Today's Take: A Look At The Latest New And Noteworthy: Part I Of II

Transcript

Event Date(s): 06/13/2014, 06/16/2014 | Event Location(s): Nazare, Brazil, Pinehurst, North Carolina | Description: STILL: Ghana’s World Cup soccer team in group prayer on a soccer field. EJ: EXT DAY NAZARE, BRAZIL 2014-06-13 MS: During the World Cup at Arena Fonte Nova Netherlands’ Robin van Persie jumps and uses his head to pop the ball into the net for a goal vs Spain. MS: van Persie runs on the field. MS: Slow-motion of van Persie scoring his goal. MS: Slow-motion of teammate kicking the ball to van Persie and van Persie jumping and using his head to pop the ball into the net. STILLS: Internet photos of van Persie as Peter Pan and van Persie flying next to a plane. EJ: EXT DAY PINEHURST, NORTH CAROLINA AT THE PINEHURST RESORT & COUNTRY CLUB DURING THE US OPEN MS: Golfer Erik Compton (has had two heart transplants) holds his golf club after hitting the golf ball. MS: Golf ball soars and lands near a hole on the course. MS: Compton walks on the course. MS: Compton sinks a putt. INT PINEHURST 2014-06-15 MS: At a press conference after coming in 2nd at the US Open, Compton says “I've been on my back twice, and I never thought I'd ever leave the house. And-- and now I just finished second at the U.S. Open which is I don't think anybody would have ever thought I would do that. Not even myself. So you can't ever write yourself off. You just can't give up.” EJ: CLIPS: Clips from new web series “Parental Guidance” with Geist and his friend and mother of two Megan Colarossi. Geist, Hall, Morales, and Roker x-talk live in-studio: “WILLIE GEIST: Welcome to TODAY on a glorious Monday morning here in New York City. It's June 16, 2014. Big ole crowd out on the plaza this morning. NATALIE MORALES: Big ole crowd. AL ROKER: Big ole crowd. WILLIE GEIST: That's a big ole crowd. AL ROKER: Big ole crowd. NATALIE MORALES: You have been spending a weekend in Nashville, clearly. WILLIE GEIST: Yeah, yeah. I was in Nashville all weekend, thank you. AL ROKER: You remember the weekend? NATALIE MORALES: Y'all. WILLIE GEIST: I remember this-- yes, yes. (Cross talking) TAMRON HALL: It was Lucie's birthday, too. WILLIE GEIST: It was my sweet daughter's birthday on Saturday. So, it was wonderful. AL ROKER: And then after that? WILLIE GEIST: We were out with friends and it was a great time. Nashville is a great place. Ever been to the Johnny Cash Museum down there? AL ROKER: I have not. NATALIE MORALES: No. WILLIE GEIST: We went on Saturday. It is amazing. TAMRON HALL: Really? WILLIE GEIST: They have all his old getups. He had like-- NATALIE MORALES: Yeah. WILLIE GEIST: --the jump suits and the kerchiefs that only Johnny Cash-- NATALIE MORALES: Oh, the kerchiefs. WILLIE GEIST: --could pull those things off. TAMRON HALL: But it sounds like he's alluding to something. Why would you forget a lot of your weekend? WILLIE GEIST: When you go to Nashville, you have a good time. You can't help it. It's a great town. AL ROKER: Kind of relive your college-- (Cross talking) TAMRON HALL: Oh, that's what they're getting at. NATALIE MORALES: Night on the town. WILLIE GEIST: But mostly it's about your daughter's birthday. So, we move along. AL ROKER: It's most-- WILLIE GEIST: I'm Willie. That's Al, Natalie, Tamron, you know all that by now. We've got World Cup fever. I'm just going to come out and say it. TAMRON HALL: Yeah. WILLIE GEIST: Yes. AL ROKER: Oh, yeah. WILLIE GEIST: Yes, I'm ready. NATALIE MORALES: Yeah. It's catching on. WILLIE GEIST: Today's the day. The United States Men's National Team plays its first game later today against Ghana in the northern city of Natal where by the way the weather has been crazy. TAMRON HALL: Horrible. NATALIE MORALES: Drenching rains. AL ROKER: Flooding. WILLIE GEIST: I heard-- AL ROKER: Evacuations. NATALIE MORALES: Bad field. WILLIE GEIST: One description was biblical. TAMRON HALL: Oh. NATALIE MORALES: Yeah. AL ROKER: Yeah. WILLIE GEIST: It was just raining and raining and raining. AL ROKER: And they have got more on tap for today. NATALIE MORALES: Yeah. WILLIE GEIST: Yeah, so it's going to be a wild scene down there. U.S. is in what has been dubbed the death group--the group of death. Germany and