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CNN Live At Daybreak
Baseball & Steroids; Training Days; Super Bug
Aired March 17, 2005 - 05:30 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
"Now in the News."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Afghanistan where she met today with U.S. troops in Kabul. Talks with Afghan officials are now in progress, and Rice says they're centering on reconstruction of the war-ravaged country. Afghanistan is stop number three on Rice's six-nation tour.
Guests at the White House's St. Patrick's Day luncheon include the five sisters of Robert McCartney. He was killed in a bar fight in January in Belfast, a killing blamed on members of the Irish Republican Army.
Police are looking for convicted sex offender John Couey in the disappearance last month of a 9-year-old Florida girl, Jessica Lunsford. Couey, described as a person of interest, was last seen in Savannah, Georgia.
Washington, D.C. got a jump on St. Patrick's Day celebrations staging its parade on Sunday, but most of the festivities will be held today when literally everyone is Irish. The celebrations in Boston and Chicago are among the big ones.
St. Patrick's Day is such a funny holiday, isn't it?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is. Back in college we had all these kegs of green beer.
COSTELLO: Well you know...
MYERS: And why we would even drink that now, as I think about it, I can't even imagine.
COSTELLO: You know it's funny, I asked David Clinch, because you know he was born in Ireland,...
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: ... if there was really green beer in Ireland on St. Patrick's Day and he said no.
MYERS: No.
COSTELLO: It's an American thing.
MYERS: Yes, and not really an attractive one.
Good morning, everybody.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Back to you.
COSTELLO: Thank you -- Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: An impressive line-up for today's House committee hearing on steroid use in Major League Baseball.
CNN's Kareen Wynter reports live from Capitol Hill this morning.
Good morning -- Kareen.
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
There was so much speculation leading up to this hearing as to exactly who would attend. Well we've learned all six former and current Major League Baseball players subpoenaed will testify today. There was actually one request for immunity by Jose Canseco. The committee shot that down, but they did make one exception.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WYNTER (voice-over): He's out of the line-up. Major League Baseball slugger Jason Giambi excused as a witness at today's Government Reform Committee hearing on steroid use. A House panel ruled Giambi's testimony would interfere with an ongoing federal probe of a company which allegedly supplied steroids to athletes.
But the field remains open for several other players subpoenaed to face congressional leaders. Among the list of star athletes, self- admitted steroid user Jose Canseco.
JOSE CANSECO, FORMER MLB ALL-STAR: But from '95 on, it was very, very obvious to everyone that steroids were rampant in baseball.
WYNTER: Canseco, who claims he used steroids with Mark McGwire, asked for immunity but was turned down. Chicago White Sox hitter Frank Thomas has agreed to testify. But baseball's attorney took a swing at congressional leaders, challenging their authority to order players to attend.
STANLEY BRAND, MLB ATTORNEY: This has nothing to do with any operation of the federal government.
WYNTER: Some lawmakers, like the committee ranking member Henry Waxman, says the purpose of the hearing isn't to go after anyone in particular, instead, to help understand the health effects of the drugs and how widely they are used from the professional level on down.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When a professional athlete uses steroids, it sends terrible signals to youngsters.
WYNTER: Subpoenas were also issued to five top baseball executives, including Commissioner Bud Selig.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Jose Canseco says he will invoke his Fifth Amendment right when asked certain questions so as not to incriminate himself -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Kareen Wynter, reporting live from Washington this morning, thank you.
Our look "Beyond the Soundbite" considers one possible consequence of the steroid scandal. If it's ever confirmed that Mark McGwire or Barry Bonds used steroids, those records those sluggers have set could be in jeopardy. Former star Jose Canseco -- you heard Kareen mention him, and you know all about him by now -- he's written a book, and he talked with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CANSECO: My dealings with Barry Bonds wasn't really direct. I mean I never injected him in any way, shape or form. Never really talked about steroids in any direct way. It was just an incident, which I actually mention in the actual book.
We had a home run competition in Las Vegas, the year he actually broke the home run record, or severed the home run record completely. And he saw me, and I think I weighed about 255 pounds or something like that. And he saw me and he went, you know, right across the room, you know, with like, what the hell have you been doing, with a more vulgar word, and how ironic.
You know I happened to go on and win that competition. And all of a sudden he puts on 30 pounds in spring training and he's just enormous and he breaks the home run record.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: But that's total speculation on your part.
