More teams in bowl games than an NCAA basketball tournament

The bowl season has become college football’s silly season, with more teams playing in bowl games than will participate in the 65-team NCAA basketball tournament. . . .

It still doesn’t seem right that 10 bowl games this year will be played after the Granddaddy of Them All. . . .

Among the games upcoming after Jeremiah Masoli and Oregon square off against Terrelle Pryor and Ohio State today in the Rose Bowl: the International Bowl, the Papajohns.com Bowl, the Liberty Bowl, the Alamo Bowl and the GMAC Bowl. . . .

That’s like Stevie Wonder opening for Ruben Studdard. . . .

Andrew Bynum, a shell of his former self since Pau Gasol’s return in November, had better get used to playing with his Spanish teammate because Gasol isn’t going anywhere. . . .

Shannon Brown seems a natural for the NBA dunk contest, especially considering TV’s love affair with the Lakers. . . .

The Clippers Shuffle: One step up, two steps back. . . .

Sign held aloft at Staples Center, presumably by fans of Clippers center Chris Kaman: “So Easy a Kaman Can Do It.” . . .

Is that a compliment? . . .

Three of the five winningest coaches in NBA history -- Lenny Wilkens, Don Nelson and Jerry Sloan -- have one championship between them. . . .

The other two -- Pat Riley and Phil Jackson -- have won 15. . . .

Nothing, apparently, is going to come easily this season for Nikola Dragovic and the UCLA basketball team. . . .

Marcus Johnson and USC might make some noise in the Pacific 10 Conference, which is not nearly as strong or deep as it has been in recent years. . . .

In only his second NFL season, former Cal and Long Beach Poly High wideout DeSean Jackson of the Philadelphia Eagles might already be the NFL’s most dangerous big-play threat. . . .

In 2008, remarkably, 48 players were drafted ahead of him. . . .

Eric Dickerson undoubtedly will keep close tabs on Sunday’s NFL game at Seattle, where Chris Johnson of the Tennessee Titans has an outside shot of breaking the single-season rushing record set by the ex-Los Angeles Rams great in 1984. . . .

Johnson, averaging nearly 125 yards a game, needs 128 to reach 2,000 and 234 to break the record of 2,105. . . .

By the way, of the five players who rushed for 2,000 yards -- Dickerson, Jamal Lewis, Barry Sanders, Terrell Davis and O.J. Simpson -- only Simpson did it in a 14-game season. . . .

If Mark Sanchez and the New York Jets knock off Carson Palmer and the nothing-to-play-for Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday night, the former USC quarterbacks could meet again a week later in a wild-card playoff game. . . .

Declining a request to outline the things JaMarcus Russell needs to do to reach his potential, Oakland Raiders Coach Tom Cable told reporters this week, “We’d be here forever.” . . .

Texas Tech, remarkably quick to jettison Mike Leach, is the same school that gave Bob Knight a second chance. . . .

A Big Ten team hasn’t won a Rose Bowl game since 2000, when Ron Dayne and Wisconsin overpowered Stanford. . . .

Since Vince Young and Texas ended USC’s 34-game winning streak four years ago this week, the Trojans have lost nine more times, all against Pac-10 opponents. . . .

ESPN commentator and former NFL quarterback Brian Griese, on Nebraska’s dominating Ndamukong Suh: “Those are the kinds of guys that make me happy I’m retired.” . . .

Former USC tailback Ricky Ervins, player of the game in the 1990 Rose Bowl, on the freshman quarterback who led the game-winning drive against Michigan 20 years ago today: “People can say what they want about Todd Marinovich, but Todd was a baller. That dude, man, he was awesome.” . . .

An Ebony magazine ranking of “the most influential black Americans” lists LeBron James No. 1 among sports figures, Venus and Serena Williams No. 2 and Tiger Woods No. 8. . . .

James turned 25 on Wednesday, the same day Woods turned 34. . . .

Congratulations to 20-year-old Kings defenseman Drew Doughty, the youngest player named to Team Canada’s roster for next month’s Winter Olympics hockey competition. . . .

Based on average resale ticket price, RazorGator.com says the toughest ticket of the decade was to the 2008 Super Bowl between the New York Giants and New England Patriots. . . .

And many Patriots fans probably burned theirs afterward.

jerome.crowe@latimes.com