Return to Transcripts main page

CNN TONIGHT

Record Snow in Boston; Seawall Breached in Scituate, Mass; Bundle of Joy Arrives During Storm; Did NYC Overreact to Blizzard?; Debating Safety Procedure Before Storms; Patriots Owner Demands Apology From NFL; The Road to the Super Bowl

Aired January 27, 2015 - 22:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Anderson, thank you very much.

It's not much snow -- no snow, but it's a lot colder than last night.

This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon.

I need to tell you about what's going on here. New York City really coming back to life right now. Almost 24 hours after the blizzard that wasn't all it cracked up to be, in the big apple at least, but it's another story, a whole another story, in much of New England where millions of people still under siege tonight.

Boston really in the grip of a wicked storm that is breaking records. Nantucket cut off from the mainland and struggling to get the lights back on for thousands of people while coastal New England really braces for another storm surge.

Tonight, I'm going to talk to a new mom who gave birth to her daughter right in the middle of the blizzard.

But meantime, right here in New York, a lot of people are asking, is it really better to be safe than sorry? Did New York -- did New York overreact? Did officials overreach here, shutting down the subways, forced businesses to close, and it cost untold millions? Is that just the price you pay when extreme weather threatens?

We're going to talk all of that this evening.

CNN's reporters are live all across the storm zone tonight from the east, end of Long Island, through Boston and all the way into Maine.

But I want to begin in Boston where this storm has already broken the record for snowiest January. And it is not over yet.

Let's get straight to my colleague Brooke Baldwin who has been there doing a yeoman's job really covering this tonight.

Brooke, by our calculation, it has been snowing in Boston for 36 hours straight now. You've been on the air it looks like for 36 hours. Now the totals are nearing record-breaking level.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: I was just thinking.

LEMON: What's the latest there?

BALDWIN: You know what? Could be definitely record-breaking for January, Don. And as I walk through this, just to -- just to underscore how deep this snow is, we are hours away from finding out whether or not it could be record-breaking for the history of the city of Boston.

Let me show you what I'm talking about. The number that everyone will be watching for and they won't know for a couple of days is 27.5 inches. That was the total from 2003. That was the massive blizzard of 2003, and we had sort of measured -- here we go, here's one we had created here, and you know, it kind of depends on where you are, maybe a foot, a foot and a half.

We're hearing, been talking to the mayor of Boston, Marty Walsh, earlier tonight and he was saying it looks like about 21 and 24 inches right now, but the thing is, they are still anticipating this stuff to keep falling at least into 1:00, 2:00, 3:00 in the morning, so we'll wait and wait to see if this is in fact a historic snowfall for the city of Boston.

Quick couple of notes, has been turning this way, it has been a total standstill in this city. That's one main road here where the north end. Boston Harbor, and Faneuil Hall over this way, the water over this way. No one has been out and about, because it's been illegal, but that is about to change in two hours. They will be lifting that statewide travel ban, but if you are getting on the road, be careful, go slow.

And one other note, if you are, I guess I'll say, maybe one of the unlucky ones who have to go to work tomorrow, the T will be running. MBTA will be up and at them, but just a head's up. It will be slow going because there was a lot of snow, and hard to believe, Don, I mean, there could be more of this stuff in the morning when we wake up.

Back to you in New York.

LEMON: Brooke, saying mass transit is going to be open is like telling a kid that they have to go back to school tomorrow. That's not exactly what everybody wants to hear.

But, listen, it is much colder --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I know, we --

LEMON: -- than in New York City than it was last night. And the temperature there as well, right?

BALDWIN: It is so cold. I am a Georgia girl, the farthest north I have lived in Washington, D.C. until last summer when I moved in New York. I feel like I am getting the whole indoctrination into cold. It is not going to hit freezing, I'm told, for one week. Bundle up -- Don.

LEMON: Yes. Yes. Hey, Brooke, talk to me about fatalities. Have you heard of any fatalities?

BALDWIN: I haven't, actually. I haven't in this area. There haven't been -- I think one of the huge issues they're really worried about, too, is power outages. I've talked to the fire commissioner earlier today. He said because the snow is so, so light and fluffy, it hasn't -- it's been a good thing, it's been godsend in terms of not affecting power lines and those trees. They haven't had any massive fires, again thank goodness. Just two minor fires they were telling me in the -- overnight hours last night.

I think one huge concern in this, and this is -- this is not just Boston, but anywhere, as the temperature is really plummeting and we're all feeling it, ice. Right? It's dark, you don't see it, so just be careful.

LEMON: Yes.

BALDWIN: Go slow, check on your neighbors. We're still in it, we are still in it here in Boston.

LEMON: Yes. All right, Brooke, we'll get back to you. Thank you very much.

I want to head off to Marshall, Massachusetts, now, and that's where my colleague Brian Todd is.

Brian, you hear -- I hear you're getting hammered -- there it is -- with snow. What's the conditions like where you are?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Still getting hammered, Don, just like Brooke is in Boston. This is starting to set records here. As of 2:30 p.m. this afternoon, they had 24 inches of snow, so we'll -- we are well over two feet of snow here in Marshfield, Massachusetts.

