As the NFL began to emphasize its intolerance for any sort of gambling among its ranks, that taste for prohibition was not always shared among its ownership.
Take Carroll Rosenbloom, for example. Rosenbloom made a fortune early and invested a small slice of it to become the majority owner of the Baltimore Colts franchise in the late 40s. Rosenbloom's Colts soon became an NFL mainstay. Coached by Weeb Ewbank and Don Shula, quarterbacked by Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas, the Colts became a model of NFL success throughout the 50s and 60s. Even their loss to the Ewbank-coached, Joe Namath-quarterbacked New York Jets in Super Bowl III only contributed to the increasing popularity of the league.
In the late 70s, Rosenbloom engineered a deal to trade with Robert Irsay to trade his Colts franchise for the Los Angeles Rams. In relatively short order, Irsay moved the Colts to Indianapolis, literally packing up the club's stuff and hauling it off in the middle of the night without any prior warning. Rosenbloom drowned in the Florida surf, leaving the Rams to wife Georgia. Georgia soon remarried for the (fifth? sixth? seventh?) time to composer Dominic Frontiere. She also moved the Rams to St. Louis in the 1980s.
Where's the gambling, you say? In 1958, Rosenbloom's Colts faced the New York Giants for the NFL championship. The game, an all-time classic, went into overtime before Johnny U led the Colts on a game winning drive. Unitas got it to first and goal at the Giants's 8. Instead of kicking a chip-shot field goal - the goal posts were on the goal line at that time - the Colts continued to grind until Unitas handed off to Alan Ameche for a one-yard touchdown and the win.
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| Colts fullback Alan Ameche scores on a one-yard TD to give the Colts the win in "The Greatest Game Ever Played" |
Why would they do that? Rumor has it that Rosenbloom had a very large wager on BAL (-3.5). He needed a TD for the win, and made sure Ewbank and Unitas went for it.
Here's the part from Wikipedia and elsewhere: Rosenbloom was a Philly guy, played football for Bert Bell at Penn. Took over his father's workwear company, made a fortune in wartime contracts. His share of a bet on the championship game was rumored to be in the range of $1 million, which is a lot of scratch even without adjusting for inflation. There were rumors of foul play in the death of Rosenbloom, variously reported to be a strong, avid swimmer and not much of a swimmer, but nothing was ever proven. Plus, as I once heard somewhere, dead men are lousy payers. Son Steve Rosenbloom was none too happy that ownership of the franchise went to his stepmother Georgia, saying that his father was in the process of revising his will to grant Steve ownership. Georgia's claim held up in court.
And here's an NFL Films feature on the game:
Now the picks, generated via the proprietary Spreadbuster algorithm:
Three-Star Picks
Last week: 4-0. Overall: 15-11.
Two-Star Picks
Last week: 1-5. Overall: 12-20.
One-Star Picks
These games are anyone's guess.
Last week: 2-4. Overall: 23-23-1.
Total - Last week: 7-9. Overall: 51-54-1.
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