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CNN Connie Chung Tonight
Soldier Tells Story of Rape in the Ranks; Does Sleep Get Short Shrift?; Women Strap on Pads for Gridiron Action
Aired July 05, 2002 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CONNIE CHUNG, HOST: Good evening. I'm Connie Chung. Tonight -- she was serving her country, but did her country serve her after she was raped by a fellow soldier?
ANNOUNCER: A rapist in the ranks?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PVT. AMY BROWN, RAPED BY SOLDIER: It was probably the scariest thing I've ever been through.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: She was attacked and raped in her barracks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: I just kept praying to God to get me through this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: What the U.S. Army wouldn't do to solve the crime.
A high-powered couple from Mississippi, the governor and his first lady.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I consider myself the luckiest man in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Until it turned into a he said/she said, secretly taped conversations and alleged broken trusts.
Sure, it tastes good, but just how bad is it? Tonight, CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta with a food alert.
They're in a league of their own, literally. Tonight, we'll meet the cream of the crop of the National Women's Football League.
This is CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT. From the CNN broadcast center in New York, Connie Chung.
CHUNG: Good evening. Tonight, the story of Amy Brown. She swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. But did the Constitution let her down? After she was raped by a fellow soldier, she and her mother had a critical clue to identify her attacker. But as she told me recently, the U.S. Army told her the Constitution was standing in her way.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHUNG (voice-over): The day 18-year-old Amy Brown officially joined the U.S. Army was one of the most memorable days of her life.
BROWN: I was really happy. I felt like I was a different person. I felt like I was actually growing up for once.
CHUNG: Amy signed up for the Army right out of high school. After three months of training, she was stationed at Ft. Hood, Texas.
BROWN: Basic training was hard, I was away from home, and I wanted to come home, but I stuck through it. And I was having a lot of fun up until January.
CHUNG: Just four days after arriving at Ft. Hood, Amy's world turned upside down. She was alone in her barracks when she was brutally attacked and raped.
BROWN: I saw someone (UNINTELLIGIBLE) with a backpack going -- entering my room, and locked the door. And he turned around, that's when I saw his mask and the gloves and everything. And I started to scream for help, and the -- he attacked me.
CHUNG: Because of the mask, Amy could not see his face. But he did leave some valuable evidence behind -- his semen, and with it his DNA. Knowing the Army kept samples of all soldiers' DNA, Amy asked officials to run a search. She was shocked when the Army refused, insisting soldiers' rights to privacy are protected by the U.S. Constitution.
COL. DAN BAGGIO, U.S. ARMY: We are United States citizens, for the most part, and, you know, we have the rights like any civilian does anywhere else.
CHUNG: But eleven weeks after Amy's assault, another violent crime occurred. Eric Davis (ph), father of three, was fatally shot in a nearby town. Army investigators say the suspected killer is the same man who raped Amy Brown.
She was outraged. It was a crime that could have been prevented, she says, if only the Army had searched its DNA samples.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHUNG: Amy's accused rapist is 21-year-old Army Specialist Christopher Rais (ph). Rais (ph) now faces a court martial on four counts, including murder and the rape of Private Brown. Amy Brown joins me now, along with her mother, Cookie Long, who has spent thousands of dollars pursuing their legal battle. Thank you so much for being with us.
Amy, how were you so sure that your attacker was a soldier?
BROWN: Whenever he came into my room, he had on dog tags, and he had on a mask, and it looked -- it appeared to be Army issued, but I wasn't sure. And he had on Army-issued gloves and everything, so there was no doubt in my mind he was Army.
CHUNG: Were there any other details that you were able to give investigators regarding him?
BROWN: I was able to identify his tattoo, the initials of his tattoo.
CHUNG: He had a tattoo?
BROWN: Yes, he did.
CHUNG: Where was it?
BROWN: It was on his chest.
CHUNG: And there were initials?
BROWN: Yes, ma'am.
CHUNG: Do you remember the initials now?
BROWN: It was C.M.R.
CHUNG: C.M.R. All right. Then, that sounds like -- was there anything else?
BROWN: I knew he had brown hair and he was taller than me, and that was pretty much all I could remember.
CHUNG: But those initials, that's rather specific. And was the Army still unable to find or identify anyone on the base with that description?
BROWN: They said they were unable to identify anybody on the base.
CHUNG: Mrs. Long, you learned from the Army that your daughter had been raped about 4 a.m. in the morning, you went to the hospital, you went to see her, but you weren't able to see her until about 5:30 that day. When you finally got to see her, what was her emotional state?
COOKIE LONG, PVT. BROWN'S MOTHER: She was being strong, but she was just beyond herself. She grabbed ahold of me and started crying. She told me, "mom, he hurt me." And we just clinged to each other until we can get away from there and be alone and talk. CHUNG: Were you able -- I'm sure you wanted to take her home.