CANSECO: That...
BLITZER: You have no direct first-hand knowledge that Barry Bonds ever injected himself or took pills or took steroids.
CANSECO: No, no direct first-hand knowledge. I was asked my opinion about it, and with the trained eye I've got, I definitely think Barry Bonds uses steroids.
Mark McGwire was a totally separate entity, obviously. I injected. He knows that. I injected him. And...
BLITZER: Injected him with what?
CANSECO: With steroids. And we spoke about it quite frequently -- steroid use in baseball, absolutely.
BLITZER: How many times?
CANSECO: It was definitely once or twice. I'm not really sure, because back then, I mean it wasn't a big deal to use steroids. It was like having a cup of coffee, and we weren't counting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Canseco's book is entitled "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big." And it's just funny that he tells all of that to Wolf Blitzer, yet he's going to plead the Fifth before Congress. Go figure.
To the Atlanta shooting rampage now. Authorities are taking a lot of heat for letting a 51-year-old female deputy, who's just over five feet tall, guard six-foot tall former college linebacker Brian Nichols.
So our Rick Sanchez takes us behind the scenes for a look at the actual training of those deputies.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The live lines are always open and toll free throughout South Florida.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the talk on the radio.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want it. It should not be a female job, shouldn't.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It makes no sense what you're saying.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, it makes perfect sense.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some women may be small.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It does not.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it does.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: And on the streets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She shouldn't have been trying to guard the guy that she was guarding.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And move.
(CROSSTALK) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, yes, sir.
SANCHEZ: Here, though, at one of the nation's largest training facilities for police and jail guards, it's more than talk. In this building, it's a question of life or death.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, I need you to stand up straight. I need you to walk this way, sir.
SANCHEZ: These recruits, just two weeks from graduation, are being trained and retrained on how to handle a prisoner.
ED DEL TORO, DEFENSE TACTICS TRAINER: OK. We're going into handcuffing. Remember, we need to give clear commands to the subject at all times.
SANCHEZ: How to handcuff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, sir.
SANCHEZ: How to disarm a suspect.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move.
LAUREN POOLE, POLICE TRAINEE: Sir, why are you going to do this, sir? Get back, sir. Get your hands up. Get your hands up.
SANCHEZ: And perhaps, most importantly, what to do if that suspect turns on you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get your hands behind your back. Do it now. Do it now.
DEL TORO: What we do also to mitigate the circumstance in which only the largest officer would win, we teach them to work with technique, as opposed to working with strength, so.
SANCHEZ (on camera): Every correctional officer, you believe, needs to know this technique?
DEL TORO: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): In this class, recruits are taught to overcome what some might see as odds, including size and, yes, gender.
(on camera): To those who say you're a woman, you're not capable of doing this, you say what?
POOLE: Meet me on the mat.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): OK. So we did.
DEL TORO: OK, you're going to come up behind her and wrap your arm around her throat as if though you intended to pull her off balance and attack her.
SANCHEZ (on camera): So, I'm going to come behind her and put her in a choke hold?
DEL TORO: Right.
POOLE: Get on your stomach. Do it now. Put your hands...
DEL TORO: Notice the control she's maintaining over here.
SANCHEZ: OK.
DEL TORO: You all right?
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: Yes.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: (voice-over): There's something that's also getting applause from law enforcement officials these days. All over the country, courthouses are experimenting and wrestling with new technology, like the shock belt.
DEL TORO: They're growing in popularity and they've worked out very well for us.
SANCHEZ (on camera): Let me tell you what judges tell me when I bring this subject up. They say I don't want a guy wearing a shock belt in my courtroom because the jury is going to see it, and it's going to prejudice the jury. And they're going to be more apt to find him guilty. And then they'll come back on an appeal and say, you know what, we got to have this trial all over again.
DEL TORO: Rick, that's not right.
SANCHEZ: That's what they're saying.
DEL TORO: But you know what, Rick, that's not a valid argument anymore, because technology has made these devices small enough that we can conceal them under your clothing.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): Holsters with double or triple latches are also a hot item with police and guards. The idea is to make it more difficult to grab the officer's gun.
DEL TORO: And he doesn't understand the mechanism to take the gun out.
SANCHEZ (on camera): Now, when it comes to technology, many in law enforcement recommend stun guns over real weapons. To show you how it works, I'm about to receive 50,000 volts of electricity.
