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Seahawks Blocks NFC Ticket Sales In California; "Lone Survivor" A Box Office Champ; Year Of The Woman: GM To The Golden Globes; Fourth Place Skater Makes U.S. Olympics Team; One Dead, One Missing And Presumed Dead After Falling Into River To Save Phone; Protests Over Pregnant Mom On Ventilator

Aired January 13, 2014 - 14:30   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Meantime, have you heard about this football story here. In the NFC, it's a west coast showdown. So you have the 49ers, they'll be taking on the Seahawk this weekend. And when tickets for this Sunday's game went on sale today, some people, and I'm talking to you Californians specifically, you were blocked from getting seats, at least if you try to go through the Seattle Seahawks website. Really? CNN sports correspondent and our host of "Unguarded," Rachel Nichols, joins me now. And I read about this this morning and I kind of thought, and I kind of thought, if this is true, how do they get away with this in Seattle?

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, you can sell your tickets to whoever you want to? And Seattle wants to preserve its advantage. The crowd in Seattle is nicknamed the 12th man. There are 11 players on the field at a time and the idea is that the crowd comes into it as the 12th member on the team. It's considered the best home field advantage of the league.

They have set records on the seismometer that measures earthquakes for how loud the crowd is. They want to preserve that and anyone who's been to a sporting event certainly knows that having a tough place to play is one of the fun things about having your sports team play at home.

So as far as their concerned, 49ers fans can buy tickets -- they can buy it from Stub Hub or in the secondary ticket market. They just can't buy tickets from them. They're not going to willingly sell their tickets to the opposite team. If you remember too that last weekend, tickets in Seattle sold out in 30 minutes.

So I think what they also want to do is give their own fans, the people who've supported the team, bought the merchandise, rooted for these players all season long. They want to give them a chance to buy these tickets and not just 49ers fans.

BALDWIN: Because I'm curious, with the Saints-Seahawks games, sorry Saints fans, from last weekend with the rain and it was nasty, the wind, and I know they had seismometers out there, do we know if it triggered any movement?

NICHOLS: It did record on the scale. It it didn't set a record, but that's what this weekend is for and I got to tell you, Brooke. In Denver, where the other playoff game is going to be, they are doing the same thing, they're limiting their ticket sales to local residents and people who in states where there would be Broncos fans.

And again, players from the -- you know, fans from the other team, they can get tickets, no one's keeping them out of the stadium, but the teams are just saying we're not selling them to you and you kind of understand that.

BALDWIN: Home field advantage, I suppose. Rachel Nichols, we look for you each and every Friday night, 10:30 p.m. on "UNGUARDED." Thank you, my friend.

NICHOLS: Thank you.

BALDWIN: This new movie, it's called "Lone Survivor," it's shaping up as a huge winner at the Box Office, and so it tells the story, the true story of a 2005 Navy SEAL mission in Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Going in with a four-man team, Atchison, myself, Yates, Marcus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a lot more than 10 guys, it's an army.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Just this past weekend, this film hauled in more than $38 million. This is the second best January debut ever, knocking Disney's "Frozen" down to number two. The film's focus on the SEAL's courage and heroism is incredibly striking a cord with movie goers here especially as you can look at those numbers from over the weekend.

"Showbiz Tonight" host, A.J. Hammer joins me from L.A. and despite these stunning numbers from the over the weekend, A.J., I hear the producers of this movie actually had some trouble getting funding for the film. Why?

A.J. HAMMER, HOST, HLN'S "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Yes, Brooke, it seems -- the studios have actually gotten a bit gun shy when it comes to these post-9/11 war movies. We have obviously seen quite a few of them over the last several years. But there's really not a great track record there. You may or may not remember the film "Rendition," that came out in 2007. It had a great all-star cast, but it gets some pretty terrible reviews. It just didn't do very well at the Box Office.

Same was true for "Stop Loss," that was a year later and remember "Her Locker?" even though it won an Oscar and it was just loved by the critics and fans, it did not pull in big Box Office numbers. The budget, by the way, Brooke, on "Lone Survivor" was very tight. Director producer, Peter Burg was so passionate about getting this film made. He actually dropped his salary to the union minimum, and he convinced several of the actors to do the same thing. He just felt that this project was that important to get made. BALDWIN: I'm sure they are thrilled that they did given the success of the film, but it's also interesting when you really dissect who went to the movies this weekend to see "Lone Survivor," we made this map, let me show everyone. And if you look at the map, the big ticket sales reported in states. Look at the red, you have Texas, Utah, Colorado, Georgia, Nevada, Virginia and also you see the teeny tiny red dot in Southern California, that's San Diego. Is this a case, this is about a movie about Afghanistan and the Navy SEALs? This is Middle America. These are military towns who were seeing the film. It makes sense.

