Just-in Nielsen numbers confirm that last night's broadcast of the Indianapolis Colts vs. the (winning) Nawlins Saints was the highest-rated television broadcast in US history, with 106.5 million viewers tuning in. This edges out the M*A*S*H series finale's 27-year record.

What a year! First Avatar ascends to the top of the box office pile, and now we have a shiny and enormous new television record. The presence of a golden Manning brother on the Colts and the Saints' feel-good, post-Katrina, first-Super-Bowl-ever backstory are surely responsible for the huuuge numbers, not to mention that a bunch of people on the East Coast were snowbound and stuck at home, and pretty much everything else on was a repeat. Because of these special factors, these numbers likely won't be duplicated or topped next year. Mostly all this means for the future is that Tim Tebow's mom is now really, really famous.