed what was really in the bottle. it s suave professionals. suave, really? i m shocked. i didn t know suave could do that. top stylists were surprised. you will be, too. suave professionals. salon proven to work as well as salon brands. suave professionals. rethink salon hair. salon proven to work as well as salon brands. 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then hurry into dunkin donuts today. and satisfy that chocolate craving with any small latte, like our new white chocolate latte, for only 99 cents. america runs on dunkin . 8:00 now on a friday morning. it s the 12th day of february 2010. we are grateful for those people right there who have made their way to grouse mountain in vancouver in the wee hours of the morning to stop by and just spend little of their energy with us. we really, really appreciate it. we re at the highest peak in metro vancouver, a beautiful spot to call home for the next couple of weeks, as we cover the winter olympic games. i m matt lauer along with meredith vieira, ann curry and al roker. the gang s all here. who s ready for the opening ceremony? yes. yes. yes. yeah? looking forward to it. really exciting. i got to see one of the major dress rehearsals. i can t give away the details, but the images are beautiful, the music is fantastic. there are a lot of surprises. i don t think anyone s going to be disappointed. coming up, we ll talk to the man behind it, the creative director, the producer of this, who happens to be an australian, by the way. interesting. we know one thing, the remake of we are the world will premier tonight during the opening ceremony. here s a little taste of it. that s right. and the choice we re making, we re saving our own lives, it s true we ll make a better day you re looking at never-before-seen footage of the recording session, including barbra streisand s part, but if you want to see the finished product in entirety tonight, that s coming up tonight on nbc at the the opening ceremony. cool. looking forward to that. also ahead, it s not the winter games unless you know about the athletes. we re going to introduce you to the americans you need to know, including 16-year-old figure skater m yer mirai nagasu. mirai nagasu. took me a while to learn that. taking part in her first olympics. and i said betty fox s son is michael. i apologize, it is terry fox. we all know that. terry fox and michael fox very inspirational men, but very different. meanwhile, we want to show you something we think is very cool. this is your first live look at the medals and the victory bouquet that will be going to the winning athletes here in vancouver. we ve got them on the table in front of us. not allowed to touch these unless we put gloves on. but they re very different in terms of their design, a free-form design, inspired by what, the waves? the waves, the mountains and the blowing snow. right. each one is unique. that s right. no two are exactly alike. that s right. abstract art, made every medal one of a kind. they re one of a kind medals. i think the abstract art represents the orca whale and the raven. exactly right. so, each piece is a part of that larger artwork. the orca whale i think is for the olympics and the raven for the paralympics. paralympics. exactly. they re beautiful. they re enormous and very heavy. and al, next to you, if you want to pick that up you don t need gloves, i don t think, but this is one of the victory bouquets, and i have some information here. these were all made by women at just beginning flowers. they offer training to mentally and physically challenged women as well as marginalized women, including those recovering from addiction. and they have 22 of them. that s why the committee picked this group, because not only were the designs beautiful, the floral designs, but the social consciousness of the actual organizing people. and according to the ioc rules, they have to make the bouquets really exactly the same. they have to make 1,800 of them. now you know little bit more. can you pick out the green spider mums there? the beads. right, the beads. not so hard. we have more coming up from grouse mountain, but first, let s go back to new york city. hoda kotb s at the news desk filling in while ann is out with us. she s got all the headlines of the morning. good morning, guys. good morning, everybody. doctors in new york say the prognosis is excellent for former president clinton after he had two stents inserted in a clogged heart artery. the former president who was recently in haiti, had complained of suffering discomfort in his chest. doctors say he did not have a heart attack. he left the hospital this morning and could be back to work as soon as monday. a man held on $1 million bail is being called a person of interest in the case of somer thompson, the 7-year-old florida girl murdered last october. jarred harrell was arrested in mississippi on child pornography charges. prosecutors executed a search warrant at his one-time florida address just blocks from his home. people are still digging out from this week s east coast blizzard. one maryland car dealer had a massive job just to find his inventory. japan is denouncing an antiwhaling group after the latest confrontation at sea. it says protesters threw acid and sprayed water at a whaling ship off antarctica on thursday, injuring three crew members. a new addition in space. astronauts attached a new room with a view on the international space station this morning. it s got a bay window for an even better look back at earth. and walter frederick morrison has died. if you don t know his name, you probably know what he leaves behind. morrison is credited with inventing the frisbee. 