Do it.
Stop! It hurts, it's painful, but no one is dead.
(voice-over): And that is how law enforcement would like these scenarios to end up. In fact, they call it the wave of the future. A future that didn't arrive soon enough for countless officers, including the four who lost their lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: That report from CNN's Rick Sanchez.
Don't miss "A HERO'S JOURNEY." It's a special report on Ashley Smith, the former hostage who apparently convinced alleged shooter Brian Nichols to turn himself in. That's tonight at 10:00 Eastern, 7:00 Pacific, on CNN's "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS."
Before you go to the gym this morning, here is a suggestion: you may want to bring your own towel because of a super bug that thrives at sports clubs.
And here's a before picture. Just wait until you see the after shots. The "Queer Eye" guys do some serious work on a few Red Sox.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news on this St. Patrick's Day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:44 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.
The U.S. House has passed legislation intended to delay the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube. The bill will give federal courts jurisdiction in the case. The Senate is expected to take up the measure today. Tomorrow is when the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube could be removed.
Actor Robert Blake has been acquitted of charges that he killed his wife. He says he's looking forward to driving around the country now. Blake still faces a wrongful death lawsuit, though, in his wife's death.
In money news, Qwest Communications is expected to add nearly a half billion dollars cash to its bid for MCI today. It would bring Qwest's total bid for the long distance carrier to nearly $9 billion. Verizon is offering $6.6 billion.
In culture, accomplished stage and film actor Hugh Jackman will host this year's Tony Awards. Broadway's best acts will be honored on June 5 at New York's Radio City Music Hall.
And in sports, big man, big bucks, six-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle Orlando Pace has signed a seven-year deal with the St. Louis Rams. The Rams will pay him $52.9 million green ones. That's insane.
MYERS: That's a happy St. Patrick's Day, isn't it? COSTELLO: It sure is.
MYERS: Good morning, Carol.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MYERS: Carol, back to you.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.
Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.
You go to the gym to be healthy, but you can come home with a very unhealthy bug. It's not your imagination. We'll have more details for you when DAYBREAK returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Gyms and locker rooms usually host the most healthy among us, the athletes. But there's something else lurking there that can bring down even the best trained jock.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at the danger.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the day he found the little red welt on his calf, high school wresting coach Chris Bettineski was casual, even dismissive.
CHRIS BETTINESKI, HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING COACH: Maybe it was a bug bite or an ingrown hair or something like that. It didn't appear to be anything really out of the ordinary.
GUPTA: But within a couple of days...
C. BETTINESKI: It went from looking like a mosquito bite or a bug bite to about the circumference of a baseball on the side of my calf.
GUPTA: Doctors didn't know what to make of it. Eventually they settled on draining it, giving Bettineski an antibiotic and sending him home. But days later, fluid would form a sack on his leg again. The infection spread quickly to his hip and there was a chance he could lose his leg.
C. BETTINESKI: That was a really, really frightening time of not knowing what was going to happen.
JODI BETTINESKI, CHRIS BETTINESKI'S WIFE: And I heard the nurses talking in the hallway and they were saying it's MRSA, it's MRSA. And I asked Dr. Adams (ph), I said what is MRSA? And his eyes got really big and he said where did you hear that?
GUPTA: The hushed tones would stoke the Bettineski's fears until he finally deciphered that MRSA was methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus or MRSA. A simple staph infection, that over the years has morphed into a potentially deadly bacteria, resistant to most antibiotics.
DR. GREGORY MORAN, OLIVE VIEW UCLA MEDICAL CENTER: It's gone from being something extremely rare to the most common bacteria that we isolate from skin infections.
GUPTA: It seems to fester in locker rooms and gyms. The heat generated there, shared mats and towels and skin-to-skin contact make gyms and locker rooms a perfect host.
The Centers for Disease Control documented eight cases among the St. Louis Rams in 2003. The same year, Miami Dolphins linebacker Junior Seau also contracted the infection.
MORAN: In a number of these outbreaks, it's involved some breaks in the skin. Among the football players there were turf burns and other breaks in the skin that provided a way for the bacteria to gain entry.
GUPTA: Bettineski believes he got it on the mat wrestling with students he coaches. He's fine now after months of rehab. That little red welt may have left a nasty scar, but at least it didn't rob him of the ability to do the things he loves.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: For more on this or any other health story, head to our Web site. The address, CNN.com/health.