I put my arm down to see how deep it goes, not quite two feet but it's -- you know, you'll eventually hit a place where you can't go down anywhere because it's so packed in. But it is deeper than that.

The whiteout conditions here and the wind are complicating things for first responders because we have had flooding here in Marshfield. That's been the big story all day. A seawall breached a distance of at least 50 feet, at least 50 feet of a seawall there that's right next to houses collapsed earlier today at high tide. In the morning, they got a second wave of the high tide just as we were arriving in town at about 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

And very dramatic pictures we got of that. That is frightening because of the first breach they think that the second breach -- second wave of high tide might cause more damage. It got so bad earlier that the first responders had to use a front-end loader to get into one house to save an injured man in one of those flooded houses along that seawall. So a lot of flooding there, and it's very, very dangerous still. That high tide, that second high tide of the day, still hitting in

that area, won't recede for a few more hours. So the flood situation here in Marshfield, Massachusetts, still pretty dangerous, Don.

LEMON: Yes.

TODD: It's been dangerous for us just to try to get in and out of some of those areas.

LEMON: You know, it's crazy, as we're looking at this video, Brian, I'm just wondering, you said that they had to rush in and evacuate a man -- or get a man up. Have they -- residents there evacuated? Have they left or are they sticking around? Are they having to, you know, rescue a number of people because of this?

TODD: Most of the residents on that side of that street alongside that seawall got out. They were either evacuated or they got out themselves, they had help. Most of them got out. There are some people across the street from there who have stayed in their homes, but those streets are now flooded. And that is a situation that is still developing because we're still getting snow, we're still getting a driving wind here.

There have been whiteout conditions here that have made things much complicated for the first responders to try to get into some of these areas to try to make sure that people are OK. Now luckily, we have not had any significant injuries so far but the situation is not over. They're going to get more snow overnight and we're going to go back and check that out tomorrow morning and see what the flooding situation is like.

But several people are out of their homes tonight. At least two of those homes have been condemned, Don, so two families have lost homes today.

LEMON: Yes.

TODD: Because of that.

LEMON: All right. Brian Todd, we'll get back to you. You be safe out there and I want to -- look at that video. Let's put that video of that seawall back up because, as we talk about that, as we look at that, I want to bring in Peter Judge, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency here, and he joins us by phone.

This video is incredible, and my question to you, Peter, is, you know, the Massachusetts National Guard is telling CNN they evacuated about 15 people from the coastal area. Are you concerned about the people who stayed and the possibility of this seawall completely --

(CROSSTALK)

PETER JUDGE, MASSACHUSETTS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY: In that particular area, not necessarily. The folks who are further back, if they eventually do change their mind, and basically we've seen the biggest high tide so we don't expect the tide -- the next tide to be as impactful. If they need some assistance as the Guard has earlier in the day, has helped some folks move, most people in those areas that are susceptible to flooding, have self-evacuated a day ago, ahead of this morning's high tide.

So at this point, you know, we haven't had any people that really had to be, you know, rescued, if you will. They were evacuated just to get them into a safer -- a safer haven.

LEMON: Peter, the snowfall has been relentless. What has been the worst hit area?

JUDGE: Well, just counting snow, probably a belt in the middle part of the state, in the Worcester area, where ultimately they have received well over 30 inches of snow. As we said earlier in the broadcast, although we may end up with record snow, it's not going to be a record disaster which it could have very well been, because the snow has been light and fluffy and instead of looking at 200,000 or 300,000 power outages as we prepared for, the highest number we saw was 36,000 because it is light and fluffy.

Our biggest issues are -- as we're seeing right now, the coastal flooding and that is what really we've kind of focused on. The power outages haven't been an issue and the roads haven't been -- that much of an issue because people listened to the governors. Driving ban, and therefore the plows have been able to do a pretty good job to get ahead of it during the course of the day today.

LEMON: Peter Judge, Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, thank you very much.

By the way, we're going to talk to the mayor of Worcester here on CNN in just a little bit. But I want to get now to CNN severe weather expert, Mr. Chad Myers.

Chad, we've been looking at that video. You heard from Mr. Peter Judge at the Emergency Management Agency there. He's talking about Massachusetts seems to have gotten the worst of this storm, the snowfall there is breaking records, isn't it?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It has something to do, too, Don, with the topography of Worcester County. Not as much now in Boston as in Worcester County where we're now up to three solid feet of snow, at least in one location and it's still snowing.

It has been the moisture coming on shore, the rotation of the cell, and the cells coming on shore with a little bit of ocean effect or ocean enhancement of the snow. There is the snow snowing into Boston right now, still snowing in Portland, into Manchester and Nashua, all the way down into Nantucket, still seeing the snow. Portland a little bit of a break for a while, but there's some snow coming. Talk about the records or at least close to records.

