Cliff Lee doesn’t let the money do the talking

Give Cliff Lee credit for honesty when he says of spurning a richer offer from the New York Yankees to sign a $120-million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies, “It’s plenty of money. When you hit a certain point, enough’s enough.” …

You mean it’s not all about the Benjamins? …

The acquisitions of Lee by the Phillies and Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez by the Boston Red Sox have moved those teams ahead of the Yankees as World Series favorites, according to odds posted at bodog.com. …

The Yankees are the No. 3 pick. …

Kendry Morales and the Angels, who theoretically should benefit from Lee’s bolting the Texas Rangers, are listed at 25-1 to win the World Series, the Dodgers at 30-1. …

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat are steaming toward their Christmas Day showdown against the Lakers. …

Andrew Bynum’s return has reenergized Pau Gasol. …

Joe Smith, the top choice in the 1995 draft, is the 17th No. 1 overall pick to play for the Lakers, a list that includes all-time greats such as Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, Shaquille O’Neal and James Worthy as well as lesser lights such as Ray Felix, Fred Hetzel and Kwame Brown. …

Also: current Lakers radio analyst Mychal Thompson. …

First we need a new stadium and an NFL team to play in it and then we can start clamoring for Pete Carroll’s Southland return. …

With the stumbling Denver Broncos on pace for their worst season since the pre- John Elway days, the former Granada Hills High star reportedly is set to return — not as a quarterback, of course, but to lead the front office. …

Terrell Owens is slowing down: It doesn’t usually take him this long into a season to rip into his teammates. …

Sal Alosi has given new meaning to the term meat-head. …

Drew Brees and the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints, after a wobbly start, have quietly reclaimed their place among the NFL’s elite. …

Friday marks the two-month anniversary of red-hot Tom Brady’s most recent interception. …

Peyton Manning over the same period has thrown 13. …

“Football is not king,” reader Wayne Suggett of Albuquerque, N.M., e-mails to suggest. “Gambling is king and football is its loyal subject.” …

The Fight Hunger Bowl, known as the Emerald Bowl last year when Matt Barkley and USC played in it, already has lined up opponents for a Pacific 12 Conference rep through 2013: Army next year, Navy in 2012 and Brigham Young in 2013. …

That’s assuming they’re bowl-eligible, of course. …

Trivia time: What former University of Cincinnati basketball player retired from pro ball when he was 30 and was enshrined at the Hall of Fame six years later? …

Bob Feller was a nationally known figure at such a young age that his 1937 graduation from Van Meter High in Iowa was covered live by NBC on its national radio network. …

He also was featured on the cover of Time that spring and by the time he turned 21, he’d already won 55 major league games. …

Original recipe for sellouts: The new $238-million arena where Rick Pitino’s Louisville basketball team plays its home games is actually called the KFC Yum! Center. …

Yes, Nicklas Lidstrom is a defenseman, but it’s still surprising to learn that before this week the 40-year-old Detroit Red Wings great had never recorded a hat trick. …

Trivia answer: Sandy Koufax, who turns 75 on Dec. 30. …

Daytona International Speedway, perhaps taking a lesson in expediency from Caltrans, has repaved its racing surface for the first time in 32 years. …

J.J. Watt, a Wisconsin defensive end who won the Lott IMPACT Trophy on Sunday at a ceremony in Newport Beach, is a former walk-on who delivered pizzas for six months before earning a football scholarship. …

At 6 feet 6 and 292 pounds, he probably was never stiffed. …

Twenty-two years ago this week, after losing their first 17 games as an expansion team, Billy Thompson and the Heat finally found an opponent they could beat: the Clippers, of course. …

The losers, presumably, were heckled by Donald Sterling.

jerome.crowe@latimes.com