JERRY CROWE: A bad night all around for LeBron James

Perhaps now, after suffering an injured ankle, losing to the Clippers and enduring endless criticism of the tweet that wouldn’t die, LeBron James has a better understanding of karma. …

James, Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat won’t be the last contenders swept under by the rising tide that is Blake Griffin & Co. …

All-in efforts by Baron Davis are always a pleasant surprise. …

If it comes down to a choice between Griffin and Lamar Odom for an All-Star spot, Odom might be out of luck. …

He’s probably basking in Auburn’s BCS title now, but two years ago Charles Barkley blasted his alma mater’s hiring of Gene Chizik, calling former Nebraska quarterback Turner Gill “the perfect choice” to coach the Tigers and saying of the school’s opting for Chizik, “I think race was the No. 1 factor.” …

Chizik’s record suggests that other factors were in play. …

The Sporting News, in naming Clay Matthews the NFL’s defensive player of the year, calls the former USC linebacker “the NFL’s Tasmanian devil, a player who is in constant motion, attacking from here, there and everywhere.” …

Tom Brady was the offensive player of the year, Ndamukong Suh of the Detroit Lions the rookie of the year. …

An amused Brady, after cornerback Antonio Cromartie of the New York Jets called him a bad name this week: “[Bill] Belichick’s called me that. My offensive coordinator calls me that. I know they like me. So maybe he really likes me.” …

According to bodog.com, the odds of Mark Sanchez and the Jets squaring off against Pete Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl next month are 100-1. …

Sanchez, the first Jets quarterback to win three playoff games, is still a Super Bowl victory short of Joe Namath. …

Unfortunately for oft-injured former USC tight end Blake Ayles, who is transferring to Miami, his most memorable moment with the Trojans may have been his caught-on-film, double-fisted middle-fingers-raised salute at Notre Dame in 2009. …

Barring a successful appeal of their NCAA bowl ban, by the way, Matt Barkley and USC are ineligible to play in the inaugural Pacific 12 Conference championship game next season. …

Because it has happened three times now, you’d think that court-rushing Florida State basketball fans would be more blasé about upset victories over top-ranked Duke in Tallahassee. …

Duke’s loss left Kawhi Leonard and San Diego State with the nation’s longest current winning streak: 18 games. …

The 2011 debut of ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” on April 3 will feature Andre Ethier and the Dodgers against the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants. …

The Dodgers have established an e-mail address — greenfamily@dodgers.com — for fans to express their condolences for the fatal shooting of 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, daughter of Dodgers scout John Green and granddaughter of former major league manager Dallas Green. …

With Mariano Rivera closing in, Trevor Hoffman’s major league record of 601 saves might not last long, but the former Anaheim Savanna High right-hander is destined for Cooperstown. …

The players will choose up sides for the NHL All-Star game, a format that would work well in the NBA. …

Twenty years ago Thursday, Bo Jackson suffered the hip injury that ended his NFL career after only four seasons. …

He was 28. …

Hall of Famers Tom Seaver, Brooks Robinson and Robin Yount are among those who will be feted Saturday night at the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation’s “In the Spirit of the Game” fundraiser at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza. …

Information: (310) 996-1188. …

Noting that victory-starved Dale Earnhardt Jr. had been named NASCAR’s most popular driver for the eighth year in a row, Brad Dickson of the Omaha World-Herald writes, “And, for the fourth year in a row, his car had to be towed to the awards ceremony.” …

If the NFL followed college football’s lead, playing its championship game 37 days after determining the participants, the Super Bowl would be played in early March. …

In the interim, 34 other games would be played that had no bearing whatsoever on establishing a champion. …

Wouldn’t that be silly?

jerome.crowe@latimes.com