These cellar dwellers are big sellers

Maybe the word that football players were coming from America led those in London to think David Beckham was returning.

Or possibly the NFL hasn’t let on that Eli -- not Peyton -- Manning is coming.

Regardless of the reason, the first 40,000 tickets for the NFL’s first regular-season game outside the U.S. were sold in 90 minutes this week, meaning yet another city has shown more interest in having a team than Los Angeles has.

Still, a ticket rush for the New York Giants versus Miami Dolphins at new Wembley Stadium? While that may be the same as Southern Californians going ape over the signing of an English soccer player who is on the backside of his career, Alistair Kirkwood, managing director of NFL UK, told the Associated Press, that the brisk business “demonstrates the great excitement and appetite for the game in this country.”

It’s the Giants, next-to-last in the NFC East last season, and the Dolphins, last in the AFC East. Keep the bicarbonate handy.

And that sound you hear in the distance? It’s the Kings and Ducks screaming, “Hey, over here, come on, we’re playing in London next season too.”

Trivia time

Who led the Angels in home runs during the 1976 season?

Spurred on

What do you do with a dirty spur? Joice Overton, in an article titled “Collecting Cowboy Spurs,” wrote, “I recommend cleaning the silver with a soft cloth and Simichrome polish only.”

The NBA followed that script, polishing the old image with some suspensions. Not that everything was hunky-dory in the San Antonio Spurs’ locker room.

Swapping Robert Horry for the Phoenix Suns’ Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw seemed to be a win for the Spurs, but Coach Gregg Popovich sounded tired of hearing about his alleged bad boys (Bruce “Lee” Bowen?) Wednesday.

“It’s ridiculous,” Popovich said. “All of sudden we’re the old Detroit Pistons. I’ve been trying for a decade. We’ve been working every year and ... the last three days we’re there.”

Holy Bill Laimbeer, let’s hope that was sarcasm.

Gnashing his teeth

Horry, suspended two games for a forearm that sent the Suns’ Steve Nash flying, must have made unglamorous NBA players nervous when he told reporters, “If it would have been anybody but Steve Nash it probably wouldn’t have been two games. But Steve Nash is a great player, MVP, focal point for the NBA now so they have to protect their players.”

A little safety tip to the “average” players around the league: heads up.

Name dropping

The Suns may be on the verge of elimination, but their fans can feel good about one thing from Wednesday’s loss.

Said Bowen, “The people were calling me choice names I had never heard before.”

Hmmm. “Well done, sir.” ... “Quality defense, Mr. Bowen.” ... “Nice shot, Bruce.”

Naaaah.

Dirty birds?

The Ducks’ Chris Pronger and Rob Niedermayer delivered the most vicious tag-team hit in hockey since the Hanson brothers took the ice in “Slap Shot.” The hit on the Red Wings’ Tomas Holmstrom on Tuesday night led to a one-game suspension for Pronger and a Detroit News online poll.

As of Thursday morning the voting went:

One-game suspension enough: 35%

Longer suspension needed: 62%

No suspension needed: 3%

No word yet on how many times Marty McSorley clicked “no suspension needed.”

Trivia answer

Bobby Bonds with 10.

And finally

Horry, who was hardly a fan favorite in Phoenix when he played briefly for the Suns, said he regretted one thing about the Nash incident: “The boos had started to dissipate. Now I have to start all over again.”

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chris.foster@latimes.com