Portugal, two of the best teams in the world come after Ghana. Ghana has already beaten the United States in the last two World Cups by slim margins. NATALIE MORALES: And before always 2-1-- WILLIE GEIST: Right. NATALIE MORALES: --so, it's a huge rivalry. It's a grudge match. AL ROKER: Do they-- do they call soccer matches because of weather? I'm not-- I-- I don't know about this. WILLIE GEIST: Yeah, I think there is some threshold. NATALIE MORALES: No, they played-- they played in drenching rain over the weekends, so-- WILLIE GEIST: But lightning-- AL ROKER: But if there is lightning I would think that they would call. NATALIE MORALES: I would-- yeah, I mean, I think they'd have to. But, I mean, they-- they play in everything. AL ROKER: Wow. WILLIE GEIST: The U.S. team has the most challenging travel schedule in the World Cup, nine thousand miles in its opening games, nice. AL ROKER: In a bus. WILLIE GEIST: Nice. TAMRON HALL: Terrible. WILLIE GEIST: Yeah. You have a bus, exactly. AL ROKER: You've got a bus. WILLIE GEIST: So, we're hoping for the best. It's a very tough draw for the United States. But they play later today against Ghana. Meanwhile, the highlight is goal that you highlighted in the Orange Room earlier this morning-- TAMRON HALL: Yeah, yeah, Persie. WILLIE GEIST: --Tamron. The flying Dutchman. This is Friday's game. The Netherlands against Spain. Check this out. Robin van Persie goes airborne. (Cross talking) NATALIE MORALES: Amazing. WILLIE GEIST: Lays out-- NATALIE MORALES: Right there, right corner. WILLIE GEIST: --for the header. That's just an incredible goal. NATALIE MORALES: Look at that. They crushed Spain. TAMRON HALL: And he doesn't even have like grass stains on his shirt after. WILLIE GEIST: No. Just pops out like nothing happened. (Cross talking) AL ROKER: Do you practice a move like that? That's amazing. NATALIE MORALES: Yeah, it's a header. I mean, they practice headers, but not flying. TAMRON HALL: But like-- not airborne like that. AL ROKER: Yeah, that's what-- yeah. WILLIE GEIST: Into directly. NATALIE MORALES: Yeah, spectacular. TAMRON HALL: Yeah. WILLIE GEIST: So being the age we live in, this inspired countless memes. Here's Peter Pan, first of all. This is Persie as Peter Pan. I think we have got that, there it is. TAMRON HALL: Mm-Hm. WILLIE GEIST: How about flying next to a plane? AL ROKER: Ooh. TAMRON HALL: Wow. AL ROKER: The flying ones. NATALIE MORALES: Nice. WILLIE GEIST: Yes. And-- AL ROKER: He's got a Jet Pack on. TAMRON HALL: How else is he going to get up there? Come on. WILLIE GEIST: That was just an incredible goal. And the-- the World Cup is just so fun. Even if you are not a diehard soccer fan-- NATALIE MORALES: Right. TAMRON HALL: Yeah. WILLIE GEIST: --you have all these countries coming at one place going nuts. NATALIE MORALES: Right. WILLIE GEIST: And Nat, I know-- NATALIE MORALES: And huge upsets. I mean, that-- by the way, that game was 5-1. And Spain just won the-- WILLIE GEIST: Just goal out. NATALIE MORALES: --the Euro Champion. They are the World Cup defending champs, going into this. WILLIE GEIST: Yeah. NATALIE MORALES: So, a lot of people have high expectations that Spain may take the title this time around, but-- AL ROKER: Hmm. But what if you don't know the terms? What if you want to sound like you know what you're talking about? NATALIE MORALES: Well, first you start off with a good caipirinha. TAMRON HALL: Ooh. WILLIE GEIST: Say it again. NATALIE MORALES: That's a Brazilian national drink. AL ROKER: What is that? NATALIE MORALES: It's the cachaca, it's like a mojito. AL ROKER: Right. NATALIE MORALES: But it's called caipirinha. TAMRON HALL: Do we have any here? NATALIE MORALES: Caipirinha. WILLIE GEIST: Yeah, we-- AL ROKER: Where are they? TAMRON HALL: Where are they? NATALIE MORALES: I know, but, you know, you get water. You like it. But you can start. I have a recipe. This is on our website-- AL ROKER: All right. NATALIE MORALES: --today.com and there is a whole blog-- WILLIE GEIST: Yeah. NATALIE MORALES: --about-- TAMRON HALL: Okay. NATALIE MORALES: --learning how to appreciate the fine game of soccer. WILLIE GEIST: Say one more time. NATALIE MORALES: Caipirinha. WILLIE GEIST: Caipirinha. (Cross talking) NATALIE