Transcripts For WBAL Today 20100216 : vimarsana.com

look at this right here! good morning. mounting men. snowboarder seth wescott does it again, moving from fourth all the way up to first to win his second straight gold in snowboard cross. while in the downhill, bode miller races to bronze to become the most decorated american olympic skier in history. two fantastic finishes, two big interviews for us today, tuesday, february 16th, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and welcome to today on this tuesday morning. i m meredith vieira. and i m matt lauer. and if we re beaming a little bit more than normal this morning, it s because of two words seth wescott. man, we hitched our wagon to this guy s star a long time ago, and he has never disappointed us. last night he won his second straight gold medal in snowboard cross, and we are awfully proud of him. it was a spectacular race, just like he did in torino four years ago. seth actually trailed for much of the race, but then on one of the final turns, he whipped around the lead racer and cruised to victory. and this morning, he is here for an exclusive, live interview. and you know, we re going to run the race. we re just going to run the race. the whole thing. because it really didn t seem as if he could possibly win it. and we re going to take a look at that. plus, an exclusive interview with bode miller about that bronze medal that made him the winningest skier in u.s. history. and get this he was within 0.09 of a second of winning gold. that s how close that race was. he still has four more events here in vancouver, including today s super combined. let s look at the medal count. bode s bronze and seth s gold extended america s lead. the u.s. now in front with eight medals, two gold, two silver and four bronze. germany s in second with five. france and canada remain tied for third. and let s not forget the ladies. today it is the women s turn in snowboard cross. lindsey jacobellis will be gunning for gold. of course, everyone remembers what happened to her four years ago. she was leading when she pulled a celebratory trick and crashed. she opened up about that moment to jenna bush hager, who has made her way to grouse to share that story. and that s coming up. that s right. but all we can say is vancouver is never going to be the same, and that s because meredith grabbed natalie morales and kristi yamaguchi, and they went out for a night on the town. and, well, let s just say what happens in vancouver will not stay will not stay in vancouver. no, exactly. first of all, you used the term grabbed them, like they were very willing to go. very willing. you re a bad influence. oh, come on! all right, let s get to ann first. she has more on monday s incredibly close races featuring seth wescott and bode miller. ann, good morning to you. good morning to all of you. at the olympics, as you know here, tenths, even hundreds of a second can mean the difference between winning a gold medal and missing the podium altogether. you have to look no further than monday s men s downhill and snowboard cross races. this is for the medals. reporter: it s not how you start. it s how you finish. and as the race began, the defending olympic champion, seth wescott, was in fourth place. oh! nate holland goes down! reporter: but after a spill by his teammate halfway down the hill, wescott began to make his move. wescott hanging on. this is for the gold! reporter: in the end, the american had just enough to win his second consecutive olympic gold medal. on the ice, despite a few mistakes, a chinese pair won their country s first gold medal in figure skating. first place. i guarantee you that shen and zhao will go home with great joy about having done this, but they will also never forget the fact that those little mistakes that they made. reporter: meanwhile, a man who made some mistakes four years ago is back in the olympic spotlight. i feel like i m in a good state of mind right now. i m ready to push. reporter: on the downhill course, bode miller pushed hard. bode miller takes the lead. reporter: after his run, the 32-year-old seemed pleased with his performance. i expect a lot out of myself and i know i m going to push the limits. reporter: missing gold by 0.09 seconds, miller took the bronze, his third olympic medal in alpine skiing, the most ever by any american. for the women, lindsey vonn posted the fastest time in practice on the downhill but said her shin is still hurting. the course was so much more bumpy than i think anyone expected, and that kind of threw me for a loop. reporter: and, while lindsey vonn says she could use another day of rest, she feels ready to ski. her pain pales in comparison to those mourning the tragic death of a georgian luger. they gathered on monday for a private memorial. the 21-year-old s body is on its way back to his hometown in georgia. even amid the tragedy, as the games go on, the olympic spirit was on full display at the medals ceremony for the first canadian gold medal won on home soil. bode miller has another good chance at that medal today in the men s super combined, and a change to that event could work in his favor. here in vancouver, skiers take part in one downhill, and for the first time, just one slalom race instead of two. matt? all right, ann, thank you very much. we ll hear exclusively from bode in a moment, but right now, let s welcome in two-time let me say that again two-time gold medalist seth wescott. seth, good morning. good morning, matt. congratulations. how are you? it s been about 12 hours. how do you feel? i feel great. you know, i honestly it probably won t even settle in until i m on the medals podium tonight and actually get it, so you can hold it. but the racing was so much fun yesterday. it was an absolute blast. did it feel different to cross the finish line and win the gold this time than it did four years ago in torino? it did. it was a little more surreal, but the actual moments where i was passing mike and getting the passes done with tony ramoin from france, i got into the moment where all was quiet. i couldn t even hear the crowd at the bottom of the hill it with a magical moment. we split the race up into thirds, seth. and talk to me about this. and in particular, take note of where we freeze this race and where you were, all right? okay. what s going through your mind now? now, you know, i had a bad time trial, so i knew i was going to be coming from behind all day. it was tough, you know, tough working out of those outside start gates. so, in that early section, just trying to hang with it. you know, there was too major passing zones, the two straightaways, the straightaway between turns 4 and 5 and between 6 and 7. so, at this point, you re just trying to stay in the hunt and carry momentum to get down to that lower part. all right, i m a novice here, not an expert. at this time, you re lost. you are not winning this race. i m way out the back right now, yeah. okay. you were in last place there and we re all thinking it s called patience. you know, it was fun when he won the first time and we ll congratulate him anyway. look at this freeze. yeah. that s where you are after the top third of the race. yeah. okay, let s pick it up now. at this point, do you think you still had a chance to win? yeah. you know, i was hanging in there. i knew i had some really good sections lower down. what happened to nate holland there? he spun out? he got a little front-footed there. we would call that being an east coaster. front-footers, learning to be on ice, you re always pressuring the first. and nate being from idaho shouldn t have been doing an east coaster there. now there you make a pass. now you re in second. yep. so, now getting over this double-double is the trick here and then setting up this turn 6 here is the whole key to sling-shotting yourself through the last straightaway. you re still pretty far behind, demand snowboard cross, that s a big lead right there. that s a huge lead by robertson at that point. let s pick it up. after one jump, he starts the jump way behind, he lands the jump right next. yeah. this is basically linking four transitions better than robertson. there. now you ve got him. yep. and now you re just hanging on for dear life? now i m hanging on for dear life, almost going down right there, and you look look how close this is at the end. i look back right there. he was completely in my blind spot. i had no idea he was still with me. guess what, he was still with you. he was still with me. and you hug some people at the bottom, and shortly after this, you drape yourself in an american flag. it s not just any flag. you have it here. tell me about that. i have it here. my grandfather was a trainer in the service in the army. he was a he trained the troops before going over to world war ii and this is his service flag from world war ii. i had it with me in torino. it sat in my house the entire four years in between. i unpacked it monday and brought it over here with me, and it s got all the meaning in the world to me. i mean, this is my dad s side of the family, you know? it means the world to me, and to yesterday, when we were headed up on the bus yesterday morning, lindsey zine, our press agency, it was still packed in the triangle formation of being in the case. and i was like, hey, sit on the bus with me. i ve got something i need you to hold for me. so, she sat down and was like, what do you need? i m going to be on the finish line all day. so, i handed it to her and she knew about it, knew the story behind it. and you could kind of see the look in her eyes, i think, when i gave it to her. i was like, i m going to need this in four runs, so you have to have this at the finish line for me. you certainly did. hey, seth wescott, congratulations. i want a hug. right on. you deserve it, man. you really do. we re awfully proud of you. we ll talk to you more later on. let s get a check of the rest of the morning s top stories. amy robach s back in new york. amy, good morning to you. matt, good morning to you. good morning, everyone. we begin with breaking news, a big victory in the battle against the taliban. one of its top commanders is in custody. nbc s jim miklaszewski is at the pentagon. what can you tell us? reporter: good morning, amy. he s not exactly a household name, but this is a big deal. he s mullah abdul baradar, the top taliban military commander, and