200 million sold and a staple found at beaches and college campuses. he died this week in utah at the age of 90. it is now five minutes past the hour. let s check back in with al with weather from vancouver. hey, al. hey. thanks a lot, hoda. got a nice group. they re inside, nice and warm, having a good time. and as we look and show you what s happening as far as our weather s concerned for today, we have got big, big stuff going on down in the south. our pick city happens to be steubenville, ohio, nbc 9. they re going to have snow showers, temperatures in the 20s. and as you look, we see a lot of wet weather down through the south. in fact, we ve got snow to the north of that rain. parts of the south will see snowfall amounts three to six inches, stretching from mississippi all the way into south carolina. wet weather moves into the pacific northwest. sunny through the southwest. sunny skies live, localthe whether it s a mostly quiet as it added to the valentine s day weekend. we should make up to 35 degrees this afternoon. and that s your latest weather. meredith? al, thank you very much. up next, coming home to the gold. the members of team usa you need to know, including 16-year-old figure skater mirai nagasu. we re going to talk to her and her coach, right after this. and i m like, oh, promise mommy you ll never ever pick up a cigarette. and brian looked at me at eight years old and said, promise me you ll quit. i had to quit. my doctor gave me a prescription for chantix, a medication i could take and still smoke, while it built up in my system. 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[ male announcer ] talk to your doctor to find out if prescription chantix is right for you. where all your cat s favorite flavors, including real carnation milk, come alive. friskies feline favorites. feed the senses. if toyota gets credit for being the most fuel efficient car company in america, well, then how do you explain all this? chevy malibu, cobalt, silverado, and the all-new equinox. compare them to anyone. may the best car win. welcome back to grouse mountain here in vancouver, british columbia. by the way, vancouver the largest city ever to host an olympic winter games, and the world will come together tonight for the opening ceremony. then tomorrow, the athletic competition begins in earnest. the question is, who are the athletes to watch? here are a few you should definitely keep your eye on. it will be my fourth olympics. it never gets old. i actually carried a little hockey card of the miracle on ice team in my wallet when i was little because i wanted to be an olympic hockey player. five seconds left in the game! do you believe in miracles? yes! unbelievable! this moment 30 years ago when team usa beat the heavily favored soviet union will forever be etched in the memories of many americans. here s this miracle on ice team that i looked up to and thought was so inspiring, and suddenly, i could do the same thing. reporter: the miracle on ice was one for the ages, but the winter games often deliver surprises. sometimes even scandals and record-setting achievements. with six medals, bonnie blair holds the title for the most decorated u.s. winter olympian ever. but here in vancouver, that could change. apolo anton ohno already has five medals around his neck. two more and he ll break blair s record. it s the beautiful thing about the olympic games is, you know, obviously we want to win medals and obviously we want to represent the united states as best we can, but the memories, that s what s going to stay with me the longest. at the halfpipe, shaun white will be going for back-to-back olympic golds. i ll never forget standing on the podium, and it was obviously all time. i like the fact that there is a new challenge and there are better riders and they re all kind of coming and meeting at this one halfpipe to battle it out. in torino, speed skater shani davis became the first african-american to win an individual winter games gold. he s a favorite again. reporter: ice dancers tanith belbin and ben agosto have their sights on gold as well. we came in second at the last games. we certainly don t want to come down from there, so there s really only one direction to go, and that s straight to the top. it s the kind of dream that inspires you to put in the hard work every day. this is a dream come true for evan lysacek. what a performance! the reigning world champion in men s figure skating, evan lysacek, has high hopes to land atop the medals stand. i look to vancouver now as a mission, and it s kind of like the light at the end of this one-track tunnel that i m in, and that gives me chills to think about, because the olympics is so important to me. in the mountains of