LONG: Yes.
CHUNG: Were you able to do that?
LONG: The very next day after her attack, I had called the meeting with five different people, one was her commander, her first major, her sergeant.
CHUNG: And what did the Army tell you?
LONG: They told me now if I tried to take her mommy, they would AWOL her.
CHUNG: They would AWOL her?
LONG: Yes.
CHUNG: So she had to stick it out and stay there longer?
LONG: No, I fought them, and I told them they can AWOL her if they want to, I'm taking her home for the weekend. And I said -- finally they left the room and they came back and said, "fine, you can take her home, but she better be back here by Sunday."
CHUNG: All right. Now, when your daughter was raped, of course it came to you as a great shock. However, was rape considered, you know, something very unusual at Ft. Hood?
LONG: No, it was not considered very unusual. While I was in this meeting, a lieutenant, Steven Dow (ph), which is with CID, the criminal investigations, told me that there was 20 alleged rapes, which my daughter's was the 20th, from January the 1st to January the 10th of 2001, within a 10-day period.
CHUNG: Ten-day period, 20 rapes.
LONG: Yes.
CHUNG: Now, Ft. Hood has a different version of that. I mean, they say in 2001, they were that many -- many of them were date rapes, according to Ft. Hood. We asked the Army to give us some kind of a response, either the Department of Defense or Ft. Hood, and the statement provided was simply that the U.S. Army agents conducted an extensive investigation. They interviewed many soldiers, but none could be connected to the incident.
You asked -- both of you asked the Army to sample DNA, because that existed, right? There was a repository for DNA. And yet, the Army refused, saying it was a constitutional issue, a privacy issue.
LONG: Yes.
CHUNG: Why did you want that? I mean, granted, your daughter had been raped and she would probably gain some closure if that person was found. But, you know, if the Army couldn't find that person, wouldn't that be just your answer?
LONG: Right. Right. And it probably would have been a lot of other women's answers as well. With that many rapes on base, this guy may have been a serial rapist, and I believe that they should have matched his DNA and his fingerprints to get him off post. But they refused.
CHUNG: Texas Congressman John Culberson is pressing for a new law allowing police access to military DNA records. And he joins us tonight from Washington. Thank you, sir, for being with us.
Can you realistically say that the murder of Eric Davis (ph) could have be prevented had your legislation been in effect?
REP. JOHN CULBERSON (R), TEXAS: Connie, I believe so. My legislation has passed the House and is in the Senate, and when it becomes law later this year, tragedies like this can be prevented because families like this can go to the local district attorney when the Army is not conducting the investigation properly, and demand that the DA go to federal court and ask a judge, a federal judge to issue an order forcing the Army to conduct the investigation properly, or open up access to the DNA repository to local law enforcement agencies so they can identify and lock up these criminals.
CHUNG: But what about the other soldiers? The soldiers who are not criminals? Doesn't it trample on their constitutional rights?
CULBERSON: I don't believe so, Connie. The rights of criminals end where they begin to threaten our lives and safety, and my legislation will leave the final decision in the hands of a federal judge who will exercise their discretion, listen to the facts of the case, and decide whether or not to issue an order to get into the DNA repository and to force the Army, or the military, to do a proper investigation.
The Navy does this all the time properly; there is no reason all the branches of the military can't conduct these investigations properly, and as a last resort, go before a federal court and make their case.
CHUNG: All right, congressman, thank you so much.
And finally, Private Brown, you originally thought you would leave the Army, but you've decided to stay.
BROWN: Yes, I have.
CHUNG: But the Army wants to discharge you. What are you going to do?
BROWN: I'm going to try and fight to stay in, but if I can't fight it, then they're going to discharge me anyway.
CHUNG: All right, well, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it. Mrs. Long, good luck.
We'll be right back.
ANNOUNCER: Up next, how confidential are conversations with your priest? The former first lady of Mississippi confesses to an affair. All of it caught on tape. A story of broken trust when CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: This one has it all: sex, adultery, deceit, religion, shattered trust, and a legal case that may not only impact on all priest abuse cases, but could potentially reshape the very relationship between religion and American law. Despite its scope, the story began the way so many good stories begin, boy meets girl.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have a wonderful wife.
CHUNG (voice-over): These were some of the happier times for then Governor Ray Mabus and his wife, Julie Mabus. They married in 1987. Almost a year later, Ray Mabus was elected governor of Mississippi. Six years later, he became the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia. They had two daughters together, but the public life they led was taking its toll on the marriage.