as number two in the taliban, essentially ran all their operations. baradar was captured in karachi last week in a joint operation with pakistani intelligence and the cia. and the pakistanis and cia continue to intensely interrogate baradar today in an effort to try to find out if he can lead them to other taliban commanders. and the timing couldn t be better. he was grabbed just as the united states and afghan forces launched a major offensive against the taliban in southern afghanistan, and his capture could deal a crippling blow to the taliban s ability to fight. it s also encouraging in that this shows a renewed level of cooperation between pakistan and the united states in going after the taliban and other insurgents inside pakistan. amy. jim miklaszewski at the pentagon. thank you so much, mik. today, rescuers in washington state hope to reach a climber who fell into the crater of mount st. helens when a mass of snow he was knanding on collapsed, plunging him 1,500 feet into the crater. high winds forced them to suspend the rescue effort on monday. investigators are trying to find out what caused a deadly plane crash monday in new jersey. all five people on the plane were killed when it broke apart as the pilot was trying to land. well, police in richmond, california, say they do have leads as they look for three suspects who opened fire in church on sunday and disturbing video has surfaced showing the church choir ducking for cover when the shooting began. two teenage brothers were wounded and treated for nonlife-threatening injuries. yesterday in a story about vice president biden and former vice president cheney s appearances on the sunday news programs, nbc news included mr. biden s statement we re pursuing that war with a vigor like it s never been seen before in a way that suggested he was talking about iraq. he was actually referring to the war against al qaeda and we apologize for any confusion. well, people in parts of the midwest are digging out from up to a foot of snow that fell monday. it snarled traffic and caused dozens of accidents. and a massive landslide in southern italy monday forced residents to run for their lives. the landslide, caught on tape. it s believed heavy rains were to blame. and as bad as it looked, amazingly, there were no reports of serious injuries. it is coming up on 7:13. let s head now back to meredith, matt and ann and al, all in vancouver. hi, guys. first we had that massive wave yesterday and today that mud slide? earth s moving. it s crazy stuff. good morning. there is still some snow showers and flow is going on this morning. a few of you in some other neighborhoods might be getting a little coaching. some light snow to start the day. and meredith, i just found out it s nova scotia day here at the olympics, so, there you go. meredith? where those colors with pride, al. all right, thank you, al. much more on the winter games in a moment, but now to a surprise announcement from indiana democratic senator evan bayh. on monday, he said he does not love congress and will not seek re-election. nbc s chief white house correspondent and political director chuck todd has the latest. chuck, good morning to you. reporter: well, good morning, meredith. look, evan bayh said he will not run for re-election, not because he was going to lose, though he would have had to work harder than he s used to, but because he doesn t have the stomach for how congress operates, echoing a theme we re hearing more this year and spelling possible troubles for democrats in november. i do not love congress. reporter: shocking words from a two-term senator who had been considered twice as a possible vice presidential candidate and who was practically raised in the institution, the son of former indiana senator birch bayh. after all of these years, my passion for service to our fellow citizens is undiminished, but my desire to do so by serving in congress has waned. reporter: his reasons? something heard more and more about washington these days. there is much too much partisanship and not enough progress, too much narrow ideology and not enough practical problem-solving. reporter: bayh had become increasingly vocal, airing his frustration about washington gridlock at a recent meeting with the president. and are we willing to make some of the tough decisions to actually head this country in a better direction? reporter: the president has also frequently bemoaned the lack of bipartisanship in the nation s capital this year, addressing it with house republicans. this is part of what s happening in our politics, where we demonize the other side so much that when it comes to actually getting things done, it becomes tough to do. reporter: members of both parties are frustrated. like bayh, retiring republican senator george voinovich of ohio complained bitterly about the senate s failure to establish a bipartisan commission to reduce the deficit. on too many occasions, congress has been unwilling to experience short-term pain to achieve long-term gain. one man, one woman, they can t so much make a difference anymore because the institution is dysfunctional. reporter: this year, five democratic and six republican senators are retiring, but for democrats, the bayh retirement is especially damaging because it could flip as many as eight democratic seats to the republican side, leaving the gop just two seats short of the majority. this is an election that s about democrats, and right now, people are throwing up their hands with democrats just as they did four years ago with republicans. reporter: now, bayh left democrats in indiana in a bit of a lurch. it s just three days to go before the state s filing deadline. republicans have their pick, former senator dan coates is their likely nominee. at this point, the party is hoping nobody files so they can name their nominee in a special party vote in washington. quite a few senate democrats are upset and one senate democrat read bayh s statement and lamented to me boy, when the going got tough, bayh just left. meredith? chuck todd, thank you very much. now once again, here s matt. meredith, thank you. now back to the winter games and monday s historic bronze medal for skier bode miller in the men s downhill, his third olympic medal overall and the first since the 2002 games in salt lake city. nbc s peter alexander caught up with bode exclusively late last night. peter, good morning to you. reporter: matt, good morning to you from what this morning is a very snowy whistler. last night we spoke to bode miller. he did win a bronze medal, and the performance there made him the most decorated american alpine skier in u.s. history. but the question this morning remains, can he win back the hearts of american fans or does he even care? down to the final jump for bode miller to the finish line. crowd coming alive here. that s a look of satisfaction on the face of bode miller. reporter: that look of satisfaction was one olympic fans had been hoping for. bode miller back on the olympic medals stand after an eight-year absence, winning bronze in the men s downhill. today you became the winningest american skier in u.s. history. what does it mean to you to make history? today is about more of a feeling medal for me it was good for the team. it was good for the country. and for me personally, i was excited about the way i skied, but i could have been fourth just as easy and i think i would have felt just as good. reporter: feeling good and clearly showing no interest in reliving his disastrous performance four years ago in torino, miller nearly retired last summer. one medal here, four races to go. is this why you came back? i mean, certainly not for the medals. i mean, i ve won medals before, and you know, the reason i felt good about the medals i had won is because of the fashion in which i won them. reporter: something else he s won, criticism about his hard-partying ways. at the end of his medalless 2006 games, miller notoriously said at least he was able to achieve olympic-level partying. how do you celebrate this? you don t, really. i mean, you do 97,000 interviews and then do a press conference, an awards ceremony and eat some dinner and pass out. reporter: do it all again tomorrow. because we have to race tomorrow. but normally, the celebration s where you get in trouble. everyone thinks you re supposed to go out there and do it for them and they re supposed to get to celebrate. you know, i can guarantee you a bunch of my friends are going to be out partying getting drunk tonight and having a good time, and if i do it, i m a bad kid. so, i ve seen that side of the coin plenty of times. reporter: how would you define success at these olympics? i think success is different, you know, in each venue, but at the olympics, i think success is providing performances that give people something to think about, some inspiration, give people the chills, you know, that make people stand up and cheer, whether you re from their country or not. i think that s the important stuff at the olympics. reporter: at the age of 32, a lot of people around here are saying that bode miller may finally have grown up, but when asked if he plans to sample the nightlife in whistler during these games, he said the olympics have just started. give me time. he doesn t have a lot of time to play with. his next event is today, the men s super combined. peter alexander up at whistler this morning. you can say a lot of things about bode miller, but he is his own person. very much so, yeah. no question. he s not politically correct and doesn t say what he s perhaps supposed to say in interviews, but he s always interesting. always interesting. no question. all right, we ve got a lot ahead, including meredith hitting the ice, and we do not mean it literally this time, with figure skater evan lysacek, as he gets set to begin his quest for gold tonight. and a lot more coming up here from grouse mountain. first, this is today on nbc. just ahead, can snowboarder lindsey jacobellis rebound from the mistake that cost her gold in torino? jenna bush hager catches up with her. plus, ladies hit the town in vancouver. i m not going to tell you what happened, but a lot went down. first, a check of your local news and weather. i had chronic muscle pain all over. and i was so tender to the touch but i didn t know why. my doctor diagnosed it as fibromyalgia. and then he recommended lyrica. fibromyalgia is thought to be the result of over-active nerves that cause chronic, widespread pain. lyrica is fda-approved to help relieve the unique pain of fibromyalgia. so now, i m learning what a day is like with less pain. lyrica is not for everyone. tell your doctor about any serious allergic reaction that causes swelling or affects breathing or skin, or changes in eyesight including blurry vision or muscle pain with fever or tired feeling. lyrica may cause suicidal thoughts or actions in a very small number of people. some of the most common side effects of lyrica are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs, and feet. do not drink alcohol while taking lyrica. you should not drive or operate machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. could your pain be caused by fibromyalgia? ask your doctor about lyrica today. [ children shouting ] come on, kiddo, let s go. [ laughs ] hold on a second. hop up, i want you to come up here closer to me. [ children shouting ] [ birds chirping ] wow. did i ever tell you what it was like growing up with four sisters? that sounds fun. yeah.fun for them! [ male announcer ] chevy traverse. a consumers digest best buy, with 100,000-mile, powertrain warranty. it seats eight comfortably not that it always has to. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am stan stovall. time to get a check on the morning commute. the volume this morning as a hotter than i ve seen it in over a week. a lot of volume out there, and we have icy spots on the major roadways, accidents all around. southbound 95 approaching the beltway southwest, of lane is closed. mlk in the outbound direction, another accident coming into us. heavy delays i-95 out of the white marsh area. have not seen those in a while. northeast outer loop on the west side. no. i-70, this crash involving an overturned vehicle is gone. we have one on southbound 32 at burnwood road. from 805 down to 695 on the southbound there, accident. travel on the outer loop west side, 26-minute ride on that stretch. 60 minutes on the north side on the 83 s towards 795. a left lane closed, southbound 95 approaching the ball twice out west. you can see a lot of the slow going in that approaching the beltway as southwest read you can see a lot of slow going in that area. normal volume-related delays on the west side of the body. definitely going to need extra time this morning. be careful. in addition to the fund on the roads, with light snow falling this morning. nothing of any consequence, but still, light snow on hd doppler on the beltway through harford county towards annapolis. it is moving to the east at a pretty good clip. a mixture of clouds and sunshine for the rest of the day with a high near 35. our next live update coming your way in 25 minutes. 7:30 now on a tuesday morning. it s the 16th day of february 2010. as we hear from some of our new friends inside our chalet here at grouse mountain, our home away from home for the vancouver winter games. now we re inside again, because if you take a look outside, you will notice that it is pouring out there. it s going to get heavier. it s going to get heavy, really, before? oh, yeah, that s the stadium there. they say it should clear up later today, though. but the fire pit s not do too well. this is not the fire pit s favorite day, no question about it. so, we re staying inside. i m matt lauer alongside meredith vieira, al roker and ann curry. i guess if it weren t raining so hard, we would be at the skating rink. we would be, because the chinese won silver and gold in the pairs event. and this morning, singles gets under way. evan lysacek is the world champ and he wants to bring home america s first gold in 22 years. i caught up with him for a skate and to talk about how he s feeling, and we re going to hear from him in a moment. also ahead, remember four years ago, lindsey jacobellis was seconds away from winning a gold medal when her own mistake cost her the snowboard cross final. well, does she have any regrets as she prepares to race again here today? our contributing correspondent jenna bush hager caught up with her, and jenna has made her way to vancouver to share her story, just ahead. plus, all work and no play? not our motto around here, right? no. not us at all. coming up, the cameras rolled as i hit the town with natalie and kristi yamaguchi, the hoochie, and against my better judgment, i ll tell you what happened i ve got to tell it like it is, baby. i am here. i am an honest journalist you re throwing your teammates under the bus? no, kristi was the one who planned this whole thing. see what we deal with, kristi, every day. kristi was the one who planned this evening out. that s all i m saying. the hoochie! i didn t say she was the only hoochie. i said she was you re the only one who called her out. anyway, i m moving on, moving on. let s begin with my spin on the ice with american figure skater and reigning world champ, evan lysacek. figure skaters need to be athletic. double axle! reporter: and artistic. the passion in his skating sequence down the center of the ice. this crowd is going to erupt. reporter: evan lysacek has mastered both. so, when he offered to me me for a spin on the ice at chelsea piers, i was in. evan will skate his short program to extra vein ski s fire bird. he told me before the skating begins, he s got an agenda. once you get in your pose, you want to find one spot and just give them a stare. it s almost intimidating, yeah. all right, give the camera a stare-down. do i intimidate you on the ice? a little bit, yeah. all right, let me go. all right, give me. maybe you would be like a better ice dancer and then we can start together and i can just hold you up. i like this. i m very secure this way. when evan s music starts, a very elegant bird takes flight. he makes it look so effortless. you have to also get your bird wings like ready okay. because they re going to have to flap. reporter: it s fascinating to hear evan describe the story behind his music. the firebird has these powers, and there s like some evil sorcerer, and the prince says he s going to protect the firebird and give her her freedom if she gives him the secret to break the sorcerer s spell. try to just embody the character of that magic and the power. reporter: watching him perform to it in person took my breath away. and now it s a celebration and all the spells have been broken and everyone s rejoicing and the bird is flying. reporter: i m not sure the feeling was mutual. she s embracing the character. i am. i m a bird. reporter: for evan, a strong ending is key. i like to end with something triumphant and happy. but you can t like at the end go yes! we always end like this. reporter: even evan s ending pose has great significance. victorious, because the sorcerer, like, puts spells on all these people and they turn into gargoyles, and then when the spell s broken, they break out of their thing and they re oh. reporter: fans used to shower skaters with flowers, but that s not allowed anymore. they ve eliminated flowers and now they allow stuffed animals to be thrown. oh. so, it s like when they throw them at you, it s kind of what it feels like. you have to dog them little bit. oh, it s one of the mascots. did we win? then we have to bow and show our respect for the judges. evan lysacek. and the crowd. so, we pick these guys up some. the flower girls will get them. that was obviously payback for what i said about kristi, so no, no, no, no. don t humor me. do not humor me. stop. stop. this is about evan lysacek. can he win gold? kristi yamaguchi, our special correspondent for the vancouver games won the gold in 1992. that was the same year that paul wylie took the silver, now an nbc universal sports analyst. good morning to you both. good morning. good morning. men s competition starts tonight. everybody is very, very excited. short program starts tonight and finishes up on thursday. does he have a strong chance, lysacek, to take this gold? he is the world champ right now. absolutely. in the practices, he has really been skating well. he s the one who s gone through everything in his programs, doing the triple axle each time. a lot of energy, terrific poise here at the games already, and he can really deliver the jumps in the short, for sure. but you can t rule out jeremy abbott from the usa, can you? oh, absolutely not. obviously, jeremy s coming in as the u.s. national champion, and he s had a strong season. he s been building up to these olympic games, and you know, i think he s under the radar, but people have got to take notice, because he absolutely has potential. and then there is the very outspoken johnny weir, but he is a master on the ice. yeah, so far, he s walked through a lot of his elements in the practices. so, the big question mark. he did try a quad yesterday in practice. we won t see it in the short program, but you know, great style from him, and he ll be doing a triple axle and triple why has he walked through that in the practice? is he going to save himself? i think so. i thought he would have been running through his short at least a couple days ago, but he s chosen to just let the music play. he wants to leave the impression of great footwork and spins in the judges minds who are watching. meanwhile, he s back! evgeni plu sche evgeni plushenko. he decided to come out of retirement. and he s made a splash in the skating world. his jumps are as solid and consistent as ever. he s stronger. his coach says he s really matured and is a different skater than he was back in 2006. so, i guess we have to wait and see. let s talk for a second about patrick chan, 19 years old, canada s hometown hero. world s silver medalist, but is he tough enough to win the gold? well, he has a great triple axle this lady goes, yes! there s a lot riding on his shoulders here. he is great in the component mark, the spins, the footwork is amazing that he does, but he doesn t have the quad in the long program, and so, that could be a weakness. all these guys have weaknesses and all of them have strengths, and chan is just amazing the way that he covers the ice and interprets the music. let s talk for a minute about the pairs competition, finished up last night. gold and silver went to the chinese. oh, i mean, this is a changing of the guard. it s the first time in 12 olympics that a russian or soviet hasn t been on the top of the podium for the pairs. but