FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH:

•Yesterday was the parade through “the Canyon of Heroes” in Manhattan, as if we needed any reminder that the Yankees are different.

But don’t dismiss the Yankees’ accomplishment because they spend more money than anyone else. Not unless you’re willing to denounce the way Major League Baseball is played, a landscape that the Red Sox and all the other “haves” benefit from.

In a sense, MLB mirrors the country, the “haves” and the “have-nots.” This is the terrain, and yesterday’s parade was a testimony to the fact that the Yankees are very good at maneuvering through it, the American Dream in pinstripes.

•They used to call it the single wing. Now it’s the Wildcat.

•The Dolphins’ Joey Porter needs a new act.

•You know the world has fallen off its axis, Bunky, when Letterman’s ratings have gone up 13 percent since his scandal, one more example of a society that no longer knows shame.

•Did you see where Syracuse lost in the Carrier Dome to Division II LeMoyne the other night? Say it ain’t so, Pearl Washington.

•Quiz of the Week: Which Yankee manager has won the most World Series? (Answer near the bottom of the column.)

•Line of the Week comes from WPRO’s Dan Yorke, who, while talking about the city’s sleazy sex business, said Providence is not the Renaissance City, it’s “The Pervert City.”

•Line of the Week II comes from David Wilkner of Pawtucket via e-mail: “Hideki Matsui is baseball’s first Mr. November.”

•You’ve got to love my man Joe D., who said earlier in the week, “I don’t care who wins the World Series as long as the Yankees lose.”

•What happened to the Giants’ defense?

•And Eli Manning, for that matter?

•The only problem with the Celtics is that they’re too good, and figure to play something like a dozen important games until the playoffs start in April.

•We are now paying the steep price for virtually every inner-city school in this country failing for the last 50 years.

•Cover of the week goes to the New York Post, which had a giant picture of a baby Pedro in a diaper and a red Phillies cap, complete with a headline, “Spank Him, Yanks.”

•USC looked slow in last week’s loss to Oregon, and when was the last time that happened?

•Brian Cashman is another Yankee who needed this postseason.

•There should be a special room in hell for nitwits who text while driving.

•According to a recent Sports Illustrated poll, Randy Moss is the second most dangerous wide receiver in the game, behind the Cardinals’ Larry Fitzgerald.

•Which, of course, only highlights how inept Al “Weekend at Bernie’s” Davis and the Raiders are, letting Moss go to the Pats for a fourth-round draft choice.

•Speaking of the Raiders, even they aren’t going to be able to explain the train wreck that’s Tom Cable.

•When did every other adult start running around in costumes on Halloween?

•It took Allen Iverson exactly one game with the Grizzlies to start complaining about his minutes, not that anyone should be surprised.

•Elizabeth Beisel is the latest Rhode Island athlete to have chosen the University of Florida in the last year, and next year she will join basketball player Alex Murphy of South Kingstown and runner Tim O’Loughlin of Westerly.

•The Friars’ Marshon Brooks is on the cusp of being a big-time talent.

•There’s no truth to the rumor that if someone writes a book about this World Series, it will be called “The Boys of Winter.”

•Or that the movie “Paranormal Activity” is like watching the General Assembly in action.

•Or that in the new movie “The Men Who Stare At Goats,” I’m rooting for the goat.

•Bodog.com has the Yankees the favorites at 11-4 to win the 2010 World Series, followed by the Red Sox at 13-2 and the Phillies at 9-1.

•Can you remember a time when there were so many bad teams in the NFL?

•Kudos to Jeff Caron, once one of the key figures in the 1994 book “Fall River Dreams” and now the athletic director at Dartmouth High School, who recently was named the Massachusetts South Division I basketball coach of the year for last season.

•“Mad Men” is great, as dark and quirky as the decade it depicts.

•Quiz Answer: Actually, there are two, Joe McCarthy and Casey Stengel, with seven apiece.

•I suspect a lot of people are going to feel foolish going to rap “oldies” shows in 20 years.

•Tom Brady said the other day on WEEI that he feels great physically, and doesn’t see why he can’t play until he’s Brett Favre’s age.

•The real “Mr. October” is Mariano Rivera.

•“A Wicked Good Year,” a new book by the Boston Herald’s Steve Buckley, is a fine account of Boston’s rise as the best sports city in the country.

•There’s no truth to the rumor that if we had a parade for our politicians, it would be through something called “The Canyon of Clowns.”