whistler, bode miller, one of alpine skiing s biggest stars, will go for the one prize that has eluded him, an olympic gold medal, here at his fourth winter games. despite her injury, lindsey vonn is still hoping to contend for medals in all five alpine skiing events. i want to make the u.s. proud and set a good example for little kids who, you know, are inspired by the olympics just like i was. picabo street in the 98 olympics. picabo street into the lead! i definitely, i loved her tiger helmet. i remember that very vividly. so, it s that olympic spirit and the olympic dream that s really kept me motivated and kept me working hard every single year since i was a little kid. who won, lindsey? i win! so, those are some of the athletes to watch. right now it s coming up on 14 after the hour. let s go down to the rink and meredith is with another athlete to watch. yeah, matt, thank you very much. speaking of athletes to watch, we re joined now by 16-year-old u.s. olympic figure skater mirai nagasu and her coach, frank carroll, who is a phenomenal coach. welcome to both of you. thank you. thank you. mirai, you said before this you didn t think you would be part of this olympics. you were really aiming for 2014. now here you are about to walk in the opening ceremony in just a few hours. how do you feel about all this? it s just a lot of excitement built up into one arena, and it s been a lot of fun, and i m just here to get good experience and have fun. well, good enough. frank, how would you describe mirai s skating style? she s been referred to as the kind of it girl on the ice in terms of her charisma. well, i think her artistry is magnificent, and i think that s the best side of her skating. she s a good athlete, but you really see that artistic side when she skates. how would you compare her to rachael flatt, the other american skating in the olympics? well, rachael is outstanding and strong, and mirai is artistic. they skate differently. they re not alike. so, i understand you re going home after this to california to continue practicing and then you ll be back for the short program, february 23rd. and i heard some very good news, your parents who run a sushi restaurant in your home in california, wasn t sure they could make it here because it was so expensive. they will be here to see you skate. what does that mean to you? it means a lot to me, because the fact that my dad will actually take a day off, it s a miracle. really, a day off from the restaurant? yes. so, i m just honored and hope to make him proud as well. well, we re all looking forward to seeing you skate. thank you. mirai nagasu, frank carroll, thank you both and good luck to you. thank you. thank you. up next, a special preview of tonight s opening ceremony from the man behind the magic, and that s right after this. the favorite flavor with a fever on top. code orange. when the fever is high enough to be a code orange, you need children s motrin. the brand pediatricians recommend most. to bring high fever down fast. children s motrin. a lot of activity here at grouse mountain. you look down at the bay and the convention center in downtown vancouver, as we welcome you back, and we also now get set to take a look at bc place, which is the home of tonight s opening ceremony of the 21st olympic winter games. an estimated 3 billion people worldwide are expected to be watching, and it promises to be a spectacular show filled with plenty of surprises. i caught up with the man behind it all, executive producer david atkins. this has been your life for 2 1/2 years. i mean, you ve been concentrating on this opening ceremony for an awfully long time. it s about to unfold. you re about to unveil it for the world and the people here in this stadium. what are your emotions? to take the pressure off of it there. it s an incredibly exciting time, not only for me, but for the entire team that have been dedicated to this for that period. we re prepared. i think we re in very good shape. everyone s had the opportunity to work through the dress rehearsals. we ve had fantastic response from our dress rehearsal audiences and feedback from them, and i think we re more than prepared and just can t wait to show what we ve created to the world. it seems in the months leading up to this, the elephant in the room has been beijing. everybody talks about that opening ceremony, and i m wondering how much, when you watched that opening ceremony, how much did it impact what you wanted to do or didn t want to do tonight? in lots of ways, it was a tremendous relief for us to see that ceremony be as epic and fantastic as it was, in the sense that we had always intended and desired to go in a different direction because this ceremony has always been about intimacy, about emotion, it s always been about capturing the spirit of the people and the landscape here. i was reading where you wanted this ceremony to be about inclusion and community. how are the people at home and the people in this stadium going to see that play out? we ve got an incredible cross section of cultures and people and ages and personalities, and we focus on single individuals. there are moments, a number of moments in the ceremony where there s just a single