fantastic performance. a little bit of a slip-up on the lift. that was really their own this is shen and zhao right now. shen and zhao, the eventual winners of the gold medal. but every other element in the program, fantastic. she is just enjoying herself on the ice. you can tell that the audience really connected with her performance. and this was the one medal that they wanted, the one medal that had eluded them forever, right? four olympics, and just an incredible story, 17 years together and married, and so, it s just a great story how they came back from all that. but pang and tong delivered a solid performance as well, and it was just good to see them do that. they had really been striving for many years, living in the shadow of shen and zhao, and they just skated a clean program and really grabbed the silver medal and won the free skate last night. so, they hadn t had the deficit in the short program, they would have won it all. and of course, the germans came up third and won the bronze medal. we didn t do so bad, the americans as well. the americans did great. amanda evora and mark ladwig skated a fantastic program, as well as they could skate and end add up in tenth place, and hopefully people to watch in the future. absolutely to watch in the future. kristi and paul, thank you very much. and we ll throw it over to al. thanks a lot, meredith. as we show you what s happening temperaturewise across the country, wow, things awfully on the chilly side in the southeast. look at these temperatures, 15 to 20 degrees below normal for miami, atlanta, parts of the panhandle of florida. out west, temperatures three to nine degrees above normal. 80s and 70s in the southwest, teens and 20s in the plains, 30s in the pacific i should say, in new england. 50s in the pacific northwest with a lot of rain in the pacific northwest. > the rest of the clipper system has to come through today, so there is still a chance of the snow showers and flurries and some of you might flurries and some of you might get a and that s your latest weather. if you want to keep tabs on your weather all day long, check out the weather channel on cable or weather.com online. meredith? al, thank you. and up next, the lasting legacy of the miracle on ice. why it means just as much today as it did 30 years ago. so good inside oh, and when i double up on my lovin you re gonna be satisfied now you can double your extracare rewards. for a limited time, you can earn double bucks on prescriptions and on cvs/pharmacy brand items. gonna double your lovin , double your fun you get two for the price of one double bucks means double savings! sign up for double bucks today, only at cvs/pharmacy. well, the tiguan s great. mm. and the routan has everything we re looking for. plus, every volkswagen includes no-charge, scheduled, care-free maintenance. so, what s this punchdub days about? you know, where you punch someone in the arm every time you see a volkswagen. red one! 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(announcer) bertolli oven bake meals, like lasagna rustica, restaurant taste with your homemade touch. bertolli oven bake meals. a day on the days that you have arthritis pain, you could end up taking 4 times the number. of pills compared to aleve. choose aleve and you could start taking fewer pills. just 2 aleve have the strength. to relieve arthritis pain all day. isn t this how fiber should taste? eating well has never been so craveable. with quaker wild blueberry flavored multigrain fiber crisps. isn t this how whole grains should taste? eating well has never been so craveable with quaker caramel baked rice snacks. we told you it s pouring here at grouse mountain in vancouver. we ve got some hardy souls out on the skating rink this morning, having fun no matter what. speaking of skating, the u.s. men s hockey team begins play today against switzerland. of course, you can rarely mention team usa without talking about 1980 and the miracle on ice. nbc s tom brokaw is here to talk more about that. tom, good morning to you. matt, u actui actually kayak the mountain this morning. of course, one of the men who put american hockey in the history books, tragically, won t be here. herb brooks, who was the miracle on ice coach, was killed in a car accident about a year after the salt lake city games. however, his legacy does live on through his family and a hockey foundation in minneapolis. he shoots, he scores! and the united states he scores! reporter: it wasn t just a great hockey game. america s triumph over the seemingly unbeatable soviets came to symbolize so much more. five seconds left and the game s over. do you believe in miracles? yes! unbelievable. reporter: 30 years later, it remains a thrilling moment. no words necessary, just pictures. reporter: a squad of young hockey players and their inspirational coach lifted america s spirits at just the right time. things weren t going very well, obviously. hostages held in iran, crime rate was near 20%. people were burning flags, and then all of a sudden they re waving flags. reporter: the architect of the miracle on ice was coach herb brooks. he ll always be identified with the 1980 s miracle on ice. is that the most special time in your life in hockey? for me, thaewd be probably the measuring moment in my life, yeah. reporter: dan brooks was 12 years old when his dad led the u.s. team to victory in lake placid. how did your life change after miracle on ice ? you re now forever linked to one of the great olympic heroes in all american history. yeah, yeah. it definitely our life turned upside down after 1980, and you know, to this day, first thing people say is i remember exactly where i was when that took place. i don t think there s too many events in our american history that people can say that. reporter: yeah, it s the kennedy assassination, for example, the martin luther king assassination 9/11. 9/11 and miracle on ice. this is not a sporting event. this is really a piece of american history. boys, they just put the best goaltender in the world on the bench. reporter: the story was introduced to a whole new generation in 2004 with the popular film miracle. with the original victory and now the film, coach herb brooks achieved a kind of sports immortality in american lure. you were meant to be here. this moment is yours. reporter: mike eruzkione, who scored the winning goal that day, says herb brooks knew how to get the best out of every play. the analogy i like to use, he was like your dad. you love your dad, but sometimes you hate your dad because he makes you do things you don t want to do. that was herb. reporter: in 2003, brooks died in a one-car accident returning from a charity event. his family created the herb brooks foundation in blaine, minnesota, to preserve his legacy and cultivate world-class hockey players. teams train at the facilities, players push the limits, inner city kids are bussed each week to hockey camp. but perhaps brooks greatest legacy, his five grandkids, all on ice skates, all in love with hockey. this is a whole new generation coming up. that s right. reporter: there will be an unbroken string of hockey players in the family. how many days a week do you skate? every day? one or two we skate quite a bit. reporter: and they took no mercy on the clumsy, old guy in the net. off my skates. you re too good for me. blocked one, lost three. i think they re going to retire me. reporter: the brooks legend is passed to a new generation, where it seems secure for a long, long time. herb brooks would not live to see the 30th anniversary of team usa s victory, but his triumph will never die. i challenge anybody who was alive at that time, when they hear al michaels say that, do you believe in miracles? do you believe in miracles? yes! if they don t get chills hearing that 30 years later, i don t know, they re not alive inside. there are a pair of identical twin grandsons of herb brooks, 8 years old who were out on the ice with me. they have herb brooks as one grandfather, another grandfather who played for the pittsburgh penguins and another great grandfather who played for the new york rangers, and i think they were drafted since the day th they were born to play in the nhl. where were you, by the way, when the u.s. team beat the soevts? well, i was watching and i didn t know about herb brooks or hockey. i later discovered, part of the reason i was eager to go do this, was that he was married to a high school classmate of mine, and it s been kind of a family affair ever since. so, it s been great. i was in my living room in charleston, west virginia. you ll never forget it, right? never, ever. well, we re happy to get you out of charleston, west virginia. it was a nice place. oh, a great place. write your letters to tom brokaw. still ahead, lindsey jacobellis teaches jenna bush hager how to snowboard. we ll show you how that went. yeah, i got to go. 