Lunenburg now 36 inches, Auburn at 35. And Auburn hasn't reported for about three solid hours so there may be higher numbers in this. We won't really get the highest number until either midnight or until 7:00 a.m. when all of those reporting stations come in. But big numbers here behind me. And the winds have been bad , too. Look at Nantucket, 78.

Don, here's the deal with Nantucket. The wind blew or gusted for 17 straight hours over 60 miles per hour and it never dropped. The gusts were that high for over 3/4 of a day.

LEMON: Yes. Chad, can you talk to me more about the path of the storm. Big question everyone wants to know, when -- when the heck is this going to be over?

MYERS: Well, it should have been over already. You know, the low is heading on up toward Newfoundland and eventually, you know, crossing over Nova Scotia, and just south of the bay of Fundy. But what's happened in the past couple of hours is still obviously the snow coming down, but the storm has made a slight loop, a slight kind of a -- a little Watusi out there in the ocean. A do-si-do if you will, and it slowed down the forward motion.

So here's a look. We go from Islip, New York, to Newark, New Jersey. Newark had 6.5 inches, Islip had 24. That's only 54 inches or 54 miles apart. The models were on it, at least one of them was. The snowstorms in the past 27.6, that's what we're looking for, for Boston.

Here is the little part -- you asked where is it going. It should have continued to move. It should be up here by now. But it didn't continue to move, it's stopped, we talked about it, it rotated around. It paused, and that's what caused an extra six hours of snowfall when the storm should be gone by now.

LEMON: Hey, Chad, I want you to look at this video, and this -- the people out surfing in Long Island.

MYERS: Unbelievable.

LEMON: I believe it's Montauk, and we know that there are two fatalities. But not a good idea. Right?

MYERS: Not there. Not fatalities from the surfing. But, you know, Don, if they send me out to --

LEMON: No. No, no, no. I know that.

MYERS: If they send me out to the blizzard again.

LEMON: Storm-related.

MYERS: They send me out to blizzard anymore, I want that suit. Whatever that guy is wearing, I'm taking that to the snowstorm.

(LAUGHTER)

I can't believe he was out there in that weather.

LEMON: Yes. We had -- we had people out here cross-country skiing in Central Park last night. No jackets, no hats, and I don't know how Anderson gets through a show without a hat because I got to have mine. MYERS: You tried to give him one.

LEMON: Please your body, right?

MYERS: Yes. I wear it all the time. It keeps me warm but I have --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Bald spot.

(LAUGHTER)

Thank you, Chad Myers. We'll get back to you. We'll be back -- we're going to talk about the storm. It's slamming Nantucket a little bit more with Chad Myers and all of our reporters. Leaving thousands of people in the dark and threatening storm surge flooding. But it's not all bad news.

I'm going to talk to a new mom who gave birth to her daughter right in the middle of this blizzard. We're back in a moment here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We're back now with our breaking news. I'm standing just at the foot of Central Park here. And it's quite a different story than last night. No snow, of course, but it's a lot colder than last night. A lot colder. The temperature showing 22 degrees. It wasn't like 25 at all, maybe midnight, almost 1:00 last night. So it's going to be -- if this, you know, earlier if it starts to ice over from when it got warmer, that's going to cause some problems here.

But you know with the coast of Maine, bearing the brunt of the blizzard tonight. And CNN's George Howell is live for us in Portland.

So, George, you're there. How does it look there at this hour?

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a mess. Look around here. I'm going to have to take this off. I'm having some audio issues, Don, so I may not be able to hear you but we'll walk through this. I mean, they got at least 16 to 18 inches of snow, Don. They're thinking that they could get another seven inches tonight.

You know, we saw most of these -- snow bands come through. They're expecting a couple of more in the next three or four hours. And then that's it. But you see -- you see what we're left with here. The street covered in snow, snow that's really up to my waist in some places. And here's the thing, there was no travel restriction up here in this state, but at the same time people know the drill here. They know to stay off at home, stay off the roads, when they have a situation like this. That's what they did.

It's really interesting. You know, the last two days, we were in Providence, Rhode Island, and it was a ghost town. Here we are in Portland, Maine, and again, it's a ghost town. People know what to do, they stay off the roads. And right now, Don, they're just waiting, you know, for all the snow to pass along. LEMON: I do not envy you with that blowing snow and ice behind you.

That doesn't look pretty.

So be careful out there, George Howell. We'll get back to you.

I want to go down to the coast now, to Scituate, Massachusetts, and that's where a seawall was breached, flooding part of the town.

CNN's Alexandra Steele is there for us this evening.

And Alexandra, I think you were there as some of the water was coming over that seawall? Did you -- were you able to see it, and how bad was it?

ALEXANDRA STEELE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, wild and really just a furious sight to see, Don. We got pretty close. The seawall is just down the road from where I was standing. We were able to get up there right before high tide really came in. And we are close enough to, you know, just feel the waves and the water whipping up, you know, the big concern is that it brings debris through here, big rocks and the sticks and other things we've seen piled up on the streets.

What happened at high tide this morning was that those waves were enough to flood this entire street. That's what it looked like when we got here. It flooded yards, it flooded the basements out here, it flooded a big swath of this neighborhood.