MORALES: What I love-- and I don't know if you guys feel this way, but I love watching the drama on the field, like you see them fall-- WILLIE GEIST: The flop is what you're talking about. NATALIE MORALES: --and half the time they are faking it. AL ROKER: Oh. WILLIE GEIST: You love that part of it? NATALIE MORALES: Yes. Because it's like, come on, how could that-- TAMRON HALL: Yeah. NATALIE MORALES: --possibly be real? WILLIE GEIST: Right. NATALIE MORALES: And then they show the replay video and the guy barely got touched or there is like a tiny sprain. TAMRON HALL: Yeah, it's like the NBA a little bit, too. AL ROKER: It's like wrestling. WILLIE GEIST: Yeah. TAMRON HALL: Yeah. NATALIE MORALES: Yeah. TAMRON HALL: NBA. TAMRON HALL: Like LeBron James. Exactly. NATALIE MORALES: Just see if they get the yellow card, you know, the other player for that fall. WILLIE GEIST: Right, right. Okay. NATALIE MORALES: You want to know who's in, who's out. AL ROKER: Right. NATALIE MORALES: You know, obviously thirty-two countries competing here. Brazil has won the World Cup five times. So they have won the most, but never on home soil. AL ROKER: Ooh. TAMRON HALL: Wow. NATALIE MORALES: So a lot of people this time around hoping this is the time to do it. But anyway, I encourage you to check out our blog today.com and a lot of other things to appreciate, for example, the men in uniform. Come on. TAMRON HALL: Yeah. NATALIE MORALES: They look good. TAMRON HALL: Yeah, I have to say, that's the most exciting part of it. AL ROKER: You know, if Willie and I were to say, oh, the woman in-- WILLIE GEIST: Yeah. We'd be thrown off the air forever. (Cross talking) TAMRON HALL: Well, that's because men all had centuries to be creepy. Now we get to check-- NATALIE MORALES: Yes. WILLIE GEIST: Stop objectifying me and Al. AL ROKER: Yeah, come on. TAMRON HALL: Come on, you know you want it. NATALIE MORALES: I would say we appreciate the fine form and the athleticism. Because imagine, running up and down the field as they do, they say it's the distance of a half marathon every soccer game. WILLIE GEIST: Is it really? AL ROKER: : I would bet, yeah. TAMRON HALL: Yeah, but there are websites like the hottest-- NATALIE MORALES: They are sprinting. TAMRON HALL: --beards, like players with the best beards-- NATALIE MORALES: Yeah. WILLIE GEIST: Yeah. TAMRON HALL: --players with the best thighs, the best-- I mean, there are-- a lot of rankings. NATALIE MORALES: Oh, yeah. TAMRON HALL: That's why I enjoy it. I mean, I'm going to be honest. I cannot lie. AL ROKER: This weekend, you made chicken thighs in honor of-- TAMRON HALL: I made chicken thighs-- yeah, I did-- in honor of the thighs that I see-- we are not in soccer-- WILLIE GEIST: That is a reach right there. TAMRON HALL: No, it's not. I mean, you know, listen, I was at a bar-- NATALIE MORALES: I'm making (Unintelligible) as you are making thighs. TAMRON HALL: Yeah, I was at a bar Saturday night and we were watching the game and I'm with a lot of girls and I notice at the bar the ratio of women-to-men is like ten women to one watching the soccer game. And not that we ladies are going to appreciate the sport, but let's be honest. NATALIE MORALES: I'm telling they look good. They do. TAMRON HALL: Thank you. NATALIE MORALES: Plus, I appreciate the game. TAMRON HALL: They're the cutest athletes of all-- of all the sports. I think soccer players are-- NATALIE MORALES: Look at Spain's lineup. Just look at Spain. TAMRON HALL: Yeah, they are just-- NATALIE MORALES: Speaking of the guys with the beards. WILLIE GEIST: Yeah? NATALIE MORALES: Oh, yeah. TAMRON HALL: You-- you know-- AL ROKER: Are we on ESPN? WILLIE GEIST: No. No, they don't-- that's not how they cover the World Cup on ESPN. AL ROKER: I was going to say, yeah, probably not, probably not. NATALIE MORALES: The ESPN for women. TAMRON HALL: Exactly. This is the show we are dreaming up in our heads. AL ROKER: This is like a female PTI. NATALIE MORALES: We had something-- AL ROKER: You are Tony Kornheiser -- (Cross talking) WILLIE GEIST: Wilbon. AL ROKER: You are Michael Wilbon. NATALIE MORALES: I like that. I think we got something going there with that. AL ROKER: And vice versa. NATALIE MORALES: Speaking of sports, great, great