HAMMER: Yes, no, that's exactly right. I mean, Hollywood has gotten a pretty bad rap in the past with claims that it basically ignores Middle America and that definitely was not the case here. And states with a big military presence, as you showed on your map, definitely had a huge impact over the weekend. I don't know if that was by design in making this film.

But also Peter Burg, who is just one of my favorite guys in Hollywood, he was the producer and the director of this film. He certainly knows how to appeal to that audience. He was the force behind the movie and the TV series "Friday Night Lights." That of course had a very big and loyal audience in those parts of the country as well. As you said earlier, it was much more about heroism and courage than it was about foreign policy, which I'm guessing helped its appeal all across the country.

BALDWIN: A.J. Hammer, thank you so much. "Lone Survivor" is the name of the film.

Coming up, a powerful ad showcasing some pretty powerful women, survivors, heroes and leaders, I will talk with one of these women next. But first, one Los Angeles Laker holds two NBA championship rings, two Olympic silver medals and a slew of titles in European basketball, but some of these biggest wins have been off the court. That's today's "Impact Your World."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS CUOMO, ANCHOR, CNN's "NEW DAY": Wind gusts, 235 miles an hour.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, ANCHOR, CNN'S "NEW DAY" (voice-over): In 2013, one of the biggest typhoons in recorded history struck the Philippines, killing thousands and displacing millions. That tragedy captured much of the world's attention including NBA superstar, Pau Gasol.

PAU GASOL, LOS ANGELES LAKERS: The damage that the typhoon caused was huge and it's going to take a lot of time to rebuild. So I thought that I had to do something and utilize my position to attract others and also create awareness.

PEREIRA: Shortly after the typhoon hit, Gasol took the court pledging $1,000 for every point he made, turns out it was a great scoring night. He racked up 24 points, making it a $24,000 donation to UNICEF's efforts in the Philippines. It's not the first time he has teamed up with UNICEF. In fact he has been an ambassador for the organization for over a decade, a job Gasol takes seriously.

GASOL: One thing that I told UNICEF is that if I wanted to be a good ambassador, I needed to live it.

PEREIRA: Gasol has taken several trips with the humanitarian organization to communities in need. His focus is always on the most vulnerable, the children.

GASOL: Most of these kids have traumatic experiences. I always get reminded that children are children and they love having attention and having fun and playing and feeling cared for.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Who says women can't have it all? Fed Chief Janet Yellen and GM COE Mary Berra are getting credit for the breaking the glass ceiling in a very big way. Berra is the first woman to lead an American automaker. She was mobbed by a media frenzy as she left the stage of the Detroit auto show last night. And then you have Janet Yellen. She is on "Time" magazine with the headline, the $16 trillion woman.

And if you were watching last night's Golden Globes, all the talk was about the females in the room taking the stage to accept her award. Actress, Amy Adams, really solidified what this night was about. It was about a big win for the women.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMY ADAMS, ACTRESS: David, you write such amazing roles for women, thank you so much for letting the world know that a princess can punch and wear a low cut gown.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And then there is this, a Microsoft bing commercial that aired during the Globes profiling what they called heroic women of 2013.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MALALA YOUSEFZAI: So here I stand, I speak for those without voice can be heard.

MARGARET THATCHER: Where there is discord, may we bring harmony.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I absolutely will do this again and run a marathon next year.

GABRIELLE GIFFORDS: The bold, the courageous.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Antoinette convinced the gunman to put down his weapon. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's going to be all right, I just want you to know that I love you, though, OK? We all go through something in life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You see that woman dancing there in the O.R.? Here she is, she is Dr. Deborah Cohan. She joins me live from San Francisco. Deborah, welcome.

DR. DEBORAH COHAN, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, BAY AREA PRENATAL AIDS CENTER: Thank you so much.

BALDWIN: I have seen that now a number of times and get the goose bumps every single time. Here you were what an honor to be one of some dozen women featured in this ad, the heroic women of 2013. How does that feel just to be listed along the likes of Malala Yousefzai, Diana Nyad, Janet Yellen?

COHAN: It's exceptionally humbling. I'm not sure I'm worthy, but I feel like I represent actually all women and the resilience that we all have.

BALDWIN: Let's talk about your resilience. For those who are not familiar with this video that got clicked on, I don't know how many times on the internet, I mean, explain to us why you were dancing in the O.R.?

COHAN: Yes, so I had found out a few weeks prior that I had breast cancer and of course, my first typical reaction was fear. And I decided to roll up my sleeves and dig my arms straight into life and I decided what I really wanted to do was not shrink by my fear, but instead explode into life and my favorite thing to do, my medicine is dance. And I decided what better way to celebrate life than to dance in the operating room, right before my surgery, with my community.