This is something that they're used to seeing, but this was a great deal of water. They've been through so much here in Scituate just south of Boston, in the last 24 hours or so, along with that flooding then what we saw after these roads were covered with water, which was they turned to ice and slush and then the high tide came back, and that's when you saw more of that water breaching the seawall.

A lot of times the water was just lapping over, but there is a section of the seawall here in Scituate that was compromised, that was breached, and that sends a lot of water into neighborhoods.

And, Don, that had some very real consequences. I spoke to one woman earlier this evening. She's lost basically the back of her house. The porch sort of ripped off the back. Her walls have opened up, her windows are blown out. She was talking to me about being inside. Standing in her bedroom, standing in living room and looking out at the ocean. Just a devastating sight, but frankly, Don, she had the good sense not to be there during high tide when so much of this damage.

LEMON: Yes.

STEELE: Was being done.

LEMON: We're looking at new video that we just got from her. And man, and that is devastating, Alexandra. Unbelievable. You know, for it to come in and then frozen and ice. How badly damaged was the house? Is it a total loss? STEELE: No, no, it doesn't look like. It has not been condemned.

She was able to get in there obviously to take the pictures that we're seeing and to get that video. I think that a lot more of this will be assessed tomorrow because people in this town today were just trying to mitigate any further damage and disaster they were dealing with this weather that's been coming through here all day. These cold temperatures, the high winds, the storm surge, the flooding that has come with the high tide.

So I think that as this clears out, people will have a better idea of what they are dealing with, but I think that those photos do give you a very clear picture of just how much a danger people were in when they were out here today, how much jeopardy their property was in, not to mention their lives. So that's the reason that a lot of people cleared out. In fact, that house behind me here, Don, the National Guard came. They helped people to evacuate.

LEMON: Yes.

STEELE: Because this street is flooded. The water came up over the fence here, so you did see the National Guard in this community all day helping to pull people out when they needed to get out.

LEMON: Scituate, Mass. Alexandra Field. Stay warn, Alexandra.

And ladies, as you know, any mom knows, and dads, newborns wait for no one. Blizzard or not, they're going to come when they're going to come.

Heather Klein daughter, Anna, arrived in the wee snowy hours just this morning and she joins us now via Skype from Hartford, Connecticut.

Hello, Anna. Congratulations on your healthy baby girl, Anna, I should say, your healthy baby daughter.

HEATHER KLEIN, GAVE BIRTH DURING BLIZZARD: Thank you.

LEMON: At what point did you -- did you know she was coming during the biggest blizzard of the year?

KLEIN: At least midnight, I started feeling some contractions, and we were looking outside. And we decided we better go because it's getting kind of bad out there. So we had her in around 1:00 a.m.

LEMON: Yes. Yes. Because there was a travel ban in effect when you left -- oh, we can hear her. Are we disturbing her?

KLEIN: Yes, there was -- there was a travel ban. We actually had called earlier, and we called the police station, and they said, just to go, they're like, if you're in labor, just you go, and if it's really bad, just call an ambulance, so we're like, no, I think we got it, and so we just took our chances, and headed here.

LEMON: Yes.

KLEIN: Yes. LEMON: No trouble getting there? Did you have any trouble?

KLEIN: The roads weren't that bad because nobody was on them, so we just kind of like did our own thing. If there were other cars, then it would have been a little more difficult, but we got here. So I was happy once we got here. I was a little relieved.

LEMON: Yes. Well, she looks really gorgeous, I feel bad because I feel like we are bugging her -- you know, her first moments of life, but no one -- here's -- you know, I feel bad, but then I also feel like you need some visitors because no one has been able to visit you since the travel ban. And now --

KLEIN: I know. It's so boring.

(CROSSTALK)

KLEIN: I can't wait to go home. I know. Nobody can come and visit, like when my son was born, everybody was like coming and going, but now I'm just like sitting here, and everybody was like stuck at home. So, yes, might as well.

LEMON: Yes. Well, you've got a whole lot of visitors, so -- can you -- can we push closer and see her? I want to see her close up. Can you tell the cameraman? Are you on Skype? Can you move the computer closer? There we go.

Look at baby Anna, everyone. Cute button. Can you pinch her cheeks for us? Let's see her little cheeks.

KLEIN: Say hi, love.

LEMON: Little baby. She's so cute. Welcome to the world, baby girl.

KLEIN: Say thank you.

LEMON: So nice. Congratulations, OK? I'm glad she's healthy and you are as well.

KLEIN: Thank you so much.

LEMON: All right. You take care.

We are going to continue on now.

KLEIN: You too.

LEMON: New York's mayor says his city dodged a bullet -- bye-bye. Dodged a bullet with this blizzard but a lot of people are asking, did officials go too far when they shut down the subways and closed roads. Some answers coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Welcome back, now, everyone, to our continuing blizzard coverage here. Is there such a thing as being over-prepared for a blizzard or a

storm?