Julie Mabus had an affair with an old college friend. Ray Mabus suspected she was being unfaithful, but wanted proof in case he filed for divorce. So the former governor called a meeting with his wife and her priest, Jerry McBride (ph), to confront her with the affair. The former governor and Reverend McBride secretly agreed to tape the conversation. Ray Mabus later went on to use the tape in their divorce proceedings.
Julie was outraged and felt betrayed by her now ex-husband and her priest. She's filed a lawsuit against St. James Church in Jackson, Mississippi, the Episcopal diocese of Mississippi and her former priest, Jerry McBride.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(on camera): Today, Julie Mabus is Julie Hines. And she is telling her story. Her former husband and the defendants in this case declined to appear. Julie, thank you so much for being with us.
JULIE HINES, EX-WIFE OF RAY MABUS: Thank you for being interested in the story.
CHUNG: All right. Tell me, how would you describe your relationship with your priest?
HINES: He had been a friend of my family's for nearly 25 years. He was the priest at the church my mother and father started 50 years ago. He buried my mother. He married my husband -- my ex-husband and me. He baptized our children. He was a close friend.
CHUNG: Did you trust him implicitly? HINES: Without a shadow of a doubt. He had my trust completely.
CHUNG: All right. So, we'll move forward to the time when you were in the middle of your potential divorce, right? You had asked your husband for a divorce?
HINES: Yes.
CHUNG: And you're asked to come to a meeting with you -- it would be you, your husband and your priest. Did you think anything was unusual about that?
HINES: My ex-husband told me a day before that he had been emotionally dishonest with me and that he wanted to meet with me and he wanted Jerry there as support for both of us. And I didn't know what it was about, but I was certainly willing to be there.
CHUNG: So, this is the meeting that was taped?
HINES: Yes.
CHUNG: Did you have any idea that the meeting would be taped?
HINES: I had no idea what the meeting was about, much less that it would be taped.
CHUNG: Did you think it was going to be confidential between the three of you?
HINES: Absolutely.
CHUNG: Well, then, your husband leaves the room and you're having a conversation with your priest.
HINES: Yes.
CHUNG: And the tape is still rolling, but you don't know that.
HINES: It was one of three tapes was still rolling.
CHUNG: One of three?
HINES: Three.
CHUNG: Oh, my heavens. All right. So, this is a -- from the transcript of the taped conversation, Jerry McBride says "I just want to talk to you. This is not an ambush on my part. I'm here because I love you."
HINES: Yes.
CHUNG: Did you believe him at that time?
HINES: Once the meeting got started and they -- Ray, my ex- husband, began to say the things to me, almost instantly, the whole picture became clear to me. CHUNG: What was that?
HINES: That they had been talking, they had been planning, they had planned the whole event. And all of the sudden, my trust was shattered. And I was...
CHUNG: You felt like you were being set up?
HINES: Yes. Once they presented -- Ray presented me with what he had to say, and Jerry had gone through his own personal problems and I had stood by his side, and so it dawned on me that they must have gotten together and planned this. And I was frightened. I was outraged. I was devastated.
CHUNG: All right. So, eventually, it really did have a profound effect on your case, on your divorce case, because your husband was able to charge you with adultery -- I mean, use adultery because you admitted to the affair in the tape.
HINES: Yes.
CHUNG: And for that, you were unable to get full custody of your children, that is correct?
HINES: Also, because I was so angry and so upset and said things that I shouldn't have said and reacted in ways that I should not have reacted, my ex-husband hired a psychiatrist as an expert witness. And he testified that without ever having one meeting with me that I was unfit and that Ray should get custody of the children. And he got full, legal custody of the children.
CHUNG: How old are your daughters?
HINES: Ten and 12.
CHUNG: Do you see them?
HINES: Well, we split physical custody, but he has the -- the judge gave him full decisionmaking powers and I'm treated as a man off the street, if you will.
CHUNG: That must hurt.
HINES: It's extraordinarily painful.
CHUNG: So, what do you want to accomplish with this lawsuit?
HINES: I was abandoned and betrayed by my...
CHUNG: I'm sorry. Forgive me, I interrupted you. Go ahead.
HINES: I'm so sorry -- by my priest and by my church and the diocese. And what I want is for my priest to be accountable. And I want the church to be accountable for their employee. And I want to make sure that this never, ever happens to anybody else again. CHUNG: All right. But you did have an affair. You did admit to it. The church and your priest actually didn't do anything legally wrong because in your state, you can record someone without one person's permission. In other words, with just one person's permission, you can. So, something morally might be wrong, you could make a case for that, but nothing legally.
HINES: I made a mistake. I am very sorry and I have apologized to Lloyd (ph).
CHUNG: What mistake?
HINES: By having the affair, by reaching out to an old friend and by having an affair. It was wrong. But this case is not about that. It's about a priest's responsibility to his parishioner. And it's about the church's responsibility to protect, take care of one and overseeing one of its employees. So, they have a different and a higher level of standard than someone who is not in the priesthood.