New in the next hour of DAYBREAK, Congress versus steroids in Major League Baseball. Some big names have been called to the Hill, but what do members of Congress plan to accomplish with their questions?
Also new next hour, are you being spied on? Surprisingly inexpensive gadgets that may make it too easy for some people to try. You won't believe these items. We'll show you in the next hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: I don't know, what can you say?
MYERS: I love the little beard, by the way, I thought it was -- my little beard was just awesome.
COSTELLO: It's just so wrong. It really is.
MYERS: It looks good on me, though.
COSTELLO: It's just wrong.
MYERS: When I lose all the hair on the top of my head, I know I'll just grow a little beard like that. COSTELLO: Isn't that what men usually do?
MYERS: Yes, a beard on -- yes, hair on one side or the other.
COSTELLO: Let's talk about the Boston Red Sox, because they're looking pretty spiffy themselves these days thanks to a "Queer Eye," or two, "for the Straight Guy." So we thought we'd give you an update on some serious "manscaping."
MYERS: Got a little makeover.
COSTELLO: Take a look. This is pitcher Tim Wakefield on the left, catcher Doug Mirabelli on the right. They're looking styling. Now this is what I was nervous about, Chad, because I thought that they were going to change Johnny Damon.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: But as you can see, they didn't. He's a healthy...
MYERS: That has to be the before picture.
COSTELLO: He's just dressed nicely.
MYERS: Well they didn't do anything.
COSTELLO: They shouldn't have done anything. He's gorgeous the way he is. He's a real man -- Chad.
MYERS: OK. Next.
COSTELLO: "Queer Eye" host Carson Kressley, which is, he's in the far left there, you probably could tell which one he is, with Bo Sox first baseman Kevin Millar. And that's the catcher, Jason Varitek, on the far right. They look good.
MYERS: Yes, I like the haircut.
COSTELLO: I like the haircuts, but look, they all have facial hair still.
MYERS: I know.
COSTELLO: That's a Sox thing.
MYERS: And that is so unusual. That is so unusual, you know, when you get a guy with a big old gray scruffy beard, they usually get it off. And long hair, they cut off the ponytails and stuff.
COSTELLO: Well that would be taking the character out of the Boston Red Sox, don't you think?
MYERS: Or the luck. Maybe the guys just said don't touch that, that's my lucky goatee.
COSTELLO: Exactly. Who knows? MYERS: Right.
COSTELLO: It's time to get to our e-mails and some serious questions about baseball, because, as you know, those congressional hearings start today about baseball and steroids. We're asking you the question what will these hearings accomplish today?
Take it away -- Chad.
MYERS: You know I'm a little bit surprised, Carol, at the lack of the number of e-mails. Sometimes we'll ask a question and the machine just starts to smoke. This one here, I'm thinking people are just like whatever.
Mark (ph) from Oklahoma City says the only thing that these hearings are going to do, we're not going to pay attention to the lack of jobs, the lack of weapons of mass destruction, the lack of voter confidence in the election and also more important issues. This is just a big cover-up.
And Sarah (ph) from Long Island says the steroid hearings will distract the public from an important issue like Social Security, Iraq, at the same time making it appear like Congress is actually doing something.
COSTELLO: Interesting. We get a lot like that.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: This is -- I already read Ron's (ph). Let me go -- you're right. Let's see, this is from Sarah (ph) from Long Island. She said the steroid hearings will distract the public from important issues like Social Security and Iraq, while at the same time making it appear that Congress -- did you just read that one?
MYERS: I just read that one, Carol, but I was going to let you go.
COSTELLO: So wrong.
MYERS: That's what I'm talking about. That's the lack of interest...
COSTELLO: No, wait.
MYERS: ... and the lack of the number of e-mails we're getting here, so.
COSTELLO: Well that's...
MYERS: I think people don't care.
COSTELLO: ... kind of depressing to me, actually.
MYERS: I think people don't care.
COSTELLO: I'm going back into the DAYBREAK e-mail box.
MYERS: Well there's -- I'm looking at it, it's like three or four just came in when I said that. But you know what, the whole issue here is that we're going to have these guys on. I'm sure a lot of the other networks are. They're going to get a lot of face time. I just hope they tell the truth. That's all.
COSTELLO: We'll see. We'll see.