A lot of people here in New York City are asking that very question. The storm wasn't that bad here yet life came to a screeching halt, traffic ordered off the streets, subway service suspended. The city's mayor responds with four words -- better safe than sorry.

Here's CNN's Alina Machado.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): First, New York City's mayor bills it as one of the worst.

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK: This literally could be one of the top two or three largest storms in the history of the city.

MACHADO: Then a dire warning.

DE BLASIO: Two to four inches per hour.

MACHADO: Thousands of flights canceled, public transportation stopped, including a closing of the city's massive subway system. Places like Times Square looking more like a ghost town. But by morning --

DE BLASIO: Better safe than sorry. Two feet of snow would have paralyzed this city. So we did what was necessary to keep people safe.

MACHADO: Praise from some.

NATALIE STENZOSKI, STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY: And prevent it what could have been problems, it's better to be on the cautious side, I would say.

MACHADO: Others not so positive. Predicatively some tweeted out snarky responses, calling the blizzard of 2015 a #snowfail. This tweet pic, poking fun at the storm.

LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE: When you deal with 5 million to 8 million people, you have to move early. Think about what will happen if they hit thousands of people stuck on the trains, had the blizzard been as it had never predicted.

MACHADO: No one knows the importance of being prepared better than General Russel Honore, the man who helps to lead the relief efforts following hurricane Katrina.

HONORE: Katrina, we didn't do enough. We should have evacuated, we lost 1,800 people. So, they just got to deal with the criticisms and -- that they might have done too much too early and move on.

MACHADO: He points last January when just a couple of inches of snow and ice paralyzed the Atlanta metro area. Hundreds of drivers stranded for as much as 24 hours. Some children force to sleep at school after roads turned into ice rinks. State and city leaders took a brunt of a backlash.

GOV. NATHAN DEAL, GEORGIA GOVERNOR: That long delay and a stalling of traffic was hard on everybody, and it is for that, that I am most apologizing.

MACHADO: Saying I'm sorry, not something politicians like to do. In 2010 then New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg taking heat for the city's days' long response to a big snowstorm response.

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, FORMER MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: Yelling and about it and complaining does not help.

MACHADO: This time, the city is getting back to business as usual, after a crippling blow not from Mother Nature as predicted, but city hall.

Alina Machado, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Thank you very much Alina. Joining me now, Juliette Kayyem, a former Homeland Security assistant secretary and CNN national security analyst, also Mr. Ben Ferguson, is the host of the Ben Ferguson show and a CNN political commentator and Michael Brown who is the director of FEMA when hurricane Katrina struck. A devastating blows on (inaudible) in the golf (ph) coast. So, Ben and Juliette, you know what I'm in a studio some time you are guys are with me and you hear me saying, it's so hot in the studio, can you turn the air conditioner down...

BEN FERGUSON, BEN FERGUSON SHOW HOST: Yeah.

LEMON: If I -- if you hear me do that I want you to smack me. It is so cold out here. I'm really appreciating my warm snuggly studio.

FERGUSON: You need a coffee runner, that's for sure.

LEMON: Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: It is beyond coffee, Ben. But Juliette, I'm going to start with you. You served as a former Massachusetts governor, Deval Patrick's homeland's security adviser. You have been in a room when officials had to have to make these tough choices, these tough calls, shutting down an entire city, did New York get it wrong this time?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY ASSISTANT SEVRETARY: Not at all. And look -- weather prediction and the decision to make -- to close schools or to close streets is an art it's not a science. But, I -- I don't even get this debate. The reason why, is every single scientific and weather forecast predicted a very bad storm, every politician across the eastern seaboard made the same determination based on science, so it didn't snow as hard, it's like -- you know, OK, couple of hours of inconvenient. But if they highly (ph) responded to the science and the weather report -- and simply, sort of ignored them, then -- I think that would have been negligence on their part. To me, this is just -- it is not even a questionable debate at this stage.

LEMON: Michael, you -- you may know better than anyone on this panel, because you were the -- the FEMA director during hurricane Katrina, you know the criticism that you've got. Our official's really damned if they do damned if they don't in this situation?

MICHAEL BROWN, FORMER FEMA DIRECTOR: They absolutely are. Because we are always going to be in trouble no matter what they do, they have to be very careful that they do two things. One, not hype things up too much, you know, gets rid of the words like Armageddon and everything. And two, really tell people the truth. Tell them the options, you know here's the storm track now, the storm track goes this way, it means this. If the storm track goes that way, it means that. They just need to be truthful with the American people and stop the hype. Because the hype...

LEMON: Yeah.

BROWN: Makes people become cynical. And then the next time they try to tell them somebody something, they're not going to believe it.

LEMON: Ben, I don't understand, quite frankly, maybe you can explain it to me what -- I agree with what Michael Brown said. I don't understand what the -- why people are so upset, because...

FERGUSON: Yeah.

LEMON: If the storm had gone one way, this is not -- it's not an art, right? It's -- it's a science -- it's not an exact science, it's really, you know you can't really predict exactly how the storm id going to hit.

