B.J. Raji's Interception Of Caleb Hanie Returned For Touchdown Just Part Of Insane NFC Championship Game - Video

Just when it looked like Caleb Hanie might be able to lead the Bears to a stirring comeback in the NFC Championship Game, he managed to hit the biggest guy on the field in the numbers — and the Packers' B.J. Raji turned the interception into a pick-six touchdown.

It's Raji's first interception return for a touchdown in his NFL career (you're shocked, aren't you?), and Hanie's first interception returned for a touchdown in his NFL career. But, amazingly, it also didn't end the NFC Championship Game.

That's because Hanie responded to the adversity caused by his own interception to the massive Raji — who calls himself "The Freezer" after Bears great William "Refrigerator" Perry — by leading a touchdown drive.

How can this NFC Championship Game get any crazier? The reanimated corpses of Red Grange and Bart Starr could get involved at this point, and I don't think I'd bat an eyelash.

NHL Selections and Snubs: Measuring Stardom at The 2011 All-Star Game

The 1991 NHL All-Star Game took place at one of the most hallowed Cathedrals in the game of hockey, Chicago Stadium. The Gray Lady on Madison. Home to my beloved Chicago Blackhawks. Chris Chelios started on the blue line and wore an "A". Steve Larmer got the nod, and young Jeremy Roenick made his debut.

But the fans cheered loudest for the Blackhawk watching from the stands that day, the goaltender who would go on to win the Vezina and Jennings trophy that season—Ed Belfour. Signs jeering Muckler or simply asking "Where's Eddie?", chants of "Eddie! Eddie!" and razzing Ranford peppered the day's pleasantries.

The 1991 contest is remembered not only because it was the last to be played in Chicago Stadium or Vincent Damphousse's four-goal MVP effort that included a natural hat trick, or the patriotic showing of support for the troops in the Persian Gulf, but because of the puzzling All-Star selections and omissions by both Campbell and Wales.

At that time only two goaltenders were chosen were allowed for each side, and John Muckler of Edmonton, behind the Campbell Conference bench that day chose his own goaltender, Bill Ranford over the league's top goaltender and hometown star, Ed Belfour. Coming off a Conn Smythe-winning performance and backstopping the Oilers to a Stanley Cup in 1990, Ranford was having a respectable but not great year.

Similarly, Wales Conference coach Mike Milbury of Boston selected his own enforcer Chris Nilan and shutdown forward Brian Skrudland over legend Guy Lafleur and standout Kirk Muller. While neither Nilan nor Skrudland saw action in the game due to injuries, Lafleur was rightfully given the honor, but Muller stayed home.

With the pageantry of each season's halfway point and the televised no-contact morning skate of a game played by its biggest stars the perennial debate blooms again—who is worthy of an All-Star selection and who isn't?

Taking into account the fan vote for starting honors at the All-Star Game and enhanced media coverage where the game has been easier to follow than ever, the measure of "Star" has become quite ambiguous. It used to be that to be a star, one had to be a statistically superior player within that season. But "star" can mean respected veteran, sentimental favorite, this season's "it" player, or an otherwise marketable personality.

What measure of time should be followed? Should the All-Star selection be made on the merits of the last half of the season and playoffs or just from October until now?

Further complicating the decision is that numbers don't tell the whole story of a player's value. You've got your puck-moving defensemen and you've got your stay at home defensemen, and it takes one of each for an effective pairing. There are playmakers and there are goal scorers, shutdown lines and scoring lines.

Players on teams in major markets or who otherwise benefit from greater media exposure also have an unfair advantage. Look at who the fans picked as the starting six—four from Gary Bettman's favorite team and two from the team who won the Cup last season, also with the highest ratings and ticket sales in the US. Is Marc-Andre Fleury more deserving than Tim Thomas?

Duncan Keith isn't even the best defenseman on his own team this season, and that teammate will be watching the game from home. Keith did, however, take home the Norris Trophy this summer and had a hell of a spring. Wisecracking party boy Patrick Kane made the All-Star cut in spite of a slow start, but Danny Briere—a player comparable to Kane and having a better season—had to make it on a last minute revision and a little bit of politicking.

Players like Henrik Zetterberg and Jarome Iginla declined for various reasons, and in some ways it becomes the best collection of players available to play on that given weekend, but still there is no shortage of deserving players staying home.

Unless one is a sponsor or an agent negotiating player contracts, All-Star appearances and the game itself are largely trivial. Players still consider it an honor or at least say so, but the fan exhibition of a game has long paled in comparison to the anticipation of the Super Skills Competition. Yet fear not, fans—since 1998 we've had a true All-Star contest to look forward to. It lasts two weeks, but you have to wait another three years for the next one.

MTV's "Skins" Game

The network that gave us Snooki now features a teen sex show that may have too much to bare...

It's hard to write this without sounding like an ancient prude or an echo of the overheated, we're-in-danger-of-losing-our-mortal-souls! bombast of the often-reactionary Parents Television Council.

But let's step back for a moment, take a deep (not heavy) breath and make a humble suggestion to MTV executives: When your hot new show might be in danger of running afoul of child pornography laws, perhaps it’s time for a larger reassessment of your mission.

The New York Times reports that MTV has directed the producers of "Skins," the new scripted show portraying teenagers run amok, to tone things down because of fears of breaking federal law. The paper cited a scene in an upcoming episode showing a 17-year-old boy naked from behind as among the concern-raising content.

