Whoa dude, really? Johnny Jolly is a drug kingpin?

Being a sports fan occasionally means looking the other way when an athlete you love does something despicable off the field. On the sports-fan compartmentalizing scale, Green Bay Packers defensive lineman Johnny Jolly appeared to score rather low when he was arrested on felony drug possession charges in 2008. Not to downplay the seriousness of drug crimes, but we didn’t think watching Jolly play football would require nearly the concentration needed to enjoy watching Kobe Bryant drill contested 3-pointers in the NBA Finals.

But after reading about recent developments in Jolly’s case at the Journal Sentinel, we’re beginning to wonder whether we’ll even have the chance to be guilty about appreciating Jolly’s run-stopping prowess this season, or ever. According to the JS story, the extent of Jolly’s crimes might be much worse than initially reported.

Prosecutors in Houston intend to present evidence that Jolly not only possessed more than 200 grams of codeine, but that he was an active participant in the drug trade from approximately 2006 through May of 2008 during his upcoming trial.

Assistant Harris County District Attorney Todd Keagle has filed a notice stating his intention to "use extraneous offenses and prior convictions for impeachment and/or punishment" during Jolly's trial, which is set to begin Friday.

Among those alleged extraneous offenses: That Jolly "bought, sold, funded, transported and aided in the buying, selling, funding and transportation of illegal narcotics including cocaine and marijuana" in Harris County from 2006 through May 2008.

Jolly’s attorney insists that these are only “vague allegations” and his client, who has a clean record, will be vindicated. Let’s hope that’s true, or else Jolly will be spending a lot of time watching future Packers games in prison with guys far scarier than opposing NFL linemen.