performer in the stadium. and so, those single performers become the audience for us. they become the canadian. they become the every man for us. it s the first time an opening ceremony for a winter games has ever been held indoors. so, what you ve got to do is you ve got to ask people to leave reality at the door. you ve got to convince them that they re watching a winter scene outdoors. how tough is that? from a theatrical perspective, we ve been able to create a winter landscape. we ve been able to create snow. we ve been able to create vistas and use our projection equipment to create a very, very controlled environment. outdoors we would never have that control. so, 60,000 people are going to leave the stadium after the opening ceremony. a few billion are going to watch it at home. what do you want them to say when it s over? from a canadian perspective, i want people to travel through a series of emotions. we really want the audience to cry. we want canadians to swell with pride at what s been achieved and how they feel about their country and themselves. and the people who aren t canadian? to want to come here and enjoy this place. you ve got a lot to do. it s nice of you to spend time with us this morning. we appreciate it david atkins. good luck. thank you. thanks. i m one of those who will be crying, for sure. it is a big night for athletes and their families, but also a big night for two fashion designers whose work will be on display and our own dawna friesen has their story. their names are dean and dan kate. they re identical twin brothers who grew up in canada dreaming of making it big in the fashion world, and they did. their label, d square, is a big success, and for months they ve been working on top-secret designs just for tonight. dean and dan katen have been called the most important fashion design team to come out of milan since dolce & gabanna. their firm dsquared2 has gained attention in the fashion industry for clothes that are flashy, classy and spectacular. catching the attention of music s fashion trend-setters from christina aguilera to fergie and rihanna. it s not a job for you. no. it s not a job for us. it s a passion. it s a passion. and i think that s the fun part and we are so lucky that we can actually make money and do something we love to do. reporter: the youngest of five children, they grew up in suburban toronto. inspired by fashion even as kids, they started designing for their sisters. after a start at the parsons school of design, the two knew they were hooked. i remember the first day of school in the auditorium, they said, listen, if you don t drink, eat, sleep and live fashion, get out right now because this is a nine to five job. it s a lifetime. and we looked at each other, didn t say a word and we knew we were in the right place. they launched dsquared2 in 1994. 16 years later, they got their own stores, featuring men and women s wear, shoes, perfume, even sunglasses, often sneaking in signs of their proud canadian roots and racking up sales of nearly $175 million last year. our kind of philosophy is we re not trying to recreate the wheel. we re just trying to make it roll better. so, we re trying to make fashion that people will wear and feel good about wearing them and they look good in. i think that s a look matt lauer can pull off. reporter: the brothers are inseparab inseparable, not only working side by side in milan, but sharing a fashionable flat in london and being twins, they say, is their strength, giving them a distinct advantage in the cut-throat world of fashion. together, we re one really strong person. yeah. i don t think we re not strong as individuals so, we re like but we re like, together we have a force that s stronger than anything else. this is underneath that shirt. reporter: dean and dan now face the most daunting role of their career, dressing celebrities for tonight s olympic opening ceremonies. when you were approached, was it kind of a no-brainer, yes, we ll do it? of course. yeah. reporter: the twins have been sworn to secrecy and just won t give an inch when i try to find out what we can expect to see tonight. there s no kind of hidden covered olympic stuff, is there? no. reporter: dean and dan are now celebrities in their own right. a recent star on canada s walk of fame, a radio show on xm radio good evening, everybody. i m dean. i m dan. we are dsquared2. reporter: and a new reality show on bravo called launch my line, where would-be designers are paired with experts. but tonight they are competing on the biggest stage, the olympic opening ceremonies, a chance to show off their style on their home turf. and they really are a dynamic duo. after the opening ceremony, they fly back to milan to present their latest women s wear collection, then get back here to vancouver for the closing ceremony. meredith? i did not realize that you are a canadian. i am, and i used to live in vancouv vancouver. so it s like old home week for me. and a big night for you also. you know, i will cry. i m sure i ll cry. i want to remind the audience, you can catch the opening ceremony tonight at 7:30 eastern right here on nbc. and just ahead, a live concert from canada s only michael buble. but first, your local news. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am stan stovall. now that folks are back on the roadways, the backup. sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. we are seeing a lot of problems out there. at cold bottom and york road, there is an accident there. on the j.f.x., the accident on southbound 28 has been cleared and that is starting to filter out. we are up to 40 miles per hour now. the outer loop of the beltway just passed 295, a disabled vehicle in the right lane. jessup and brock bridge, with an accident there. another one at ritchie highway and route 450. it is very slick out there, even though theajor roadways for the most part are better than they were a couple days ago. we have snow removal happening. northbound 895, as you approach the harbor tunnel. it is causing a back up. backups on 895 approaching the harbor tunnel. no sign of the accident on westbound 70 at the beltway. but looking pretty good as far as delays in this area. you saw a lot of sunshine in the traffic cameras. that will be the forecast as we had through the afternoon. everybody gets a chance to take a break as we go for the next three or four days. it is called this morning, though. 20 and parkton, 23 and westminster. 24 in rockfall at the eastern shore. a couple clouds may be hanging around, especially north and west of town, and some flurries in western maryland. but for most of you, sunshine, with a high near 35. the seven-day forecast storm passes saw the bus on saturday a chance for snow flurries in the lower eastern shore. maybe some more snow during the beginning of next week. another update at 8:55. 8:30 now on this friday morning, february 12th, 2010. and our new friends on grouse mountain are already in fine olympic spirit, and the opening ceremony is not for another 11 hours or so. and one of the reasons they are so excited is because one of our favorite folks, canadian michael buble, is here to perform for them live in just a minute. i m meredith vieira along with matt lauer, al roker and ann curry. and just ahead, a skier s getting a lot of attention, american bode miller. bode miller is back. that s right. you remember his last olympic experience was probably not all it was high up to be, so, can he get his mountain mojo back here in vancouver? we re going to check that out in just a couple minutes. plus, the fact of the matter is we don t go anywhere without eating. we like to eat. we do. and we are going to be tasting some fantastic local fair and a visit from the chef. by the way, the folks from lululemon, kind of cool stuff. that s very cool. you like that? yeah, i m going to get michael buble to wear this during his performance. probably not. also ahead, did you ever wonder what it s like to compete by the way, the first olympic medals will be handed out tomorrow in things like the moguls. ever wonder what it s like to do that? you ve seen it on tape. well, patrick deneen, who is a competitor in the moguls, the freestyle, decided to give us a look at what it s like. take a look. when you re standing at the top of the mogul course and you see these huge jumps, you re skiing down, everything s happening so fast. when you come into that jump, you have to make a quick decision, are you going to do it or not? and the obvious answer is yeah, you re going to do it and you do your back flip and everything gets calm for that split second, and then you land and everything s hectic again, and you re going as fast as you can to get to the next air and you do the next trick and it s the same feeling. then you get all the way to the bottom and you finish your run and you re like, oh, all right. i ve got to go do another one of those. i think we should try it as a group. oh, be quiet. be quiet. come on, dmn. you re at the olympics! let s see you do it. i m with you, matt. i ll do it. he could do it! ann and i are going to try it. and we will be rooting for you at the bottom of the hill. we will guarantee we will make it to the bottom, one way or another. may not be pretty. no, exactly. you ve got a check of the weather, mr. roker? let s see what s happening for your weekend. we ve got more wet weather moving into the pacific northwest, that storm system in the south. that moves on out. watching another clipper come down as we move into sunday, sunday! we things are pretty quiet in the weather department today and will stay that way through most the weekend. mostly sunny is the forecast for it a couple of clubs, especially in the northern and western suburbs. and that s your latest weather. all right, mr. roker, when we come back, we re going to a little eating, as you mentioned, scallops and pork belly with daniel balut. then anybody want to hear music? want to hear music? we ve got michael buble performing inside. first, this is today on nbc. this morning on today s olympic kitchen, vancouver s food scene. whether you crave seafood, sushi or just about anything else, there s no shortage of great food here, and over the next two weeks we re going to explore it all, beginning with daniel balut, owner of two vancouver restaurants as well as daniel s back in new york. good morning to you. yes, meredith, how are you? you