CHUNG: This is a statement. We asked for a response from Jerry McBride and his attorney said, "as the parish priest for Mr. and Mrs. Mabus, Jerry McBride accepted an invitation from Ray Mabus to come to the Mabus residence along with Ms. Mabus' sister, but she couldn't make it, "for the sole purpose of providing support for a family in deep crisis. His mission was not one of ill will, but rather one of good will."
And we were unable to get a response from the attorney for the diocese nor the attorney for the St. James Church.
Basically, what you're saying is that you don't approve of the behavior of the behavior of the church and of the priest, correct? But -- don't you think that's a tough case to push? I mean, are you going to win? Will you win?
HINES: You know, I don't know. One thing I wanted to make sure was that this was raised to national awareness, so it wouldn't happen again. I have my trust in a jury and a judge. I want them to be held accountable and whatever the decision is, I will live with it.
CHUNG: All right. Very quickly, five seconds, what has this done to your faith?
HINES: It has rocked my faith, my trust in my church. I still have a profound belief, but it has destroyed so much. I'm trying to rebuild it now with my church.
CHUNG: Julie Hines, thank you so much for being with us.
HINES: Thank you.
CHUNG: Appreciate it.
HINES: Thank you.
CHUNG: OK. When we come back, they asked him if he had any last wishes, but they never dreamed that he'd take it so far.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: How do you get to be a superstar? Sometimes, all it takes is a wish. But, in 1989, Kevin Sharp wasn't about to be a superstar when he was granted his wish. He was about to die.
The 18-year-old had cancer in his bones, in his lungs. He had six months to live. So the Make-A-Wish Foundation helped him meet his favorite record producer. And he actually started making some of his own records. Best of all, he didn't die, as I think you'll agree when you see him now. These days, he's one of country music's top artists, with top singles, a platinum debut album, and his follow-up, "Love Is."
He joins us tonight from -- where else? -- Music City USA, Nashville.
How are you doing there?
KEVIN SHARP, MUSICIAN: I'm doing good. How about yourself?
CHUNG: Fine.
Kevin, take me back to when you were 18. You were told that you were diagnosed with cancer. And what was going on inside your head and inside your heart?
SHARP: Well, you know, I think like most 18-year-olds, most kids, a senior in high school, they think everything's just at their fingertips. There's nothing they can't do. They're invincible. And, finally, life is theirs, so to speak. You can buy a lottery ticket, even.
And when it's just all the sudden literally taken away from you, let alone because of a disease such as cancer, you go through every emotion you can possibly imagine. And I think the first week or two, it's just complete numbness of not thinking this is real.
CHUNG: Kevin, can you hear me? You know why? Because -- yes, we want you to put the earpiece back in. Great. Great. Thank you so much.
Can you can hear me now?
SHARP: Yes.
CHUNG: OK.
They told you you only had six months to live, right? SHARP: Correct.
CHUNG: Someone from the Make-A-Wish Foundation contacted them and wanted to get you a wish that you wanted. What was that?
SHARP: Well, I've loved music all my life. And that was the first thing that entered my mind, is, it had to do something with music, whether it was to meet one of my all-time favorites, Barry Manilow or Garth Brooks.
But, when I thought about it for a moment, song after song in my life that helped me get through some tough times was always either written or produced or performed by David Foster.
CHUNG: Ah.
SHARP: And I knew there was something about that man that had something in common with my passion for music. And I wanted to meet him.
CHUNG: But a lot of people didn't know who he was, right?
SHARP: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
CHUNG: But he worked with Barbra Streisand and Whitney Houston and, what, Natalie Cole. Not too shabby, huh?
SHARP: You would say he's the star behind the stars.
CHUNG: There you go. There you go.
So, you wanted to meet him. And what happened? Did you put together something for him, so that you could sort of -- he could test you out, see how you were as a singer?
SHARP: Well, actually, initially, the wish was just to meet him. I just wanted to spend some time with a man I admired, and to thank him for making a difference in my life with music.
He had no idea that I wanted to be singer. In fact, if the Make- A-Wish Foundation had contacted him and said, "We have a kid who wants to be a singer," he probably wouldn't have accepted the wish, because that's quite an undertaking for some kid to be thrown at you that you're being told is possibly going to die, and now he wants to be a singer.
CHUNG: Right.
SHARP: That's quite a bit to throw on somebody.
CHUNG: But, in fact, everything changed. You were in remission. You put together a record that he listened to. And what did he think of it? SHARP: He was surprised, to say the least. He actually, initially, was preparing to tell me that he was sorry, that I just didn't have what it took.
(LAUGHTER)
SHARP: He was surprised.