BALDWIN: It makes sense.

COHAN: With Beyonce, it was a virtual flash mob, and bless UCSF and Mt. Zion, my surgical team danced with me and it was an exceptional experience, and I went into surgery not afraid. I was in this very uplifted, happy, joyous place.

BALDWIN: Words to live by, went in to surgery not afraid. I tell you I went online just to try to find if there was any kind of criticism and I found this little article on salon.com. I just want you to respond to this, because the writer was praising the different women in this particular ad, but writes it's hard to imagine Janet Yellen, the new fed chair being happy about being featured in an uplifting ad solely on the basis of her gender. So let me pose that to you. I mean, how do you feel being in an ad that's really just all about women?

COHAN: Well, I'm honored to be standing beside these just exceptional women and I think it's true we're all human. I think also history has not given women our fair share and our time at the table and our time in the spotlight. So here we are.

BALDWIN: And just quickly, I have to ask, because so many people are wondering about you and your health, how are you doing?

COHAN: Yes, today is a great day. A few days ago, not so great, I just started chemotherapy and I had a rough few days, but I woke up a new woman and I'm feeling great and ready to go to dance class tonight.

BALDWIN: Happy to hear it, dance away, for all of us, Deborah Cohan, thank you so much.

COHAN: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up, a figure skater falls, she finishes in fourth place, yet she's the one who makes the U.S. Olympic team over those who beat here, is that fair? The one and only, Tara Lipinski joins me next to talk about that.

Plus, we're keeping an eye on the breaking news out of Florida where two people were shot inside this movie theatre, one suspect in custody. You're watching CNN, stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Count down with me, Winter Olympics start in all of 25 days, and you know what the medal podium looks like, it has a place for the top three finishers and that's the trials work, the top three get usually get to go. So why does U.S. figure skater, Maria Neggassu looked like this. Neggassu finished third in the trials Saturday, but she is not headed to Sochi, and the reason has stirred up some Olympic sized controversy today in the skating world. Here to set this up. This is Andy Scholes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After falling twice in the U.S. figure skating championships in Boston on Saturday, Ashley Wagner thought her chances of making the Sochi games were over. She tweeted after her performance, I am so sorry I let you all down. The top three finishers from the competition barring injury have always gone on to the Olympics but not this time.

In a controversial move, the U.S. Skating Association passed over third place finisher Mariah Negassu and put Wagner on the Olympic team even though she finished a distant fourth in the competition. Patricia St. Peter, the president of the U.S. figure skating defended the decision saying if you look at Ashley Wagner's record in performance, she's got the top credentials of any of our female athletes.

Neggassu was overcome with emotion after her performance on Saturday. She didn't fall or make any errors, but she was clearly disappointed when she learned she was passed over for the team.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SCHOLES: In a statement, she said I'm disappointed with the decision, although I don't agree with it, I have to respect the decision the federations have made. And I'm grateful to everyone who has supported me and look forward to what comes next in my skating career.

BALDWIN: That was Andy Scholes. My next guest knows all about the pressures of making and doing pretty well when it comes to the Olympics here. Tara Lipinski won gold, she beat Michelle Kwan in 1998 at the Olympics at Nagano, Japan and she joins me now by phone. Tara, thanks for calling in. We appreciate it.

TARA LIPINSKI, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST, FIGURE SKATER (via telephone): Of course.

BALDWIN: So you were there this weekend. You were in Boston Saturday, and I want to get to the standing ovation and everything and how it felt being there in a minute, but first, just explain all to us non-skaters, how is this fair?

LIPINSKI: OK, well, first off, it was heart breaking to watch for both girls. Obviously watching Ashley fall apart on the ice, ruining her Olympic chances again after four years ago not making the team. And then Jean Marai, you know, skates the exhibition yesterday crying full tears because she knows she's not going.

But the problem is, and it probably doesn't make sense to anyone just watching, but no one expected Marai to be in third place at this national. She's had a really rough year, actually the last four seasons. She's just struggled since the Vancouver Olympics. And in that time, Ashley Wagner has really made her mark, set her standard on the international stage, has two national titles under her belt and just fell under the pressure of this one competition.

And with our federation, we do have certain criteria that you look at other than just making the top three at nationals.

BALDWIN: OKK, so that's the context.

LIPINSKI: It's heart breaking either way.

BALDWIN: It's like today you see all these pictures of Marai with the tears and you see Ashley falling. Have you been in touch with either of these women?

LIPINSKI: I have seen Ashley and I know this is really a hard for her as a skater, you want to skate your best, personally, for your family and your fans. She has taken Marai's so-called spot and she's going to want to live up to what she can do. I saw her in exhibition and she skated flawlessly. I think she's going to do well.