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( sneezing ) i didn t take zicam cold remedy. but i did. can you do it by 3:00 ? yes, i can how about 2:00 ? hmm. get over your cold faster. a little encouragement changes everything. molly es muy muy intelligente. and right now, hallmark s got a whole new way to do it. new gifts and cards to cheer on kids of all ages. come in and pick up a free card today. nine to choose from. only at your hallmark gold crown store. announcer: today s olympic moment is brought to you by coca-cola. this morning on today s olympic moment, you can probably guess it, the comeback kid, seth wescott. defending olympic snowboard cross gold medalist seth wescott came into vancouver not racing well and all banged up. six weeks ago, he couldn t even walk. somehow, wescott made it to the finals here, and in the race, he found himself at the back of the pack. seth wescott in fourth place position right now, currently out of the medals. reporter: with time running out, wescott was so far behind, all hope seemed lost, but then he made his move. look who is gaining ground. reporter: amazingly, he took the lead. look at this right here! wescott in black making an air pass around robertson in red! reporter: at the end, a dash for the finish line. wescott hanging on. this is for the gold. can he do it? and wescott does it! back to back. he digs deep and grabs double gold. reporter: the american flag wescott waved into the air was given to his family in honor of his late grandfather, a world war ii veteran. a stirring reminder of his love for family and country. wow. we couldn t be happier. seth s going to be back in the next half hour, i guess, along with nate holland, exactly right. nate holland, who did not do he finished fourth. but nate holland is the x games champ. whoa. okay, that s good. [ female announcer ] at the end of the day, a bowl of rice krispies. what do you hear? i hear. pop. i think it s saying, night night. [ female announcer ] .sounds pretty good. all done. good job. mustache. [ female announcer ] childhood is calling. there s a movement afoot in this country. a student-led revolution. people like me think it s time higher education was held to a higher standard. because it s time traditn no longer stood in the way of getting an education. people like me demand a different kind of university. one that puts my talent first. on-line. on campus. on my terms. it time a university recognized people like me. people like me. people like me. there s a big reason to lower high cholesterol. dangerous plaque that can build up in arteries. it s called atherosclerosis or athero. and high cholesterol is a major factor. but crestor can help slow the buildup of plaque in arteries. go to arterytour.com and take an interactive tour to learn how plaque builds up. and then ask your doctor if crestor is right for you. along with diet, crestor does more than lower bad cholesterol and raise good. crestor is proven to slow the buildup of plaque in arteries. crestor isn t for everyone, like people with liver disease, or women who are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant. simple blood tests will check for liver problems. you should tell your doctor about other medicines you re taking or if you have muscle pain or weakness. that could be a sign of serious side effects. learn more about plaque buildup at arterytour.com. then ask your doctor if it s time for crestor. if you can t afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. live, local, latebreaking. this is all the dlc the 11 news today in baltimore. wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i m stan stovall. i remember how russia were used to look at a week ago? we have at several remember how rush hour used to look at a week ago could we have had several accidents. some lingering delays here. watch for an accident and have a go of it. southbound 95 out of the white marsh area. 25 on the northeast outer loop making your way towards providence, 19 just south of the beltway, and accident at towsontown boulevard credit to a person. towsontown blvd. right at jefferson. 27 minutes is your drive time on the outer loop northeast side. 24 on the west side outer loop. 10 minutes on southbound 95 from the fort mchenry tolls down to the beltway southwest. things are starting to filter out. we will give you a live view in the area, where things are at least moving again. add a few minutes to your commute there. looking like a typical rush hour on the west side of the body west side of liberty. we are picking up light snow showers and flurries on hd doppler. mosely on the eastern suburbs. still a few snow flurries around baltimore and the northern part of baltimore county. we will put a 40% chance of snow showers in the forecast. some of you might get a little cutting and your neighborhood. our next live 8:00 now on this tuesday morning, the 16th of february 2010. you re looking at vancouver, and we re going to show you the olympic flame. there it is, burning brightly outside the international broadcast center in downtown vancouver. day five of the xxi olympic winter games. we have another bright and cheery crowd with us here at grouse mountain. i m meredith vieira along with matt, al and ann. who here watched alex bilodeau s medals ceremony last night? anybody watch? did you guys watch it? i missed it, no. i happened to see it on tv. very emotional moment all across canada as the moguls skier received the first gold medal ever won by a canadian on home soil. we ll have more that in a moment it was very, very emotional. plus, we re going to ask an important question, which is, can lindsey jacobellis win gold today in the women s snowboard cross? you know, she took silver, as you all probably remember, four years ago, after she famously wiped out after showboating near the finish line. well, has she gotten over that crash? and better yet, can she teach jenna bush hager how to snowboard like an olympian? we re going to find out in just a moment. and here s another very important question will the city of vancouver ever recover after meredith, natalie and kristi yamaguchi did a little celebrating in vancouver? no! oh, yeah, bust a move. they had a lot of fun, and some of it we can t show you, but oh, look it like that. fun. woo! oh! yamaguchi showing her wheels! yeah! all right. but first, my partner in crime, natalie has a roundup of all the olympic action. good morning, natalie. good morning, meredith. well, this week got off to an exciting start with china making history on the ice and american skier bode miller making history on the snow, but this morning everyone is talking about seth wescott s amazing come-from-behind victory in the snowboard cross. wescott way out back. reporter: how do you go from fourth look who is gaining ground! reporter: to first in less than two minutes? this is for the gold can he do it? and wescott does it! reporter: just ask american seth wescott, who took the gold in men s snowboard cross on monday, defending the title he claimed four years ago in torino. the good thing about this course, you had two straightaways kind of in the later two-thirds of the course that gave me passing opportunities. tim, i think bode has come into this season with a different resolve. reporter: elsewhere on the slopes, american bode miller turned the disappointment of torino into a surprising bronze medal win in the men s downhill. that s a look of satisfaction on the face of bode miller. feels good about that run. you know, once i started going, i felt pretty good. i felt solid and i skied really well on the top. reporter: and on the ice, the night belonged to the chinese. pang and tong delivering an impressive performance that pushed them from fourth place to the medals stand, where they took the silver. the leaders going into the free skate, shen and zhao, despite a few errors, still managed to win the gold. the first figure skating olympic gold medal ever won by the chinese with a silver to go along with it. and still reveling in the historic win for himself and his count country, canadian moguls skiing alexandre bilodeau especially accepted the gold medal as the home crowd sang their national anthem for the first time at an olympics on home soil. australia s dale begg-smith did his country proud as well, accepting the silver, while bryon wilson was seeing red, white and blue with his bronze medal win for team usa. and headlining today s competition, the men s figure skating short program, featuring evan lysacek and johnny weir, and the women s snowboard cross with medal hopeful lindsey jacobellis. but meredith, we should point out, conditions are going to be pretty tough out there at cypress today, because they re experiencing the rain like we are. yeah, it s a mess right now. natalie, thank you very much. hopefully, it will clear out soon. let s get a check of the morning s top stories. let s go back to new york for that and amy robach standing by at the news desk. good morning, again. good morning, everyone. u.s. officials confirm the capture of the taliban s top military commander in pakistan. they say mullah baradar was arrested in karachi about ten days ago. he s said to be talking with interrogators. and one day after he stunned fellow democrats by saying he will not seek another term, indiana senator evan bayh says he can do more for the nation and his state by trying to create jobs in the private sector. this morning he told meredith right now congress is stuck and is not getting enough done for the american people. we ve got a lot of good people in congress trapped in a dysfunctional system. we need to start changing the rules here that will bring out the best in people rather than the worst. we ve got some ideologues, you know. the public needs to vote them out. we ve got some people who pursue narrow political interests at the detriment of the country. they need to be voted out. but the large majority are good people who are working under rules that don t allow them to go forward. that needs to change. as for any future political plans, bayh said he ll never say never, but he said he s looking forward to being a private citizen. well, the husband of a university of alabama huntsville professor accused of fatally shooting three colleagues says he saw nothing unusual in amy bishop s behavior, even though they had recently gone to a shooting range and he did not know where she got that gun. bishop remains jailed pending a court date next month. and another storm could bring up to nine more inches of snow to new england today, up to a foot of snow monday in the midwest tied up traffic and caused dozens of accidents that did result in some minor injuries. it is now coming on 8:06. back to matt, meredith, ann and al in vancouver. too bad you all can t get any of that snow. maybe in our future. rub it in. amy, thank you very much. what is our future weatherwise? well, let s go to the radar right now. we ve got the vancouver radar to show you, and it doesn t look that good. oh! goodnight, everybody! drive safely. don t forget oh, people are booing. wait a minute. i m just showing you the radar! i didn t make it! wow! is that rain or is that some sort of psychedelic thing? no, that s rain. no. the crowd has become a mob! anyway, we ve got the forecast for you. whistler olympic park. they ve got snow. that s the good news. temperatures in the 30s and 20s. grouse mountain, though, periods of heavy rain, 39. more of that tonight. and again, for cypress, they re going to be looking at more rain as well, unfortunately. again, not my fault. we ve got a lot of snow in the northeast as a low pressure system pulls out. you can see the snow showers, as amy mentioned, up to nine inches in parts of new england. gulf coast looks pretty good, but temperatures fairly chilly throughout the southeast. mention florida. maybe you ll get a cheer for that. yeah, only in the 50s in florida. there you go. not much. nothing. that was bad. thanks for that help. there is still a chance we could see snow showers and flurries during the day today. some of you might get a little coating of snow out of this breed but only a 40% hey, arizona looks good. all right! strong. always get a cheer. we re halfway through the 50 states. way to go. up next, snowboarder lindsey jacobellis hits the slopes with jenna bush hager. show you what happened right after this. what s our favorite part of honey bunches of oats? 