ve got several restaurants here in vancouver. what drew you to this city, was it the food? i guess it was the food, yes. the people of vancouver, i think they re really fantastic. they love food. and look, here we have a beautiful array of the seafood, the pacific seafood. let s start with the seafood and then go to something a little meatier. i m doing a sea scallop where i am just toasting the sea scallop. i put a little bit of oil here. okay. a little bit more. and i m just toasting the sea scallop. what is that that you re dusting it with polenta, a little bit of polenta. polenta, ah. the other side is seasoned as well. so, this is going to be roasting. and with that, we have also a little bit of cole slaw here. so, first i have a little bit of pure of parsnips, where we re going to put three little scallops, so that s parsnips? yes. that s the dish we do, and then i have a little bit of cole slaw here, like that. that looks delicious. we have a little parsley to go with that. we know scallops you can get here. what other kind of seafood is good to get in vancouver? look, we have about seven different kind of oysters from the bc area, and we have also, of course, indungeness crab crab. and the sea scallop as well. you cook that how long, daniel? a few second, i would say. then i have a little persipi st well with a little barbecue sauce right there, and then as the scallops are cooked, i ll put them right over like this. oh, this looks good, guys. so, you see, it s ten seconds like that. ten seconds. and of course, if you have time, i will put your little dumpling of apple. then we have really mountain cooking. mountain cooking is i m making here a sauerkraut. and actually, i have the chefs from a couple local bistros here, and of course, we created that dish together with the scallops. now, this is pork that you re doing. with stefan, we created the sauerkraut. so, this is pork. this is a little young pork from the region of alberta, and voila. so, you have a little rice, you have a little loin, you have a  little leg. we like a little leg. -of-got to have a little leg. absolutely. a little sausage, homemade sausage. oh, daniel, that looks fantastic. a little, also, part of the fillet. a little potatoes. now, this is your own creative take on a dish you might find here in bc, or not only that, but that s sort of bringing a little bit of french to bc. ah. so, here we have a little mustard sauce, and this is really mountain cuisine. i mean, this is really the spirit of the olympics, having a nice sauerkraut, a nice beer at the bistro, that s perfect, and go ahead. i have the chef here, actually. this is the chief at lemiere and stefan, the chef at db bistro. it s basically the spirit of lemiere and db bistro in the dish. combined. i don t think a lot of people appreciate the fact that vancouver is well known for its we re kind of settling into our temporary home here at grouse mountain and we ve got everything we need, spectacular scenery, an eagle-eye view of vancouver and plenty of room to spread out and have a little fun. over 4,000 feet at its peak with 212 acres of terrain, grouse mountain, just a short drive from downtown vancouver, is a  local treasure. you can talk to anyone in vancouver, they ve had an incredible moment on grouse mountain. and generations of people have come here to learn how to ski and to recreate. reporter: in fact, visitors have been coming to grouse for over 100 years. a hunting party came here in 1894. people lived up here during the depression as a place to get away from the city and the cost of living there. reporter: in the 1950s, grouse made history with the installation of the world s first double chair lift, confirming vancouver and grouse as a playground for the jet set. ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard the skyride. reporter: the iconic skyride opened in 1966. it carries over 100 passengers at a time over miles of alpine rainforest and remains the largest aerial tram of its kind in north america. today, grouse mountain is a year-round playground. one, two, three, woo! reporter: where visitors come to fly. that was awesome! reporter: hike. and ski miles high above vancouver. it s a great place to bring the kids. 20 minutes from your house and you re skiing. reporter: our own crew arrived weeks ago with the daunting task of bringing the today show to a live mountaintop location. logistics challenges are getting all that equipment, about 44,000 pounds of equipment, down in the parking lot, 3,700 feet below, up on a gondola that normally just carries people. reporter: including an early morning ride for our four generators, weighing in at 6,000 pounds apiece. with over 100 lights, 11 cameras and 100,000 feet of cable, this was no small undertaking. this is a special edition of today. this is a great location for the show. reporter: we came to grouse for the same reason people have been visiting this mountain for generations spectacular view of one of the world s premier cities, ready for the spotlight. over the years, we ve run out of superlatives for our technical crew. they have, once again, made the impossible look easy, and we thank them very much. and up next, a live performance from