The next hour of DAYBREAK starts right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired March 17, 2005 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
"Now in the News."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Afghanistan where she met today with U.S. troops in Kabul. Talks with Afghan officials are now in progress, and Rice says they're centering on reconstruction of the war-ravaged country. Afghanistan is stop number three on Rice's six-nation tour.
Guests at the White House's St. Patrick's Day luncheon include the five sisters of Robert McCartney. He was killed in a bar fight in January in Belfast, a killing blamed on members of the Irish Republican Army.
Police are looking for convicted sex offender John Couey in the disappearance last month of a 9-year-old Florida girl, Jessica Lunsford. Couey, described as a person of interest, was last seen in Savannah, Georgia.
Washington, D.C. got a jump on St. Patrick's Day celebrations staging its parade on Sunday, but most of the festivities will be held today when literally everyone is Irish. The celebrations in Boston and Chicago are among the big ones.
St. Patrick's Day is such a funny holiday, isn't it?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is. Back in college we had all these kegs of green beer.
COSTELLO: Well you know...
MYERS: And why we would even drink that now, as I think about it, I can't even imagine.
COSTELLO: You know it's funny, I asked David Clinch, because you know he was born in Ireland,...
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: ... if there was really green beer in Ireland on St. Patrick's Day and he said no.
MYERS: No.
COSTELLO: It's an American thing.
MYERS: Yes, and not really an attractive one.
Good morning, everybody.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Back to you.
COSTELLO: Thank you -- Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: An impressive line-up for today's House committee hearing on steroid use in Major League Baseball.
CNN's Kareen Wynter reports live from Capitol Hill this morning.
Good morning -- Kareen.
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
There was so much speculation leading up to this hearing as to exactly who would attend. Well we've learned all six former and current Major League Baseball players subpoenaed will testify today. There was actually one request for immunity by Jose Canseco. The committee shot that down, but they did make one exception.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WYNTER (voice-over): He's out of the line-up. Major League Baseball slugger Jason Giambi excused as a witness at today's Government Reform Committee hearing on steroid use. A House panel ruled Giambi's testimony would interfere with an ongoing federal probe of a company which allegedly supplied steroids to athletes.
But the field remains open for several other players subpoenaed to face congressional leaders. Among the list of star athletes, self- admitted steroid user Jose Canseco.
JOSE CANSECO, FORMER MLB ALL-STAR: But from '95 on, it was very, very obvious to everyone that steroids were rampant in baseball.
WYNTER: Canseco, who claims he used steroids with Mark McGwire, asked for immunity but was turned down. Chicago White Sox hitter Frank Thomas has agreed to testify. But baseball's attorney took a swing at congressional leaders, challenging their authority to order players to attend.
STANLEY BRAND, MLB ATTORNEY: This has nothing to do with any operation of the federal government.
WYNTER: Some lawmakers, like the committee ranking member Henry Waxman, says the purpose of the hearing isn't to go after anyone in particular, instead, to help understand the health effects of the drugs and how widely they are used from the professional level on down.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When a professional athlete uses steroids, it sends terrible signals to youngsters.
WYNTER: Subpoenas were also issued to five top baseball executives, including Commissioner Bud Selig.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Jose Canseco says he will invoke his Fifth Amendment right when asked certain questions so as not to incriminate himself -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Kareen Wynter, reporting live from Washington this morning, thank you.
Our look "Beyond the Soundbite" considers one possible consequence of the steroid scandal. If it's ever confirmed that Mark McGwire or Barry Bonds used steroids, those records those sluggers have set could be in jeopardy. Former star Jose Canseco -- you heard Kareen mention him, and you know all about him by now -- he's written a book, and he talked with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CANSECO: My dealings with Barry Bonds wasn't really direct. I mean I never injected him in any way, shape or form. Never really talked about steroids in any direct way. It was just an incident, which I actually mention in the actual book.
We had a home run competition in Las Vegas, the year he actually broke the home run record, or severed the home run record completely. And he saw me, and I think I weighed about 255 pounds or something like that. And he saw me and he went, you know, right across the room, you know, with like, what the hell have you been doing, with a more vulgar word, and how ironic.
You know I happened to go on and win that competition. And all of a sudden he puts on 30 pounds in spring training and he's just enormous and he breaks the home run record.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: But that's total speculation on your part.
CANSECO: That...