CHUNG: But that changed, didn't it?
SHARP: It did. He loved what he heard. And, instantly, he wanted to do whatever he could do to help get my music heard by the right people that could hopefully land me a deal in Nashville.
CHUNG: All right, so the rest is history. You're a superstar, right?
(LAUGHTER)
SHARP: Well...
CHUNG: And tell me, what do your songs say? What do they do?
SHARP: Well, music for me, from as far back as I can remember, whether it was getting dumped by a girlfriend or just having a bad day, there always seemed to be a song that came along in my life at the right time, and when I needed to hear it.
And that's what I hope my music does for other people, is it -- this life ain't easy. And I think music is one of the most influential and powerful things in our lives. And if my music can touch someone in a time or a moment in their life when they need some inspiration, that's what I hope it will do.
CHUNG: Well, Kevin, you know what? You've done it.
(LAUGHTER)
CHUNG: You've accomplished everything that you want to. I can tell you that personally.
SHARP: Well, thank you.
CHUNG: Kevin Sharp, thank you so much for being with us.
SHARP: Thanks for having me.
CHUNG: And the best of everything for you in the future.
SHARP: Thanks.
CHUNG: Do not think about grabbing for that snack. We have the doctor in the house. Your holiday health hit list, you can't miss this one.
We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: So, you're on vacation. The last thing you want is to worry about what's good for you, what's bad for you, blah, blah, blah. Well, you want to eat what you want to eat, drink what you want to drink, and stay up as late as you want. Well, we are not going to totally bum you out, but we are going to get some helpful hints, not just from being healthy this vacation, but how to get the most out of this vacation.
And we're going to get them from the man who knows: CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, joining us from Atlanta.
Thank you.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Thank you. Good evening.
You know...
CHUNG: Yes?
GUPTA: ... it's funny. Vacations aren't nearly as relaxing as people think they should be. The Gallup Poll sort of looked at this. About 1,000 people were surveyed. And they found that people actually come back from vacation oftentimes more tired than they expected and certainly more tired than even before they went on vacation.
In fact, we have some numbers, Connie. You'll appreciate these: 54 percent of people who actually went on vacation came back feeling more tired than before; 19 percent of them said they actually felt exhausted. And there are a lot of different reasons for this. Some of them are listed right there; 56 percent...
CHUNG: Yes, I was about to ask you, why?
GUPTA: Yes.
CHUNG: It doesn't make sense.
GUPTA: You know, it kind of does make sense, I guess.
If you're sort of like me and most people, vacation planners waiting until the last minute, poor planning; 56 percent of the people actually plan the night before. Only 32 percent actually go to bed later due to that planning; 54 percent wake up earlier, I guess the early-morning jitters the day of the vacation starting. And 36 percent work harder in order to make the vacation happen. They work harder the days before.
Interestingly as well, Connie, just women -- this affects women twice as often as it affects men. I thought that was sort of an interesting statistic as well.
CHUNG: Do you know why?
GUPTA: I don't know...
CHUNG: Is it because we're doing all the packing and the guys are sleeping?
(LAUGHTER)
GUPTA: Well, that could be it. I think that's as good an explanation as any.
(LAUGHTER)
CHUNG: All right.
But do you have some tips to make our vacations a little more sleep-friendly. And this so is important to me, because, I mean, sleep is really a big deal in my life. So I want to hear this.
GUPTA: Right.
And everybody wants to go on vacation and feel more rested when they come back. So there are some tips. The biggest tip, really: planning, planning, planning. I think that would be the most important thing. Start packing early, for example. That is something that people have to do. That is the first step of planning. Don't overwork before a vacation. Everyone is guilty of that, as we already said, but if you can avoid that.
Make accommodations as comfortable as possible. Connie, that mean something like requesting a room not next to a noisy road, something like that. Take naps during vacations -- simple, simple explanation -- to get more rest. Eat and drink moderately. Everyone tends to go a little bit overboard on vacation.
CHUNG: Oh, no. Boo.
(LAUGHTER)
GUPTA: That's what vacations are for, but try and do it in moderation, everything OK in moderation.
Choose a relaxing vacation. An interesting statistic here as well: The number of people who had the most unrelaxing vacations were people who actually went and spent time with family, which I thought was sort of interesting. And the people who had the most relaxing vacations were actually people who went on things like cruises. So that's a little hint as well.
And, finally, not to sound preachy, but stop worrying about things. That's something that everyone needs to do, especially when you are planning a vacation.
CHUNG: That's a good thought.
Shall we move on to snacking? Do you have something, another survey about snacking? GUPTA: Well, you know, there is an interesting point about snacking. And it sort of validates some of my own thoughts about eating, which is -- I tend to be a grazer. I tend to eat several meals during the day, not always the best meals, admittedly. Sometimes I will snack on potato chips or whatever I can find here in the newsroom, most likely.
