MNF's (almost) record audience

ESPN's puffing out its chest today about the audience for its Monday Night Football matchup between Dallas and Buffalo, which became a knuckle biter ending in a 25-24 victory for the Cowboys.
The game averaged 9,639,000 homes tuned in, according to the news release, "the most for any show on cable television in 2007." Wow. I guess.
Yes, in households, it beat even "High School Musical 2," which delivered 9,433,000 households. But then ESPN compares its total viewer figures to that little juggernaut on its sister network, Disney Channel, and the bubble pops. HSM delivered 17,241,000 in its August premiere to Monday Night Football's 13,028,000. Which I suppose means that wide-eyed, clear-skinned young lovers Troy and Gabrielle can whup a bunch of 300-pound no-neck NFL linemen.