FERGUSON: Well, Don you --

LEMON: So I don't understand what the big hype is about it. It's someone -- people are gotten cold...

FERGUSON: Yeah.

LEMON: And more people are gotten hurt or the mayor had not closed the schools, he'll be -- they'll be talking -- yelling at him about that.

FERGUSON: Here the thing. You know this better than probably anybody, New Yorkers love to the whine and complain about anything, so you're dealing with that aspect, if this -- which is, if you wouldn't kept the schools open, you would have people tweeting out, you're trying to kill my kid, how dare you put my child's life at risk...

LEMON: Right.

FERGUSON: By having school today, you idiots, what's wrong with you? But ultimately, they made the right decision, no one died. This was a huge success in a grand scheme of things. It was a success and the storm went this bad as it was supposed to be, and you're always going to have people that are cranky. But the cleanup is going faster than anyone would have thought would have happen. First off, that tell you part of the success, no one got stranded, so I would say, I (inaudible)--

LEMON: We did that to that (ph)

FERGUSON: Well, OK, yeah. But my point is -- and I apologize that there's two deaths, you're correct. But my point is this wasn't catastrophic, this was not something like, look at what even happened --

LEMON: It's just being politicized and people are --

FERGUSON: Yeah. And if you -- look, if you are a politician right now --

LEMON: Yeah. But you should think it is political?

FERGUSON: Yes. And -- the politicians, if there's any time I think politicians should stand up and say, hey, we were deciding on the side of safety and caution, and if you don't like it, I'll stand by my decision. If there's any time to stand up for what you -- were you truly did...

LEMON: Yeah.

FERGUSON: This is...

KAYYEM: Yeah.

FERGUSON: When you do as a politician, they made the right decision.

KAYYEM: Yeah. And Don, I mean, people should remember they --

LEMON: Juliette, what do you want to say?

KAYYEM: People should remember that it's not just politicians to be -- there staffed by professionals, emergency management directors, head of transportation agencies. People who could care a less about politics or making judgment calls based on what the weather is telling them, and just I mean, the blizzard of 1976 is a perfect example where, we didn't take it that seriously. Almost 99 people died here in Massachusetts, most of them died not because of the car accidents or falling snow, they died because of the carbon monoxide poisoning. They went out, they thought it will cool to go for a drive, they get stuck, they get cold, they keep the car on and they died.

LEMON: OK.

KAYYEM: So, I mean, it's inconvenienced of not driving or whatever, it's just -- get over it, it's a couple of hours of your life, they make the right call and we move on.

LEMON: Yeah. FERGUSON: The mayor in New York is telling (ph) only got one call (ph)

LEMON: And Juliette, I'm going to get, because this is your -- hang on, hang on, hang on, here -- Juliette this is what you think, so I want to get this right. I think I screwed up your quote. You said, "Calling a snow day is an art and not a science" that's what you said, right?

KAYYEM: Yes, exactly. I mean, you're just making judgment calls...

LEMON: Yeah.

KAYYEM: Based on weather predictions which vary by the hour depending on the precipitation and rain and wind and -- Mother Nature. And you're making these decisions and you have to make them in a timely fashion because, if you make them too late, people are already on the road, or kids are already in the school buses...

LEMON: Yeah.

KAYYEM: So, that -- the timing of this was absolutely perfect in a sense that the decisions were made early enough, we all stayed home, we knew were going to stay home, and -- we will regroup, and New York will stand, the Boston will still stand and -- and we will get another storm again.

LEMON: All right. We've got to run, but I'm jealous of all three of you in the heat and in the warmth. Thank you very much. I'll see you soon here on CNN, we'll have another conversation in the next hour. We're going to talk more about this. You know, the owner of the New England Patriots he wants an apology for -- what else, Deflategate. That's an interesting twist of this story for this. I'm going to back upstairs and just a moment, we're going to talk on football as we count down to the Super Bowl. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right, we are out of the elements for a moment, back at the studio and talk a little sport of blizzard of 2015, didn't stop the New England Patriots from getting out of the region. But, the road to the Super Bowl has been a rocky one for them, in the wake of the Deflategate. And today's Super Bowl Media Day was no exceptions.

CNN's Rachel Nichols has more now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, Don, it's been a controversial stretch for the NFL and especially for the New England Patriots. But Tuesday, things escalated from controversial to crazy as media outlets from around the globe, we're allowed to ask the players -- pretty much, anything they wanted.

Super Bowl Media Day is known for colorful characters, crazy costumes and even some dancing. And this year did not disappoint. RUSSELL WILSON, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS QUARTERBACK: How do you explain the

media day? It's frenzy -- but, it's great. You know, you -- take, you take the experience and enjoy it. Rachel, you know I really -- it's something special.

NICHOLS: But along with the light tone lingered the harder issues that are framed this year run up to the big game. On Tuesday, Sports Illustrated released a first person piece by Seahawks Corner Richard Sherman. In which he wrote, quote, "I look at the NFL today and I'm just as disappointed as ever in its management." This comes on the heels of Patriots owner Robert Kraft challenging the NFL over Deflategate. Kraft is usually so close to Roger Goodell, a recent GQ article quoted a league executive calling Kraft, quote, "The assistant commissioner." But this time, Kraft was defiant.