But there was an interesting study that actually came out of Britain that said that people who eat five to six times a day actually have lower cholesterol and lower LDL, which is the bad type of cholesterol as well. But, interestingly, these...
CHUNG: Well, that's surprising, huh?
GUPTA: Yes, it is sort of surprising.
And, plus, these people were eating whatever they wanted. They were having actually higher fat and higher calories than people who were eating normal meals, yet their cholesterol remained lower. And they had a sort of better overall health picture despite that. So, I guess it was sort of not so much what you're eating, but how often you're eating also being very important.
CHUNG: You know, I wanted to ask you one more question about sleeping, because I think you have a survey that deals with sleeping when you're back at work also.
GUPTA: Yes, you know, sleep is something. It's one of the most widely studied things, and for good reason, Connie. You and I both love it so much.
But there was a study that came out of Harvard. And they actually looked at how effective sleep is and how important sleep is for things like learning, for memory, for motor skills, all sorts of different things, a simple study. They actually took 62 people and they taught them a simple sequence of events on a keyboard. Some people were taught in the morning and then retested 12 hours later before they had had a night of sleep. And some people were taught later on and then had a full night of sleep and tested again the next morning.
Statistically, the people who did not get any sleep in between only had a 2 percent improvement in their overall motor skills, whereas people who got a full night's sleep, a good night's sleep, a 20 percent improvement. And they specifically found that it was that last part of the sleep, the last dream phase, which was the most important. That appears to be the time when people seem to lay down their memories, lay down their motor skills, things like that.
Unfortunately, Connie -- as you know better than anybody, probably -- is, that's the time of sleep that usually is cut out as you set that alarm clock early and try and wake up kind of early.
CHUNG: Exactly.
You know what? I want to ask you one thing. And I'll call you later for the answer.
(LAUGHTER)
GUPTA: OK.
CHUNG: I fall asleep when I'm scared. If there is turbulence on a plane, I fall asleep. And then, also, if my husband wants to argue with me, I fall asleep. Isn't that great?
GUPTA: Yes, that's a protective reflex, I think.
(LAUGHTER)
CHUNG: Exactly.
GUPTA: And it seems to work pretty well.
CHUNG: It does.
All right, thank you so much, Sanjay. Appreciate it.
GUPTA: Thanks for having me. Enjoyed it. Thank you.
CHUNG: We'll be checking in with him a little more later.
But up next: You would never know what these women do with their spare time. Keep it right here for the answer. What do you think?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: You've heard of women's soccer. The U.S. team's World Cup victory made that a certainty. And you might also be familiar with the WNBA.
Well, you're about to meet two women who are helping to pioneer a new women's sport, a sport that's been dominated not just by men, but by the biggest, meanest, toughest men modern science can create.
But, first, on an unseasonably cool evening recently, CNN's Jeanne Moos went to look at the sport your daughter might be playing some day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Remember the days when the only padding a girl wore was in her bra?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Make sure they're really, really tight. Otherwise, they're going to come up when you run.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's the way, April. That's the way, April.
MOOS: You know it's not the Dallas Cowboys when the players bring cupcakes to the game to sell at the concession stand.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're still warm.
MOOS: We'd never been to a National Women's Football League game. So we stepped gingerly into the locker room.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's been some mishaps with some girls putting their pads on the wrong places.
MOOS: While the players warmed up, so did the hot dogs at two lonely tailgate parties out in the parking lot. A dad spoke of his linebacker daughter.
(on camera): Was it weird the first time you saw her in shoulder pads and the helmet?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, certainly. "Let me see her." And then I go, "Oh, I didn't know she was that big." I tell you, she's tough.
MOOS (voice-over): It was the Connecticut Crush...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One, two, three!
MOOS: ... vs. one of the top teams, the Massachusetts Mutiny. The coaches tend to be men.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to make each other look good tonight. It's not a one-man show. It's not a one-lady show, no way.
MOOS: On the first play of the game, No. 34, Melanie DePamphilis, tore a knee ligament. Melanie's not just a player. She owns the Connecticut Crush franchise.
MELANIE DEPAMPHILIS, OWNER, CONNECTICUT CRUSH: You get tangled up. The knees go one way. The body goes the other way.
MOOS: It was a little like watching high school football, but there was plenty of spirit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, baby!
MOOS: And the game was actually exciting.
The star of the Crush, No. 20, April Meyer, is not only the quarterback. She does everything from return kickoffs to play defense.
APRIL MEYER, CONNECTICUT CRUSH: It's a rush.
MOOS: The small crowd of several hundred was mostly relatives.