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[ female announcer ] oscar mayer deli fresh meats. sliced, packed and sealed at the peak of freshness, they re impossible to resist. ah, you gonna eat all that? it doesn t get better than this i love you. announcer: today s athlete to watch is brought to you by p&g, proud sponsor of moms. this morning in today s athlete to watch is lindsey jacobellis, one of the biggest stories of the torino games was her crash in the snowboard cross final. and she is here in vancouver to redeem herself. today contributing correspondent jenna bush hager recently met up with her. jenna, good morning to you. good morning, meredith. i m a little jealous you didn t take me on the girls night, but lindsey jacobellis was kind enough to take me out on the slopes. she looked stronger than ever and hopes today she can win the gold that eluded her four years ago. lindsey jacobellis is the snowboarder to beat once again. the world champ, 20-year-old american lindsey jacobellis. reporter: this time around, the 24-year-old arrives in vancouver with more world cup and winter x games victories than any other competitor. but for all her success, one piece of hardware remains missing. look at the lead that jacobellis has now. an unbelievable commanding lead, lindsey jacobellis pulling away. reporter: it was a heartbreaking, split-second decision that crushed lindsey s chance for gold. run with it exactly. and now oh! jacobellis goes down! jacobellis goes down! reporter: lindsey jacobellis took home the silver medal in torino. what followed was four long years of the same questions. do you have any regrets about torino? i have no regrets. i ve grown up a lot since then and i had a lot of fun when i was there. so, i m just really looking forward to going back and representing the united states, and i would like to come out with a medal this time, and hopefully, it s gold. does that irritate you at all that you got a silver medal and they re already calling this a quest for redemption? i don t think it really irritates me. i went to the olympics and all of a sudden, i was like, i m on the ground. oh, wait, i messed up and i still got a medal. i guess that s pretty good. i guess it could have gotten a lot worse. reporter: then it was time for america s superstar shredder to show me how it s done. what does it take to be an olympic snowboarder? definitely perseverance. we definitely get knocked down a lot. reporter: if you could describe it for somebody that s never snowboarded before? it s, i think, pretty similar to surfing, but on snow. does that feel good? reporter: feels good! all right. here goes nothing! a little more speed. bend your knees a little. chest up. there you go. good job. hillside stop. there you go. i want to see you do a toe side turn. this is a good pitch right here. how do i do it without you? without me? he here. off your toe. okay, there you go. woo! i needed you all along! there you go. use that momentum. it s going to be a weird feeling, but you just have to commit. go to your toe. go to your toes! yeah, you re doing great. reporter: well, i thought i was doing great, but i, too, learned just how challenging staying vertical can be. ooh! woo! reporter: caught an edge. get back on to that toe! reporter: i m scared of the toe! oh, don t be scared. you got it. that was great! thank you. reporter: all in all, thanks to a champion instructor, i left teluride with some serious skills it was amazing, thank you! thank you so much. you did so well. reporter: though i m not quite medal-worthy, one of us is. in gold medal position! reporter: lindsey jacobellis refuses to let a mistake define her. she s looking to make her second chance her moment to shine. if you bring home the medal, where are you going to put it? over right next to my other one. reporter: it needs a friend. it does. reporter: it s desperate. definitely needs some color hue change. reporter: something in gold, i think. yeah. just to really just to have everything, have all the precious medals. meredith, lindsey competes today, and i texted with her last night. she s feeling good. so, i think it s her year. is she going to try anything like what she did four years ago? hopefully not. i think she just wants to have fun. she s an amazing snowboarder and a really great girl. you, by the way, were really good at snowboarding. i don t know. it s not your first time, obviously. i think i need more lessons from an olympian. if she s available. jena, thank you very much. thank you. and tonight s snowboard cross will be part of our olympic coverage right here on nbc. now here s matt. meredith, thank you very much, and jenna, thank you. if you want to see a nation s pride on display, bc place was the place to be in vancouver last night. that s where canadian mogul skier alex bilodeau was awarded his gold medal, first one by a canadian on home soil. here s nbc s kevin tibbles. o, canada, our home and native land reporter: and you thought canadians were modest, quiet people. reporter: but today, this nation is standing tall. in all thy sun commence reporter: no apologies. regular folks belting out their national anthem with pride like never before. with glowing hearts we see thee rise, the true north strong and free reporter: after hosting the games twice and coming up empty, some might have wondered if they were ever going to hear o, canada. this young man from montreal has changed all that. moguls magician alexandre bilodeau has given the true north something to sing about, gold and much more. he said he is doing this for frederick. reporter: bilodeau and his older brother, frederick, have captured the hearts of a nation. frederick has cerebral palsy and was told he would lose the ability to walk by age 10. if his limit was at 10 and he s 28 and he s still walking, nobody s going to tell me my limit is there. reporter: frederick s drive and spirit inspire alex each time he skis. he s got a wicked love of determination, like, it s impressive to grow up with someone like that. reporter: inseparable off the mountain, always together on it, frederick was there when alex won gold. now, two new homegrown role models, and that s something for schoolchildren from coast to coast to sing about. glorious and free reporter: in the past in canada, perhaps because of french and english versions of the song many canadians have been accused of not even knowing the words to o, canada not here. not anymore. for today, kevin tibbles, nbc news, vancouver, british columbia. good for him. good for all of them. coming up next, meredith, natalie and kristi hit vancouver at night, right after this. i do remember sitting down with my boys, 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 about chantix and a support plan that s right for you. some people have had changes in behavior, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice agitation, hostility, depression or changes in behavior, thinking or mood that are not typical for you, or if you develop suicidal thoughts or actions, stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. talk to your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which can get worse while taking chantix. some people can have allergic or serious skin reactions to chantix, some of which can be life threatening. if you notice swelling of face, mouth, throat or a rash stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away. tell your doctor which medicines you re taking as they may work differently when you quit smoking. chantix dosing may be different if you have kidney problems. the most common side effect is nausea. patients also reported trouble sleeping and vivid, unusual or strange dreams. until you know how chantix may affect you, use caution when driving or operating machinery. chantix should not be taken with other quit-smoking products. my benjamin, he helped me with the countdown. ben, how many days has it been? 5 days, mom. 10 days, mom. i think after 30 days he got tired of counting. 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[ female announcer ] not good pizza. with lean cuisine you never have to compromise on pizza or anything else yummy, because you always get delicious and nutritious. you want shrimp? have shrimp. need your veggies? have your veggies. and cheese? bring it on. check the glossary in the back of the book. there s no compromise in there. and about that question on page 17. plaid is huge this year. lean cuisine. keep life delicious. you know, guys, we have been keeping some very early hours, obviously, here in vancouver, but that didn t stop kristi, natalie and i from going out late at night to paint the town. i just want to say, it was all kristi s idea. take a look. reporter: oh, yes, it s ladies night in vancouver. first up, george, one of this city s hippest lounges. hey, ladies. do you have any i.d. on you? i.d.? whoa! yes! welcome to george. what are you doing here? oh, my god! are there any there are no ground rules. you can get up on the tabletop oh, no, show me. come on! no, no, no. natalie, natalie! who s standing up on the tabletop? stay tuned. do you miss dancing with the stars ? does that mean you re going to teach us how to dance, too? she s very good at the tango. apolo has a thing for me. let s just leave it at that. all right, girls, cheers to a great evening in vancouver. cheers! reporter: stop number two, the molson canadian hockey house, a tented party filled with fans and music. tonight, front row at the bare naked ladies concert. yeah! get up on the stage! no! we re surrounded by olympians! bare naked ladies, ladies and gentlemen! going backstage at the bare naked ladies! you guys were great. good to see you. thank you. meredith vieira will rock with us in the near future. oh, yeah. reporter: backstage, past and present olympians, nancy kerrigan and jeret speedy peterson. how are you doing? hey, jeret speedy peterson! medal hopeful! yeah. speedy! heard something about danc g dancing. oh, living on a prayer yamaguchi! is a yama-hoochie! reporter: we still had one more thing to do, in style. and we took speedy with us. all right! are you ready, girls, and boys? wow. oh, my gosh. oh! take it away. i think we re getting the best view of the olympics right now, i tell you. reporter: and then a toast. cheers to the olympics. and to all the athletes. yeah. good luck, speedy. we re rooting for you. we did a lot of drinking, didn t we? yeah. i was the best girl. i was a good live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara. time for a check on the morning commute with sarah caldwell. it has been a mess this morning. we are dealing with the ice on many of the major roadways. inner loop the j.f.x., an accident reported, down to 20 miles per hour. that delayed stretches back to liberty. some outer loop delays. southbound 95 out of the white marsh area at 11 miles per hour. at a slow-go from 95 towards the dulaney valley. towards what hundreds of p5, an accident, it was there. 