Indianapolis Colts linebacker CATO JUNE may have gotten carried away with his comment describing Super Bowl XLI last Sunday in South Florida .  But when your team has just won the big game, things seem sunny indeed.

On many levels, Super Bowl XLI was just that - a beautiful day for football.  Even the rain - the first in Super Bowl history -- seemed to create a mystical setting in Dolphin Stadium in which tales were woven.

MILESTONES:  It started fast with a first. 

For the first time in Super Bowl history, the opening kickoff was returned for a touchdown, by - who else? - the Chicago Bears' DEVIN HESTER (left), who had six TD runbacks this season.  It was the quickest score in Super Bowl history at 14 seconds.

The next TD (a 53-yard catch) was by Colts wide receiver REGGIE WAYNE.  It was only the fourth time in Super Bowl history that two players from the same school - ironically the last two times coming from the University of Miami - scored a touchdown in the same Super Bowl (see chart below.)

As the game proceeded, the Colts' running game grew stronger.  By the end of Indy's 29-17 victory, it had become the first team in Super Bowl history to produce two rushers with at least 75 yards apiece (DOMINIC RHODES, 113; JOSEPH ADDAI, 77).    

After the Bears took a 14-6 lead late in the first quarter, the Colts registered the game's next four scores, never losing the lead after taking a 16-14 advantage halfway through the second quarter.  The Colts thus became the first team in history to win a conference championship game and the Super Bowl by overcoming deficits of more than seven points in each game (they overcame an 18-point deficit to win the AFC Championship).

Perhaps of all the "firsts," the most important to the 50,000-plus Colts fans that cheered their "Colt Heroes," as this week's Sports Illustrated termed them (right), at a welcome-home parade on Monday was that the team brought Indianapolis its first major professional sports league championship.

VIEWERS:  "In a frame of exceptionally strong ratings for some of America 's biggest entertainment series (such as American Idol, House and Grey's Anatomy), pro football's championship game towered over them all."

So said Daily Variety in summarizing the TV numbers Super Bowl XLI delivered.

The game was the highest-rated Super Bowl in seven years (42.6) and the third most-watched ever with 139.8 million total viewers (the 10 most-viewed programs in TV history are Super Bowls). 

"The Super Bowl is the last true national campfire," said the Washington Post on Sunday.  "It is the event that holds the common attention of a diverse and fragmented society." 

(Photo shows Colts head coach Tony Dungy hoisting Super Bowl XLI trophy.)

IMPACT:  Back home in Indy.souvenir sales skyrocketed. 

Fans (shown below at the team's Monday parade) scooped up anything bearing a Colts' logo.  Some stores opened at 7:00 AM on Monday - three hours earlier than usual.  "This is very unchartered territory for us, and we have seen fans respond," said ELISE HASBROOK of the Finish Line store. 

Meanwhile, back where it all took place in South Florida , area officials and local businesses were excited about the impact of the game.

DANNY AMADOR of Miami Beach 's Boulevard Hotel Ocean Drive said Super Bowl definitely increased his business.  "I will miss this excitement," he said.  "Everybody is going to miss it."

Organizers expect a $350 million economic influx into South Florida when all tabulations are in. 

And there's added value - exposure.  "Everyone was talking about South Florida ," said FRANK NERO of the Miami-Dade Beacon Council, an economic development organization.  "You can't buy that kind of exposure."

LONDON :   London , England stages a "Super Bash" party at Battersea Park the day of the game that draws more than 4,000 people - believed to be the largest Super Bowl get-together in the world outside of the U.S. host area itself.

On Friday, February 2, two days before Super Bowl XLI, it was announced that the NFL's first overseas regular-season game would be played on October 28 at Wembley Stadium in London between the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants.

In the next 72 hours, 160,000 fans requested half a million tickets to the game.  Wembley seats 85-90,000, so a lottery will be held to determine who will receive tickets.

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SCHOOLS WITH TWO PLAYERS SCORING TDs IN A SUPER BOWL