story line out of the U.S. Open. TAMRON HALL: Yeah. NATALIE MORALES: And Martin Kaymer who we talked about earlier won by a lot, by eight strokes. But the real story was about the battle for second place and particularly with the finisher Erik Compton. WILLIE GEIST: Yeah. NATALIE MORALES: He suffered from viral cardiomyopathy, a disease that inflames the heart muscle, making it difficult to pump blood. Compton has had two heart transplants,-- AL ROKER: Wow. NATALIE MORALES: --the last one back in 2008. And here's what the thirty-four-year-old had to say right after the game. ERIK COMPTON: I've been on my back twice, and I never thought I'd ever leave the house. And-- and now I just finished second at the U.S. Open which is I don't think anybody would have ever thought I would do that. Not even myself. So you can't ever write yourself off. You just can't give up. NATALIE MORALES: Well, he said he didn't want to go in there as a guy who just had the-- the two heart transplants. He wanted to come out with a much bigger story. And clearly he has. TAMRON HALL: Successful. NATALIE MORALES: Yeah. WILLIE GEIST: And I'll tell you. The second place finish at a major like that changes your life. TAMRON HALL: Yeah. WILLIE GEIST: Because now he qualifies for the Masters. NATALIE MORALES: Yeah. TAMRON HALL: Yeah. WILLIE GEIST: He'll be at Augusta next year. NATALIE MORALES: Absolutely. WILLIE GEIST: And all these other big tournaments he gets to play for a year, so-- NATALIE MORALES: Great. WILLIE GEIST: Yeah. NATALIE MORALES: Great for him. TAMRON HALL: Absolutely. WILLIE GEIST: Yeah. So remember my friend Megan Colarossi? AL ROKER: Yeah. How is she doing? TAMRON HALL: Yeah. WILLIE GEIST: She has been on the show. NATALIE MORALES: Yeah. WILLIE GEIST: She-- she had her second baby. She's going to come back now and-- and join us. She is doing great. We're launching a new web series called Parental Guidance. Okay. It's the two of us. TAMRON HALL: Okay. NATALIE MORALES: You are giving us parental guidance? WILLIE GEIST: I don't know if you are the most qualified. Yes. It's mostly Megan giving parental guidance. NATALIE MORALES: Okay. TAMRON HALL: I love this. WILLIE GEIST: The first episode is how to enforce a curfew. NATALIE MORALES: Oh. AL ROKER: You mean like for teenagers. WILLIE GEIST: Yeah. TAMRON HALL: Teenagers. WILLIE GEIST: For the teenagers. NATALIE MORALES: Okay. TAMRON HALL: Okay. WILLIE GEIST: How do you make sure they come home. Al, you-- you have got the teenager. You have been through this. AL ROKER: Right. WILLIE GEIST: How do you make sure they come home on time? NATALIE MORALES: I thought you were talking about your own curfew. AL ROKER: While you get-- you know-- WILLIE GEIST: No, I-- AL ROKER: You didn't enforce that this weekend. WILLIE GEIST: No, there wasn't one in Nashville. AL ROKER: No curfew. WILLIE GEIST: (Unintelligible) let you come in. AL ROKER: All-- look, it's-- you get one shot. You come home, if you're late-- NATALIE MORALES: Yeah. AL ROKER: --then we-- you know, we kind of really push it the next time. If there's two-- you know, you are-- TAMRON HALL: What's a reasonable curfew? What's the curfew these days? Because mine was ten. AL ROKER: While it depends-- it depends on age-- WILLIE GEIST: In high school? NATALIE MORALES: That's where you live. AL ROKER: it depends on where you are. It depends on, you know, what-- what the-- what the-- the event is-- TAMRON HALL: Okay. NATALIE MORALES: Yeah, okay. AL ROKER: --you know, what are you doing. Yeah. TAMRON HALL: What's the latest curfew? NATALIE MORALES: I don't know, like midnight. WILLIE GEIST: I think we had, yeah, midnight. TAMRON HALL: I think midnight is-- is about-- WILLIE GEIST: By senior year in high school-- AL ROKER: Yeah. TAMRON HALL: Yeah. WILLIE GEIST: --I think it was midnight. Yeah. AL ROKER: Oh. TAMRON HALL: Yeah. NATALIE MORALES: Yeah. I was like last bus was eleven, I had to be home because living in Spain, I had to catch that last bus. WILLIE GEIST: Uh. AL ROKER: All right. NATALIE MORALES: Or else, I was out. AL ROKER: It was nine thousand miles to the next-- NATALIE MORALES: Yeah, to the-- TAMRON HALL: To the next soccer game. AL ROKER: Just like the U.S. soccer team. Alrighty.”