BLITZER: You have no direct first-hand knowledge that Barry Bonds ever injected himself or took pills or took steroids.
CANSECO: No, no direct first-hand knowledge. I was asked my opinion about it, and with the trained eye I've got, I definitely think Barry Bonds uses steroids.
Mark McGwire was a totally separate entity, obviously. I injected. He knows that. I injected him. And...
BLITZER: Injected him with what?
CANSECO: With steroids. And we spoke about it quite frequently -- steroid use in baseball, absolutely.
BLITZER: How many times?
CANSECO: It was definitely once or twice. I'm not really sure, because back then, I mean it wasn't a big deal to use steroids. It was like having a cup of coffee, and we weren't counting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Canseco's book is entitled "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big." And it's just funny that he tells all of that to Wolf Blitzer, yet he's going to plead the Fifth before Congress. Go figure.
To the Atlanta shooting rampage now. Authorities are taking a lot of heat for letting a 51-year-old female deputy, who's just over five feet tall, guard six-foot tall former college linebacker Brian Nichols.
So our Rick Sanchez takes us behind the scenes for a look at the actual training of those deputies.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The live lines are always open and toll free throughout South Florida.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the talk on the radio.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want it. It should not be a female job, shouldn't.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It makes no sense what you're saying.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, it makes perfect sense.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some women may be small.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It does not.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it does.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: And on the streets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She shouldn't have been trying to guard the guy that she was guarding.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And move.
(CROSSTALK) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, yes, sir.
SANCHEZ: Here, though, at one of the nation's largest training facilities for police and jail guards, it's more than talk. In this building, it's a question of life or death.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, I need you to stand up straight. I need you to walk this way, sir.
SANCHEZ: These recruits, just two weeks from graduation, are being trained and retrained on how to handle a prisoner.
ED DEL TORO, DEFENSE TACTICS TRAINER: OK. We're going into handcuffing. Remember, we need to give clear commands to the subject at all times.
SANCHEZ: How to handcuff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, sir.
SANCHEZ: How to disarm a suspect.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move.
LAUREN POOLE, POLICE TRAINEE: Sir, why are you going to do this, sir? Get back, sir. Get your hands up. Get your hands up.
SANCHEZ: And perhaps, most importantly, what to do if that suspect turns on you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get your hands behind your back. Do it now. Do it now.
DEL TORO: What we do also to mitigate the circumstance in which only the largest officer would win, we teach them to work with technique, as opposed to working with strength, so.
SANCHEZ (on camera): Every correctional officer, you believe, needs to know this technique?
DEL TORO: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): In this class, recruits are taught to overcome what some might see as odds, including size and, yes, gender.
(on camera): To those who say you're a woman, you're not capable of doing this, you say what?
POOLE: Meet me on the mat.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): OK. So we did.
DEL TORO: OK, you're going to come up behind her and wrap your arm around her throat as if though you intended to pull her off balance and attack her.
SANCHEZ (on camera): So, I'm going to come behind her and put her in a choke hold?
DEL TORO: Right.
POOLE: Get on your stomach. Do it now. Put your hands...
DEL TORO: Notice the control she's maintaining over here.
SANCHEZ: OK.
DEL TORO: You all right?
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: Yes.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: (voice-over): There's something that's also getting applause from law enforcement officials these days. All over the country, courthouses are experimenting and wrestling with new technology, like the shock belt.
DEL TORO: They're growing in popularity and they've worked out very well for us.
SANCHEZ (on camera): Let me tell you what judges tell me when I bring this subject up. They say I don't want a guy wearing a shock belt in my courtroom because the jury is going to see it, and it's going to prejudice the jury. And they're going to be more apt to find him guilty. And then they'll come back on an appeal and say, you know what, we got to have this trial all over again.
DEL TORO: Rick, that's not right.
SANCHEZ: That's what they're saying.
DEL TORO: But you know what, Rick, that's not a valid argument anymore, because technology has made these devices small enough that we can conceal them under your clothing.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): Holsters with double or triple latches are also a hot item with police and guards. The idea is to make it more difficult to grab the officer's gun.
DEL TORO: And he doesn't understand the mechanism to take the gun out.
SANCHEZ (on camera): Now, when it comes to technology, many in law enforcement recommend stun guns over real weapons. To show you how it works, I'm about to receive 50,000 volts of electricity.
Do it.
