FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH:

•The Patriots will play in London on Sunday, and it’s more about the brand than it is the game.

The NFL brand.

“Brand” is the new corporate buzzword, of course, and the NFL is nothing if not a huge business. That is why the Pats are there. Not because there’s a huge amount of interest. Not because the people in London care one way or the other. Not because it’s in the best interest of either the Pats or Tampa Bay to journey across the ocean for Sunday’s game.

The NFL brand.

A game that’s all about commerce, not football.

•The Yankees were all but smelling the World Series the other night until their bullpen spit the bit while trying to get to Mariano Rivera.

•Memo to the General Assembly: Want to raise some money? How about hosting a Sundlun-Williams debate on women and politics and charge admission?

•The Titans quit in the second quarter last Sunday, a disgrace if they had been a Pop Warner team, never mind an NFL squad.

•I wish my 401(k) had paid off as well as Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia have for the Yankees.

•Quiz of the Week: Who are the top five all-time Patriots punt-returners based on yardage? (Answer near the bottom of the column.)

•Line of the Week comes from Bill Walton, in the Oregonian, on his recent back surgery: “I went from thinking I was going to die, to wanting to die, to being afraid I was going to live, to now seeing rainbows, Calliopes, clowns, and dreaming of a better tomorrow.”

Wow.

•Line of the Week II comes from West Virginia basketball coach Bob Huggins, who when told guard Joe Mazzulla was not from Johnstown, but from Johnston, said: “Whatever. Same difference.”

But there’s no Central Landfill in Johnstown, coach.

•There’s no truth to the rumor that Rhode Island is one big reality TV show and no one ever told us.

•Or that the queen will conduct the coin toss for Sunday’s game.

•Mark Sanchez is finding out that being a hot young quarterback in New York comes with a certain pressure.

•Instant replay is the umpires’ biggest enemy.

•The word is Larry Bird is in the twilight of his time with the Pacers, a team that’s on the decline.

•If a train wreck was a movie, it would be Law Abiding Citizen.

•Tony Gaffney, who went to Somerset High School, then to Boston University, and last year was the A-10 defensive player of the year at UMass, has made the Lakers.

•Sports Illustrated is picking the Celtics over the Lakers for the NBA title.

•South of Broad is not Pat Conroy’s best, but Conroy on cruise control is well worth it, a writer with the talent to converse with the gods.

•There’s no truth to the rumor that if the Yankees win, Kate Hudson becomes the most important Hudson in New York history since Henry.

•Or that however bad your week was, Bunky, Steve Phillips’ was worse — this week’s David Letterman award winner.

•Jimmy Clausen, the Notre Dame quarterback who once was a big-time recruit, is now living up to the hype.

•Laurence Maroney ran downhill against the Titans more than he has in a long time.

•Once people watched soap operas. Now they live them.

•Memo to Adalius Thomas: You’re not going to win the battle of words with Coach Bill.

•A-Rod is having the postseason of his life, the player the Yankees thought they were getting.

•Can we make balloon man Richard Heene an honorary Rhode Islander, this year’s Richard Hatch?

•They should win, but if the Yankees lose Saturday night, the pressure will be on them in Game Seven, the ghosts of 2004 all but running all over the field.

•Zen Question of the Week: If defense wins championships, why all the attention given to Tom Brady?

•Pedro has more baseball lives than a cat.

•You’ve probably seen too much football if you remember when Brown played football against Colgate every Thanksgiving morning.

•There’s no truth to the rumor that it’s been all uphill for A-Rod since Madonna found a new boy-toy.

•Boston College has beaten Notre Dame in football the last six times they’ve met.

•Quiz answer: Troy Brown. Irving Fryar. David Meggett. Mike Haynes. Stanley Morgan.

•Let’s see: We’ve got 13 percent unemployment and people living in tents, and now we’re going to spend $1.4 million to fix potholes in Kennedy Plaza? Is that about it?

•Joey Galloway, we hardly knew ye.

•The last time a bunch of patriots tangled with the English it was a home game, right?

•Did you see where for $25,000, the New Jersey Nets are offering you four courtside seats for 10 games and the opportunity to have a player come to your kid’s birthday party? Memo to the Nets. For $25,000, you should be able to play in a game.

•On a personal note, this week was the last for sports editor Art Martone, who first walked in here 35 years ago and is leaving to work for Comcast New England. He is a prince among men, and I wish him well.

breynold@projo.com