Gambling jones, Part Ongoing

 I don't know where Alex Karras and Paul Hornung are these days -- hoisting a few celestial beers and airing old Lions-Packers beefs, presumably -- but I can pretty much quote them verbatim as they look down from their heavenly realm.

"Coulda told you this would happen," is my top pick.

They might also have added a bemused shake or two of the head, because things were different in their day. That would have been 1963, when then-commish Pete Rozelle suspended Karras and Hornung for betting on NFL games and associating with "known gamblers."

Of course, that was when the NFL didn't talk out of both sides of its mouth when it came to gambling.

No, back then, the league shuddered at the very thought of it, and held it at arm's length as a result. That's because Rozelle and Co. held the sensible notion that nothing warps a straight game faster than letting the gamblers get their mitts on it.

Now?

 Shoot. Associating with known gamblers is just Tuesday for today's NFL.

Not only does the league have a team in Vegas now, but it does business with its main industry. And, surprise, surprise, the scandals have followed.

Not six weeks ago, the league suspended five players for violating the league's "gambling policy" (quotation marks intentional). Now comes the news that the NFL is investigating Indianapolis Colts defensive back Isaiah Rodgers for possible violations of the "policy" -- including betting on Colts games.

This is some potentially bad business, obviously. And the hell of it is, the NFL has bought every bit of it legit.

It made it inevitable when it climbed in bed with the gamblers -- the league partnered with four sportsbooks in 2021 -- and now ads for sportsbooks are as much a fixture of NFL Sundays as Mahomes-to-Kelce. Budweiser, Dodge Ram and Jamie Foxx telling you to BetMGM: That's the NFL on CBS these days, and also the NFL on FOX.

It's also NFL players availing themselves of the very same sportsbooks the league itself promotes. Which makes Roger Goodell ‘n’ them getting all righteous about it a hell of a sticky wicket.

That sound you just heard?

It's Karras and Hornung, sharing a belly laugh.