FATHER OF STEPHANIE LANDESS: A father always wishes that his son can play football. Well, guess what? I got a daughter that can play football. And she plays the game real well.
MOOS: And what is it she really like?
STEPHANIE LANDESS, CONNECTICUT CRUSH: The intensity, the hitting. I really like the hitting.
MOOS: So does Carolyn Bell.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's that say?
CAROLYN BELL, CONNECTICUT CRUSH: It says, "Dingdong and the quarterback's dead after our bell crushed her head."
MOOS: The Connecticut Crush lost, but weren't crushed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good game.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good game.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good game.
MOOS: After the game, future football players took to the field, boys and girls. One thing we can swear to: The language is cleaner in women's football.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, son of a biscotti.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHUNG: That report from CNN's Jeanne Moos.
Joining me now from the National Women's Football League, La'Tonya Jill Watters, the Atlanta Leopards owner and offensive tackle, and Tammy Lowrey-Ridgley -- Ridgley, right?
TAMMY LOWREY-RIDGLEY, ASSOC. GENERAL MANAGER/PLAYER, PENSACOLA POWER: Yes.
CHUNG: Linebacker and associate general manager for the Pensacola Power.
Thank you for coming.
LA'TONYA JILL WATTERS, OWNER/PLAYER, ATLANTA LEOPARDS: Thank you.
CHUNG: Now, you know, when I was watching all that, you all are tough, right?
WATTERS: Yes, we are.
CHUNG: I tell you, you are really tough. But I was expecting you to be big. You're not. I mean, you're not huge women. I mean, you're actually quite tiny. You used to be a cheerleader, right?
LOWREY-RIDGLEY: I cheered all through my whole life. I never played football.
CHUNG: Well, how did you get from the sidelines to the field?
LOWREY-RIDGLEY: Well, I wanted to play football my whole life, but my parents wouldn't let me. So we used to just play. Me and my brother would go over to the park and play sandlot football.
And then I started getting to an age to where they were like, "You can't do that anymore. You can't do that."
I'm like, "Why not?" And so then I tried out for high school cheerleading, and cheered and played softball and volleyball and did all the girl sports. And then the opportunity came up and I was like, "I just got to try out."
CHUNG: Look at you. You've got a great body. Look at those arms.
I want everybody to see Tammy's arms.
LOWREY-RIDGLEY: Oh, my goodness.
CHUNG: No, we're going to come back in a second.
There we go. Right? Great arms.
(LAUGHTER)
CHUNG: Now, tell me, you are a child therapist, is it?
WATTERS: Child therapist in Atlanta/supervisor/treatment coordinator.
CHUNG: All right.
So, what did your family think when you said you wanted to go play football?
WATTERS: Well, they were not really too surprised, because they've always been supportive. And I have always played sports all of my life. However, football is a sport really I didn't have an option to play because it was just not allowed for women to play.
So, once I mentioned it to my family, told them, "Hey, this is something I'm interested in doing," they were very supportive. It was a little unique, because you just don't really hear about women playing full-contact important.
CHUNG: Exactly. The thing that really kills is that you liked it so much, you bought the team. Right?
WATTERS: Yes, that's correct.
(LAUGHTER)
CHUNG: Isn't that expensive?
WATTERS: Yes, it is. It's very expensive.
(LAUGHTER)
CHUNG: And you run the team? WATTERS: Well, yes. I'm the owner and I also play. And I have a general manager as well as a P.R. person. So, they make it a lot easier, when you have the extra help.
CHUNG: Right. Right. Oh, my gosh.
Now, Tammy, you -- let's see. Who owns your team?
LOWREY-RIDGLEY: Roy Jones Jr.
CHUNG: Oh, the boxer.
LOWREY-RIDGLEY: The best pound-for-pound boxer in the world.
CHUNG: He is great. He's an awfully nice guy, too. I've met him. He's terrific.
Now, what do you do for a living?
LOWREY-RIDGLEY: I am Roy Jones Jr.'s athletic trainer.
CHUNG: Oh, there you go.
LOWREY-RIDGLEY: I take care of the medical -- I'm a certified athletic trainer.
CHUNG: No wonder you're in such good shape.
(LAUGHTER)
CHUNG: So, when is your season, from what to what?
WATTERS: We play from April to June. And the championship game is in July.
CHUNG: And I assume that you really want to be out there so that young girls can go play football, huh?
LOWREY-RIDGLEY: That's a dream, but we also want to hit everybody with the thing that, don't ever quit dreaming, because this is something that we never thought that we would be able to do.
Yes, we want to promote women's football. We want women to be able to play. And they should be able to do things that they want to do in life. But it can really relate to anybody as far as living their dreams in life.
CHUNG: La'Tonya, what is it in you that you want to accomplish with this team, the league, everything?