175, an accident coming into us, there. 28 of the west side outer loop. this is the delay we are talking about from the inner loop towards j.f.x. no word on what lanes are closed. a live view at liberty did have the delays in both directions. tony has more on the forecast. still pick up light snow on the eastern shore county. there could be a little coating in your neighborhood over the next hour or so. nothing of any consequence. we will keep it that chance at the forecast all the way through the afternoon. a variable clouds and a chance for passing snow showers and flurries. high temperatures and the mid- thirties. a breezy day as well. it will feel colder. a slight chance for snow showers and flurries on wednesday. thursday and friday likely the best two days out of the forecast. there could be another clippers from out of the weekend, very similar to this one on saturday night on sunday morning. high temperatures in the 30 s. another update it s day 30 now on a tuesday morning. it s the 16th day of february now, 2010. we ve got some snow now here at grouse mountain. we had some overnight. the weather has warmed up a bit and as you can see from the skating rink out there, it s turned to rain. it s pouring right now, but we want to thank these people inside the chalet for sticking around. thanks to them. we asked kristi yamaguchi to stick around as well, because we were showing you meredith s night on the town with kristi and natalie, and meredith kept hinting it was kristi s idea. calling her yamahootchie, and as we went to break, kristi said something we missed. i was a good girl. you were a pain in my back. okay, i have a comeback for my name. miss vancougar! whoa! strong! kristi, what did you mean by that? we were just having a good time. do the whole thing so we can see your whole body when you do it. oh, there we go. see, this is why you won the gold and i won nothing, because that was the perfect comeback. well, you got something saturday night. first of all, richard, my husband, is at home. i got nothing. nothing. you, contact my lawyer. maybe the divorce lawyer, i have no idea. anyway, matt. just ahead, surprises from last winter games, u.s. skier ted ligany. you want to take my part now? the utah native won gold in the super combined. today he ll try to defend his title and now he ll tell us the mantra he lives by. i couldn t pronounce his last night, ligety. so throw me under the bus! i wasn t here the last games. usually it s the fourth or fifth day before the wheels come off. all righty. i saw them rolling by about a half hour ago. and it takes some amazing gear to go hurdling down a mountain at about 100 miles per hour. coming up, the remarkable technology being used by team usa here in vancouver. plus, we ll look at the most memorable moments of the vancouver games so far. that s always fun. but first, seth wescott seth wescott was kind enough to stick around and talk about his gold medal in the snowboard cross, joined by his teammate nate holland who came in fourth in monday s event. nice to have you. seth, thanks for sticking around. good to see you guys. i want to talk first about the fact that you guys are buddies, all right? and yet, this is an individual sport. so, what s it like to sort of friendship on the line when you go out there and compete against each other? well, i don t know if anyone caught it yesterday, but nate and i the whole year going after torino, nate and i actually shared seven podiums in a row on the world stage together, and we were taking after will ferrell that year with the shake n bake deal. so once we were together it was the shake n bake deal and try to get to the finals and win for the usa. but number four seems to take a place in your life. you finished fourth here, yet you won gold in the x games four times, there once again the number four. and you five times. five times now. oh, geez, forget this the number five tends to play a big role in his life, too. uh, anyway. never mind, i ve got nothing to say. you guys are really close together. no, no, no. you also share karaoke. oh. a love of karaoke. we do share karaoke. a love of karaoke. take a listen here. oh, boy. here we go. on a steel horse i ride, i m wanted, wanted, dead or alive do they give medals for that? no. i think i explain a little bit into this segment how karaoke is 10% voice, 90% stage presence. you ve got that. you ve got to have the stage presence to with a voice like mine. all stage presence. nate and i had a couple-week trip in asia, where we were in south korea for a week and japan for a week, and we pretty much got on the karaoke trip. our landing in seoul, our bus, we had about an eight-hour bus ride and we drove every other nation on the bus absolutely insane by singing karaoke the entire time on the bus. i think i opened it up with a little elton john rocket man at 5:00 a.m. oh! good one. that will get the blood moving. hey, nate, it s great to have you here. and congratulations on five gold medals. and seth, congratulations on gold here at the > the rest of the clipper system has to come through today, so there is still a chance of the snow showers and flurries and some of you might flurries and some of you might get a and if you want to keep tabs on your weather all day long, turn to the weather channel on cable or check out weather.com. now, i wonder what the winter games would have looked like 1,000 years ago. olympic-sponsored dreamworks animation furnished this with their animation with characters from how to train your dragon. let s look back at the origin of snowboarding. everything we know and love about this sport was inventing on this fateful day. first came the halfpipe. yeah! then the rail drag, followed by the abiding snow bunnies. yes! ugh! and last but not least, the wipeout. brought to you by dreamworks how to train your dragon. we re back in a moment. but this is today on nbc. four years ago, u.s. skier ted ligety stunned the world by winning gold in the men s super combined. can he repeat this time around? natalie s here with his story. hey, nat. meredith, when ted steps into the starting gate later this morning, i can tell you, he is not going to be sneaking up on anyone. and if you can believe it, he actually says a win in vancouver would be even more meaningful. watch this incredible performance! this is an unbelievable second run! and the gold medal goes to ted ligety! reporter: four years ago, ted ligety, the blond-haired, blue-eyed 21-year-old all-american from park city, utah, surprised everyone by winning gold in his first olympic games in torino. such maturity for a 21-year-old. reporter: you were the youngest american male to win gold in any alpine event. what was it like for you standing on the podium in torino? it was surreal. just when i got the medal and i was hearing the national anthem, i was just shaking my head in aww. i couldn t believe it. i could see my parents in the crowd, and i just didn t know what was really going on, you know? even to this day, i mean, looking at the medal, did i really win that thing? reporter: now, ted has the opportunity to make history once again. he s a contender in four events in vancouver, an ambitious program after a season plagued by injury. but ted insists he feels 100% and is ready to face any challenge. is there a lot of pressure now that people know who you are, they have a lot of expectations from you, or are you kind of just going in there with the mindset that, you know, i ve been here before, i know what i m doing this time around? there s definitely more pressure this time around and a lot more hoopla coming into the games, a lot more press stuff and a lot more people expecting things out of me, which is good. reporter: hitting 100 miles per hour, the key to ted s success is his incredible sense of control. skiing is totally different than most sports out there. it s on the track, it s outside and weather has a big toll on it and there s a million different variables that go into it. so, if you re the favorite, you re far from guaranteed of winning a medal. and if you make a wrong turn or don t make a turn and you re going almost 100 miles per hour, that could be disaster. that s the sketchy part about skiing is it s super easy to go out of the course and to fall as well. there s really no margin for error the whole way down. whoa! oh, no! and down goes ligety! reporter: usually when you see the falls, it s not just a little slip. you re falling and you re still falling. yeah, we put nfl hits to shame, for sure. reporter: a thrill-seeker since he was a kid, ted has earned himself a collection of nickname aetz. teddy ballgame and also shred and lickety-split are nicknames? exactly. ligety-split i ve had forever. i think my dad even had that nickname. and i got ted shred as i kid because i was a bald little guy going straight down the moguls, would wreck myself and was get right back up and go again. reporter: that determination has stuck with him, giving ted the competitive edge he needs to perform on the world stage. describe for me the feeling that you get when you re going out of the start gate and you re looking straight down. what is that moment like? up until the start, i m actually trying not to think about going down the course as much as possible. i actually try to clear my mind. i try not to think about anything. we started off with argyle