BALDWIN: Walk me through what that pressure feels like. You know, you know what it's like to win, all eyes are on you, period, Tara, but now everyone knows her name and everyone's going to be watching for her.

LIPINSKI: Exactly and it's too much pressure. And you really don't know how to prepare for it.

BALDWIN: How do you?

LIPINSKI: You don't. I think what it is, is training every single day, trying to prepare for any certain instance that might happen, or might surprise you and trying to stay calm. But as you can see nationals during an Olympic year is very stressful. She was trying to defend her title, but to be honest, when she stepped on the ice, I don't think she was thinking about winning. I think all she cared about was getting into those top three spots so that one had turn into what it had.

BALDWIN: Tara Lipinski, while I have you, what are you up to right now just quickly?

LIPINSKI: I work with NBC now so I'll be going so Sochi with them as an analyst.

BALDWIN: Have fun, enjoy it. Thank you so much, Tara Lipinski calling in here and talking about all that happened in Boston over the weekend.

Coming up, the decision just in on the so-called cursing toddler. You've seen this video. We now can tell you today judges rule that this little one and his teenaged mother can live together in a foster home. We'll talk about the legality of all of this and of course, how this impacts -- just think of the mother, she's 16 and now she's going to live at a foster home, and how does that work for her psychologically speaking.

Plus protest in Texas over a pregnant woman being kept on life support even though her husband says she did not want to be kept alive. The state disagrees. We'll take you live to Dallas next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Pretty incredible pictures of this rescue, this is a very frigid and icy Chicago River here. One man is dead. A woman is missing presumed dead after three people fell into the river trying to reach a dropped cell phone. These are the pictures of the rescue, the man who died today of his injuries, was the first to fall in, first to reach for this phone after climbing over the fence. His two friends climbed over to help, both fell into the freezing, freezing waters, the search for the missing woman continues.

A national debate about end-of-life care plays out on the streets of Fort Worth, Texas. Some protesters were for, others against the actions of John Peter Smith Hospital. It is refusing to remove the ventilator of a brain dead woman named Marlice Munoz. Munoz suffered a blood clot in her lung, this is back in November, while pregnant. Her fetus was 14 weeks old at the time when she became brain dead. Her family wants to pull the life support saying it is what Munoz would have wanted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just don't want the hospital or if it does go to court to forget that there is a child involved, her family doesn't want life support for her. And we don't feel it's right for the state or the hospital to force this on her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's go to Texas to Dallas to Ed Lavandera and the husband of Marlice Munoz has hired attorneys to get this ventilator removed. The fetus in weeks since, of course, has been growing. At some point, Ed, was all the legal wrangling become mute because of the fetus' viability?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You would suspect so. I mean, right now we're 21 weeks along for this fetus, roughly, about 25, 26 is when the fetus outside of the womb could be viable. But the family and attorneys for the Munoz family are telling us that we don't know the condition at this point of this fetus. But what they are still trying to do is trying to work out the legal strategy in moving ahead against the hospital here in Fort Worth, John Peter Smith Hospital.

They say that they can't speak publicly beyond a few statements about her condition because of privacy laws, but they insist that they are on the right side of the law. But, Brooke, what is interesting we got a chance to speak with two of the people who were involved with the crafting of this law here in the state of Texas back in the late 1990s.

Two of them and one of them we spoke with who is a law professor at Southern Methodist University here in Dallas who says if indeed Marlice Munoz is brain dead as the family is saying that this professor thinks that the hospital is on the wrong side of the law.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM MAYO, LAW PROFESSOR, SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY: If she's brain dead, she's dead, so letting her die is not really the concept. But can you take her off of the ventilator? I believe he can. Surrogate decision makers make those kinds of decision with their doctors every day, not just in Texas, but around the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Now Brooke, there are about 30 states across the country that have similar laws to this on the books. Of that, there's a small group of about 10 or so states that have the strictest laws, Texas is one of those. But I spoke with their attorneys last week and they're researching the law trying to figure out what their best legal strategy moving forward will be and it sounds like that could come this week so it will be something to look out for.

BALDWIN: OK, Ed Lavandera, I know you're on it. We'll be in close touch with you on what happens here. Ed, thank you so much in Texas.

Let me take you quick low here to Florida as we have been learning about this movie theatre shooting in Wesley Chapel, Florida. This is according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Department and this is the theater we are talking about. There were two people inside this theatre who were shot by this man, but the man, the suspect is in custody. The two victims were then flown to the hospital, their conditions at this point still unknown. This is happening in Wesley Chapel, Florida.

Top of the hour, I'm Brooke Baldwin, and to a story we have been following so closely for you, this cursing toddler. This little boy back in the headlines here, you've seen this video.