ROBERT KRAFT, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS OWNER: If the wells' investigation is not able to definitively determine that our organization tampered with the air pressure in the footballs, I would expect and hope that the league would apologize to our entire team and in particular Coach Belichick and Tom Brady for what they have had to endure this past week.

NICHOLS: Patriots' players said seeing the owner challenge the league has had a galvanizing effect on the team.

ROB GRONKOWSKI, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS TIGHT END: It means a lot. He's -- he's a great owner and it's great to see him on our side, -- just shows how much support he has for us players. And obviously when you have doubters, you always want to prove the doubters wrong. We want to go out there and show -- show everybody what's up.

TOM BRADY, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS QUARTERBACK: We've always -- you know, done a great job, overcome obstacles and being mentally tough. You know we just have to do for one more game.

NICHOLS: Now behind the scenes, a few of the Patriots players I spoke to said, they are trying to turn the entire Deflategate controversy to their advantage, using it as motivation for Sunday. Basically, if people are saying we cheated our way into this game, we're going to show them just how much we deserve to with be here. That might not be good for the Seahawks of that Quarterback Russell Wilson told me? I'm looking to repeat as Champions? They've got plenty of motivation of their own.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Rachel Nichols, thank you very much. Coming up, why the NFL commissioner and the Patriots owner are looking pretty buddy-buddy and what that might mean for the Super Bowl.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right, back now in the studio. Let's talk about Patriots owner Robert Kraft and the man in charge of handing out potential punishment for Deflategate, Mr. Rodger Goodell. Well, they seem pretty buddy-buddy lately. Want you take look at this picture, it was taken a night before the UFC (ph) championship game. So, is this chummy relationship a conflict of interest? Joining me now is Izell Reese, a former NFL player, Chris Valletta, former NFL player and the author team works and Ben Shiparo, reporter with mass.com. (ph) I used you do you're shaking your head, so you think it is? What do you make of this relationship?

BEN SHAPIRO, REPORTER: Not a conflict of interest at all.

LEMON: All right. Do you think its conflict of interest?

SHAPIRO: No, I don't.

LEMON: Do you?

SHAPIRO: No.

LEMON: Why not?

SHAPIRO: I -- personally, I just think that, you got two guys that -- yeah, I mean they get along, alright. But that does not mean that there's some sort of grand conspiracy. I mean, Goodell -- Goodell hammered the Patriots, the Spygate, and they moved beyond that. I think they do have a better relationship, probably in some owners but, they have probably some owners that might really close to him.

LEMON: OK. This is from Sports Illustrated this week, Seattle Seahawks Richard Sherman, here's we write, he says, "I look at the NFL today, and I'm as disappointed as ever in its management. Commissioner Rodger Gooddell operates at a high level, but his doing what 32 owners tell him to do." Chris, do you agree?

CHRIS VALLETTA, FORMER NFL PLAYER: If Richard Sherman's you know, upset about it, he should leave. He works for the NFL. He's an employee of the NFL. And in my -- I feel strongly about this, I think he is an amazing cornerback, probably the best in the game. But, when it comes to comment that he made in the public about his -- about the ownership, about the leadership of his organization. It's time to --

LEMON: Do you think he's fighting the hand that --

VALLETTA: I do.

LEMON: He shouldn't be able to speak out, even if he disagrees?

VALLETTA: He should, but not -- not in a manner that -- chastises the leadership for on an issue that he knows nothing about. And by the way, it was speculation.

LEMON: Yeah.

VALLETTA: I mean he was calling out Roger Goodell and -- Kraft in a speculative manner, which is -- it's -- he should haven't done it.

LEMON: So, but anyway -- but Izell, what do you think?

IZELL REESE, FORMER NFL PLAYER: I -- tend to disagree a little bit. I think -- I think there's an issue with the communication with Goodell. He does reports to the owners, but he has to deal with the players as we well. And I think -- between owners and players you have to balance, and it's not just the NFL player's association job to do that. I think -- you take tag a little. (ph) I thought he did an excellent job at it, and that's something I think that Goodell struggles at a little bit.

LEMON: Who is technically his boss, Sherman's boss? Is it Goodell or is it --

VALLETTA: Sherman's boss?

LEMON: Yeah. Or --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Richard Sherman.

VALLETTA: That could be Goodell.

LEMON: So if kind of see and I said, Oh my boss is you know, terrible for it. Was even decided if he did anything wrong -- I might get a little trouble. You may be right about that.

VALLETTA: I am. Look, I think he -- my whole issue with this is that, he represents something much larger than the position he plays.

LEMON: Yeah.

VALLETTA: And that is -- he is a role model, people and kids especially look up to him. What kind of example is that being -- is being set for the youth -- that, I want to be the Richard Sherman.

LEMON: But speaking the truth is always good example, don't you think?

VALLETTA: In -- in certain instances where you know it's truth.

