Not that I’m losing touch with the National Football League, or anything, but until about 30 seconds ago I thought both Jake Long and Chris Long were sons of Howie Long, the former Raiders tackle — and NFL Hall of Famer as well as TV analyst.

Then, because I used to be a professional journalist, I decided to check … and Jack is not Howie’s son.

Which ruins where I was going to go with a blog item — a suggestion that the NFL begin a Howie Long Breeding Program.

I mean, if one man can father the top two picks in the 2008 draft, which is going on right now …wouldn’t it behoove the league to see if he could generate some half-dozen?

But one kid … no big deal. Tiny people, dorky people, nerdy people have sired or borne NFL first-rounders. It’s one of those genetic crap shoots. You improve the odds if one of the parents is a moose … but it’s certainly no sure thing. Or the NFL would be overrun with sons of former NFL players. It has a few (Bob-Brian Griese and Archie-Peyton/Eli Manning come to mind), but it’s nothing near 10 percent, even.

But if a guy came up with two sons in the first round of one draft … well, Bill Belichick or some other mad scientist might want to work with Howie.

So, ultimately I had an Emily Litella moment there. (“Obscure reference sir!” I can hear Phil Hartman bellowing, as faux Ed McMahon to Dana Carvy’s ersatz Johnny Carson on “Saturday Night Live” sketches from two decades ago.)

That is, as Gilda Radnor’s confused Weekend Update correspondent, Emily Litella, would say. “Ohh, that’s different.

“Never mind!”