Stop! It hurts, it's painful, but no one is dead.
(voice-over): And that is how law enforcement would like these scenarios to end up. In fact, they call it the wave of the future. A future that didn't arrive soon enough for countless officers, including the four who lost their lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: That report from CNN's Rick Sanchez.
Don't miss "A HERO'S JOURNEY." It's a special report on Ashley Smith, the former hostage who apparently convinced alleged shooter Brian Nichols to turn himself in. That's tonight at 10:00 Eastern, 7:00 Pacific, on CNN's "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS."
Before you go to the gym this morning, here is a suggestion: you may want to bring your own towel because of a super bug that thrives at sports clubs.
And here's a before picture. Just wait until you see the after shots. The "Queer Eye" guys do some serious work on a few Red Sox.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news on this St. Patrick's Day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:44 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.
The U.S. House has passed legislation intended to delay the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube. The bill will give federal courts jurisdiction in the case. The Senate is expected to take up the measure today. Tomorrow is when the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube could be removed.
Actor Robert Blake has been acquitted of charges that he killed his wife. He says he's looking forward to driving around the country now. Blake still faces a wrongful death lawsuit, though, in his wife's death.
In money news, Qwest Communications is expected to add nearly a half billion dollars cash to its bid for MCI today. It would bring Qwest's total bid for the long distance carrier to nearly $9 billion. Verizon is offering $6.6 billion.
In culture, accomplished stage and film actor Hugh Jackman will host this year's Tony Awards. Broadway's best acts will be honored on June 5 at New York's Radio City Music Hall.
And in sports, big man, big bucks, six-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle Orlando Pace has signed a seven-year deal with the St. Louis Rams. The Rams will pay him $52.9 million green ones. That's insane.
MYERS: That's a happy St. Patrick's Day, isn't it? COSTELLO: It sure is.
MYERS: Good morning, Carol.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MYERS: Carol, back to you.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.
Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.
You go to the gym to be healthy, but you can come home with a very unhealthy bug. It's not your imagination. We'll have more details for you when DAYBREAK returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Gyms and locker rooms usually host the most healthy among us, the athletes. But there's something else lurking there that can bring down even the best trained jock.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at the danger.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the day he found the little red welt on his calf, high school wresting coach Chris Bettineski was casual, even dismissive.
CHRIS BETTINESKI, HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING COACH: Maybe it was a bug bite or an ingrown hair or something like that. It didn't appear to be anything really out of the ordinary.
GUPTA: But within a couple of days...
C. BETTINESKI: It went from looking like a mosquito bite or a bug bite to about the circumference of a baseball on the side of my calf.
GUPTA: Doctors didn't know what to make of it. Eventually they settled on draining it, giving Bettineski an antibiotic and sending him home. But days later, fluid would form a sack on his leg again. The infection spread quickly to his hip and there was a chance he could lose his leg.
C. BETTINESKI: That was a really, really frightening time of not knowing what was going to happen.
JODI BETTINESKI, CHRIS BETTINESKI'S WIFE: And I heard the nurses talking in the hallway and they were saying it's MRSA, it's MRSA. And I asked Dr. Adams (ph), I said what is MRSA? And his eyes got really big and he said where did you hear that?
GUPTA: The hushed tones would stoke the Bettineski's fears until he finally deciphered that MRSA was methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus or MRSA. A simple staph infection, that over the years has morphed into a potentially deadly bacteria, resistant to most antibiotics.
DR. GREGORY MORAN, OLIVE VIEW UCLA MEDICAL CENTER: It's gone from being something extremely rare to the most common bacteria that we isolate from skin infections.
GUPTA: It seems to fester in locker rooms and gyms. The heat generated there, shared mats and towels and skin-to-skin contact make gyms and locker rooms a perfect host.
The Centers for Disease Control documented eight cases among the St. Louis Rams in 2003. The same year, Miami Dolphins linebacker Junior Seau also contracted the infection.
MORAN: In a number of these outbreaks, it's involved some breaks in the skin. Among the football players there were turf burns and other breaks in the skin that provided a way for the bacteria to gain entry.
GUPTA: Bettineski believes he got it on the mat wrestling with students he coaches. He's fine now after months of rehab. That little red welt may have left a nasty scar, but at least it didn't rob him of the ability to do the things he loves.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: For more on this or any other health story, head to our Web site. The address, CNN.com/health.