LEMON: OK. How is Bill Belichick, handled this past because of?

REESE: I think he handled with some frustration. I -- and I think -- it's a difficult thing that he going through. I mean, let's just, you gearing up for the biggest game on the stage, and to go through something like that, it's frustrating. And there having to deal with it, but it's the right thing to do. I think the NFL is doing a great job. Doing a thorough investigation of the Deflategate if you will, and I think it's frustrating for Kraft, I think it's frustrating for Brady and the team to deal with this, and it's a challenge.

LEMON: You say Chris, you said that the integrity of the NFL on the line, so I know that you believe that, but do you agree that the integrity of the NFL is on the line?

VALLETTA: On this issue?

LEMON: Yeah. SHAPIRO: I think that there have been some bigger issues for the NFL

with regards to its integrity. You've got head injuries, you've got domestic violence, you've got child abuse, there are a lot of things that, I think people could question the overall integrity of the league on, that go well beyond the inflation of footballs against --

LEMON: What do they need to do then?

VALLETTA: I mean, look. The integrity of the game is not on the line because of the Deflategate that is a microcosm of a much larger issue. The last two years, the NFL has been under intense scrutiny -- rightfully so, we got murder, we got domestic violence, you've got -- you got child abuse, three very highly charged in emotional issues. The NFL is doing everything they can to try to get in front of this, so I happen to think that the NFL is in a power position. Because I believe -- I'm sure you would agree to, that the qualities and skills and methodologies that athletes have, particularly those in the NFL, are so well translatable to everyday life. Business and relationships and everything else, that the NFL can actually highlight those issues and can talk about those things and put those at the forefront and try to get ahead of this things from a PR standpoint.

LEMON: What everyone says, oh, we going to get out front of this or are we going to correct this. The best way to fix something is you fix it, right?

VALLETTA: Yeah.

LEMON: Is to correct it. Why haven't we heard from any active quarterbacks?

SHAPIRO: Well, I think that's a good question and I think part of the reason is probably because this is not that big of a deal. I think that there are a lot of things that are a big deal. We are heading into arguably one of the best Super Bowl matchups in recent memory to -- I think if you don't think these are the two best teams in the NFL, haven't watched a lot of football this year. And we're talking about the inflation rates of footballs, it's a huge distraction. I don't think the quarterbacks, they believe with the deal with it at all.

LEMON: I hear you say -- I hear what you say that so like die-hard sports fans, guys in sports bars, it's like having wings, and it is not a big deal everybody cheats. And I kind of agree like you have to push the envelope, it is -- I mean, come on, it is sports, I don't think people outright cheat where you know about it.

VALLETTA: But there's gamesmanship and there is -- there is cheating.

LEMON: Cheating.

VALLETTA: And I happen to believe there is a very fine line, and I do believe details matter. If balls were deflated, that's cheating, it should be punished. Breaking in a football is not against the rules. If every single quarterback does it, I played center, I know all of the quarterbacks like there, footballs broken in a certain way, and so on and so forth. LEMON: That one.

VALLETTA: Regulation. It's hard to tell. I think it's under -- I think it's under inflated.

LEMON: All right. So basically speaking of under inflated, over inflated, when you look at. Could the NFL have ask for anything better this week leading up to this -- is this the best or worse, was in it?

REESE: It's the best. I mean, because you got conspiracy, you got drama, you got another gate, going from the Spygate to the Deflategate. You got Seattle, the unsung hero who made it, who's there once again. This game is turning into the good versus the evil.

LEMON: Yeah.

REESE: I mean, you could not ask for to a better movie. So this is the Super Bowl we are talking about...

LEMON: Is there --

REESE: It's great.

LEMONP: It -- would this be making headlines --as fast you quickly, if it was any other team?

SHAPIRO: Not at all.

VALLETTA: No.

LEMON: Not a big deal.

REESE: Not even close.

LEMOMN: We're all -- we think it's fun. You think the media is overhyping?

SHAPIRO: Absolutely.

LEMON: Yeah.

SHAPIRO: We're -- we're ten days, almost 10 days into this scandal, and we have almost zero factual information.

LEMON: Are you a Patriot fan?

SHAPIRO: I am a Patriots fan.

LEMON: Well --

SHAPIRO: But --

(CROSSTALK)

SHAPIRO: There's not much factual information on this issue right now. We know that one football was underinflated. There have been 3/4 that were on. (ph) And then you get this leak, the other day that said that it was a rogue ball boy that took it in the restroom -- took -- the football in the restroom for 90 second...

LEMON: Yeah.

SHAPIRO: That what have to be a pretty skilled -- what was it? 11 footballs in 90 seconds...

LEMON: Yeah.

SHAPIRO: That's what about 8 to 9 seconds a ball.

LEMON: Yeah.

SHAPIRO: At exactly 10.5...

LEMON: Right.

SHAPIRO: A pretty skilled -- pretty skilled technician there.

LEMON: I got to run. Thank you, Ben. Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Izell.

REESE: Thank you.

LEMON: Appreciate it. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)