WATTERS: Well, I just want to accomplish -- whenever you have a dream, it is really difficult for people to understand, because, when it's something you've wanted to do your whole life and you've been told no, because it's really not of the norm -- it's like, when they said football tryouts, I can't run out on the field in high school, because women could not play. So we could basically just play flag football.
But now is an opportunity where we can play. I have women who walk up to me today who are like 45, 50, and say: "Where has football been? I have always wanted to do it." But now they are at an age where they cannot participate. And I'm at an age where I can. So, I'm just so grateful to our president, Catherine Masters, for making this dream come true, not only for myself, but for young girls of today.
CHUNG: I think it's so great.
Tammy, was your husband a pro player?
LOWREY-RIDGLEY: Yes. He retired. His last team that he played with was the New Orleans Saints.
CHUNG: Right. Right. Not when they were the Aints?
(LAUGHTER)
LOWREY-RIDGLEY: No. But he finished up because he had a couple major knee operations. So he finished it off.
CHUNG: So does he give you advice?
LOWREY-RIDGLEY: Sometimes. At first, he thought -- he was like: "What is wrong with you? Why do you want to go through what I went through?" And then now he just gets the biggest kick out of it. He thinks it's really neat.
CHUNG: Well, good for him.
Have either of you had any serious injuries?
WATTERS: Not personally, but we've -- we've lost at least three or four players to some injuries.
CHUNG: Yes?
WATTERS: As well as sportsmanship. But, yes.
CHUNG: What do you mean?
WATTERS: Well, I mean, certain players, if they do things they shouldn't do, that's where the ownership part comes in. And you have to dismiss them, if you have to.
CHUNG: You're a tough owner.
WATTERS: Yes, I am. You have to be to succeed in this business.
(LAUGHTER)
CHUNG: How about you, Tammy? Any injuries?
LOWREY-RIDGLEY: I've been very fortunate. But the last two years that we've been in the season, we've seen a lot of ACLs and typical injuries that I saw when I worked in the NFL Europe league.
CHUNG: Any advice for those girls out there?
WATTERS: Well, I would just say, don't ever let someone tell you you can't do something, because this like a lifelong dream come true. And I'm still on cloud nine. Our record was like 2-6, but I feel I like win every time I walk off the field and every time I walk on the field, because it's a dream. It's an accomplishment. And I'm just so happy about it.
CHUNG: Do you have a Super Bowl?
LOWREY-RIDGLEY: Yes.
WATTERS: Yes.
CHUNG: Yes?
LOWREY-RIDGLEY: We're in the playoffs.
CHUNG: Oh, good for you.
LOWREY-RIDGLEY: Pensacola Power is 8-0 right now. So we have our first playoff game Saturday.
CHUNG: Good for you. Terrific.
Well, it's so nice to meet you. You go, girls. I think it's great.
LOWREY-RIDGLEY: Thank you. Thank you very much.
CHUNG: All right.
WATTERS: Thank you.
CHUNG: I'll come watch you.
LOWREY-RIDGLEY: OK.
WATTERS: OK.
CHUNG: All right, well, right now, a look at a time when women in another sport were still proving themselves in tonight's "Off the Radar."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Billie Jean King, with a record 20 Wimbledon titles, 13 U.S. Open championships, and a top-10 ranking for 17 years, was always a sure thing for the record books of women's sports. But, in 1973, she assured her place in the history books by accepting a challenge from another past Wimbledon winner: 55-year-old Bobby Riggs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOBBY RIGGS, FORMER PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYER: This isn't just a tennis match. This a battle of the sexes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: It was a battle that King won 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. And a lot more was at stake than a $100,000 prize.
BILLIE JEAN KING, FORMER PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYER: For the first time, I think women were taken seriously as athletes in a long time. And I think people started to think, you know what? The women deserve as much opportunity as the men.
ANNOUNCER: But this year, she and a fellow woman athlete had a very public falling-out. What happened?
The answer when we return.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Who was the woman athlete involved in a falling-out with tennis legend Billie Jean King this year? As coach of the U.S. Federation Cup team, King booted Jennifer Capriati off the team for trying to set up a private practice session, in violation of team rules. Without the No. 2-ranked player, the U.S. team was eliminated from the Federation Cup in the very first round.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHUNG: You know, the women football players brought me some presents. It's so great: Pensacola Power and the Atlanta Leopards. I can sleep in these when Maury wants to argue with me. No, actually, he doesn't ever want to argue. He never wants to talk about anything serious either.
I'll see you on Monday, when we'll have the heart-wrenching story of an anthrax survivor who has never before told his story. Months later, he is still living the nightmare.
And "LARRY KING LIVE" is next.
Good night from all of us here at CNN. And have a great weekend.
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