New in the next hour of DAYBREAK, Congress versus steroids in Major League Baseball. Some big names have been called to the Hill, but what do members of Congress plan to accomplish with their questions?
Also new next hour, are you being spied on? Surprisingly inexpensive gadgets that may make it too easy for some people to try. You won't believe these items. We'll show you in the next hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: I don't know, what can you say?
MYERS: I love the little beard, by the way, I thought it was -- my little beard was just awesome.
COSTELLO: It's just so wrong. It really is.
MYERS: It looks good on me, though.
COSTELLO: It's just wrong.
MYERS: When I lose all the hair on the top of my head, I know I'll just grow a little beard like that. COSTELLO: Isn't that what men usually do?
MYERS: Yes, a beard on -- yes, hair on one side or the other.
COSTELLO: Let's talk about the Boston Red Sox, because they're looking pretty spiffy themselves these days thanks to a "Queer Eye," or two, "for the Straight Guy." So we thought we'd give you an update on some serious "manscaping."
MYERS: Got a little makeover.
COSTELLO: Take a look. This is pitcher Tim Wakefield on the left, catcher Doug Mirabelli on the right. They're looking styling. Now this is what I was nervous about, Chad, because I thought that they were going to change Johnny Damon.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: But as you can see, they didn't. He's a healthy...
MYERS: That has to be the before picture.
COSTELLO: He's just dressed nicely.
MYERS: Well they didn't do anything.
COSTELLO: They shouldn't have done anything. He's gorgeous the way he is. He's a real man -- Chad.
MYERS: OK. Next.
COSTELLO: "Queer Eye" host Carson Kressley, which is, he's in the far left there, you probably could tell which one he is, with Bo Sox first baseman Kevin Millar. And that's the catcher, Jason Varitek, on the far right. They look good.
MYERS: Yes, I like the haircut.
COSTELLO: I like the haircuts, but look, they all have facial hair still.
MYERS: I know.
COSTELLO: That's a Sox thing.
MYERS: And that is so unusual. That is so unusual, you know, when you get a guy with a big old gray scruffy beard, they usually get it off. And long hair, they cut off the ponytails and stuff.
COSTELLO: Well that would be taking the character out of the Boston Red Sox, don't you think?
MYERS: Or the luck. Maybe the guys just said don't touch that, that's my lucky goatee.
COSTELLO: Exactly. Who knows? MYERS: Right.
COSTELLO: It's time to get to our e-mails and some serious questions about baseball, because, as you know, those congressional hearings start today about baseball and steroids. We're asking you the question what will these hearings accomplish today?
Take it away -- Chad.
MYERS: You know I'm a little bit surprised, Carol, at the lack of the number of e-mails. Sometimes we'll ask a question and the machine just starts to smoke. This one here, I'm thinking people are just like whatever.
Mark (ph) from Oklahoma City says the only thing that these hearings are going to do, we're not going to pay attention to the lack of jobs, the lack of weapons of mass destruction, the lack of voter confidence in the election and also more important issues. This is just a big cover-up.
And Sarah (ph) from Long Island says the steroid hearings will distract the public from an important issue like Social Security, Iraq, at the same time making it appear like Congress is actually doing something.
COSTELLO: Interesting. We get a lot like that.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: This is -- I already read Ron's (ph). Let me go -- you're right. Let's see, this is from Sarah (ph) from Long Island. She said the steroid hearings will distract the public from important issues like Social Security and Iraq, while at the same time making it appear that Congress -- did you just read that one?
MYERS: I just read that one, Carol, but I was going to let you go.
COSTELLO: So wrong.
MYERS: That's what I'm talking about. That's the lack of interest...
COSTELLO: No, wait.
MYERS: ... and the lack of the number of e-mails we're getting here, so.
COSTELLO: Well that's...
MYERS: I think people don't care.
COSTELLO: ... kind of depressing to me, actually.
MYERS: I think people don't care.
COSTELLO: I'm going back into the DAYBREAK e-mail box.
MYERS: Well there's -- I'm looking at it, it's like three or four just came in when I said that. But you know what, the whole issue here is that we're going to have these guys on. I'm sure a lot of the other networks are. They're going to get a lot of face time. I just hope they tell the truth. That's all.
COSTELLO: We'll see. We'll see.
The next hour of DAYBREAK starts right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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