Tim Tebow trade talk tears up Twitter

To the shock of no one, news of Tim Tebow's apparent trade to the New York Jets on Wednesday exploded on Twitter. After all, the God-fearing Denver Broncos quarterbacck set a Twitter record in January, when his overtime touchdown pass against the Pittsburgh Steelers resulted in 9,420 tweets per second—the most frenzied response for any sporting event, Twitter said at the time. (The CBS broadcast of that game also drew a 25.9 overnight Nielsen rating—making it the highest-rated NFL wildcard game since 1988.)

According to Topsy, a company that specializes in real-time social analytics, Tebow's trade to the Jets inspired more than 250,000 mentions at 2:20 p.m. And for those wondering why the Jets—who just signed their own starting quarterback, Mark Sanchez, to a three-year extension—agreed to trade for Tebow, this chart (created by using Topsy) may offer a clue:

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