The show, based on the British program of the same name, actually employs age-appropriate actors (the youngest is 15) – unlike TV's biggest high school-set show, "Glee," where some of the performers are old enough to have graduated medical school.

While "Glee" has plenty of hormonally charged raciness, it's couched in camp. "Skins" offers a far more stark and explicit portrayal of sex, drugs and lots of other things parents of teens wish didn’t exist. Last week's premiere featured an exhibitionist MILF and a girl with an unfortunate nickname, which – like some of the dialogue – isn’t repeatable here.

We're willing to accept that elements of the show are realistic, even if "Skins" isn't necessarily appropriate viewing for young teens (who, of course, are among the 3.3 million who saw last week's premiere episode and the many others watching online. The Times noted that the program set a debut-show record for viewership in MTV’s prime 12 to 34 demographic).

“Skins,” though, feels like it belongs on some other network – say, Cinemax. Unfortunately, the show marks another example of MTV’s growing cynicism toward a youth culture that it once celebrated.

"Jersey Shore" seems to have been just the start of a headfirst dive (or Snooki ball drop) into a programming strategy largely based upon young people acting foolishly. We’ve reached the sad point where the real-life, walking, squawking ethnic stereotypes on "Jersey Shore" come off as more cartoonish than the fictional characters of "Skins."

It's all too easy for those us who remember MTV's debut nearly 30 years ago to romanticize a past where sexist videos in which guys and gals seemed to be in a big-hair competition ruled the day. But MTV was at least a place that offered the latest music videos, pop culture news and a sense that the real world (and even “The Real World,” at least in the early years) wasn’t a bleak place.

We're not calling for an MTV "Up With People" marathon, and aren’t quite ready to declare, like the PTC, that “Skins” is “the most dangerous program that has ever been foisted on your children!” But using this opportunity to think about where MTV should go from here might be nice, along with a restoration of some balance. Perhaps a little more "Rock the Vote"– and a little less rocking of beach houses.

That might be too much to hope for, with Viacom, MTV’s parent company, making big money off nonsense like “Jersey Shore,” and, presumably, “Skins.” But as they face concerns over crossing the line into kiddie porn, the MTV suits may soon have to decide whether "Skins," in the long run, is too much to bare.

Jets-Patriots Beats Cowboys-Panthers In '97 As Most Watched NFL Divisional Playoff Game

What happens when you combine one of the NFL's most popular teams and the largest market in the country?

Record-breaking TV ratings.

The New York Jets upset defeat of the New England Patriots netted 43.5 million viewers according to an NFL spokesman. That puts them as the most watched divisional playoff game in NFL history.

They pass the Dallas Cowboys and Carolina Panthers 1997 divisional playoff game who previously held the record with 42.7 million viewers.

Now in third place is Joe Montana's Chiefs against Warren Moon's Oilers in 1994 (which is also the last time the Chiefs won a playoff game).

The Jets will now travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers, who have a wide-ranging fanbase. If anyone's going to continue breaking ratings records, it'll be the Jets.

2011 BCS Championship Game To Feature Less Brent Musburger, Says Brent Musburger

ESPN's top-shelf announcing crew is on the mic for tonight's BCS National Championship Game in bucolic Glendale, Arizona: Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit will steer the broadcast, with Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi providing backup vocals. The lead dog, however, will be slowing his roll on this august occasion: Musburger says he plans to scale back on the chatter this evening and let the game speak for itself.

"I'll be quieter than usual, won't try to over talk. I know they'll be some people who, believe it or not, won't know where Auburn is, so we'll mention it. But I think the bigger the game, the less you need an announcer. I'll just let people enjoy it."

That's a kind boon to an audience that, though jacked, is probably at the end of its patience after a title game eve full of Bob Davie's bons mots, although one could argue the duo are feeling slightly dejected at the prospect of not having Ohio State in this game, and thus being denied the opportunity to bellow, "THAAAA BUCKEEEEYES!" at every turn.

Don't tease him too much about his particulars, though: Turns out ol' Musby knows all about your reindeer games, gentle viewers.
[The] so-called Musburger drinking games that pop up on the Internet — instructing viewers how much to imbibe at Musburgerisms such as "pardner" and "folks" — might be affected. "I still kind of chuckle about those. But I won't be playing to the Musburger drinking games."

Consider your livers: Brent Musburger could've made all of us drink ourselves to death with a few well-placed phrases for who knows how long now, and has stayed his hand. Is he not merciful?

Oregon Cheerleaders Don New Uniforms In BCS Championship Game

Not to be outdone by their male compatriots in the 2011 BCS Championship Game, the Oregon Ducks cheerleaders have new uniforms of their own, provided, of course, by the school's bottomless Nike connections:

Traditionally outfitted in sports bras and micro-minis, these uniforms are a departure in that they're ... different sports bras and micro-minis! Say what you want about the color scheme, but they at least adhere to the school's stated palette of yellow and green, unlike the muted silver and gray currently being rocked by the actual football team. (Can you call a uniform muted if it includes neon yellow socks? We need a ruling here.) And if you can spare a moment from ogling the ladies, cast a sop of sympathy towards the boys, whose racerback-looking shirt patterns are doing them no favors.

Stay tuned to this StoryStream throughout the game for more live score updates, and connect with Oregon and Auburn fans at SB Nation's Addicted To Quack and Track Em Tigers.