design reporter: the ultimate achiever, ted has also started his own business, one that naturally caters to the best of skiers. you started your own company, shred optic. tell me about that side of you. i didn t think there was any cool companies out there, especially in the ski racing world. we re now making goggles and sunglasses and helmets, so, it s really a funky, youthful style. reporter: your motto or your mantra is to encourage everyone to try something that totally takes you out of your element. for sure. that s i feel like for skiing that s kind of what it does for me is i can just keep pushing the limits and going faster and faster and harder and harder and i m always just past that comfort zone. i think it s important for everybody to try to find that in something they do. ligety or ligety-split was supposed to compete in the men s super combined this morning. the event now has been postponed because of heavy snow up on whistler mountain. so, the weather again posing some problems. real problems. absolutely. natalie, thank you very much. up next, the high-tech edge u.s. athletes have here in vancouver. but first, this is today on nbc. it takes amazing athletic ability to win an olympic medal, but let s face it, having the best equipment doesn t hurt your chances. here with the high-tech gear helping the americans succeed in vancouver is paul hoffman. welcome back. good to see you. let s talk about what makes this equipment so special, starting with the giant slalom ski. this is lindsey vonn s ski i d be shocked if it really were her ski this is the same one she uses. correct. it s got a ceramic chip in it that s magical. it s actually used in the tail piece of fighter jets to take vibration and reduce it. and this is the chip right here in the ski. exactly. it actually turns it into electrical energy and stiffens the tail of the ski so it catapults her into the next turn. the next is a slalom ski, the kind ted ligety uses. ted ligety s ski. same deal, much different construction, designed for very short turns, it s up front. it s a rossigl. how different can hockey skates be? the difference is very, unless i m on them. but this is a total one supreme. the great thing is, first of all, this is the first time anybody s ever seen this. it will be on the ice with the americans. the best news for them is the new blade called the fusion. it s actually a very, very fast steel. supposed to give them an explosive start. which is everything in hockey because nobody has any more room anymore. let s look at some steel blades. this is a luge blade. what makes it different? first of all, this is about $20,000. what s it made of? it s top secret. the guys at u.s. steel and scientists there have got a pet project. he moved to this country recently, became an american citizen, decided he wanted to help the u.s. luge team. this is a steel called transformation-induced plasticity. it changes its molecular structure on the way down the run and gets faster. all right. this is a bobsled blade or runner. yep. why is this different? this one s different because it cuts into the ice and depends on a very complicated suspension. the news is basically you re looking at a car going down the ice, a race car, not a sled. it s a very sophisticated device. show me the contraption on the speed skate. people don t notice this, it s a clap skate. it was invented years ago, but it allows the blade to stay on the ice longer on the stride, so they get more power. in other words, if they didn t have that, they d be on the toe of the blade. exactly. and here they get more blade on the ice. imagine doing a push-up on your knuckles versus your whole hand. and that s designed by the man who does 80% of all speed skaters skates. let s look at this aerialist ski. you re looking at men and women who do flips in the air. so the ski has to be extremely light for the maneuver. you bet. if there s heavy swing at the tail, they won t rotate quickly and get the turn they want. this is from vokl. this has to be strong and hold together. it s a great balance to strike and they manage to do it. anybody who has never done cross-country skiing will be surprised to see how thin those skis are. they don t call them skinny skis for nothing, and johnny spillane and billy demong both use these. spillane just won a silver medal. these are close to alpine skis. they re stiff, light, strong and actually, every little bit counts, as you can tell. but when we re talking about this technology, basically, any olympian can get a hold of this technology except for what s in here? that s right, unless they have deep pockets, that s correct, any olympian. all right. these are basically exclusive to the americans? and you won t see it anywhere else. paul hochman, paul, great information. thank you so much. great to see you. when we come back, much more from grouse mountain in vancouver. back now at 8:51, and let s switch gears for a moment. a new book is pulling the curtain back on one of our nation ooze biggest political scandals, the bill clinton/monica lewinski affair. the author reveals never before heard details in the death of american virtue. ken, good morning to you. good morning, meredith. i m enjoying the snow here in new york. oh, gosh, another one rubbing it in. we ve got rain here. ken, i want to talk about some of the revelations in your book, but first, just the process of writing this book. it took you ten years, and yet, many of the key players, including president clinton, ken starr, monica lewinski, linda trip, they all sat down with you and talked with you. were you surprised, a, that they did that, and b, how much they revealed? well, i always say that a project like this is sort of like deep sea fishing. you have to cast a wide net and reel it in slowly. so, it took many, many years, meredith, to get the key players to have trust in me, and that s ultimately what you have to work on. i pent a lot of time in arkansas, spent time with friends and family members of president clinton going back many years, spent time with his lawyers to gain that trust. i spent a lot of time with ken starr and his family and was able to get some of his documents and records from that time. so, it s a long-term process. you have to be very patient with a book like this. yeah, let s talk about both clinton and starr. what was the one thing each one of them most wanted to set the record straight about, beginning with bill clinton? well, president clinton, i think, felt strongly that this had been politically inspired, that you know, folks had been out to get him from the start, really from the moment he took office in the white house and that, yes, he may have made some mistakes, but this was really a kind of setup and that he did not the punishment did not fit the crime, and i think that was the principle point that he made. i think ken starr wanted to convey that he felt it wasn t a pleasant job, it wasn t something he had even sought to be appointed special prosecutor in this case. it was especially difficult and unseenly when it turned into, you know, the investigation involving monica lewinski, but he had a job to do. he felt he did it to the best of his ability, and it was very hurtful to him, i think, that he was criticized so personally for this. you know, you bring up monica lewinski. she spoke with you, and among some of the things she said to you was that she was hurt, angry that president clinton never apologized to her publicly or privately. she felt humiliated, violated when the details of her relationship with clinton were made public in the starr report. she even tells you that at times she felt suicidal, that she was suicidal following the public revelation about her relationship. and yet, here s a young woman who became emotionally attached to the president, saying that the first time they made eye contact, bill clinton undressed her with his eyes. were you surprised by the monica lewinski that you interviewed? i was, to tell you the truth. she was probably the most challenging interview. she s an extremely smart, young woman, knew exactly what she wanted to talk about, didn t want to talk about. i came to have a great deal of sympathy for monica lewinski after spending many, many hours talking to her. i think the key thing is, meredith, that although it is true that anyone who engages in an extramarital affair with a man who also happens to be the president has to understand that if that comes out, their picture may be on the cover of star magazine or something, but what you can t ever anticipate is that you re going to be, you know, confronted by fbi agents, by federal prosecutors telling you you re going to go to jail. this was a traumatic, traumatic event for both monica lewinski and her family. anyone who doesn t appreciate that doesn t understand the true story. you know, you say you leave the cover of the book and the title somewhat ambiguous, the death of american virtue. you want the audience, the readers to decide which it is. you obviously did a lot of research. who caused the death of american virtue? you ve got ten seconds. was it clinton, starr, a combination? well, the country was split down the middle on this, and i tried to write this in a way one person said it s like a war shauk inkblot live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara. despite efforts to get students back to school the day, many districts are forced to shut their doors. although progress is being made, many sidewalks and streets remain snow-covered, and drifting continues to be an issue. officials are urging residents to shovel sidewalks and the steps so that kids can return to school safely and quickly, hopefully by tomorrow. you can track whether on our website using the interactive radar and track storms down to your very own street. go to now let s look at the forecast with tony pann. there is still the tail end of the storm system to come through as we roll through the afternoon. we missed most of it last night, but we will put a 40% chance of snow showers and the forecast all the way through the evening. somebody might get a little coating of snow, most of you will not. slight chance of flurries and tomorrow. chilly, but it gets in the opener thursday and friday. thank you for joining us. we will have another update at 9:25. oh, no! yeah, oh, no, i got to go. oh, can you make that to-go? 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