GRANEY

Education matters. Research matters. Taking time to understand and learn about a specific subject before forming an opinion matters.

The league didn’t change any of its rules in relation to gambling with the relocation vote, and the Raiders never asked it to, meaning if you see a player roaming around a sports book when the team arrives, don’t ask for a picture. He shouldn’t be there.

But while the NFL’s public views on gambling forever have been defined by a hypocritical stench given the ungodly amounts of money 32 franchises — indirectly and directly — make from sports betting, even those who have drawn the harshest of lines are now offering comments of growth.

“I think society in general has changed in respects to gambling,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Tuesday in officially adjoining the league’s annual spring meetings. “We’ve seen that. We still strongly oppose legalized gambling. We will not compromise on the integrity of our game. But you also have the regulatory of gambling there, which actually will be beneficial.

“I also believe Las Vegas isn’t the same city it was 10 years ago or 20 years ago. It’s a much more diverse city. It has become an entertainment mecca and the fastest-growing city in the country. I think when you look at what Las Vegas is today to what to was a decade or two ago, it’s a much different city. Obviously, the (owners) agreed overwhelmingly.”

It’s not good manners to arrive at one’s home and immediately remove your shoes and eat with your hands. To this point, Goodell said he doesn’t envision the league requesting of the Nevada Gaming Commission that books not allow action on games involving the Raiders once the team arrives in Las Vegas.

The request probably would be denied anyway, given bets on UNLV and UNR have been taken in Nevada for the past 17 years, not to mention NFL games in London and Mexico City being played in close proximity to sports books.

There would be no starting point for the NFL to even consider asking.

It’s true that progress is impossible without change, and whether it was $750 million in free money or the fact Jones is just that convincing when the doors close, the NFL in granting relocation to the Raiders smartly began burying some pretty archaic ways of thinking.

“It speaks volumes,” Westgate sports book director Jay Kornegay said. “The fact (gambling) wasn’t even mentioned when it was always at the forefront of any discussion about Las Vegas says a lot about the progress we have made as a very highly regulated industry, especially the sports books. Hats off to (the NFL) for understanding what we are about.”

Which isn’t transistor radios or leather helmets. Contact columnist Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal. com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard on “Seat and Ed” on Fox Sports 1340 from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.