canada s only michael buble. but first, this is today on nbc. his fans followed him all the way up to a top of a mountain, grouse mountain, to hear him sing. so, ladies and gentlemen, michael buble! hello, everybody! georgia, georgia, the whole day through just an old sweet song keeps georgia on my mind on my mind i said that georgia, georgia, mm, a song for you, it comes as sweet and clear as that moonlight through the pines you know it does, baby, let s go georgia, reach out to me, oh, other eyes smile tender ly, stil in peaceful dreams i see the road leads back to you, oh, i, i said georgia, oh, georgia no peace i find, there s just an old sweet song that keeps georgia on my mind oh, just an old sweet song keeps georgia on my mind but i love you vancouver yeah! michael buble, thank you so much. there is more music in a moment. but first, this is today on nbc. gosh, how much does one guy want? michael buble has sold 22 million albums around the world. he just won a grammy award. he s extended his crazy love tour. and yesterday, here on home soil, he got to carry the olympic torch. how cool is that? michael, good to see you, pal. i m going to talk about the torch in just a second, but you are a canadian, born in burnaby, canada, british columbia. you re here at grouse mountain, here at grouse mountain on home soil, and you sing georgia ? what s going on here? i haven t written a song about vancouver yet. you have to get to that in time. i know i do. talk to me about the feeling of carrying that torch. i know there were something like 40,000, 50,000 people around you. i m always proud to be canadian, and it s the first thing i say everywhere. but tonight i got goose bumps because you guys made me proud to see all these people standing out there supporting us, and we were so patriotic and excited, and i ve heard nothing but good things about us welcoming all these different countries in with open arms, and it was i got goose bumps. i couldn t sleep last night. are you going to go to the opening ceremony? no, i m not. you re not? i m going to watch it on tv. well, that s a good way to watch it, with about 3 billion other people. totally. i ve got to study because i ve got to do i basically do journalism for a bunch of other countries where they re going to ask me questions, so so you re cramming tonight? i ve got to know what i m talking about. crazy love tour s extended. that album s been on the charts basically since it was released. -of-got to be thrilled about that. amazing. absolutely. how did you come up with that title, by the way? crazy love ? because it s crazy. love is crazy. how many of us get into relationships, 99% of the time they don t work out and end badly, probably, and we still end up falling in love a few months later, saying we ll never do it again, and you know, it makes us crazy, but when you find it, it s worth it. what are you going to sing now? i don t know. all i do is dream of you. thank gosh we have you here. ladies and gentlemen, michael buble. thanks, matt. all i do is dream of you, the whole night through, with the dawn i still go on dreaming of you you re every thought, you re everything, you re every song i ever sing summer, winter, autumn and spring, anever more than 24 hous in a day that will be spent in sweet content dreaming away when skies are gray, when skies are blue, more than moon and nighttime, too all i do the whole day through is dream of you that s it, kids. nice. nice. i like that. dee, dee, bop, dit, dit, dit, and whether more than 24 hours in a day oh, they d be spent in sweet content dreaming away, when skies are gray when skies are blue, in the morning, noon and nighttime, too all i do is dream of you the whole night and day through bop, bop, bop, bop, bop thanks, everybody. michael buble. from burnaby, british columbia. and you re going to give me a tour of vancouver next week. i m looking greatly forward to it. i am, too. have a great weekend. enjoy the opening ceremony. when we come back, we ll show you around this facility. but first, this is today on nbc. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am sarah caldwell. one person is dead after a two- alarm house fire in annapolis. the fire broke out just before 1:00 a.m. at 900 block of bay ridge avenue in the eastport neighborhood. fire crews found an unidentified man inside the house who was pronounced dead at the scene. it is unknown if the victim died from burns or smoke inhalation. more than 80 boats were damaged when the roof of a yacht club crashed in chesapeake city paid the price tag is unclear, but we re told some boats sunk and others released fuel into the water. now let s take a look to the forecast with tony pann. we are going to have a quiet weekend here. we are going to see plenty of sunshine. the temperatures will sneak above freezing. we will get a chance to melt a little bit of the snow. range of 32 to 37. in the mountains, a chance of snow showers and flurries in alallegany and garrett county. the 10 states, dry, with a high near 35. a decent chance for snow starting in the afternoon on monday and lasting into tuesday morning but early to say how much we look at that time. 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